In Need of Cell Phone Help... Please?

[Briarprincess]

We just bought LG CG300's from Cingular. And we hate them. Our old phones kept loosing service or couldn't make a call, so we "upgraded" them and got the LG's, after having Motorola V220's. The new phones have really confusing menus and screens, no zoom on the camera, you can't give select people their own ringtone, it's really hard to just check text messages, there is no place to put a wrist strap or anything, and I couldn't even download a ringtone that I had sent to me through multimedia texting.
Can anyone recommend a good Cingular supported cell phone that has these features we're missing? We're returning these first thing Sunday morning (because the manager at the store neglected to tell us that they were not a corporate store, so everything must be returned to them)

So bascially what we're looking for is:
-Personal ringtones, like one ring for Mom and one for Dad
-A place to put a wrist strap/charms
-simple-ish menus
-easy to understand
-speakerphone is another big thing
-Camera


ANY ADVICE??

 

[luvmyfam444]

Can't help you there = hate CIngular - though I have the service for free (dad pays for it so they can call me free) & basically every day a call is dropped....I have one of the flip phones - nothing special about it (no camera) if it weren't for the fact that my family has a business plan that they've added me to I would throw Cingular in the trash......

 

[ZuZugal]

ANY ADVICE??

Drop Cingular and get Verizon.

They have the best network.

 

[Briarprincess]

I'd love to drop Cingular, but we're tied to this contract until at least December. We were able to upgrade the phones only. I'm taking these back first thing Monday morning, and having them reset the old ones we had. And unless I have to do it at that store, I'm going to a corporate store to get new ones. I trust corporate more to not botch this up again. But I don't like Cingular either. We drove to Disney about two months ago, and as soon as we hit Daytona, all calls on my mom's phone stopped going through. Call failed, every time. But the other two phones, exact phone same family plan, made calls fine. As soon as we got home, mine started doing the same thing, and hers continued. One person said it was the SIM card, another said it was we were out of the area, and the final person said it was the phone itself. So that's what lead us to get the new phones with new sim cards. Now just to wait until we can finally change to a new service.

 

[chyam]

Can't help you there = hate CIngular - though I have the service for free (dad pays for it so they can call me free) & basically every day a call is dropped....I have one of the flip phones - nothing special about it (no camera) if it weren't for the fact that my family has a business plan that they've added me to I would throw Cingular in the trash......

I feel your pain.........although it cost me over $200.00 to dump Cingular, I couldn't make or take a call to save my life that was not dropped! Good riddins I have nothing good to say about Cingular or their phones!

 

[monkeyboy]

phone wise--Nokia

 

[Tina]

We've been happy with Nextel for years, but DH started a new job 6 months ago and he couldn't get a signal in his office. We've switched to Cingular, mainly for him. Its the only service that works in his office.

DH got the new SLVR phone with a built-in Ipod thingie - he loves that. I got the new pink RAZR phone and its just awesome. They're offering rebates on both phones right now. You should check them out.

My Pink RAZR:

DH's SLVR:

 

[WatchinCaptKangaroo]

Ebay is a good place to buy phones, just make sure they are either Cingular phones or are unlocked to work with Cingular. Nokia is always a safe bet. Motorola V5xx series isn't bad either.

Be very careful when upgrading phones. To get a phone on a promotion (discount) you usually end up extending your contract. If not you have to pay full price (and full price for a cell phone is not pretty).

Finally, you may want to check and see if it is cheaper to buy out and go with new phones and new service then to get new phones either via Cingular or via a 3rd party (ebay). I'm 99% sure that it will be cheaper to buy out of Cingular and go with a new carrier (if that is what you wanted to do in the end) since it's about $175 to buy out and a new phone full price is usually $200+.

 

[ZuZugal]

When looking at new phones Amazon is always a good place to start. I look at the customer reviews more than the manufacturer...the customer reviews are usually pretty tell-it-like-it-is stuff.

 

[Briarprincess]

Thanks for the advice. We're actually looking at the RAZR, just waiting to hear back from a few friends who have them. I would love to buy out and go with a new service, but my parent's are paying for my phone and service, so it's up to them. Dad has a free Nextel through the firehouse, so it's just Mom, my sister and I with the family plan. We'd go through ebay to buy new ones, but we need them asap, and waiting really isn't an option. The guy at the store was a really smooth talker and made it seem like everything we were looking for would be acheived through this phone. With my old motorola, I could get service in my school bag in the basement of brick building... now I can't get service with the phone in my hand standing in our kitchen...

 

[LK03]

DH and I both have the Sony Erickson Z500A I believe it's called. It has all the features you are looking for and is on the cheaper end so it won't cost a fortune. I had originally got the LG but after months of bad reception when DH and perfect reception in the same location on the same network I had, had enough and paid full retail cost for the SONY.