Choosing a Service

Calculating Usage

There are many service plans available for cell phones. The trick is in picking out the best one for you. First you need to decide how you will be using this phone. Will it replace your household phone or will it be used just in cases of emergency? A lot of people use cell phones in place of the normal house phone for several reasons. The main reason being is that it is often cheaper to use a cell phone instead of a normal house phone. Long distance calls are usually cheaper when made from a cell phone. Will you be using this phone for work or for your personal life? Believe it or not, this will make a huge difference in the type of plan you purchase and the amount of money you pay.

You will also need to figure out how much you will be using the cell phone. This is necessary because different plans have different packages which include a certain number of minutes. You want a plan that fits your needs. If you get a phone that has too few minutes, you may go over your allotment of minutes and be charged a nominal fee for doing so. As I mentioned above, if you plan on using a cell phone instead of a regular house phone, you will obviously need more minutes whereas a person who plans on using the phone in cases of emergency will only need a minimal amount of minutes. Most plans come with at least 300 minutes up to 5000 or more. In short, the more minutes you use the more you will be paying.

Another issue that you need to consider is when you will be using your cell phone. During the workweek you will have a limited number of minutes that you can use during peak times. The peak times during the week are usually between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. On nights and weekends, however, there may be a higher limit on the minutes or phone calls may be completely free.  Even calls on holidays may have a higher limit or be free. Do keep in mind that both incoming and outgoing calls count toward your allotted minutes as well as checking your voicemail.

It is best to overestimate the number of minutes you believe you will need. If you don’t overestimate, you run the chance of going over the set amount of minutes and will be charged for the extra minutes. If you have found that you have underestimated the amount of minutes you use during a months time, you can call your service provider and change to a plan that better fits your needs. Take in mind that if you do change your plan this may result in having your contract extend past the original contract expiration date.

Decide what you need

When signing a contract for a new cell phone be sure to read whether or not you are signing up for local, regional, or nationwide coverage. The cut-rate deals that carriers advertise are usually local plans. Local plans only cover a limited area so if you plan on making a lot of calls outside your local area, it would be best if you signed on with a regional or nationwide coverage. Otherwise you will be charged with roaming minutes. Roaming minutes are those minutes that are used when calling outside your area of coverage.

If you have a family you may want to consider a family plan. A family plan allows you to share your monthly airtime and additional lines with your family. There are some plans that don’t have a family plan but do allow you to easily add additional lines at an extra rate, to your account.

Special Plans

If your cell phone usage is rather erratic, you may want to consider using a prepay plan. Most carriers offer some form of a prepay plan. Typically these plans allow you to prepay a certain amount of money toward a certain amount of minutes per month. When you have used all of your minutes, you are give an opportunity to renew. There are several advantages of using a prepay plan. First, there is no contract to sign. Secondly, this type of plan is good for those people who have bad credit and would not otherwise be able to obtain a phone. And last but not least, prepay cell phone service is good for those people who only use their cell phones in emergencies or just used it sporadically during the month.

Extra Points to Consider

You may sign up for a plan that costs $35 a month but when you get your bill that $35 turns into $49. It is important to remember that there are extra expenses that may make your bill be higher. Here are a few of the extra expenses you may have:

• Activation Fee: when you first sign up with a carrier you may be billed for an activation fee of your service. You also may be charged this fee if you change phone numbers, switch a number to a different phone, change your account number, or activate a different phone on your existing account. Most major carriers charge at least $35 for this activation fee.
• Number Portability Charges:  This covers the carrier’s costs for complying with federal regulations. This amount will vary from carrier to carrier. Your carrier has the right to change the amount of this fee at any time.
• Early Termination from a Contract: You will also be charged a hefty fee for early departure from your contract. This can be as much as $200. You will also be responsible for any outstanding bills from your old carrier.
• Text Messaging and Web Browsing:  If you plan on using these services on a regular basis it is best to pick a plan that includes these features. You will also need to ask whether or not the time you use in downloading will be deducted from your monthly allotment of minutes.

Important Points to Remember:

1. Ask how much grace period you have for trying a service and find how much it costs to break a contract. When your contract expires, you cannot be forced to sign another contract.
2. Know how many minutes you have both peak and off peak as well as when the off peak hours begin and end.
3. Be aware of extra fees such as roaming and overtime.
4. If you travel a lot go with a nationwide plan with free long distance.
5. Ask whether your plan includes making free calls to another phone using the same carrier.
6. Know the numbers for customer support.
7. Ask about extended warranties and insurance which will come in handy if your phone is ever stolen, broken or if you have lost it.
8. Get only what you need.

Choosing a Cell Phone

After selecting a plan that fits your needs the step you need to make is deciding what kind of phone you would like to have. Selecting a phone has as much to do with your personality as it does with what you need. Handsets vary from the feature rich to the slickly styled to the strictly functional and unassuming. Basically it’s a personal choice that you will have to make. You will want to purchase a phone that you will enjoy carrying around with you and using. When purchasing a phone in a carrier’s store, be sure to ask the sales person to let you try the display units to check the little details that might be important to you. If the display units don’t work, ask for one that does. It is important that you pick a phone that you are both happy and comfortable with.

Style

There are many different types of styles in which you can choose from. This may be the hardest part you do in purchasing the cell phone. First you have flip phones. Flip phones are useful if you frequently store your cell phone in your pocket when you are on the go. This simple style prevents accidental calls being made. Candy bar style phones can be much sturdier than the flip phones. Usually they are much easier to deal with than the flip phones. There are also an increasing amount of swivel and and slider style phones. When deciding on a style be sure you hold the phone in your hand and place it up to your ear. It is important that you feel comfortable with the phone.

A typical design of a phone includes size and placement of the buttons and controls, the size of the text, and the color and size of the screen. If you have bigger hands you may want to choose a phone that has bigger buttons to push.

Just remember that you want a phone that is both fun to use and easy to carry around. Go for the interface that is attractive and easy to use. Also select a phone that fits the type of lifestyle that you lead, whether it is very active or inactive.

Features

Although it is pretty difficult in choosing the style of your phone, it is more difficult to decide what features you want your phone to have. The list of possible mobile phone features is extensive, so carefully consider each one. It is also important to remember to pick only those features that you plan on using. If you plan on just making phone calls from your phone, stick with a simple phone with very few features. But if you are the type of person that needs to check your email often, go with a feature packed phone.

10 Key Features

• External Screen/Caller ID
• Phone Book and Voice Dialing
• Microbrowser
• Text Messaging, Instant Messaging, and E-mail
• Camera, Video Recorder and Picture Messaging
• Speakerphone and Conference Calling
• Push to Talk (a walkie-talkie device)
• Multimedia options such as MP3 support
• Accessories and Add-Ons

Performance

If you are planning on using your cell phone as your primary phone, you will want to make sure the phone has a strong battery life. This is usually more than three hours of continuous talk time and five days of stand-by time. You will also need to find out what the call quality is like. If you know someone who has the type of phone that you plan on purchasing, you may want to ask him/her how the sound quality is. Sound quality is highly subjective, though.

In Closing

In closing, remember that you will be under a contract for at least a year so it is very important that you pick out the right service and phone for your needs. If you don’t you may end up paying more than what you bargained for.