US mobile service is really pretty poor because the variety of standards means that there is duplicate service on multiple carriers in densely populated neighbourhoods and not much in the countryside.

So I can use this phone around most of Silicon Valley and on the main roads to Lake Tahoe. If I go up Windy Hill or on the ocean side of Black Mountain forget it - the coverage is not there.

The family plan and rollover minutes make prices reasonable.

The phone stores - some of whom don't deserve to have the name Cingular associated with them - are really not very well equipped. The provisioning process used to be quicker when McCaw was offering Analog phones and they used NeXT computers. Maybe Cingular can make self-provisioning a reality and get some really good user interface experts on their website. They also need to equip their resellers to give faster service. I had to wait about 20 minutes to get my old phone provisioned on a prepaid plan (which can get very expensive). I'd like the option to put a spare old phone as a guest on the family plan and assign it a temporary number without having to pay an initiation fee.

I tried to reactivate an old phone for a guest. There are some bad user interface things on the website. So when my friend was recharging his phone Cingular called me - instead of him - it could have credited his phone enough and called on the phone. Replenishing a spare phone for guests who may come occasionally is tricky as Cingular, like most companies, likes you to keep the phone active. So really guests are not welcome.

I've had no difficulty roaming to major US cities. Also I've rented a similar phone for use in Europe and used the same SIM card. Its a little tricky to have to get it set up before you go and expensive - but its an option. It worked less well in New Zealand's north end of the north island where analog was still prevalent and GSM had not been installed. I bought this because the GSM standard is compatible (except for the frequencies) with phones used in most of the world.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 39.99/month