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What kind of cellular phone service
plans
do you need? Do you know? Here are the plans
available by most carriers. Each carrier offers
variations, most plans are explained into these
categories.
Types of Cellular Phone Service
Local Service
Regional Service
National Service
Family or Shared Plans
Pre-paid Service
Cellular Phone Basics
Explained
Size and Weight
Design
Network Technology
Explained
Local Service
These are the most geographically limited plans in which you
pay extra for using your cellular phone outside of a
relatively small home service area, typically a metropolitan
area and the adjacent suburbs. Under many local service
plans you also pay extra for calling long distance. These
plans carry the lowest basic monthly fees, but if you use
your cellular phone when you’re on the road or make a lot of
long distance calls, your monthly bills can quickly climb
well above the cost of comparable regional or national
plans. These are the most cost-effective service calling
plans if you generally stick close to home and/or don’t plan
to use your cellular phone very much.
Regional Service
These plans usually offer inexpensive calling over a much
larger multi-state area, such as the entire Northeast or
Southwestern U.S. Only when you make or take calls outside
this area will you pay high roaming charges on top of your
monthly fee. If you take frequent road trips across state
lines, a regional service plan could be your best bet. Make
sure to check the coverage maps for your carrier to make
sure the places you frequent are within your home calling
area.
National Service
These plans carry somewhat higher monthly fees, but they
typically allow you to use your cellular phone anywhere in
the country with no extra charge for roaming and/or for long
distance calls. These service plans are best for people who
travel or are simply willing to pay a bit more for freedom
from worrying about where they are and who they’re calling.
Family or Shared Plans
These monthly plans give two or more family members their
own cellular phone and separate phone numbers, while sharing
a "pooled" allotment of minutes. The calling service plans
offer a lower cost per minute than individual plans that add
up to the same number of minutes. Even better, they cut
costs by addressing a common multi-phone problem: some
family members exceed their allotment of minutes, while
others don’t use theirs. You get one monthly bill for the
entire family. But you’ll want to check the call timer on
each member’s cellular phone periodically, since there's no
other warning that you’re about to run over your family
quota of minutes.
Prepaid Service
A pay-as-you-go prepaid cellular phone is an option for
people who don't want the hassle of a credit check; those
who expect to use their cellular phone very sporadically or
only for emergencies. Their per-minute rates can be more
expensive and the minutes your purchase sometimes expire
after 90 to 120 days. The cellular phones are generally
inexpensive, but increasingly stylish and capable models are
being offered with standard features such as voicemail, call
waiting, Internet access and other extras just like those
sold with conventional monthly service plan.
Cellular Phone Basics
Explained
Each service provider, known as a "carrier," offers dozens
of models ranging from inexpensive phones offered free
(after rebates and with a new service agreement) to
sophisticated multi-function devices with all the latest
bells and whistles that cost several hundred dollars.
Choosing among them can be a daunting task without a basic
understanding of the characteristics and useful features
that distinguish one model from the next. Here are some of
the key attributes and features that differentiate the
myriad choices. Deciding which are most important to you
will help you find a cellular phone that meets your needs.
Size and Weight
Though cellular phones today are much smaller and lighter
than their predecessors of just a few years ago, they still
come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, from tiny phones
that weigh less than three ounces to models that double as a
handheld organizer and tip the scales at nearly half a
pound. The ultra-compact, lightweight cellular phones are
the easiest to carry and slip comfortably into a shirt
pocket or a dainty evening bag. But some users prefer a
cellular phone with a more substantial feel to it, since a
larger screen and keypad can make these models more
comfortable to use, and a larger cellular phone is less
likely to get lost in an overcrowded briefcase or purse.
Think about how you'll carry your cellular phone, when
considering the size and weight that's right for you.
Design
The two most popular styles are the candy-bar shaped
cellular phone and the clamshell or flip-phone that has a
protective cover that flips open like a clamshell to reveal
the screen and dialing keypad. Flip-phones can be more
compact without sacrificing display and keypad size, though
there are several popular candy-bar models that fit in the
ultra-compact category. The clamshell design can also help
protect the phone's display when not in use, and newer
models with a small external display can provide caller ID
information without having to open it. Otherwise, there's
very little functional difference, and the choice between
them often comes down to a preference for the look of one
style over the other.
Network Technology
Explained
You may not have a choice of network technologies, if you've
followed conventional wisdom and chosen your service
provider and calling plan first. There are some technical
differences between the three predominant technologies in
use -- a system called CDMA used by Verizon Wireless, Sprint
PCS and others, Nextel's proprietary iDEN technology and a
system called GSM deployed by AT&T Wireless, Cingular,
T-Mobile and others, including most of the service carriers
in Europe and most of Asia. But the general performance
characteristics of all three are comparable, and the only
real significance to subscribers is that these technologies
are incompatible with each other. That means you can't buy a
cellular phone from one service carrier and subsequently use
it on another carrier's network.
The one instance in which network technology should
influence your choice of service carrier and cellular phone
is if the ability to use your cellular phone overseas -- a
capability called international roaming -- is important to
you. Frequent overseas travelers should consider the GSM
service carriers and a "multi-band" cellular phone that also
works on the GSM frequencies used abroad. These service
carriers and cellular phones allow you to make and receive
calls while traveling in many countries in Europe and Asia,
albeit at a much higher cost per minute to talk time. |
