...to bliss.

You have probably seen those commercials with Jamie Lee Curtis, wearing skin-tight clothing as she scales the ivy-covered walls of an upscale party... and been turned off to Voicestream service.

Well, that is what I thought at first. But after surfing the net for several days last fall, I finally settled on Voicestream as a provider for several reasons:

1.) Price When compared with other major providers, Voicestream is very competitive price-wise. With rates as low as $20/month for 75 "whenever" minutes to $100/month for 1,500 "whenever minutes" there is a plan for just about anybody. Being just a "casual user" I opted for the cheapest of the plans, the $20/month for 75 minutes.

2.) Home Zone Unlike the more popular service in the Grand Rapids area (Verizon), Voicestream let me have a very large "home" area. Without paying anything extra, I am allowed a home area which covers Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan! This means that without being charged "minute and a half" or "roaming fees," I can travel in my expansive home zone without worries. For example, when I was recently on a trip to Chicago, I was able to call home with no problem. In the meantime, my friends phones showed the "roaming" symbol, and that meant they were really paying for their calls.

3.) Features Being a true geek, I live on the web. Anyone who visits www.voicestream.com and looks around can see that Voicestream's website is far superior to any others. For instance, from the "My Voicestream" website, I can view the details of my bill, pay my bill, download ring tones to my phone (for a fee of $1/tone), send messages, buy acessories, and use the support section to answer just about any question I may have. Now I get to tell about my favorite feature: SMS or "ping pong" messaging. With my service I got the normal voicemail and phone-to-phone messages. However, even more recently, Voicestream debuted a great new service called "ping pong messaging." Using this service, I can send messages to and from the popular instant messaging program, AIM. In addition to this, voicestream lets you send and receive email from your phone. Please note, if you plan on using more than twenty messages per month, you may want to subscribe to the "Ping Pong 500" for about $3 a month. Also, unlike many services, along with having yourphonenumber@voicestream.net to receive email to your phone, you can setup your own ID to give to people you rather didn't know your cell#, but don't mind if they have it's email address. At present, I've become hooked on the AIM feature, and have a feeling I may be upgrading to "Ping Pong 1000" soon, or 1000 messages/month. Voicestream also offers convenient billing options. Some services require automatic billing to a credit card - not voicestream! I like paying by debit card, but I like to know when I do it. That is why I love getting my monthly bill via postal mail, and then paying with my debit card by punching in the numbers online. I may be a geek, but I still get queasy knowing that should something go wrong and I get charged for a three-hour call to Taiwan or some other unlikely event, I will know it *before* it is debited from my account.

Now, we talk about the silver bullet to Voicestream: coverage. When in some areas, particularly in cement-brick buildings in the 'burbs, I find my phone to have a weak signal to no signal at all. At the same time, Nextel phones and some of the analog/digital Verizon plans my friends have work in some or all of these areas. For me, these dead areas are few and far between, and aren't troublesome enough to justify giving up everything else great about Voicestream. However, if you are looking for a business cell provider, look to another service such as Nextel, where coverage is excellent in the Grand Rapids Area.

As far as customer service is concerned, I have less experience. I have only had to make two calls to the 1-800-streams number: Once to add a service, and once to inquire about unusual messages appearing on my phone. Both times, I had to wait on the phone less than a minute to speak to a representative. The representatives were very polite and were able to answer my (admittedly simple) questions with ease. However, after the two representatives I have dealt with, I do not worry in the slightest that should I need to call customer service for a more serious matter (stolen phone, serious technical glitch), I would have a problem.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): $19.99