Avoid Roaming Around - Cell Phone Shopping Tips To Keep You Hearing Clearly

With so much competition from the various cell phone companies, you, the consumer can get so confused as to what kind of cell phone to buy and why. Here are a few tips on how to be cell phone savvy while saving money for other more important event in life.

Try to stay with the basics of what you need versus what you want. More and more companies are offering so many new features on their new cell phones in order to make a profit or get new customers interested.

These new phones, however, usually have just a pretty shell or fancy flip mechanism. Try to not get tempted into buying these phones for hundreds of dollars more than you should be paying. Instead, figure out on paper what your cell phone needs are.

Make sure to ask the sales representative about battery life, warranties, and customer satisfaction on each of the cell phones that you are considering. Afterwards, go home and research online about how customers have rated the various cell phones over time.

Don’t forget to ask friends about their recommendations. You’ll discover some phones that have good reputations for having good battery life and good coverage while other phones just aren’t very well received.

Ask yourself these questions about cell phone usage: Do you use your phone to just talk or do you text message, email others, listen to music, or take pictures? Don’t spend more just to get features that you know that you will never use.

When you use your cell phone, how many minutes do you usually use? Most people use more than 150 minutes, so try to find rate plans with more than this and figure out what your maximum usage is. Buy a rate plan with slightly more minutes than what your maximum usage is so that you won’t have to pay extra for going over your talking limit.

If you can’t afford the various rate plans offered by the various companies, consider the “pay-as-you-go” plans where you pay as much as you can afford on a card and when you use that up, you can add more minutes.

Remember that the expensive phones don’t necessarily guarantee good coverage of where you live. Take advantage of the two-week trial offer when you sign up to check to see if you can call out or receive calls from where you work and live.

If the company that you are considering does not offer you a trial period, ask friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors what cell phone company they use and if they are happy with the coverage from the cell phone they are currently using.

If you sign up with a company for a new rate plan, you can get a great discount on a new phone. Ask your sales representative to help you compare the various phones within your budget and get the best one that fits your everyday needs.

Once you buy your cell phone, keep your contract handy. Remember that most of these contracts have a one or two-year agreement that has penalties for if you cancels. Make sure you check out any “roaming” charges that can add up.

Talk with your sales representative about what it outside your network and what’s not. Decide if you peak and off peak minutes. Some companies offer free minutes after 7 or 9 pm on weeknights and during weekends. Other companies just offer a flat 1000 minutes. Again, see what your calling hours are and decide for yourself what the best plan is for you before signing any contract.