I got my first GSM account about 4 years ago with Omnipoint in Indianapolis, who were bought by Voicestream. I now live in the Boston area and have 4 lines for family and colleagues, and all because this is the only GSM operator in the area and I only want to have one handset to use in the US and Europe (although I do change the SIM cards over as the international roaming is tooo expensive. (If you're interested, I use a Handspring Visor Phone). My total monthly bills are $200-400.

If you don't really need GSM, then my advice is to take your time and money and invest it with an operator whose sales and service staff are knowledgeable and competent - but they may all be as bad as each other, you will need to check out the other reviews!

Voicestream were one of the first companies to offer the friends and family plan, which is a great deal, but now most of the companies seem to copy each other pretty quickly. Watch out for 'First Incoming Minute Free' since Voicestream often drop this fairly quickly from new promotions.

If you definitely need a GSM phone and are going with Voicestream then don't waste your time at any of the little booths in a mall. I have tried a couple and the results were the same: over 45 minutes invested with some kid who knew less about the offerings than I did, and who ended up being unable to activate the connection(s).

The best advice I can give is to go to a bricks and mortar Voicestream store (Newbury St in Boston). Once you go in and have decided on your phone, ask the staff to start charging it. (They have a special charger that they keep under the counter that accelerates the initial charge). That way, once the account has been activated (20 minutes is MINIMUM) at least you will have a working phone that you can test for problems while you are still in the store. Also, the store staff then have a vested interest in getting your number set up, since if you walk out in frustration, they will have to pack everything up again (only happened to me twice ;-) ). The staff in the proper stores are generally very knowledgeable and helpful - you know, professional, like you would expect to find at any place where they are trying to take your money!

The biggest problem that Voicestream have is with the people it has sitting at the end of its phones. This will impact your purchase in several ways, since one department will need to be called to activate your account and another to authorize your credit. Even calling from the store, it can take AGES to get through, and once they are connected the quality of the people on the other end is highly variable. When you have to call customer service on your own (not 'If') you will find that you are also on hold for ages, even though you will spend a load of time navigating the touchtone menus (why is it that the first question they ask when a human comes on the line is for your phone number, when you have already had to tap it in to get that far?!?).

Given all these issues, make sure that once the account is activated, you take the shop's telephone receiver from the shop person before they hang up and ask the customer service rep to activate voicemail, sms, international dialling and any other options that you want. Some of these they can do instantaneously (but only if you ask) and some take a day or 2 to approve (but again you have to start the process off by asking). Before you leave the store, make sure that you have been able to access your voicemail account.

Once your service is activated and fully up and running it is likely to work very well, although coverage in some areas is patchy. However, watch your bill like a hawk.....Voicestream seem to have major problems with their billing system and errors arise every couple of months......which then take ages to resolve due to the inefficient customer service lines and the incompetence of many of the operators. In a moment of weakness, I once approved the automatic BillPay option that let them take payment from my credit card.....several hundreds of dollars of mispayments later I cancelled it. (There ARE some very competent people working these lines for Voicestream - OK, actually I've come across 2 - but I am not going to disclose their identities or contact numbers to the world, I need them for myself!)

I can't wait for transportability of mobile numbers - and then I'll find another travel solution.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 300