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How to Buy the Right Cell Phone

With hundreds of cell phones in the market, it is pretty daunting trying to figure out what model is best for your needs. Most have a dizzying number of features and functions and many times you may be paying for features you don’t really need or use. In addition, you need to know which carrier is best for your needs. Instructions Difficulty: Easy Things You'll Need Computer with an Internet connection Steps 1 Step One The first question you should ask yourself is where you plan to use your cell phone. Oddly enough, most people want their cell phones to work at home as well as other areas. 2 Step Two Go to each carrier’s website and click on their coverage maps to determine if they offer phone service in the areas you need coverage. It won’t take much time since there are only a handful of carriers. The major carriers are AT&T, T-Mobile and Suncom – GSM carriers; Sprint, Verizon and Alltel – CDMA carriers. GSM phones will work in the United States as well as internationally while CDMA phones work only in the United States. 3 Step Three Next determine which model you want. Phone models are specific to each carrier so you need to know if the carrier in question offers coverage in your target areas. For example, a Verizon phone will not work on the AT&T network and vice-a-versa. 4 Step Four Consider which features you really need and which are extras that are nice to have, but not useful. The number of features will determine the price of the phone over and above the monthly cost of your service. In addition, the use of Internet access, text messaging and email may cost extra over your basic plan. Most carriers offer a flat rate data plan, which will usually cost you less than a per unit charge depending on the number of times you access the Internet, send a text message or email. A higher resolution camera such as a 2-mega pixel will cost more than a phone with a VGA camera (one third of a mega pixel or 333,333 pixels). An MP3-equipped phone will cost more than one without, and a Bluetooth-equipped phone will be extra. 5 Step Five Go to the carrier’s store and confirm that they offer coverage in your target areas. Sometimes the carrier adds more coverage or loses some due to environmental changes and fails to update their website in a timely fashion. Tips & Warnings If you need a phone to work internationally, make sure it can receive and transmit 900 and 1800 megahertz signals. Europe and Asia use these frequencies, while the United States uses 850 and 1900 megahertz. The international phone should be a quad-band phone with capabilities for all four frequencies. If you buy a phone from the Internet make sure it is unlocked. Locked phones are locked to specific carriers and will not work with others. This pertains to GSM phones only. The iPhone is locked to the AT&T network and will not work on the T-Mobile network although both are GSM networks.