I know this is a sailing site. Nevertheless, I'm not happy with my cell phone or the service. Any comments? Or, useful advice?

I use Cingular, they do a great job. My phone is almost two years old and still working great and I rarely have trouble with signal. THey are cheap if you are careful. I split 1000 minutes with my g/f and we never go over but we have free cingular to cingular talking and all our friends are with them.

Also they are really good about helping fix wet phones. I have dropped mine in the lake twice and both times just took it in, they dried it and gave me a free new battery and it all started working again. That is a good thing for us sailors!

I'll 2nd Tikipete's comments on Cingular (minus the wet phones experience). Been with them for years now, narry a problem with access/reception. Consumer Reports publishes some cell service reviews, and interestingly, Cingular doesn't rate as well as some of the others.

What's wrong with your cell phone?

If you want one that can take a splash and some and a bit of trashing you should go shopping for a second hand Ericsson R310. Problem is I don't know if it was ever sold in the US.

Even if ruggedness is not what you look for but you want something that's actually a good phone rather than a media player/camera that can also be used as a phone, I would also recommend that you look for phones 4-5 years old. Radio performance and battery life has gone down-hill since then.

/Martin

If you want a sailing-proof phone get either a Nokia 5100 or 5140, they are rubberised and wont die when they get wet.
(Unlike the Nokia 6310 i just to have)
Picture

My current phone is a QTEK 9100, its a great piece of hardware, but with the slideout keyboard its not something you'd want to get sand or water on.

Not sure what's wrong. No one can hear me when I talk.

Problem is, the dealer service is lousey!

I've had great service with Alltel in North and Central Florida. My brother uses Sprint in Central Florida with no problems either. My phone is over 3 years old and I have not had any problems with it. It still holds a charge well. It is not the latest and greatest, but it is definately rugged. It is whatever the Alltel freeby Motorola phone is.

-Rob V.
Panama City

The carrier is half the equation but only half. Start by checking out which carriers are popular with real people in the places you will use it.

Cell phones are radios. And radios, even digital ones, vary in terms of reception and transmission. Check out http://www.phonescoop.com. Once you know what carrier you want in your area, use the phonescoop "phone finder", rank by average user rating. Then ignore any phone with less than 20 or so reviews. Read the reviews and look for the keyword reception. Pick a phone with good reception for the carrier you want.

Typically Sanyo phones are the best on Sprint. Motorola are the best on Verizon. I can't speak to Cingular branded phones. If you're going for a hybrid device Palm branded Treo devices have had very good radios lately.

Anyway my point is, don't ignore the quality of the radio in the handset.

Yuck! No Way! Everyone that I know thats had a motorola on Verizon has traded it in because its broken in less than a year or the reception is horrible and the phonebook is screwy.

Motorola v710 and e815 had some of the very best reception of Verizon phones we tested. We also used v325 and had excellent luck with it. All had Bluetooth and very good voice quality. Some of the e815 would fail to recharge at some point in their life. And a new battery would not fix. We haven't looked for a new model since the e815 was discontinued but I stand by my claim. At least this model line of motorola had very good reception on the verizon network.

My experience (having just purchased a new phone and plan recently) is that there are a zillion diffent points of view based on everyone's subjective experience in whatever environment they live. Any one phone can range from "horrendous" to the "best I've ever owned", etc., and everyone's experience with a particular carrier is, well, just that--their own experience. (I was burned be a carrier that some others swear by!) That said, my advice is twofold:

1) Find out whether you'll need analog coverage (basically for traveling in rural areas). Some carriers are digital only, and some phones are likewise. For myself, "trimode" was a must (i.e., the ability to use digital or analog signals).

2) Look at whatever phones are offered by a particular carrier and then go and do research on those model numbers. Don't buy impulsively because of cool features! Many multifeatured phones have crummy reception. Realize, too, that some carriers disable some of the phone's own firmware so that you have to purchase features from them on a monthly basis instead. (Starts with a "V"!) As stated by others, there are many websites for phone comparisons, and seeing the composite opinion of 100 people gives a better idea than one or two friends.

Pete:

I have T-Mobile and a Razor with Plantronics Bluetooth. I had Cingular and couldn't get a signal in my Apts, so I canceled it. Love T-Mobile, always works.

Doug

Is this proven properties or just marketing talk from Nokia?
Both Nokia and Siemens have marketed 'rugged', 'weatherproof' cellphones that in fact were less weatherproofed than some phones not marketed as such...

/Martin

To follow-up from Consumer Reports reader feedback, Verizon is the best overall across the largest number of metro areas. T-Mobile was also solid, and the handful of areas they had enough responses for All-tel had them rated very good. Cingular was OK, but they ragged on the support, and Sprint was the worst.

It's all pretty local though, so some schmuck-tel provider might be the best in a given area instead of one of the national players.

I have a Nokia 5140 (company phone really). It is definately not waterproof, but will sustain a bit of rain or similar. Even if it looks sturdy, water will seep into it and ruin it just like other phones.

Thanks for all the information. The biggest problem is that I don't use it that much and my rate just doubled! That and the fact that they are all sales ortiented with no service at all!

I have the Motorola 120E. It is old as dirt, but it has been very reliable (both in battery life and reception). I have to admit though that the phone book part of it is screwy. It's a pain to enter names.

-Rob V.

Pete:

T-Mobile service has been great for me. I went over the 1500 this month and they gave me 100 free minutes to make it till the 19th. And as for Motorola. I have a Razor V3 and love it. works great for me. I use it as main phone as I told Verizon land line goodbye!!!!!!!

Doug