 Is this your first cell phone? Let OwnPhone.Com explain some common misconceptions and make a few suggestions to help you with your decision about your new cellular phone... At OwnPhone Up Front |
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World-wide, nearly a half-billion people use wireless cellular phones. Cell phones are easy to use, convenient and powerful. With a cell phone, you can talk to almost anyone on the planet from almost anywhere on the planet! Modern cellular phones offer an astonishing array of features, and new cell phone features are being introduced constantly.
This year, the cellular telephone industry was rated the second worst in customer service in the United States - just barely ahead of Cable TV companies - according to a recent survey conducted by the University of Michigan. And that is an improvement! Last year, cell phone service topped the list for the most complaints of any industry in the country. Customers generally complained about being cut off, poor sound quality, unconcerned customer service and sky-high service charges for ordinary calls. Other cell phone customers said cellular sales people lied about the service area; they were sold wireless service plan where the company didn't have wireless service in the area. Still other cell phone customers said their cell phones fees and charges ended up being different than what the cellular sales agent said they would be. And, the latest trend is for cell phone companies to change the terms of the wireless service contract after the customer signs it! Practices like these are supposed to be against the law. 'Misleading Customers' is a violation of the Consumer Protection Act. The Attorney General in every state has the authority to investigate complaints and prosecute violators. But, so far, little is being done to protect customers from cell phone service abuses. What if you could boil your identity down to a few hundred numbers that the processor in a cellular phone could understand? Then you could put all that information on a memory card that you could take with you and plug into any cell phone anywhere! What a great idea! That identity memory card already exists. It is called a SIM Card. It might be a great idea for you but the cell phone companies hate it. They know a SIM Card makes it easy to loose you as a customer because you can easily move to a different wireless service. By law, cell phone companies have to allow you to transfer your account to a different wireless service, but they don't have to make it easy for you! The SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) is little memory card that contains your saved phone numbers, your cell phone number and your PIN number. A SIM has from 16kb to 64 kb of memory, which provides plenty of room for storing of personal phone numbers, text messages and your identification profile on the wireless network. The SIM is removable and transferable. If you switch phones, you are supposed to be able to just slide the SIM card into a new cell phone. Your phone number and all of your saved information should automatically be transferred to the new cell phone. By law, wireless providers are supposed to allow you to switch to a different access provider. But, some cell phone companies 'lock' the SIM cards on their phones so that you must deal with them to 'unlock' your SIM before you can transfer your account to a different provider. Make sure you find out if your cell phone SIM will be locked before you sign any wireless service agreement. Access the Internet from a Cell Phone. . . You must have a WAP-enabled digital cell phone to access the Internet from a cell phone. WAP stands for 'Wireless Application Protocol'. WAP is the language your cell phone uses to access the Internet over a wireless network. If you don't need to browse the entire Internet - just check your email - you don't need to go to the expense of a WAP-enabled cell phone. Some cell phones can send and receive email even though they are not WAP-enabled. These phones have SMS (Short Message Service) capability and are able to send short text messages to Internet email addresses. You must subscribe for WAP and SMS when you obtain cellular access. When you are choosing a WAP-enabled cell phone, check the size of the screen. Tiny cell phones that can be easily hidden in a pocket or purse may have very small screens that might be too difficult to work with. Spam is now just making its way into the WAP and the SMS networks. Up until just recently, cell phones with Internet access or email capability were pretty much immune to spam. But, new technology has allowed spammers to boldly go where no spammer has gone before - your pocket. It is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. . . .So, get ready for SPAM on your cell phone! Ring Tones. . . Some Nokia cell phones, Ericsson cell phones, and Siemens cell phones have the option of personal ring tones. The cheapest way to have your own ring tone is to program it directly into your cell phone using the phone dial numbers. There are several web sites that have ring tones broken down into dial numbers that you can key directly into your cell phone. Check your user manual for exact instructions for your cell phone. Secondly, You can purchase a ring tone off the Internet and download it into your cell phone. There are literally thousands of web sites that offer ring tones for sale. Be careful with your private information when dealing with some of these web sites. Be sure the web site is secure before divulging personal information. Sometimes, the web site will bill your cell phone account or your home phone account. Other web sites take payment for cell phone ring tones by credit card or by PayPal. Be sure you know how much the charge for your cell phone ring tone will be before you download it! And be sure to check your bill! Finally, with any store or web site, always be certain you are buying a ring tone that is compatible with your cell phone. PCS . . . You have probably heard major cell phone companies like Sprint, AT&T and Verizon refer to their service by the term 'PCS'. What is PCS? PCS is an improved form of what we used to call 'digital cellular. PCS refers to the technology used to transmit information to and from your cellular phone. PCS is short for 'Personal Communications Service'. PCS is a totally digital, high frequency, mobile communication network that is standardized for service all over the world. PCS can be carried on interfaces which makes it very versatile. Cell Phone Batteries . . . Two common cell phones batteries are NiMH and Li-ion. NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) is a rechargeable high capacity cell phone battery that is somewhat heavy but is relatively inexpensive. Li-ion (lithium ion) is a powerful rechargeable cell phone battery that is lighter in weight but usually costs more than NiMH cell phone batteries. NiCad (Nickel-Cadmium) batteries are old technology. Don't even bother with a cellular phone that still uses inferior NiCad batteries. Compare cell phone talk time and standby time. Most cell-phone batteries are removable, but some of the smaller models have a built-in battery instead. Nearly all cell phones include some sort of battery charger. Inexpensive chargers can take all night or longer to adequately charge your cell phones batteries. A rapid charger can reduce charging time to four hours. An alternative is to purchase a second battery pack for your cell phone. Most cell phone battery charges will last at least all day. If you use your cellular phone more than average, you might consider buying a separate battery. Removable cell phone batteries allow you to quickly swap battery packs and recharge without loss of service. Either way, a rapid charger or extra set of cell phone batteries will probably cost extra. You see the ads all the time. "Free Cell Phone!", " The Best Free Cell Phone!", "Free Cellular Phone Providers", Free Cell Phone Accessories!", Free Cell Phone Plan With Free Accessories!", "Free Activation!", "Free Delivery!", "Free Long Distance!", "Free Ring tones!" , "Free Games!", "Free E-Mail to Friends!", "Download Free Games and Ring tones into your Free Mobile Cell Phone!" Yah, Right. Do they think we are that stupid? They must! Because there are thousands of web site pushing "Free This", "Free That" . . . . You go to a convenience store and there are signs telling you to get a "Free Cell Phone!" Everywhere you go . . . Billboards, Radio, TV: "Can you hear me now? " Yippee! Its Free! OK. Hear this: "Free Cell Phone" means that they can afford to throw a cell phone into the deal because they are making so much money off of the wireless service plan. That is why they make you sign up for a year or more - to pay for all the "Free" stuff! First, to qualify for that "Free Cell Phone", you have to sign up for a wireless service plan. Before you even look at a cell phone, you should decide on the wireless service plan that best works for you. Before you chose a model of cellular phone, be sure to learn about all about the wireless service plans available. Otherwise, you might discover that the cellular phone you have chosen will not work on the wireless plan that best suits your needs. They say time is money. That is very true in the wireless service business. Daytime business minutes usually cost a lot because people have to use their cell phones for business. These weekday or anytime minutes can really raise the cost of your cellular plan. The fewer daytime/anytime minutes you can get by with, the cheaper your wireless service plan will cost. Lots of plans include unlimited nights and weekend minutes because these minutes have little or no value to the wireless provider. Nighttime, weekend and holiday minutes are real cheap because nearly all the business people are done talking! Usually, cell phone companies are referring to these nighttime, weekend and holiday minutes when they have "Free Minutes" promotions. You might be surprised at the amount of taxes, fees and surcharges that will show up on your cell phone bill. To name a few, there will be state sales tax, local sales taxes and federal user taxes on your cell phone bill. There might also be fees for long distance, roaming fees, directory assistance fees, Internet connection fees, set-up fees and access fees. Be careful and be sure you know how much that "Free Cell Phone" is going to cost before you sign the wireless service contract. Take a close look at the service plan, the cost of various fees and what taxes you will have to pay. Knowing how much the Cellular Telephone Company is going to charge for their services before you sign up will help to make you a more informed cell phone customer and save you money! Health Issues . . . There is a growing body of evidence that the use of cellular telephones can cause harm to the body and may even encourage cancer. MORE Read 'THE CELL PHONE NEWS' ! Cell Phone Headlines Comments or Suggestions Privacy Policy2004.12.26.14.47 |