Shopping for just the right cell phone plan can be a daunting task. Don’t let appearances fool you. If a cell phone plan appears too good to be true, then it probably is.

That is why it is highly important for you, as a consumer, to be very vigilant when shopping for cell phone plans. Compare prices. Read the fine print. But most important of all, consider all the factors.

The Three Factors

The three most important things you need to consider when shopping for cell phone plans are:

• carrier coverage
• Equipment
• Cell phone plan

Of course. Carrier coverage is mentioned first because it is, for all intents and purposes, the most relevant of all three factors.

Consider having the most high-tech cell phone available in the market and the best cell phone plan imaginable but then later find out that your carrier does not provide coverage in you area. The irony would simply be too much.

So first thing’s first then. Find out if the carrier covers your area and once you do, you can base all your later decisions on that one fact. The thing you need to remember about coverage is that it can be subjective.

Cell phones are hand-held telephone devices with built-in antennas. They are often called wireless, mobile, or PCS phones. Cell phones are popular with callers, especially those who are frequently on the go, since they can be carried easily from one place to another.

Basically, cell phones are two-way radios. When you talk into a wireless telephone, it picks up your voice and converts the sound to radio frequency energy or radio waves.

The radio waves then travel through the air until they reach a receiver at a nearby base station. From here, it is the base station that sends your call through the telephone network until it reaches the person you are calling.

Health Concerns over Cell Phones

The most recent issue about cell phones is their perceived health hazards. As stated earlier, cell phones are radios. However, to be more accurate, cell phones are low-power, single-channel, two-way radio devices.

When you talk on your cell phone, you are actually talking to a nearby base station. Cell phone base stations are low-power, multi-channel, two-way radios. Their function is to send your phone call into the regular land-line phone system so you can start talking with the person you are calling.

Camera cell phones were first introduced in Japan several years ago. To be sure, cell phones are really the hottest new mobile gadgets in the marketplace these days.

Never mind what sort of cell phone you have, whether it’s WAP-enabled, Bluetooth, or Infrared-based. Most of the cell phones in the market anyway have all these capabilities and more. Take a little experiment for one.

Try standing on a crowded street corner where people are most likely to gather, waiting for the stop light to change. Persuade someone, some friend you have to call you on your mobile right about there.

And you’ll notice that at least about a dozen or so people in the crowd would reach for their pockets or purse to see if their phone was ringing. Had enough proof?

There is no doubt that cell phones have caught on like wildfire in the bushes. However, the popularity of mobile phones is hardly surprising.

After all, they do offer constant communications from just about anywhere. But what does amaze some people is the popularity of camera cell phones.

When speaking about calling plans, there are three fundamental, interrelated things to consider:

• Carrier coverage
• The phone
• The service or calling plans

Of course, the most important is your carrier’s coverage. This is so because your calling plans won’t do you much good if the phone won’t work where you need it to work.

However, the thing with coverage is that it is very subjective. The best solution therefore available for you is to ask friends or colleagues who use the carrier in areas where you are likely to use your cell phone.

The next important thing may be something to debate over. Which is more important – the phone or the calling plan? Often, it is best to choose your calling plan first, then the phone.

If you’re wondering why, just think how choosing the wrong calling plan could cost you extra money each month. Then think about the phone and how it is merely a one-time decision.

Also, from a more practical viewpoint, most carriers these days, in an effort to entice more costumers offer a full range of free phones for each service or calling plan.

AT&T cell phone has joined forces with Cingular Wireless in order to offer an even wider wireless mobile network in the county.

Now, with the new expanded mobile to mobile calling of both AT&T and Cingular Wireless, coverage now includes 46 million people, making it the largest wireless community there is.

Don’t let the partnership alarm you into thinking that you’ll lose some of the benefits you’re currently enjoying with your AT&T cell phone.

As a matter of fact, you can rest assured that you can continue to enjoy your existing benefits uninterrupted and without changes to your plan or its features.

What’s more, by combining the strengths of AT&T cell phones and Cingular Wireless, you will soon have access to the best services and features available.

Here are a few of the benefits you will soon be enjoying along with your AT&T cell phone:

A Bigger Network Is Better

Cingular’s GSM service allows you, as an AT&T cell phone subscriber, access to the largest digital voice and data network in American.

Called the ALLOVER Network, the new AT&T cell phone combined with Cingular’s GSM service gives you more signal bars in more places you can think of.