How To Get The Best Cellular Phone Plan
When buying a cellular phone, one of the most important things that people want to do is to make sure they are buying the best cellular phone plan available to them. Cell phone plans include a wide range of options, features, and costs, and it can often be difficult to pick the best plan unless you have considered all the options carefully. But armed with a little knowledge about what options are available and what the typical costs are, it certainly is possible to get the best cellular phone plan that meets your needs.
The first step in the process is to figure out how often and in what ways you will be using your cellphone. Most people will use their cellular phone primarily to make and receive phonecalls. How many minutes per month do you expect you will be speaking with someone on the phone? This is probably the most import factor in determining what plan to get. Note that most carriers will charge your minutes for both outgoing and incoming calls, so it doesn't matter who called whom - your phone minutes will still be charged. But several other factors also come into play when choosing your plan – will you be sending or receiving text messages or picture messages, or downloading games or ringtones?
Once you have identified some of these factors, it is time to take a look at the available options. In the US, there are four major carriers: Verizon, AT&T/Cingular, Sprint, and T-Mobile. There are also a number of minor carriers (Alltel, US Cellular, Western Wireless, etc) that serve mostly regional markets. If you are like most people and wish to go with one of the major carriers, check out the costs of each plan for the number of minutes you get per month. If you use the phone only for emergencies, then a plan with only 400 minutes per month is probably OK. These plans cost around $40 per month. Sprint and T-Mobile have plans for about $30 that offer 200 or 300 minutes per month. If you are an average cellular phone user, you will probably need more minutes, somewhere in the 600-1400 minutes per month range. These plans typically cost between $50 to $80 per month. And power users, like busy sales professionals, will probably need a plan with a much larger number of minutes. The plans with several thousand minutes per month can cost around $200 per month. You should also note that most carriers allow you to make or receive phonecalls in the evenings and weekends free. Also note that each carrier has a different definition of the hours that are considered evening or weekend.
Another factor to consider is how variable your calling minutes are. If you consistently use around 1000 calling minutes per month, then it is a good idea to get a calling plan that includes just slightly more than that. But if there are some months in which you use 400 minutes and others in which you use 1600 minutes, then it might not be necessary to get a huge calling plan if your plan includes rollover minutes. With rollover minutes, any minutes not used in one month can be used in subsequent months. Of the major carriers, only AT&T/Cingular currently offers rollover minutes. The key to using rollover minutes is to make sure you build up a supply of rollover minutes first (by using fewer minutes in the initial months) and then using your rollover minutes as needed. In this way you can get by with a plan that gives you slightly more than the average number of minutes you pan to use per month.
Another factor to consider is whether or not you will use your phone for anything other than calling. Text and picture messaging has become more popular recently, so you will probably want to consider a plan that includes some number of text or picture messages. If you want to download games or ringtones, or if you want to go onto the wireless internet to check the weather, get directions, or see sports scores, you will also need to get some sort of data plan that gives you access to these features.
The bottom line is that you need to first understand what the important parameters of your plan are (calling minutes, rollover minutes, evening and weekend minutes, text messaging charges, wireless internet, etc.) and then you need to check the available options at different carriers. But you should also remember that you must go with a cellphone carrier that gives you good reliable phone service in your area. Don’t buy a cheap plan from a cheap carrier whose cellular phone coverage is spotty in your area because you won’t be getting the reliable service you need. The best cellular phone plan is a plan that gives you great coverage and a sufficient number of minutes for a reasonable price.
Marc Ilgen is an internet entrepreneur and an expert in cellphone technology. He runs a website called CellHow.com to help people find information about the
best cellular phone plans. He also has an online store for
latest cellular phones and accessories.
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