With the iPhone in the wild I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of phone service we use. Please take the poll and add any thoughts you may have below.

As I’ve mentioned in other threads, I would love to have an iPhone. But right now I’m piggybacking on a family plan with relatives for free. As much as I want an iPhone, I would be loath to give up my current arrangement so I will not have an iPhone in the foreseeable future. I do not have a landline because I only need one number and I move around enough that it would just be a pain in the neck. How about you?

I’ve got the least expensive Samsung phone Rogers sold.  The SGH-C417. It’s tough and it makes and receives calls. At least that’s all I use it for.

As wonderful as the iPhone’s web browsing is, there are a few things that are keeping me from getting it (in order of importance to me):

1) Questionable IMAP-IDLE support
2) No sync with Now Up-To-Date/Contact
3) No bluetooth/USB<->Mac Modem support
4) I’m still a little leery of the keyboard, though I’ve only used it for about 20 minutes

Sprint family plan

My wife, son, and I share minutes on a Sprint family plan. I have a Samsung VGA 1000 phone which I have grown used to using. My wife has a TREO 600 partly so she that could check email when out and about as well as using the phone feature. Neither of our phones have BlueTooth and next year in California we will be required to use hands free devices when cell phoning while driving, so new phones for us are in the offing.

I have landline service with ATT, but the number is usually forwarded to my cell phone. I considered dropping the landline, but when there is power blackout the phone line usually still works. Furthermore I have DSL service which requires me to have a landline. Interestingly most of our family and friends call us on the cell phones; The landline rarely rings except for things like the doctor’s office calling with an appointment reminder.

My Sprint cell service contract expires on 4 November this year. At that point I will look into getting an iPhone for my wife and I, my son can arrange his own cell service. I will probably get a bundle service from ATT, landline, DSL, cell service, and maybe CATV.

What is on my cell phone? Scratches

phones

I’ve been using a prepaid deal from Cingular/ATT for about a year and a half. I don’t use a mobile phone that much, so it’s hard to justify signing up for a monthly plan. (That, and I’m skittish of doing so due to a bad T-Mobile experience.)

I’ve really been impressed by the clarity and coverage of this little Nokia 6030. Even when I have only one bar of signal strength, the calls are surprisingly clear. I’d like the handset volume to be a bit higher, though.

However, with recent increased use and the advent of the iPhone, I’m really considering jumping into a contract. Especially after a friend let me try out his iPhone for a few minutes! It would sure be nice to surf the “real” web while out-and-about!

Oh, and since the poll asked about VoIP, we have Vonage at the house, and we’ve been real pleased with it. Got rid of the traditional landline a long time ago.

I use a prepaid Orange Mobicarte, and a company Pro Plan phone (unlimited everything…)

I use a mix of different systems. I have a non-smart (viz. very dumb) cell phone because that’s all I have ever seen in a phone before the iPhone. I also have a landline backup at work which is secondary to our very progressive VOIP system.

I have a Treo 650. It’s semi-reliable, and will do until a couple iPhone revisions have come along.

We have a family plan, so I don’t pay anything, which is nice

Orange (HTC) M500

I have an Orange (phone made by HTC) Win Mobile 2003 Smartphone/PDA.

I’m tempted by the iPhone, but the fact is that the M500 syncs just fine with my Mac (Missing Sync) and supports a whole range of third-party apps - in particular SatNav.

I’m considering picking up a standalone SatNav box and switching to the iPhone when they make it over here to the UK - especially as my phone is about due for an upgrade anyhow - but the reduced flexibility is making me think twice about it, especially as the iPhone will cost around twice what I paid for my current model a couple years ago…

iPhone and loving it.  It’s replaced my iPod, old crappy cell phone and has all the added internet, Google Maps, etc. features!

I have Sprint (unlimited calls, data, anytime, any day etc.), plus three other family members. Excellent coverage, service, and phones - and for the other members they get unlimited calling PCS to PCS, unlimited calling/data 7 PM to 7 AM, unlimited weekends, and each gets an additional 400 minutes. I don’t have a smart phone (LG), but am considering a Blackberry.

Home phone is AT&T with combined local, long distance DSL, only because that is the only local service available. But the DSL has been excellent, more consistent than Comcast.

about my mobile phone

I have an unlocked quadband Motorola V3 Razr and participate with my family on a T-Mobile family plan.  When I travel, I use pay-as-you-go SIM chips, and currently have them for about 6 different countries.  Service everywhere else, even India, is far superior to what is available in the US, particularly with respect to coverage areas.

I recently got a Nokia N800, which now has Skype, so I can make VoIP calls whenever I have a wireless connection.  The N800 also has a webcam, so I can make video calls, too.  It’s a very good alternative (cheaper, too) to the iPhone, which only offers the inferior AT&T EDGE connectivity under terrible terms and conditions.  I’m a big fan of the Mac, back to the original 128k machine, and couldn’t live without my MacBook Pro, but the shortcomings of the iPhone, at least for now, will make me wait for 2.0.

Sony Ericsson Z525A

Great little phone.  I can manage my video, audio, and picture files from the digital camera on the phone using the Bluetooth menu on my Mac’s connect to Bluetooth device, and since 10.4.9, it has worked directly with iSync.  It may not be an iPhone, but it pretty much can do enough that I’m happy.

me? crazy? could be.

I wasn’t really planning on getting an iPhone as I had a v3 razr with SunCom (local to the Carolina states) that worked just fine.  But then something happened on June 27 and I decided I had to have one.  I was driving from North Carolina to St Louis and plotted my course and ETA at the various (two!) apple stores along my route.  Alas, I left the map at home and just didn’t feel like taking a chance on getting lost.

Oddly enough my employer decided to provide me with a mobile phone with verizon afterward—now I have two mobile phones.

So I bought one while I was in St Louis (there was no waiting line) on July 3.

I love it.  However, I would like to see syncing added for notes.  All the rest of the applications that have data files have a sync method except for notes.  I find this frustrating.  I am trying to eliminate the need for my Palm TX and if it weren’t for the lack of notes syncing, I’d be all set.  Well, I’d like to see a nice little time wasting game like Bejeweled or Snood but the platform isn’t open enough for that at this time.

Ah the keyboard.  Ingenious as it is, I would like to choose which context sensitive keyboard layout I am using.  When typing in an URL the layout is great but the same layout is not available when an email address is requested—things like the @ and a .com or .net being in the layout would be good.

I also have issues when it is trying to correct my typos (which aren’t typos), e.g. I type pics and it is corrected(!) to pigs.  I can’t quite get my finger on the little itty bitty x to cancel the correction.  Maybe there’s another way to cancel it, i don’t know.

Voicemail is a minor issue.  If I miss a call there is a considerable amount of lag between the missed call and the voicemail arriving.  I realize it takes a while to download the msg but it would be nice to have an indicator that the caller left a msg and it is being downloaded.

The service contract isn’t such a bad thing.  With the rollover minutes, I can get by with fewer minutes per month and my net change in cost per month is only about $5 and I have the added sms messaging as well as internet.

Overall, I am happy with it.  Now if it only had a built-in mosquito repeller, it would be perfect. <grin>

Aloha from Oahu,

On Sunday following iPhone’s introduction, I walked into Ala Moana Center’s Apple store and immediately found a “black shirt” ready to sell me an iPhone, car charger and carrying case. I’m very pleased with the iPhone, as I’ve been with every Apple product I’ve bought starting with an iMac Classic just before OS X was introduced. I’ve used computers ever since my first IBM Dual Floppy (no hard drive—- “Who needs a hard drive the Sears salesman said!”    I was so impressed with OS X that I turned my IRA into Apple stock ($14.85 back then) and needless to say, I’ve also been very pleased with its growth over the years. I’ve helped quite a few people make the PC >Apple switch. Finally, I plan to buy a new iMac when they’re introduced!