CHOOSING A BUSINESS CELL PHONE AND PLAN QUICK

CHOOSING A BUSINESS CELL PHONE AND PLAN QUICK
AND DIRTY
by: philip liu


are you frustrated with all the choices you have
to make when choosing a business cell phone and
SERVICE PLAN? IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE COMPLICATED.
assuming you aren't looking for the latest
ubergizmo cell phone, the following three steps
ARE ALL YOU NEED TO HELP YOU PICK THE CELL PHONE
that's right for your business.

STEP ONE: FIGURE OUT THE CELL PHONE COVERAGE YOU
need

STEP ONE INVOLVES FIGURING OUT WHERE YOU ARE
going to be using your new cell phone. do you
work in the city or the country? also, do you
OFTEN TRAVEL ABOARD AND INTEND TO USE YOUR PHONE
around the world?

IF YOU WORK PRIMARILY IN US METROPOLITAN AREAS,
you don't have to worry about whether you need a
gsm, cdma or tdma phone--they all work pretty
WELL. ON THE OTHER HAND, IF YOU WORK IN RURAL,
remote or undeveloped areas, your best bet is a
cdma or tdma phone since these providers have
THE BEST COVERAGE IN RURAL/UNDEVELOPED AREAS.

cdma and tdma providers include verizon wireless
AND SPRINT-NEXTEL.

on the other hand, if you intend to use your
CELL PHONE WHILE ABROAD, GSM IS THE
communications standard used outside of north
america. if you purchase a gsm phone so that you
CAN USE IT ABROAD, YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THE
phone is purchased "unlocked", which means that
the phone is not tied to a specific network.
WITH AN UNLOCKED GSM CELL PHONE, YOU CAN EASILY
swap out the sim card (a white chip usually
behind the battery) with local country, prepaid
SIM CARDS TO AVOID EXPENSIVE ROAMING CHARGES.
these local country sim cards are often
available in corner stores in most countries.

in the us, gsm providers include cingular and
t-mobile.

step two: figure out the cell phone rate plan
you need

once you've figured out where you are going to
be primarily using your new cell phone, the next
STEP IS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT BUSINESS RATE PLAN IS
the most economical for your needs. most
providers offer different plans based around
BUCKETS OF MINUTES THAT ARE ALLOCATED BETWEEN
different time periods in a day and/or week.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE USING THE PHONE PRIMARILY
during the day, you'll need a plan that will
give you the maximum number of minutes when the
SUN IS UP. ON THE OTHER HAND, IF YOU ARE GOING
to be using your new cell phone primarily on the
weekends, you'll need a plan that gives you the
MAXIMIMUM NUMBER OF MINUTES ON SATURDAY AND
sunday. those are the two extremes--other plans
offer some combination of weekday daytime,
EVENINGS AND WEEKEND MINUTES.

if you are unsure of your calling patterns, take
ADVANTAGE OF THE FREE FIRST-MONTH PROMOTIONS
offered by many providers to figure out when you
make your calls and then switch your plan
ACCORDINGLY IF NECESSARY. MANY PHONE COMPANIES
will analyze your cell phone usage if asked to
and will recommend a plan that minimizes your
MONTHLY COST.

step three: buy your new cell phone

if you are going to be buying a gsm phone
because you intend to travel and use the phone
ABROAD, STICK TO TRI-BAND/TRI-MODE PHONES. THESE
phones can operate on a multitude of frequencies
that various operators abroad may use.
OTHERWISE, DON'T WORRY ABOUT WHETHER THE PHONE
is tri-band/tri-mode or dual-mode.

OTHER THAN THAT ONE CONSIDERATION, CHOOSING A
cell phone is all a matter of taste. generally
speaking, if you enter into a one-year or
TWO-YEAR CONTRACT, THE PHONE PROVIDER WILL OFTEN
give away a cell phone that would otherwise cost
many hundreds of dollars. that's usually your
BEST BET BUT BE CAREFUL OF EARLY-TERMINATION
clauses that can impose a penalty of $200 or
more.

*about the author*

philip liu writes about breaking
CELL PHONE NEWS, OPINIONS AND
reviews. this article is just a
sample of what's available on his
TECHNOLOGY BLOG AT
http://www.cellphonenews.net/ on
the web. visit it today for more
GREAT REVIEWS, GUIDES AND HOW-TOS.

_this article was posted on november 13, 2005_