SunCom shines brightly 95% of the time
Written: Jun 11 '01
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Pros: Feature rich service and great potential for cheap communication.
Cons: Occasional sub-standard voice quality
The Bottom Line: If you have to have cellular phone service, SunCom is certainly above average in terms of service, reliability and price.
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| RichSAP's Full Review: General Reviews of SunCom Customer Service |
After years of disavowing cellular service in favor of the good old fashioned hard wired phone, I rejoined modern society and got "unwired".
Mostly out of necessity, I purchased a cellular phone so that I could have round-the-clock contact with potential buyers of my home. As I had moved out of the house months earlier, I found no compelling reason to continue to pay the local phone company $25 a month for nothing.
I shopped extensively for the best cellular service and wound up bedding down with SunCom.
SunCom's rate plans are just like anybody else's plans for the most part, ranging from the severely economic to the "too rich to give a damn" minute plans. I opted for the economic plan with a twist... for $30 a month, I get 50 "anytime" minutes during the month and unlimited nights and weekends. To date, I haven't exceeded the 50 daytime minutes, and I've come nowhere close to exceeding the upper limit that I would have gotten for $25 a month. You can get by on as little as $20 per month with SunCom, but this is economical only if you refrain from making casual calls and keep your conversations limited to strictly 50 minutes per month.
For my money, $30 a month allows me to talk off-peak to friends and family anywhere without having to watch the clock.
What makes SunCom better? First, I can call anywhere in the U.S.A., including Alaska and Hawaii, with no long distance charges.
Second, their "off peak" hours are not as restrictive as some service. One of them I checked into called off-peak hours "anytime after 10:30 PM until 8:00 AM Monday through Thursday and 12:00 AM through 8:00 AM Monday". Hello?? 10:30 is my bedtime, people!
Of course, nothing is free or at least without some limits. I have to be within my "local area" to make these calls free of connection charges. My local area consists of a 20 mile wide corridor that runs the length of the major interstates in my state. But you know, unless you live and work way off the beaten path, that isn't such a difficult feat to accomplish. I've only made two calls that were charged to me, and that was purely by accident. SunCom was gracious enough to remove those charges from my bill, and I was gracious enough to admit my mistake and vow to watch my display on the phone to make sure I wasn't roaming outside of my electronic fence.
Which brings me to the final downfall of the service, but one that applies to most every digital phone service these days. There is no warning whatsoever that you are embarking into areas subject to roaming fees. It happens silently and expensively. This is how "they" make up for those low, low rates, folks... by taking advantage of those that either don't care about the cost of roaming or do it out of sheer necessity. Buyer - Beware!
Overall, I still would not own a cell phone if I still had service through my local phone company. But given the level of service, low cost, features like voice mail, text messaging and multi-mode phones, I don't see myself going back very soon. SunCom's customer service has been fast and solid from initial sale to monthly billing, and I've been quite satisfied.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 30
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Epinions.com ID:
RichSAP
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Member: David NotSpecified
Location: Little Rock, Arkansas
Reviews written: 46
Trusted by: 2 members
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