Phones! Phones! Phones!
Earlier I explained a bit the difference between coverage and service. Now we can talk about the next deciding factor, the actual phone! You need to be happy with your phone. To many people your cell phone is a status symbol or one of your accessories so you need to have a selection of phones that will provide you with the features you want. I remind you though without service, your phone is just a fancy piece of plastic. You can buy your service and phone online but many people like to actually feel it and see exactly how big it is before they buy. Go check ‘em out first! I don’t know of a mall that doesn’t have a kiosk and there are many cell phone stores. You will also have someone right there to answer your questions and they can try to set you up with the best phone and plan for your use.
Text messages, picture messaging, video messaging, downloadable ring tones, internet connection, and streaming media just to name a few of the newer features available now and you need to decide what features you want or may want. Some companies offer all inclusive plans others will have a small plan for each of those features. Knowing what you want and how that will cost you will help you pick a phone out.
If you sign a new contract most likely for two years now a days you’ll probably be offered a very deep discount on the phone. But one thing to keep in mind is that just because you see all these phones offered for free, once you get the phone and the contract if something happens to your phone it can be quite costly to replace. Some phones can cost $400-$600 easily and you don’t want to have to pay that if Fido eats your phone. With pricey phones I usually suggest looking into optional phone insurance from your provider. It’s usually a few dollars a month and covers much more than the factory warranty that is usually 30 days and only for manufacturing defects. Just like car or home insurance, please know and read all the details first. I’ve heard of some insurance covering many things but not water damage for example.
Now that we have covered a bit about the phones it’s time to think about what service plan you want to use! We will get into that first thing tomorrow!