There's a reason why some phones are free!
Written: Jun 10 '05 (Updated Jun 15 '05)
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Pros: Can make and receive calls usually without many problems.
Cons: Dropped calls, clock loses time, ringer volume.
The Bottom Line: Go ahead and pay for an upgraded phone instead.
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| orioles35's Full Review: Philips 636 Cell Phone |
I resisted, fought it, claimed there were times I didn't want to be found, didn't want to be one of those people on the phone while driving, but despite my best efforts I had to get a cell phone. They're just too damn convenient and besides, do you realize how hard it is to find a pay phone now-a-days? The only one I know of has been run over by a moving truck. So after waiting for my wife and son to meet me at the ice rink...and waiting...and waiting only to figure out they had to go home for nap time instead, I took off my skates and headed to Cingular to get a cell phone.
My wife (being the social butterfly chatterbox she is), already has a phone, so I didn't have to experience setting up a new account with Cingular. I went in and told them I really only needed a phone for local calls, probably no more than 100 minutes a month at MOST and they showed me the phones that were available...all of them FREE after a rebate. I wanted one of the flip phones, well because I thought they were pretty cool and would fit easily into my pocket. I chose the LG C1300, without considering anything past that. Well, there's a reason why they're free and why Cingular is more than happy to let you have a free phone. So happy, in fact, the girl who waited on me GAVE ME A TRADE IN PHONE for the rebate. Just gave me one! Then she copied the rebate form for me, told me where I could find the rebate status online and even gave me an envelope for all this...THEN hand wrote the address on the envelope. Wow, I thought...this pretty cool!
So I got my phone, my $100 rebate check was on the way, I surprised my wife by calling her from my cell phone later, life is good, right? Well the features on the phone were pretty cool, especially from someone who had never had one before:
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) capable
Mobile Instant Messaging using AOL® Instant MessengerTM
FastForward capable
MEdia Net capable
Polyphonic speaker and downloadable ringtones, supertones, and full-audio ringtones
Downloadable games and graphics
255 alphanumeric phone book with multiple entries
Personal organizer: Calendar, calculator, alarm clock, and notepad
Operates on 850/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Color display
There were a handful of ringtones and backgrounds to choose from, so those were good enough for me. At first I didn't give my number out to very many people, just my wife. The phone worked rather well as far as I knew, remember I had never had one before. There were times when in the middle of a call, suddenly we were disconnected. Not knowing any better, I just figured this was part of owning a cell phone...sometimes you just got disconnected, after all it's a WIRELESS connection.
Fast forward a few months and I received a new antenna in the mail, "to give you the best possible reception". Weird.
Then I noticed the voices on the other end of the phone (not in my head) would fade in and out frequently. Again, I just thought this was normal cell phone stuff, being a newbie.
Moving forward a few more months, my wife's phone crapped out. Her's is a different model, but still one of Cingular's free phones. The next one? Same thing. Then another! Finally we make the decision to go ahead and BUY a phone from them and see if it's of a higher quality and will last. Bingo. Then I used her phone to make a call one day and I was amazed by how clear the sound was...then it all started making sense.
Phones like this C1300 are free for a reason. They barely function at all, the sound is pretty bad and calls get dropped right and left. My commute home almost guarantees me one dropped call on the 30 minute ride. The ringer volume controls are on the outside of the phone, so many times while its in my pocket it will get turned down where I'll miss the call...or turned UP and panic me when it rings. It holds a charge for a decent amount of time, I think I only recharge it once a week using it from 7am to 6pm usually Monday through Friday. The clock included with the phone continually lost time, so if I was relying on the time on my phone I'd have to be sure to reset it before taking it anywhere. At one point I couldn't delete any of my voicemail messages, so I had to take that to the Cingular place to have something reset. But still...I could call people from anywhere, my car, the mall, the grocery story, the BATHROOM, convenience is everything now isn't it?
Cell phone companies know you aren't going to go back to not having a cell phone after having one because they're so damn convenient. They get you hooked onto their service, (phone crack?) offer their free phones to get you started and allow you to get frustrated with their problems. So you finally figure it out and buy an upgraded model, which means more sales for them!
I would not recommend this model to anyone other than a teenager, who can use it as their first phone. That way if they lose it, it isn't that big of a problem. Other than that, save yourself the frustration, go ahead and purchase an upgraded phone.
Recommended:
No
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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Epinions.com ID:
orioles35
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Location: Nolensville, TN
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 29 members
About Me:
I review stuff I like, music, movies or whatever.
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