Greetings..

Something to consider regarding prepaid from any carrier..

Does the carrier ding you $1(once) for *each* day you use the phone
plus your minutes. If so, you'll be surprised how fast you use up your
money on such a plan.

At last check (it may have changed in recent months) T-Mobile doesn't
do this. It's strictly on a per minute usage rate. Meaning you don't
get dinged with that $1/day surcharge.

There may be other carriers doing this now days - not sure..

Cheers,
Mr. Mentor


"Miles" <mileschap@REMOVEMEpacbell.net> wrote in message
news:HmwVj.3276$nW2.2854@nlpi064.nbdc.sbc.com...
|* Todd Allcock wrote, On 5/10/2008 20:41:
| > At 10 May 2008 07:19:41 -0700 SMS wrote:
| >
| >> The problem with T-Mobile is not their sales organization, it's
their
| >> network...
| >
| >> Regardless of the reasons for their coverage issues, they are
often
| >> unusable out here, suffering from excessive dropped calls in
their
| >> dead spots, or the inability to initiate or receive a call at
all. That's
| >> why they have such high churn, despite their good prices, and
good sales
| >> satisfaction.
| >
| > Can we at least agree that your above stated reason for their
churn is
| > your _opinion_ rather than any independently documented evidence?
| >
| > T-Mo's rural coverage is lacking (comparitively), but in my 6+
years with
| > them I find their urban/suburban coverage (even in the Bay Area)
ranges
| > from adequate to excellent, depending on market.
|
| Are you speaking of the San Francisco Bay Area? If so, I don't
know
| where you live or travel, but obviously it's not Marin Country where
| they poop out just past the center of Fairfax and then nothing out
to
| the coast. And I haven't found them at the coast traveling 10 miles
| north or south from Sir Francis Drake.
|
| The only reason I'm using them at the moment is that my contract
with
| ATT expired a year ago and after going through the number game found
| that with my limited number of calls I was paying 20¢/min. Now with
a
| PPD card with TMO it's half that.
|
| But they don't allow internet with the PPD card and I switch to
their
| PPD card that does allow it, then I lose every penny remaining on
the
| old card. Not great policy makers! Might as well switch to ATT PPD
| card with internet and have full coverage.
| Miles
| >
| > My opinion (note the use of the word "opinion") as to their churn
is simply
| > due to their demographic: value-oriented (including poor-credit!)
customers
| > and young people (including a lot of teens and very young adults),
neither
| > of whom have the "staying power" of business customers or an older
| > demographic who tend to stick with a service if it works well for
them.
| >
| > Younger folks are far more likely to be distracted by shiny
objects and
| > flit to a service that has the "hottest new gadget," at least in
my opinion
| > (and experience as a former cellular dealer of a decade.)
| >
| > T-Mo's increased relianced on pre-paid and no-contract monthly
plans (Flex-
| > Pay) also sets them up for higher churn (although their
post-paid-only
| > churn numbers, admittedly, are still higher than AT&T or
Verizon's.)
| >
| > The historical lack of T-Mo coverage at your house and
neighborhood should
| > not be extrapolated as "evidence" that it's the major cause of
churn for a
| > national carrier.
| >
| >
| > (And, frankly, I thought we put the 1900MHz issue to rest. ;-)
Seemingly
| > it's only a disadvantage when it's not Verizon, at least according
to
| > Consumer Reports, who's survey ranked Verizon's performance in
their
| > 1900MHz-only cities as good or better than any other carrier
there,
| > including the 800MHz carriers. CR's survey tends to indicate that
coverage
| > is influenced more by the carrier's deployment rather than the
technology
| > used.)
| >
| >