<p>(Has this already been hashed?) Does it make more sense to keep the student on the family cell phone plan when they leave the state, or for them to sign up with some local service provider where they are going to college?</p>
<p>Depends on what is covered in your plan. If your current coverage is a national calling plan with no roaming charges an no charges in calling network, free nights weekend and you get your student gets a good signal, then keep what you have. Remember even for them calling home it would be a local call. I did not change plans when D went to college. Me calling her cell is a local call.</p>
<p>Yup, texas137, check out the link:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=28684&highlight=cell+phone+plans[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=28684&highlight=cell+phone+plans</a></p>
<p>Texas, I sent you a PM</p>
<p>Thanks, Chocoholic! I figured this must have been discussed previously, but I didn’t see it when I was looking.</p>
<p>I posted a message on the Pomona thread to find out what service provider works best there (Verizon). All others have call dropping problems. My H and I use T-Mobile at home because it’s the cheapest, so D will purchase Verizon when she goes out there. (She doesn’t have a cell phone.)</p>
<p>Over the years we have had AT&T, Verizon, and Cingular, and Verizon was the winner, always dependable. We do have to wait out our Cingular contract however, until Nov.2005, and will then get a family plan with Verizon. While most other plans offer unlimited week-ends, free mobile-to-mobile, etc. for $49.99, with 2 free phones, I have never seen Verizon go below $59.99.</p>
<p>No point in trying to choose a plan now for next fall…so many of the providers are merging or acquiring. </p>
<p>AT&T Wireless was acquired by Cingular, which is 60%owned by SBC and 40% by Bell South. SBC just bought the big AT&T last month and is now saying the new company will be called AT&T. So, AT&T Wireless is AT&T again, sort of - though, I suspect the wireless division will still be called “Cingular”. What if Bell South merges with Verizon? </p>
<p>Sprint and Nextel just announced their merger. The new company will be called Sprint Nextel. This puts this new company at the #3 positon, just under Verizon. Cingular is #1.</p>
<p>T-Mobile is hanging on alone at a distant #4.</p>
<p>Repeat 3X as fast as you can… ;)</p>
<p>Most of the kids do NOT get local cell phones. They stay with the home area code. I learned that when we went through this with D. I think it is crucial to have a “no roaming, no long distance” plan.</p>
<p>My families cell phone plan is about 80 bucks a month… and that’s for four phones, plus insurance… we have unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited nights and weekends, and like 600 weekly minutes that barely get used. it’s great for us. we each pay 20 bucks.</p>
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<p>if the kid has their home area code, does “no oong distance” mean it’s a local call for their friends at the college area code to call them, or just for them to call their friends?</p>
<p>My son has switched his area code to that of his college, but is on the same cell service that we use (he is in California and we are on the East coast.) So his friends at college can call him as a local call. Our service allows unlimited “mobile to mobile” calling between people who use their service (whether or not they are in the same area code), so we can talk to each other as much as we want to. Also, nights and weekends are unlimited to talk to anyone in the United States. This works out very well for us.</p>
<p>When S went off to college on the West Coast, he got a cell phone with the area code local to his school. If we need to talk to him, we call him on our home phone and he calls us back since he has free long distance. So far, it’s worked out just fine.</p>