Buying a Cell Phone Plan

Back to first Five Things

Thing No. 6  

Prepaid is very Euro-chic.

Well, we're not really sure about that but you could certainly pass it off as such if you posses even a little bit of je nais se quos.  In this country, pre-paid cards have historically been the domain of kids (and other cash-strapped people large and small), deadbeats and grannies for use only on those occasions when their Hoverounds break down in a dark alley.  But, not so in Europe.  There, they can’t seem to be bothered with signing contracts, long-term commitments, age limits and credit checks.   They must be too busy with bottles of wine at lunch, afternoon dalliances with their extra-marital lovers and long naps in the afternoon to be hassled with such pedestrian matters.  You too can enjoy this breezy lifestyle but minutes can cost more and if you don’t use them, they can expire. You can get around the expiration if you add money to your balance before the expiration date.  In other words, if you haven’t used all your minutes when the 90 days (or whatever it is) is approaching, you can add to it and your remaining minutes will roll-over.  If you don’t, then they won’t and you lose the unused minutes.  If you’re the forgetful sort, you can also arrange an automatic debit from your credit card every 90 days.  Good old American competition is driving costs down and expiration times up so you might want to buy yourself a beret and check into what’s available. Do beware of daily fees though.  Some carriers will charge you $1/day every day you use the phone although this will only be found in teeny tiny type on the back of the card.  You’ll also have to buy a certain phone to use with certain plans but these phones tend to be cheap. You most certainly want to consider it for those chatty teenagers.  “Give ‘em a monthly allowance of minutes and then cut ‘em off!” we say.  It will teach them the value of money and that it is really inconsequential if they made out with Johnny or Janey or not – they can use their time more productively to figure out a national health plan or something.

Thing No. 7  

Data plans aren't just for smartphones anymore.

Although we have seen groovy kids from Brazil insisting on data plans for their $30 phones, surfing the Internet from a handset usually blows.  Although, like many things, it's big in Japan, accessing Internet services from a cell phone handset takes some getting used to.  WAP-based services (those designed specifically for mobile devices) are revised versions of what you see on your computer and the interface often leaves a little to be desired.  If you have a data plan you’ll be able to do quick checks of stocks, scores, movie times, flight times etc. but if you want more than this, you’re going to find that the screen is small, making website browsing tedious and you won’t have the keyboard that you need.  Plus, these devices are not optimized for memory and the service will often get disrupted and you'll get pissed off. 
There are some exceptions to this rule.  And, they're free.
•    If you have a Gmail account and a Java compatible carrier (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) you can download a fast, full-blown, terribly cute, miniature version of gmail to an ordinary, not so smart phone.  You can enter your cell phone number @Google Mobile and they’ll send you a text message that tells you if your phone is compatible and a download link. This includes your address book plus, any filing, deleting or sending you do there will magically be reflected in your regular web version. 
•    A similar option is available for Yahoo mail.  The nice thing about Yahoo’s version is that you can set up Yahoo Go to check for email constantly (although this will tax your battery) whereas Gmail checks when you open the program and when you hit the Refresh button.  Yahoo will also let you open attachments in Microsoft Office as well as picture files (including Flickr).  The bad thing about the Yahoo version is that it is available for far fewer phones and it’s much slower.
•    If you don’t have the right phone or the right carrier and you simply refuse to be left out, you can sign up with teleflip.com and they will check your email, convert it to a text message and alert your cell phone when a new message arrives. Not the most elegant solution but it gets the job done.  Teleflip will also ask you to approve email addresses to avoid interrupting your 3-martini lunch by forwarding you your spam.  If you’re ready to flip for this service, hold on – there are a couple of problems.  1.) Text messages can only be up to 120 characters which means that messages longer than that will be broken up into chunks (although you can set a cap on the number of chunks.) 2.) Teleflip won’t find your new messages if your computer finds them first.  So, if your PC is at home checking email every 5 minutes and it gets to them first, you won’t get them on your cell phone.  The only way to avoid this is close out your email program before you head out.

Thing No. 8  

Different plans offer different access

Some are email only or access to selected sites (e.g. Amp’d Mobile get.ampd.com/ optimizes for youth-oriented content) not to mention different connection speeds between carriers and plans and even between locations on the same plan.  And, they are priced differently just like the voice plans; unlimited or according to the amount of data used.  If you’re going to be downloading stuff, “unlimited” is usually best since the same rules apply when you exceed your amount and MP3 and/or video files are big.  Finally, there are also hybrid plans that combine voice and data or allow you to dip into your voice minutes for data.  A normal data plan should run you $10-$20 per month.

Thing No. 9  

Txtg is Gr8!

It comes in handy when you really want to use your phone to avoid talking to somebody and it’s cheap (anywhere from $5-$15) but it isn’t included. So, buy a bundle (especially if you’re Teleflipping.) Otherwise, you could be billed 15-cents per message or per chunk as the case may be.

Thing No. 10  

If you’re really fancy, you can use your cell phone as a modem.

You can connect it to your laptop when you find yourself in a dead zone in which case you will have bought a data plan that covers this, a Mobile Kit with USB drivers and software managers and you’ll be happily downloading your software and not be needing the likes of us anyway.

Thing No. 11  

You're covered.

Some people say Cingular has the largest coverage; some people say that Verizon has the best coverage.  Some people say the strangest things.  We don’t really know but who cares? Unless you’re always moving around, you just need the coverage where you need it.  The major metros are pretty much at parity but if you’re somewhere else, check coverage maps: deadcellzones.com or cellreception.com because what you don’t want to do is incur roaming charges. You can access J.D. Power ratings  and Consumer Reports releases an annual report in January of each year.   If you can’t get bars in the right places or they just keep dropping your calls, you have 30 days to call it quits and not be charged an early termination fee.  If you want to use your phone abroad, there is the same myriad of pricing options.  Just make sure you have a tri-quad GSM enabled phone.