The Truth about Cell Phones

Hello blog world. This is a post I have wanted to write for a long time and *now* I have a great reason to publish it.

Cell phones [aka Mobile phones for my friends abroad] have become a staple of modern life. If you travel long distances you need one. If you are in the business world - you *have* to have ones.

There are a few things you need to know about cell phones.

Rule # 1:
The battery always dies first. So when you buy your phone buy the extra battery.

In most cell phones the battery will go bad before any other component will fail. Sometimes the battery is not charged properly, other times - in my case - it simplies dies from overuse. Batteries can only last for so long and after a few months they hold a charge for less time, then less time than that, until finally they will not hold a charge at all.

When you have an extra battery it eases the strain on BOTH batteries and if one does go bad, ta da: you already have a back up.

Rule #2:
Cell Phone models AND batteries are only made for a certian amount of time.

Usually by the time your battery dies, your cell phone company no longer makes your model or cell phone AND no longer makes or sells your battery. So you know what happens next: YOU end up buying a whole new phone when all you really needed was a new battery. It's not just you; nearly every person I know who owns a cell phone has had this happen to them, so the simple solution is: buy the extra battery when you buy the phone. Spend $40 instead of $120.

Another added benefit is that with 2 batteries when you are in the middle of a conversation and your battery loses it's charge and you lose the call - instead of waiting to re-charge your battery you simply pop out the battery and pop in the already charged spare battery. I can't tell you how many times this has helped me over the years.

*Also: go for the extended life battery. The longer a battery holds a charge the better.

Rule #3:
Brand does matter. Go for an LG!

My first cell phone was a Samsung. It was awful. It spent more time as a paperweight than as a useful device. Even with the extra battery.

Before I got another cell phone I decided to ask my friends about their cell phone experiences and I found a surprising pattern: Samsung and Motorola seemed to wear out the fastest, but my friends with LGs seemed to have better quality phones that lasted longer.

So I got an LG and the extended life battery. Any my cell phone lasted for FOUR YEARS. Compared to the 8 months my Samsung lasted I was thrilled. I later found out that four years is nearly a world record in cell phone life spans. My LG finally died of software failure and could not be revived. I got another LG and I love it.

Rule #4:
Your cell phone service provider matters. A LOT.

I got my first cell phone when I was living in DC, and my first cell phone service provider was Sprint. MISTAKE! The coverage area was so small it did not include my own house or my office at work. If I wanted to get a signal at work I had to go out of my office building and stand at a certain spot next to a tree in the hopes of finding one bar - very inconvienent to say the least - especially in the rain. My coworkers with Verzion happily chatted away at their desks while I went out in the snow in hopes of finding that one bar.

Another problem I had with Sprint was the lost calls. If I was on the cell for more than 5 minutes, my call would drop. When I called Sprint's Customer Service about this I was told it was normal for my service area. Normal? I lived in DC not up the mountains or away from cell phone towers. Also, not all of my experiences with Sprint's Customer Service people were pleasant.

The BIGGEST problem I had was that my Sprint service did not extend to the tunnels of the metro in DC. I was on the train for 1.5 - 2 hours each way commuting and Sprint had opted to NOT extend coverage to the tunnels of the DC Metro - the only company that put lines down for so it's customers would have service in the tunnels was Verizon. So while I sat on a packed metro train stuck in a tunnel my neighbors who had Verizon made call after call, while I had the old "service not available". A co-worker of mine at the University in DC also worked for Verizon [he told me about the tunnels and some other really neat facts about the company] and after talking to him I decided that as soon as my 2 years of manditory Sprint service was over I knew Verizon was the way to go in the US.

Another issue with Sprint - and all other cell phone companies was that my parents live way up in the blue ridge mountains in Virgina and there was no cell phone service there at all - unless, you had Verizon.

The moment my contract with Sprint was up I switched to Verizon. I could keep my current cell number and suddenly I had coverage at work, in my house, in the train tunnels, in my parents house and nearly every place I went. *In the US. Verizon does not offer service abroad, so when I went to France - no cell service, but in the US Verizon is impossible to beat.

Another example of Sprint's crappy customer service was my last phone call to that company when I cancelled my account and to join Verizon. Sprint was RUDE. They argued with me - they even yelled at me when I told the reason that I was switching plans was that I wanted better service and a larger service area. Talk about a lasting impression. I'd never go back to them unless I had no other options at all.

With Verizon, if I am going to go over my minutes or text messages - they contact me to see if I want to increase my plan instead of paying per minute or per text for the excess.

My most recent experience was a wonderful one. I called my local Verizon mobile store to see if they still made my battery [my phone is the first generation and they are now on generation 3] and the lovely, kind sales associate said yes, and they are on clearance AND they could ship them to my house AND they could add it to my Verizon Bill AND they had 2 day shipping AND they came the next day [not even 2 days!] AND the sales associate answered my questions while placing the order for me.

I can't say enough good things about Verizon and my LG phone. I've had the best experiences ever, Verizon might cost a little more but it's absoultely worth every cent.

Happy moble-ing!