Automotive Mobile Audio Video

Shopping for a good cell phone service plan is not the same as shopping for garbage bags where more often than not, cheaper is better. Even with garbage bags you get what you pay for. Finding the best cellular provider for your personal needs is a bit more complicated, but doesn't have to be painful or mind boggling.

We are all naturally inclined to search for the cheapest cell phone service the same way we might scan over flyers in the Sunday paper looking for those cheap prices and special offers. If this is how you are shopping for cell phone carriers, you are not going to be a very happy camper once you start getting your bill.

There are two major factors you absolutely must consider before you purchase a cell phone plan. Usage, and plan types. By understanding your calling habits, and the difference in cell phone calling plans, you've already won half the battle in lowering your cell phone bill or keeping you cellular bill low before you even purchase a plan.

A common misconception is that cell phone service can be grouped into two plan types. Prepaid and monthly. While this is somewhat true, prepaid itself can also be broken down into two separate categories. Monthly prepaid, and pay as you go. Before considering your usage you'll want to make sure you understand the plans.

Pay as you go cell phone service is a type of prepaid cellular plan that allows you to use the cell phone service very much the same way you might use a prepaid phone card by purchasing your minutes in advance. A pay as you go cell phone plan is best for people who just want the cell phone for emergencies, or will rarely use the cell phone.

Monthly prepaid cell phone plans are much more convenient than pay as you go, since many prepaid providers offer extras similar to monthly cell phone plans such as mobile-to-mobile minutes or nights and weekends as free calling time. Since it's prepaid, you can't go over your minutes, so these plans are perfect if you'll need to make calls frequently but are on a budget.

Monthly cell phone plans probably don't require a whole lot of explanation; However, if you want the cheapest monthly cell phone service you may still want to think about who in your family is using pay as you go, or monthly prepaid by that same cellular provider in order to get the most from your free mobile-to-mobile minutes.

This applies to all three cellular service types. Check with your friends and family members. Find out who they are using for service. If you are a Cingular customer, you can call other Cingular customers, and GoPhone by Cingular customers free and vice versa by taking advantage of your free mobile-to-mobile calling.

Verizon has similar plans with compatible mobile-to-mobile between it's prepaid and monthly customers. Cingular also offers roll over minutes, so any of your Cingular, or GoPhone anytime minutes you don't use in any given month, will roll over for use in the following month.

So who offers the cheapest cell phone service? I would have to say, even though their bottom line price is a little more than other cell phone service providers, most people are going to save money with the advanced calling features and plans provided by GoPhone for prepaid, or Cingular for monthly, with Verizon running a close second.

# posted by Medical Information : 1:06 AM