<p>Hi my D is moving down to Potsdam New York this fall from Ottawa Canada and I am trying to figure out a cell phone provider down that way. I know that AT&T are there but their plans are extremely high and I cannot get a straight answer if Boost Mobile gets goods service down that way. The only reason I am thinking of Boost is because a lot of her friends with be staying in Canada and they offer the best international call and text packages. I would appreciate any advice as every time I call AT&T or Boost I get different people and different answers to the same questions.</p>
<p>I have had ATT forever it seems. The reason is that it is the only carrier that gets good service all over my neighborhood and areas I tend to travel through. It isn’t the cheapest though…as you pointed out. Does the college your D is going to attend have a facebook for accepted students or a bulletin board for student questions? It might be best to check with students who are on the campus there and ask them about cel service. Boost or ATT are always going to tell you that they have excellent coverage whether that is the case or not.</p>
<p>Excellent idea, for some reason that slipped right by me to contact the students themselves for opinions. My D already has a few present students she is in contact with so I will get her to talk to them. Thanks a million, I have far too many other things to worry about that the Cell Phone thing was just a major headache</p>
<p>Yup…same deal with local banks. Have her ask some current students where they bank and whether they are happy with them or not. They will give her the inside dirt.</p>
<p>Definitely go with AT&T. Parents, AT&T offers a 15% discount on your bills if you’re a state employee.</p>
<p>We’ve used AT&T pay-as-you-go service. It’s 25 cents per minute. We pay $100 per phone per year for service. We also have Yahoo Voice (and will probably go to Google Voice when it comes out) which is really cheap VOIP and of course there’s IM and Google Video Chat.</p>
<p>The nice thing about pay-as-you-go phones is that you can pick the strongest carrier in your area, get a cheap phone and just use the phone there for a summer, or the school year and then pick up service again if you need it there again. The downside is that you usually can’t get really fancy phones to work with the pay-as-you-go services.</p>
<p>T-Mobile pay as you go is $100 for 1000 minutes that last an entire year. You can add additional minutes by buying more phone cards. We have hubby on this plan as his workplace doesn’t allow him to bring his phone into the building at all. We may switch me to this plan as well & keep me on an unlimited cell plan for my work. I mostly use that plan & just talk with the kids on the plan we all share.</p>
<p>I’m happy with the pay-as-you-go, since there are no surprises & you know what you’re getting & how much you’re paying.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter how cheap it is if reception is poor. The student needs a cell phone that works. Current students would know what carriers are best. If none are reliable – which is possible in an isolated place such as Potsdam, then insist that your student get a landline.</p>
<p>Marian, exactly my point. Check with the kids who are there now and find out which have reception!</p>
<p>Yes, ebeeeee, you’re right.</p>
<p>Some people, especially those who live in major metropolitan areas, can’t seem to conceive of the possibility that there are places where not all cell phone companies provide good service. But those who live in more isolated places know all about it.</p>
<p>My daughter goes to college in another part of upstate NY – nowhere near Potsdam – and in that area, some cell phone carriers provide good service, while the reception on others is so bad that you might as well throw your phone in the nearby lake.</p>
<p>If your student has a laptop, then it would be cheaper to just go with VOIP than it would be to get a landline. All you need is a headset with a microphone.</p>
<p>How would that help unless the student always has the laptop on?</p>
<p>We’re an ATT family. But we talked to a current student at D’s college and found out that one carrier got better reception than all the others, and it wasn’t ATT. So D has a phone with the different carrier.</p>
<p>It’s useful for making outbound calls. Pay-as-you-go phones typically have high per-minute charges so using a pay-as-you-go phone for infrequent important calls and cheap VOIP calls otherwise is a moneysaving strategy.</p>
<p>Is there a reason why no one has talked about Verizon? I live in Rochester, NY and have a friend whose son attends St.Lawarence(and they have a cabin in the 1000 Islands and spend a lot of time there). They all have Verizon, as do I, and none of us have ever had any problems with calling or texting in the area. Having had ATT, Sprint and T-Mobile in the past, nothing could get me to leave Verizon- best coverage around!</p>
<p>Verizon only recently offered pay-as-you-go. I’ve been an at&t customer for a long time because they had a deal at our workplace in the 1990s.</p>
<p>I do know several people that have issues with Verizon mobile service. I guess the ideal approach would be to have a phone that worked with multiple carriers.</p>
<p>“It’s useful for making outbound calls. Pay-as-you-go phones typically have high per-minute charges so using a pay-as-you-go phone for infrequent important calls and cheap VOIP calls otherwise is a moneysaving strategy.”</p>
<p>The whole point of the safety of a cellphone are the <em>unexpected</em> outbound calls (“I’m in trouble” …) in which case I don’t see how VOIP helps a darn thing.
Cellphones are safety issues, IMO.</p>
<p>i attended camp at potsdam a few summers ago, and i had verizon and my roommate had sprint, and my friend down the hall had at&t. i had the best service by far.
in the dorms, there is not a ton of service, but the best service is at the windows of your dorm or in the common rooms, next to the window.
outside, the service is pretty good on all carriers, if i am remembering correctly, but inside it’s a little dicey.</p>
<p>“The whole point of the safety of a cellphone are the <em>unexpected</em> outbound calls (“I’m in trouble” …) in which case I don’t see how VOIP helps a darn thing. Cellphones are safety issues, IMO.”</p>
<p>1) People use cell phones for normal communications and for safety.
2) Pay-as-you-go cell phones have no monthly plan fees but have high per-minute rates.
3) VOIP outbound calls are very inexpensive.</p>
<p>The combination of pay-as-you-go phones AND VOIP allows you the safety and convenience of a cell phone and the inexpensive routine calls from VOIP.</p>
<p>“outside, the service is pretty good on all carriers, if i am remembering correctly, but inside it’s a little dicey.”</p>
<p>I have zero phone service where I work. If I need to make a personal call, I can just use a headset on my laptop and make the call using VOIP.</p>