Consumer Buying Guide to Service Providers

In this day of age cell phones are one of the most popular telecommunications devices. It seems that everyone no matter your age or occupation has gotten a cell phone and started a new trend. With the new capability of changing providers while keeping your old number has allowed a new frenzy among all the providers. Now is the time for providers to show consumers who has the best offer, price, plans, and overall service. Not every service providers is right for each consumer and yet there might be more than one provider that is right. The following information will help each consumer decide on a particular service provider. Giving consumers insight on the top service providers

The following selections are among the most common cell phone service providers. We will compare and contrast the main features of each service provider. While each service provider is different in their own way, we will show just how similar each provider really is.

ATT Wireless

http://www.attwireless.com/

As a well known leading service provider, ATT has tried to stick out among the rest of the providers. When buying a new cell phone the first thing to consider is the contract agreement. ATT gives the consumer the option of choosing a 1 year with an activation fee or a 2 year with the activation fee waved. If you are considering a contract is not he way to go ATT also allows you to pay as you go. This form of plan is called the Go phone. The Go phone plan includes no contract, no credit check, and no activation fee. This plan is becoming one of the most popular ways to go. Among the different plans it supplies, nation wide calling is one of the top priorities to have. Nation wide calling is considered to be free long distance among the 50 states. For day time minutes the time slot given by ATT is starting at 6am and ending at 9pm, after that minutes become unlimited. The main difference in the plans is the amount of minuets provided during peak hours.

Cingular wireless

http://www.cingular.com/

Another service providers who is among the top leaders is Cingular. Here Cingular only provides 2 year agreements to new consumers and does not have a option to pay as you go. One option that Cingular to known for is their concept of rollover minuets. To explain roll over minuets are the minuets that are unused during your month of service and are now put on the new month to be used. When looking at their plans the main difference among them are directed to who you are going to use your phone. One plan it directed only to your home area while others are directed to nation wide calling. Another difference among plans are whether there are families using the phone or and individual person. Another main feature is test messaging, combining the ability to talk with out really having to talk. As far as time restriction on day time minuets ATT has a option to where you can pay $7 a month to have your minuets end at 7pm rather than at 9pm.

T Mobile

http://www.t-mobile.com/

T-mobile has been one of the service providers who are ever changing to attract more customers. One new feature is the 3 day weekend plan. This allows you to talk on Friday as though it was a Saturday having no time constriction. Among the other plans it supplies they range form the amount of minuets given during the day time. One of the most popular is the whenever minuets. In whenever minuets the minuets can be used during day time as well as night time. Night time minuets begin at 9pm and last till 7am. As for other plans they are also directed towards the person or persons using the phone. There is a family plan where you are able to add a phone line for just $10. In the family plan you are able to share minuets are talk for free meaning not using any minuets while talking to that family member. Some features that are able to be added to each plan are text messaging and e-mail.

Overview

Now is the time to change service providers if you wish, with the new capability of keeping your same phone number. On a TV commercial T-Mobile states "take your number to a better place." assuming they are the best of the service providers. After reviewing the three top service providers each of them looks pretty much the same overall. Every service provider enables you to sign a contract which may be 1 to 2 years with the exception of ATT that provides the GOphone with no contract. Today as ever service providers are desperately trying to hold on to their customers and a way for them to do so is the contract. This concept of signing a customer in for 1 to 2 years is a form of a lock in. The contract grantees the provider that they have this particular customer's service for a allotted time length. If the customers decides down the road that this provider is not right they can discontinue it by paying a fee which usually runs around $200. Another way that service providers attract and keep customers is trying to differentiate plans giving a variety of options to choose from. Each provider list above gives plenty of options on their service plans. The main difference in plans are the allowed minutes they can use during a particular time. Each provider has the basic plan with 300 to 500 minutes during the day and unlimited during night a weekends. Cingular best does this by providing roll over minutes to their customers. By creating roll over minutes customer now believe they are getting what they paid for because the unused minutes they had before are now able to be used. This plan is directed towards customers who have random talk cycles. One may talk a lot one month and then next month not talk as much. T-Mobile also tries to do the same thing by changing it up. they offer 3 day weekends, which gives you one more day to talk for free all day. Each provider has their signature plan that attracts the customers in.

My Recommendation

There are so many different service providers to choose from that it is almost to hard to choose the best one for you. If I were to pick one provider it would have to be ATT. This provider allows you to choose whether you want to sign a contract or not, which is a big plus for me and they offer everyone great deals on plans. If not quite sure on which provider to choose you may go the the website of each one, which is listed under it's name above. Also there are a few website below that helped me out in the past and can help you in further making a decision on the perfect service provider.

Links:

1. ZDNet

Host: ZDNet

Private Host Type

Author: CNet Networks

Description: It compares providers on the market as well as what each phones they offer.

2. Free Ringtones

Host: Taming the Beast

Private Host Type

Author: Michael Bloch

Description: Offers free ring tones to personalize your cell phone's ring.

3. The Wireless Foundation