Advice on Verizon and Treo 650s

[aburdick]

Hello all,

My wife and I live in Chicago, and currently use Cingular for our wireless carrier. Despite the money they are pouring into their recent ad campaign, we have not been particularly happy with Cingular's performance in the Chicago area, and are considering switching to Verizon. In addition, we are both tired of carrying around both cell phones and PDAs (we both currently have Palm Tungsten Es), and so we are thinking of upgrading to Treo 650s.

My first question is: in your opinion, is Verizon the best wireless carrier for the Chicago area? My second question is: where is the best place to purchase the Treo 650? On Verizon's website, the Treo 650 is still around $300 with mail-in rebates; is there a reliable vendor from whom I can buy it cheaper?

Thanks in advance for your assistance...

[dipgolf]

I don't know if they are the best provider in Chicago but I have been with them since they were Primeco back in the day. Very happy with them but their data plans are rather pricey.

The best place to buy your Treo if you are a new Verizon customer is on Amazon. I bought my Nextel for business (landscaping) at Amazon and they saved me a load of money.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...ess&n=13442131
Treo 650 that is $299 at the Verizon store/web site is only $149 after rebates at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...ess&n=13442131
Treo 700w that is $499 through Verizon is only $299 after rebates at Amazon.

Of course you have to their full price up front and get the $150 rebate through the mail but it is a heck of a deal.

[aburdick]

I looked at the Treo 650 for Verizon on amazon.com, as you suggested, and it looks like Amazon requires me to purchase both a monthly voice minutes plan, and a data plan for Internet / e-mail. Is this true in general, or is this just a condition of purchasing the phone on Amazon? I'm not expecting to use the Internet capabilities too much, so I was hoping to just pay per minute, and then change to a different plan only if I used the Internet more than I expect...

Thanks,
Andy Burdick

[dipgolf]

I'm not sure about the data. That's not something you'll always be stuck with. Easy to change through Verizon.

[eddieras]

wow-thanks for the amazon tip! 700p for 149 after rebates! that's half of what verizon wanted =

do you know if you pay the activation fee when buying thru amazon?

i'm in chicago to and looking to switch from cingular to verizon- any feedback?