Travel Technology - Opinions on the Nokia 6820 & AT&T?

I currently live in the DC area & do maybe 2 int'l trips per year - leisure, not business, so I'm paying for my own phone/plan/minutes. I currently have a Sprint PCS plan that allows 500 daytime & 1000 night weekend minutes at 35/mo with the night/weekends starting at 8PM (I've had it for about 4 years). I was looking into new plans & phones because of some issues with Sprint that may not be resolveable, I'm thinking about switching.

I'd like to switch to a plan that has at least 500 daytime minutes & probably more since most plans start their night & weekends at 9PM - I'd also like to keep the cost down to about 40/month. And I'd like to be able to use the phone internationally in Asia & Europe & Australia (haven't been there yet, but it's on the list for 2005!). Most of my domestic travel is either in major metropolitan areas & the occassional weekend camping trips in rural VA/MD/WV where I don't really care whether my cell works or not. I was thinking about joining up with AT&T and getting the Nokia 6280. (http://www.attwireless.com/personal/products/phonedetails.jhtml?id=1900024&titleNumber=)

The features I need to have are:

Speakerphone (does this phone have a good speakerphone?)
Voicemail
Speed Dial
International Capabilities
Domestic Capabilities (that meet or exceed Sprint PCS's coverage - preferablly exceed)
Reliability
Good Customer Service

Ideal Features:

Calculator
Alarm Clock
Vibrate
Different ringers for different callers (i.e. I can screen a call by what the ringtone sounds like)
Text messaging/e-mail (not necessary, but since it is the 21st century & my current phone is from the 20th century...)

Do any of you have this phone or AT&T for cellular service? Reactions? Comments? Works well internationally? Domestically?

I used to have Nokia and AT&T service, but I am now with SprintPCS and very happy. You may want to really think twice about getting AT&T Wireless, they are currently being acquired by Cingular and their service has really gone downhill.

see: http://www.thestreet.com/tech/scottmoritz/10153060.html
and http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2004-04-01-att-hemorrhage_x.htm

"The company's many mishaps -- ranging from poor service quality and software glitches to the onset of number portability -- finally drove it this winter into the arms of a highly motivated buyer, No. 2 wireless power Cingular. "

and

"estimate that AT&T Wireless will lose between 50,000 and 200,000 customers in its first quarter ended last month. "

and

" the key battleground of New York City and its suburbs, Verizon Wireless told The Associated Press it has been winning subscribers away from AT&T Wireless at a 20-to-1 clip, with an overall gain of nearly 65,000 customers from AT&T Wireless in that market. "

If you travel, then you have to get a GSM phone... that rules out verizon, no matter HOW good they are (and I dont use verizon on principal)..

your best bet is to go with a Triband GSM phone from whoever provides the best service in your home/local area (Get someone with a GSM phone to do a search for networks in your house)

The ideal phone (its due for release in days from now) for me is the 6230, primarily because it supports 850, 1900 (US frequencies) and international 1800 (Most good sized cities have this)

An alternative that may actually work out in your favour if you dont need to keep the same number while you travel is to simply go and buy a cheap phone at LHR when you get there.. then use prepaid SIMs for whatever country you go to..

I do a combination of the above.. I have a 7210 with my USA ATT SIM for use during the US working hours, a Thai and UK sim for personal outbound calls.. on an old 8810 amongst others (I have more phones than I know what to do with

The Nokia 6230 is GSM900, 1800 and 1900. It doesn't do GSM850.

Thanks for the replies - some questions:

Steve100 - Am I correct in understanding that with Sprint, if you want to go global, you have to purchase an entirely new telephone & can't use the same phone internationally as you can domestically, correct? I don't have any real issues with Sprint PCS's plans or anything - but I drop a heck of a lot of calls with them & am constantly going in & out of service areas. Also, I'm very upset with their corporate offices right now because of some challenges I had with them, my concerns got elevated to their corporate offices & they made some promises (miles related) that they are now refusing to honor.

I would go with Verizon, but like Brian - I just don't want to on principles. Can't explain it, just don't like 'em. And they lack global capabilities.

I know that numbers don't lie & if that many people are dropping AT&T, then there's probably more to them than meets the eye, but they seem to have decent pricing for int'l plans & I can get an 18% discount on them through my office.

Other than the BBB, which I will look at shortly, are there any sites that give unbiased information on cell-phone service?

I did just check out JD Power's results. Nextel & Verizon both tied for first for National Plans, AT&T came in second. (http://www.jdpower.com/cc/telecom/jdpa_ratings/wireless/Find.jsp?s=3) For the DC area - it was Verizon being first, then T-Mobile, Nextel, and AT&T - Sprint rated below them in the rest. Verizon's essentially out for me & I don't like Nextel's phones & I'm not too sure about T-mobile - although they seem to be as competitive as AT&T in terms of product quality & features - but their only good phone is the 6610 (http://www.t-mobile.com/products/overview.asp?phoneid=191381&class=phone). Also, I don't get any discount with them.

Any one have any thoughts about T-mobile?

Picking cell phone cariers and phones is just like picking airlines and freq. flyer programs. There are just so many permutations and variations. The right choice for one person isn't necessarily the right choice for another - everybody has different priorities and needs.

Your best bet is to gather as much information as you can and then just do a comparison based on your needs.

(FYI: If you are looking at AT&T, SprintPCS, Nextel, TMobile then checkout Amazon.com... They have some very good deals on equipment. I was able to get a new Samsung phone from Sprint for $.01 after rebate. They were selling the same thing at the SprintPCS store for $180 after rebate. In addition, buy.com also has some great cellular deals from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, Nextel, and TMobile)

Picking cell phone cariers and phones is just like picking airlines and freq. flyer programs. There are just so many permutations and variations. The right choice for one person isn't necessarily the right choice for another - everybody has different priorities and needs.

Your best bet is to gather as much information as you can and then just do a comparison based on your needs.

(FYI: If you are looking at AT&T, SprintPCS, Nextel, TMobile then checkout Amazon.com... They have some very good deals on equipment. I was able to get a new Samsung phone from Sprint for $.01 after rebate. They were selling the same thing at the SprintPCS store for $180 after rebate. In addition, buy.com also has some great cellular deals from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, Nextel, and TMobile)

The only major difference is that you can leave your airline whenever you feel like it, with a wireless carrier you are pretty much stuck there for at least 12 months.

ScottC - I agree with you, but the analogy is pretty good... Let's say that in 6 months time you wanted to change service:

1) Airline - You just invested all those dollars flying one carier to earn elite status with them. If you now after 6 months, all that time flying is now wasted as you will have to start over earning elite status in another freq. flyer program (that is, unless you can get another carrier to match your status)

2) Cellular Phone Company - if you switch after 6 months, they will most likely stick you with an early termination fee up to $250 (amount varies depending upon carrier.)

If after 1 years' time, I would venture to say that switching airlines is a bigger deal. You've now built up all those miles to be burned, earned elite status, etc. Whereas, with a phone service, after 1 year, you are free to leave - basically no penalties!

The Nokia 6230 is GSM900, 1800 and 1900. It doesn't do GSM850.

Wrong Scott.. theyre doing 2 versions.. Euro and US versions.. and the US version will have 850 instead of 900