If you move to the US, do not attempt to get a cellphone until you have lived here for at least a year. Take it from me, it's no fun at all.
If you do decide to get a cell phone, do not get Sprint PCS. They are assholes of the first degree. I want them to die. Even Verizon must be better than them.
Because I have no credit history in this country, my business does not matter to them. Therefore, they feel free to do things like:
- Disconnect my service the instant that there is an outstanding balance on my account, before I have even received a bill for said amount.
- Refusing to let me pay by cheque or debit card (I must go to one of their phone centres and pay a $3 service charge, or go to Radio Shack and wait 48 hours - and I must supply an invoice, which, as noted above, I have not received).
- Refusing to tell me why these arbitrary restrictions are being placed upon me.
- Giving me a password for their web-based account management system which does not work.
- Requiring a $125 deposit, requiring me to pay via a
phone centre or Radio Shack (and then, in cash, at said
location), then sending me a bill for
this deposit nearly a month after I paid it.
I am fed up with them, but ... guess what! ... I cannot switch providers, because my phone only works with Sprint. Welcome to the golden age of free markets and competition for the airwaves.