Can someone explain Cell Phones to me?

[Dark Psion]

With the recent ice storm and loss of power, phones and everything, I have been considering getting a cell phone for emergencies.

But to be honest, I really don't understand what I am seeing in all these offers.

I get a $200-300 dollar phone ,...for free?
With some I even get a rebate of up to $75,... for something I didn't pay for?

Ok, most have a two year contract, but if they provide good service, I have no problem with sticking with a good company.

I assume they expect to nickel and dime people with overages, text messages and music downloads, but since I doubt I use my landline phone 200 minutes a month, I don't text, don't take pictures and prefer to listen to the radio, they would not get me there.

Now one I noticed had rollover minutes, and if I don't use my phone much, that might be a good one for me. It said they were good for 12 months.

Some phones are also music players, can one upload music from a CD, by way of my computer to the phone? Some used a memory card like a digital camera and several mentioned USB conectors as accessories.

I would like to have some internet access, especially in emergencies like the kind of storms we get here in Oklahoma, and some games would be nice, but other than that, I really only want one for those times that I need one.

[powerboy]

Did you think about getting a Pre-paid cell phone? Pay only a little bit a month. You will not have a contract & you can use it for emergencies. Since, I hardly ever use my cell phone, I am going to be doing that when my contract is up.

[crazylegs]

With the recent ice storm and loss of power, phones and everything, I have been considering getting a cell phone for emergencies.

Just a word of warning, if the power cut is severe and knocks out the masts in your area, you're likely to lose your mobile phone coverage as well.

[sms001]

Did you think about getting a Pre-paid cell phone? Pay only a little bit a month.

I second that.

If you can do without the internet access, I pay about eighty bucks a year.

[Gurndigarn]

With the recent ice storm and loss of power, phones and everything, I have been considering getting a cell phone for emergencies.

Cell phones can lose power in a bad blackout, as someone else mentioned.

I get a $200-300 dollar phone ,...for free?
With some I even get a rebate of up to $75,... for something I didn't pay for?

Ok, most have a two year contract, but if they provide good service, I have no problem with sticking with a good company.

The free part is because of the contract. You're paying for the cost of the phone as part of your monthly payment. You'll notice that the contract has a $200-400 early termination clause. That, in part, is so that they can get the cost of the phone back if you bail on them. And it's part of the nickle-and-diming you noticed.

I assume they expect to nickel and dime people with overages, text messages and music downloads, but since I doubt I use my landline phone 200 minutes a month, I don't text, don't take pictures and prefer to listen to the radio, they would not get me there.

Some (most?) of them charge for incoming texts, as well, so you will want to have that feature disabled by the company.

Now one I noticed had rollover minutes, and if I don't use my phone much, that might be a good one for me. It said they were good for 12 months.

Each company has its own promo, and you need to factor in how each one will affect you. If you never use up your monthly allocation of minutes, rollover will gain you nothing, but if you slip up one month by fifty minutes, that could be $20-30 saved.

Some phones are also music players, can one upload music from a CD, by way of my computer to the phone? Some used a memory card like a digital camera and several mentioned USB conectors as accessories.

I would like to have some internet access, especially in emergencies like the kind of storms we get here in Oklahoma, and some games would be nice, but other than that, I really only want one for those times that I need one.

Internet probably costs extra (just part of the nickle-and-dime package they all seem to have), check the plans for details. Features and how-tos will vary with the phone, ask the dealer quite specificly for details, then verify what he says (he's on commission, after all). Games probably cost extra.

And please, for everyone's sake: don't get one of those loud, annoying crickety-sounding push to talk phones that annoy everyone in the store. Even the people at the other end of the big-box store. If you can't turn the cricket down, it's not worth the aggrivation you're going to cause everyone.

[Cyphr]

I hate thoose nextel walkie talkies guess what a walkie talkie is basically a text message but using your voice instead. Also i see no need for walkie talkying instead of just using the phone like normal.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I work with prepaids, so I can give you the dirt on them. With prepaid phones you don't get the phone for free because there is no contract, so you have to shell out the full price for the phone when you purchase it. However, you are also not bound to a contract. There are two kinds of prepaid phone plans:

#1 the kind you just put minutes on when you want. The only problem with this is if you are just using it for emergency reasons, the minutes expire eventually unless you keep putting more money on. Depending on your provider and rate plan, the expiration date could be anywhere from 3 months to a year.

#2 the kind that you set up a debit/credit card to charge monthly. The minutes will roll over every month but only if that month's payment is made, otherwise you will lose anything accumulated on the phone very quickly. You still have no contract, so you can cancel the monthly payments at any time, but because you set up a monthly payment plan you get a few more perks than the above plans. What perks you get depends on the rate plan.

Prepaids are useful if you don't use the phone all that much, but you have to pay attention to your expiration date or you'll lose the money you've put on them.

[Geek King]

I hate thoose nextel walkie talkies guess what a walkie talkie is basically a text message but using your voice instead. Also i see no need for walkie talkying instead of just using the phone like normal.

Actually, my place has found a legitamate use for them. Our maintenance guys use them to conference from different sites to consult on problems on the fly. We don't even have a contract for use as a phone, just the walkie-talkie service. Not sure why you'd need one for one-on-one conversations.

[digilight]

I had a Virgin mobile prepaid at one time. You only had to re-up (add minutes) once every 90 days at a minimum of 20 bucks at a time. They had a special at one time where if you added at least 50 bucks you wouldn't have re-up for the rest of the year (about 6-9 months at that time) but I don't know how often that kind of thing runs. I had to drop the phone when I bought the business and knew I would have to be using my phone more often.

My current phone is a Nokia, I couldn't tell you what model it is but it does take the micro SD card (up to a 2 gig card) to store music and other crap on. It has a radio, an MP3 player, and a camera built into it (although don't pretty much all of 'em have cameras now).

To upload music I just use a Memory Card reader and transfer the music directly to the card (cheaper than getting the cable). the sound kind of sucks on the blue tooth headset (one ear piece so it comes out mono) but Its pretty good when you use the stereo headset that comes with the phone.

One thing I would suggest, is to find out who other people in your area use for their cell service. I know that some area's are better then others for different providers. Verizon may kick Tmobiles ass in your area, while around here I like Tmobile better then most of the others.

And the minutes are cheap, my boss once told me when I mentioned to him that I was thinking about getting a phone (about 9 years ago) that the current special of 100 minutes a month was nowhere near as many as you might think. Try and figure out what you may need and then get a shitload more. So if you think that you would be good with 400 minutes (anytime minutes) try and get a plan with 800 to cover your ass.

[Dark Psion]

One phone that caught my eye is called "Fusic" and one of its features is that it can trasmit music to a FM radio nearby.

Fusic

[1756GR2]

Check out the smaller, more local providers, too. While the big boys have name recognition, you can almost always get more for your money from contracts with locals. For example, a local carrier here in Central PA has 1200 minutes, 7-7 evenings/weekends, mobile-to-mobile, no roaming charges in the US, and unlimited text to and from anyone for $44.99 a month. For that money, with the big providers, you get 450-800 minutes without the texting and with 9-6 evenings/weekends. Smaller carriers have agreements with the larger providers to share their towers, which gives you even more coverage because you'll pick up the carrier that's got the stronger tower where you are.

I see a lot of folks who are new to cell phones ending up using them more than they thought they would. So keep an eye on your useage and ask up front whether you have to extend your contract if you find you need to upgrade your minutes or add features.

When you're investigating prepaid plans, check coverage. Prepaids often have a limited coverage area. A friend had a prepaid plan with one of the big ones. She lives in New York state, couldn't make calls from many places outside her immediate area. Getting a regular contract solved her problem.

One last thought - consider getting insurance on your phone if you're going to get a well-featured phone. With most carriers you get the discount only when you start or renew a plan. If something happens to your handset between those eligible times, you'll pay full price to replace it. You pay a monthly insurance premium, but your deductible will be a lot easier to come up with than the full price. ($60 deductible as opposed to $300 retail price in my case when snow got in my pocket, melted, and killed my phone that was in that pocket.)

And be nice to the Karas of the industry - none of us sit around figuring out how best to screw the customer. Really, we don't.

[Kara]

And be nice to the Karas of the industry - none of us sit around figuring out how best to screw the customer. Really, we don't.

Aw, thanks

Only a tiny percentage of our customers actually call in and get ridiculed by me here. Most have the common sense gene and don't act like complete morons.

As to the topic, I'd say a prepaid would really be all you need, unless you plan on replacing your home phone. But as mentioned, severe weather can knock out cell towers just like everything else, so it's not guaranteed service. In fact, a standard part of all contracts states that the providers don't guarantee service (because it's impossible. Massive networks are just asking for the occasional outage and whatnot. Plus, some communities don't want towers around, which makes it hard to get decent coverage). The big companies like me are going to run $30 a month or more, which is fine if that's going to cost you less than prepaid. But based on what you're looking for, I think a pay-as-you-go would do the job.

Smaller companies are great if you don't do a lot of travel. A lot of them don't have much in the way of coverage if you stray too far from home. The one carrier I'd say to avoid is Boost Mobile. They're constantly on the verge of going broke. No matter who you go with, don't let them talk you into buying an uber-phone that has a ton of flashy crap you don't want/need.

[marasbaras]

I'm so glad I don't live in the US when it comes to cell phones. Here in the Philippines I'm able to go buy whatever phone I want ... in my case a nifty Nokia N95 ... then, pick SIM cards from whichever cell service provider I wanted.

Everything's pre-paid. Need more time? Get a scratch card.

Want to change phones? Buy the new phone, take your SIM card out of your old phone, put it in your new phone. And, the old phone is still yours, too.

So easy, so sensible. Your phone is yours. You just pay for the cell service features that you use (Internet, texts, voice, etc.).

[workerbee222]

Actually, Marasbaras, that's possible here in the US, it's just the best=kept secret around.

Problem #1 is, everyone wants something for nothing - -a "free" phone.

Problem #2: Well, not all service providers use SIM cards, but maybe they're switching to them now.

I went out and purchased a new phone. The sales people all tried to get me to upgrade my service and get a phone "free", but I didn't want more minutes, couldn't afford more minutes, and didn't need as much phone as they were trying to sell me. I was told repeatedly that my old SIM card wouldn't work in my new phone, but it does.

I think one of the things one has to consider is to buy a phone that operates on the frequency of the provider whose SIM card you're going to use. Maybe most companies are switching to the quad-band system, which will solve that problem, too.

The person who clued me in to this was an employee at the electronics department of our local Walmart.

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

If all you want is a phone for emergencies, and not much other then the net (maybe), then you would be better off getting a cheaper model with less of the extra stuff they can do these days, as a pre-paid phone.
That way you'll only pay for what you use. Not sure how it works in the US, but here in Australia you pay, say, $30 dollars, and you can use that amount for a month after activating it on your phone.
And you'll obviously want one that has a pretty good battery life.

I've had phones that last a week or more without overly heavy usage.. But I've also had ones that last only 2 or 3 days. Best advice I can give is find out what features you want, and then read reviews of the phones you find that match as closely as possible to those.
The Cnet site is a good place for tech reviews. (http://www.cnet.com/)