Samsung F700 - THIS is my next phone.

Verizon my be OK in your area, but they are not very good throughout Florida and other parts of the US.

IMO they are not the best the US has to offer. Third party testing has determined that AT&T has the fewest dropped calls. Personally, I won't do business with a cellular company that requires a contract and a severe financial penalty for dropping their service.

I find it inconvenient to carry multiple phones when traveling every month.
With GSM when I'm in another location it is easy to have a local number by inserting a different SIM card in the handset. Actually my SIM card can handle 4 different numbers and accounts with different providers. It sure beats renting a phone every time one crosses a border and you want a local number.

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Originally Posted by ua549

Verizon my be OK in your area, but they are not very good throughout Florida and other parts of the US.

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Consumer Reports says otherwise, and year after year Verizon wins *nationwide*. I've been in Florida 3 times over the past 2 years, from Destin to Tampa to Miami, and I've got full coverage and great quality each and every time I've been there, even in such small towns as Apalachicola.

As for Cingular's fewest dropped calls... http://www.boston.com/business/artic...dropped_calls/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cingula..._dropped_calls

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During the first quarter of 2006, Telephia reported that during an extensive nationwide test of major wireless carriers, AT&T dropped the fewest number of calls across the country. AT&T in turn began aggressively advertising the "Allover Network," citing Telephia as "the leading independent research company." Telephia's report was in stark contrast to the Consumers Union publication Consumer Reports, which criticized AT&T for static and dropped calls. Furthermore, J.D. Power and Associates consistently puts AT&T in the bottom (or near the bottom) of its "overall customer satisfaction" list.

Telephia initially refused to provide details on its study, and a spokesman for the company has said, according to the Boston Globe, that "AT&T shouldn't have even mentioned the company's name to a reporter." The research company later stated that AT&T had a "statistically significant lower dropped-call rate than the competition across some market/time period groupings," but that Telephia had "no knowledge of the specific methodology... AT&T used to reach the nationwide 'lowest dropped call' conclusion."

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As for the contract, no big deal. Maybe if there were any viable alternatives to Verizon I'd be concerned about being locked in, but who am I going to switch to? Alltel? Sprint? Not even.

I've had good experience w/ Samsung phones when I was on Sprint's network. Hated LG on AT&T's. Nothing but good things to say about Motorola's and my current TREO. I like the way this samsung looks, but I'll pass until something is significantly better then my Treo.

You obviously have not tried to use Verizon in the Florida panhandle or the everglades. No coverage.

IIRC it was the president of Verizon who publicly stated that he did not understand people who wanted their cell phone service to work indoors. That is still an issue with Verizon.

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Originally Posted by ua549

You obviously have not tried to use Verizon in the Florida panhandle or the everglades. No coverage.

IIRC it was the president of Verizon who publicly stated that he did not understand people who wanted their cell phone service to work indoors. That is still an issue with Verizon.

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I certainly don't want to sound like I have no issues with Verizon, but for me it's simply the best of the worst.

The panhandle is the top part right? That's where I've used it the most. That's where I referenced earlier (Destin and Apalachicola). I've used it from Pensacola to Tallahassee. My father is retiring to that area and I've driven the entire stretch including small towns helping him pick a good place.

I get flawless reception there.

Try getting off the main highway onto the small roads. Ten miles west of Tallahassee there is no Verizon coverage except on the main roads.

Looks alright on here: http://www.pagepluscellular.com/maps...lorida_loc.gif

I've been all over that area on the small roads visiting all the small towns, mostly along the coast.

There are a couple of dead zones, especially the everglades, but if you look at AT&T's coverage it's roughly the same: http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/im...apCoverage.gif

Note the same dead zone to the west of Tallahassee and in the Everglades. The coverage may be marginally better, but nothing worth giving up Verizon's quality of service.

Actually, compare that to http://www.myrateplan.com/wireless_p...ps/verizon.gif and it seems like Verizon has more coverage nationwide.

Verizon quality of service? That's a joke. BTDT.

Plus being limited to the US is a major handicap for anyone except home bodies.

I get GSM service throughout the everglades and west of Tallahassee even if the maps don't show it. I travel through those parts every month.

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Originally Posted by ua549

Verizon quality of service? That's a joke. BTDT.

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I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'll take Consumer Reports, you can keep Cingular marketing. ;) :D

It simply depends on where you are at the moment what the QOS is.

Your mileage may vary.

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Originally Posted by MrDigital

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'll take Consumer Reports, you can keep Cingular marketing. ;) :D

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I have to agree with MrDigital on this one. Everywhere I go throughout the US I've had excellent covereage. I can't say the same for cingular.

The big advantage for me is this.

Last weekend at home in Florida. No plans for the week.
Monday I was in Eastern Europe.
Put prepaid SIM in GSM phone and have a local number.
Tuesday in Western Europe.
Put prepaid SIM in GSM phone and have a local number.
Wednesday at home in Florida.
Put AT&T SIM in GSM phone and have a local number.

No roaming records; no AT&T record of travel. Peace of mind.

That can't be done with Verizon or any other provider that uses the oddball CDMA cellular technology that does not use a removable card for account information.

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Originally Posted by MrDigital

Samsungs have always given me sh*tty signal quality. While the features are nice enough, and it looks nice, if it doesn't actually work good as a PHONE I'm going to pass on it.

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samsungs have been great for me in the UK. i am on the vodafone network and i have never had any issues anywhere (except for the obvious, tunnels, underground network etc).

this new phone by samsung has definitely caught my eye. i am due a free upgrade on my contract anyway in a couple months. have to wait and see i suppose.

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Originally Posted by ImaNihilist

The RAZR and all it's derivates have THE WORST software imaginable. Absolutely HORRIBLE. There's all sorts of strange bugs too that stop the battery from charging.

I had one for a day, and then sold it.

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To me.

Heh, it worked great while I lived in Europe, but not so much back here in the states, doesn't work on Verizon... oh well.

It was a cool phone for what it was, and I liked how thin it was, I hate having a big bulge in my pocket.

technically verizon phones can work internationally...they just leech onto other service providers. For instance, I went to Mexico and was able to make calls without a problem. On their website...they list all the other countries that work with verizon. Unfortuatnly, you have to pay extremely high per min prices (something like a dollar per min)

I guess the point people are making is that if you don't travel much, Verizon is certainly a viable option. And most of the time, it's cheaper to just rent a phone...you literally pick one up at the airport and drop it off when you leave.