Rich's Tongfamily (Richtong.net add-on)

Well, Jenn asked me about cell phones. She needs one or maybe two. Given the pricing right now and wireless local number portability, here’s what I told her (this applies mainly to Seattle) and is tuned for “just married” set for once vs. geeks galore:
* “Wireless Local Number Portability”:http://wireless.fcc.gov/wlnp/. Given that it costs $30 here in Seattle for a wireline phone. If you’re young and moving around alot, it sure makes sense to watch your minutes and go with a family plan rather than having a cell phone and a landline phone. The main thing you give up is the ability to dial-up for PC access.
* “Comcast”:http://comcast.net. Broadband. Again, given that that $30 looks large, the $45 for a cable modem sure looks good. On that line, you get of course data and if you really need lots more minutes, then you can get “Net2Phone”:http://net2phone.com where you pay $0.02/minute. It will be a long time before you use up all those minutes 🙂
* “T-mobile Family Time Plans”:http://www.t-mobile.com/plans/FamilyTimeRatePlanDetails.asp?loc=hm&slot=A&name=LargeFamilyTime. I’ve done bunches of pricings and T-mobile comes out consistently in Seattle with decent coverage and very aggressive pricing. In particular, their Family Time plans are great. You get unlimited T-mobile-to-T-mobile minutes, so newlyweds can talk to their batteries content. Then for $70/month, you get two lines and also unlimited nights and weekends. Only major bummer is that you do have to pay $0.05/text message or get 300 text messages for $3/phone.
* “Verizon”:http://verizonwireless.com. They are more expensive, but coverage in Seattle is better. Also these aren’t world phones, so you can’t use in Europe, Asia, etc. The $80 for 600 minutes, so a little more. They have a bunch of promotions going on now.
* “LetsTalk.com”:http://letstalk.com. You can get phones about $100 cheaper on this site. So I’d advise buying here or at “Amazon”:http://amazon.com. And the Samsung SGH-R225, actually gives you back $100. Great for bargain hunters. It isn’t color, but it is a world phone.