Is Prepaid Wireless or a Monthly Contract Cheaper?

While communicating on your cell phone can now be considered a basic human necessity, scoring you as an ongoing customer is a business need for a sea cell of phone companies competing for your wireless dollar.

Just as you now have a wide variety of cell phone service carriers to choose from, so do you have many ways to pay for the same service. Is a monthly contract for one or two years right for you or might no-contract prepaid wireless be your holy grail instead? What’s the difference and how do you know?

This analysis will help you debunk the confusion between the various plans and analyze your unique situation to see which most fits you like a glove.

The Benefits of Prepaid Wireless

The first most commonly cited advantage of prepaid or pay-as-you-go wireless is not being bound by a monthly service contract.

U.S. cell phone service carriers have been binding customers to contracts for years and penalizing them for early termination fees in the amount of $150 or $200. Such carriers then discount the cost of their cell phones when a customer is willing to commit to a contract. That’s the give and take.

This is a very different story in Europe. Prepaid wireless is much more the norm there and Europeans are now used to the flexibility without the jail sentence. In a time of economic uncertainty, though, even the U.S. is starting to fall in love with prepaid wireless and more consumers are finding themselves converting.

A second primary benefit of prepaid wireless is that there are no credit checks required. Especially in uncertain economic times, many Americans have found their “excellent” credit slip or many might not have had such stellar credit in the first place.

One black mark in the past could still be haunting your credit score years later. It could take you quite a while to make up for past or current credit mistakes likely due to low funds, maxing out a credit card, being late on payments, defaulting on payments or going into foreclosure or bankruptcy.

Prepaid wireless companies are willing to call you a customer even without a contract because you’re doing just what the name implies: paying for your minutes in advance. Even with no contract and the ability to bolt at any time, prepaid companies are willing to remain blissfully ignorant about your credit because they know you’ll be paying in advance for whatever you plan to use.

The Potential Drawbacks of Prepaid Wireless

On contract-based plans, your minutes don’t “expire”. If you buy 1,000 in a month and don’t use 200, you just lose them and move onto the next month. Some plans (such as with AT&T) will even allow those unused minutes to “roll over” to the next month.

With prepaid wireless, though, you often need to use what you buy. If you don’t, they can expire. Make sure to read the fine print before selecting a prepaid wireless plan to understand if your minutes will expire and when. In addition, some prepaid minutes might cost more than they would with a contract.

Analysis: Prepaid Wireless vs. Monthly Contract Plans

So when would prepaid save you money over contract-based plans and vice versa? We’ll now put that very question to the test by comparing many plans from various cell phone service carriers. With data current as of Feb. 16, 2009, this analysis takes such a comparison a step further than an earlier analysis of Virgin Mobile versus Verizon Wireless.

Virgin Mobile is often synonymous with prepaid wireless and oftentimes pops into the minds of consumers first when considering such a route. Why? The hip company keeps its pay-as-you-go-pricing low, doesn’t require commitments and (unlike the warning mentioned above for typical cases) even allows your prepaid minutes to roll forward.

The various scenarios below compare three common amounts of minutes used per month – 200, 400 or 1,000 minutes – at Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, Net10, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Tracfone and AT&T so you can see which carrier gives you the most bang for your buck. For the purpose of this analysis, carriers were only included with true nationwide coverage (i.e. Cricket Wireless didn’t make the analysis for not meeting this criteria).

200 anytime minutes per month with Virgin Mobile:

• 30-day minute pack with no contract: $20 or 10 cents per minute
• By the minute with no contract: $26.99 or 10 cents per minute (including a $6.99 monthly fee)
• By the minute with no contract: $40 or 20 cents per minute
• Monthly plan with a contract (plus 500 minutes on nights and weekends): $25
• Note: Text, picture and video messaging is $5 a month extra for 200 messages, $10 for 1,000 or $20 for unlimited on the no-contract plans. The mobile Web is $5 a month extra for 5 megabytes, $10 for 20 megabytes or $20 for 50 megabytes.

200 anytime minutes per month with Boost Mobile:

• Pay as you go with no contract: $20 or 10 cents per minute
• No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but $50 for unlimited minutes)
• Note: Text messaging is 10 cents per message with no contract. Picture, audio and video messaging is 25 cents each. The mobile Web is 35 cents a day for unlimited use.

200 anytime minutes per month with Net10:

• “Airtime on demand” with no contract: $20 with 30 days of service
• No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but 250 “easy” minutes for $25 with no contract)

200 anytime minutes per month with Verizon Wireless:

• $27.92 with no contract using eight 99-cent days (“Core” plan at 10 cents per minute), $25.92 using eight $1.99 days (“Plus” at 5 cents per minute) or $27.92 using eight $2.99 days (“Power” at 2 cents per minute) with various expirations
• No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but 450 minutes for $39.99)

200 anytime minutes per month with T-Mobile:

• $28 using eight $1 pay-by-the-day days at 10 cents per minute
• No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but 300 minutes for $29.99)

200 anytime minutes with Tracfone:

• $39.99 with no contract and 90 days of service
• No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but 150 minutes for $29.99 per month)

Wireless Roaming: Do You Get Free U.S. Roaming?

In the world of cell phones, wireless roaming has undergone a paradigm shift.

What used to be pricey (i.e. 40 cents per minute when you roam off your carrier’s network) is often free these days as a selling point for you to stick completely with your particular carrier.

But how do you know if roaming is free with your plan and at your specific carrier? What about international roaming?

This new guide breaks wireless roaming down by these carriers: Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, prepaid wireless carrier Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, MetroPCS and Virgin Mobile.

Paradigm Shift With Wireless Roaming: Free vs. Fee

Just like additional minutes beyond your plan’s allowance, wireless roaming used to be a costly land mine for consumers and a heavenly gold mine for the carriers.

In today’s cutthroat-competitive environment where you have more choices than ever before, though, your cell phone dollar is more valuable to the carriers than ever before, too.

That means they’ve made concessions they haven’t been willing to in the past in order to attract and keep your business.

The landscape for wireless roaming has changed dramatically over the years in what can be viewed as a paradigm shift.

Despite the major change, the consumer benefit hasn’t been well advertised by the carriers nor has it been well documented in the press.

What used to be a dangerously expensive alert on your cell phone in many cases has now become a free amenity. International roaming, though, still typically costs per minute and can be quite pricey.

So, how do you know if your carrier offers free roaming and if your plan has the feature? This article will guide you on the latest with wireless roaming (or off-network coverage) for your specific carrier.

What is Roaming?

Before we delve into the roaming policy at your carrier, let’s first be clear about exactly what wireless roaming is and what it means to you.

While the term “roaming” originates from GSM technology (which is used by T-Mobile and AT&T), so can it be applied to CDMA technology (which is used by Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Virgin Mobile). Said simply, roaming is when you’re using a cell phone tower that’s not owned by your cell phone service carrier.

You can think of roaming like this: Say your carrier is Sprint and you’re in an area with a weak signal. Say you switch to roaming (either automatically or manually) to improve your signal because Verizon Wireless, for example, has stronger coverage there.

When you’re roaming, you’re temporarily using a Verizon Wireless tower while your primary carrier still is Sprint. Sprint and Verizon Wireless handle the billing complexities for you.

Since no carrier has perfect coverage everywhere, carriers strike roaming agreements with others to help fill in their coverage gaps. Your cell phone will typically do an effective job of telling you when you’re roaming. Many cell phones even have “roaming guards”.

Such a guard prevents you from inadvertently switching to roaming if you didn’t want to incur such charges. Many phones allow you to use your carrier’s network only, roaming only or you can switch automatically between the two based on which has the strongest signal.

Is Your Roaming Free?

Roaming used to cost 30 to 40 cents per minute. Roaming includes making and receiving calls, text messaging and using data services while outside your carrier’s network.

Roaming fees can add up quickly. There’s perhaps no cell phone nightmare more ghoulish than expecting your monthly bill to be, for example, $50 but one rudely knocks you upside your head at $200. Perhaps you incurred costly fees for going over your plan allowance, extra text messages, roaming minutes or data charges.

When it comes to roaming, you can save yourself a potentially exploded artery by being empowered with your carrier’s current roaming policy. The list below outlines the roaming policies for the major cell phone service carriers.

More specifically, this guide covers the roaming policies for Sprint, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, prepaid wireless carrier Boost Mobile, unlimited wireless carrier Cricket Wireless, unlimited wireless carrier MetroPCS and pay-as-you-go wireless carrier

• Virgin Mobile. Sprint: Read the simplified Sprint roaming policy on About.com.
• Verizon Wireless: Read the simplified Verizon Wireless roaming policy on About.com.
• AT&T: Read the simplified AT&T roaming policy on About.com.
• T-Mobile: Read the simplified T-Mobile roaming policy on About.com.
• Boost Mobile: Read the simplified Boost Mobile roaming policy on About.com.
• Cricket Wireless: Read the simplified Cricket Wireless roaming policy on About.com.
• Virgin Mobile: Read the simplified Virgin Mobile roaming policy on About.com.
• MetroPCS: Read the simplified MetroPCS roaming policy on About.com.

Mobile Phone Insurance

1. Loss - If you lose your phone it is covered. This is usually not covered by other phone insurance providers yet 1.6 MILLION phones are lost each year
2. Theft - Get protected in case your phone is stolen. More and more phones and gadgets are being stolen every year - Over 1.3 MILLION phones are stolen every year according to Police figures.
3. Damage - If your phone is damaged, get it either repaired or replaced. If it is possible to repair it, we will. If not, we will replace it. One of the biggest killers of phones is actually...
4. Water Damage - Over 1.2 MILLION phones each year are killed by water damage - whether dropped in drinks, dropped down the loo or they just got wet.
5. Extended Warranty - If you phone just goes 'wrong' - if it just stops working - it is covered. Maybe the screen stops working, or the phone 'brain' doesnt work any more ie if the phone stops doing what it should - it is covered.
6. Fraudulent Calls - If your phone is fraudulently used - say someone steals your phone and starts using your phone so they get 'free' calls - why should you pick up their bills? We offer proper fraudulent call cover - unlike others. Click for details.
7. International Cover - When you go abroad - whether on holiday or a short work trip away - you need to know that your phone is still covererd. Order your mobile phone insurance securely online here and it is!

iPhone Jailbreak Applications

Are you a person who has great passion for mobile phones? Then the best option for you is the latest iphone that was launched recently. This iphone is being sold like hot cakes in the mobile market. The reason is because of its great features. The best feature that it displays is the capacity to play a large number of games and other amazing capabilities. With every latest version of the iPhone, you are provided with a latest Jailbreak version software and this brings a sigh of relief because with a jailbreak iPhone will be free from tether to T and AT as carrier.

This type of Jailbroken iPhone is very handy to use. It makes your job easy to store and later search for the information as it helps you to create separate folders. This in turn will help you to arrange things in a much better way on the multi screens available and access in a more comfortable style. There are a number of ways to arrange or organize things and you can chose the best one which is convenient to you.

By getting a Pda net you can turn your iPhone into Wi-Fi router. Thus jailbroken iPhones can add applications like Palm operating system phones, Pda net and window mobile phone. Pda net will help your system to surf Internet in a wireless fashion with the help of iPhone data collection. Thus ones you own an iPhone then anywhere you travel you can be connected to people this way. There is even chat service for the I Phone, which is offered by fringe and several other variety of networks can be used and it also allows you to use Skype and other networks making a way to call over Wi-Fi. Anther application of the iPhone is the full screen application mode. One more interesting feature is the Backgrounder hacking that provides you to run your work or other data in the background.

The apple company is planning to introduce the beta version number 4 of firmware 2.1 and till it will be launched the Gaizin is the widely used one for the jailbroken iPhones. Upgrading the latest version is also a very easy job in iPhone. With so many facilities and built in features in your hand don’t you think your daily chores and professional work is just too easy to handle and at the same time interesting to move on?

Free Wifi Access from At&T hotspots for Apple iphone

Apple iPhone users who are subscribed to telecom service using AT&T would be really happy now because AT&T has setup 17000 hotspots across the country to make sure that all their iPhone users are offered with free internet. This is also available at most starbucks and it looks like this offer would enable everyone with free internet and make all the iphone users proud.

This service is applicable to all the users who have opted for 3 years contract and are using AT&T service. Finally there is some advantage of using the iPhone Brick.

Print Apple iPhone Photos Directly from Phone

Always confused how you can take print out of the photos on iphone? Then you need to get the HP iTouch which is a application installed on your Apple iPhone or iPod Touch and allows you to take print out of photos anywhere anytime.

This is a Application for your Apple iphone which when installed on your Apple iPhone adds up a short cut named as ‘iPrint’ with a very easy printing option to take a print out. The tool allows you to take wireless print outs of 4″x6″ size directly from your iPhone which is something like the wireless printers technology.

In order to install this application on your iPhone you need to have Apple iTunes application on your computer connecting to which you can setup.

Apple iPhone Nano Photos & Review

Chinese handsets have flooded the mobile phone markets with clones of all the famous brands and hot selling models/handsets. Out of these the latest handset which is getting into the top charts is the ‘iPhone Nano’ and we cannot expect this to be a product of Apple because there are no news from Apple about such a handset and this is clearly a clone which can be available for somewhere around 100USD.

Here are some photos which i had found on multiple websites which can give you a idea on the size of the handset. The original iPhone is a complete touch screen device and there are claims that this mini iphone would also have the same features but with a small size which can be easily handled by anyone especially women who look for mini devices than those bulky shaped ones. The most amazing thing is that because the official model is released, the clones are available in the market and their color silicon cases are also available.

How to Send iPhone Photos to/as Email

Whenever you take a nice snap in your Apple iPhone you would be looking to take a print out or else transfer this photo to your computer and for this either you need to sync the photos or else transfer the photo via email to your computer. Here is a small tutorial on how i did this process.

First of all i went to the settings option of my iphone and seleted the ‘Mail, Contacts & Calendars’ option, where in you have the option to Add Account… , which you need to click and select the email client which you mainly use out of the available options like Microsoft Exchange, mobileme, Googlemail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL and others. I selected the gmail service and added my email logins after which it was authenticated and then the name of the email was listed under the Accounts menu.

Here in you also have the option to change the Mail settings with a option to show 25/50/75/100/200 Recent Messages, number of lines you can preview, font size of the emails and other options. You can set these up based on your requirements.

 

Next access your Photos section and select the photo you want to send as a email, click on the specific photo and you will find a small arrow on the left-bottom which when clicked would ask you to either ‘Use as Wallpaper’ , ‘Email Photo’ or ‘Assign to Contact’. Here select the email photo option, which asks you the email address of the reciptant, Cc/Bcc & subject which you need to fill in and click on send. If the internet is connected the photo is sent as a email attachment instantly to the specified email with your email which you assigned under the settings.

Thats it , you are now able to send in your beautiful snaps you took with your iphone directly to your email and send it to your friends and relatives.

Worldwide cellphone use hits 60 percent, developing nations largely to thank

Outfits like Nokia have been just rolling in profits from selling oodles of low margin handsets in developing nations across the globe, so it's no shock at all to hear that those very countries have propelled the worldwide usage tally well above the 50 percent mark. According to a wide-ranging United Nations report, around six in ten people across the globe now use mobile phones, and as expected, fixed line subscriptions have increased at a much slower pace. If you're wondering just how significant this figure really is, chew on this: in 2002, just under 15 percent of the global population used a cellie. Impressive, eh?

Meizu looking to CDMA and China-centric 3G with M8 successor

We've barely had time to digest the fact that real, actual, honest-to-goodness Meizu M8s are now available at the odd retail outlet around the globe, and Meizu's famously colorful CEO is already spouting off about a successor. Talk about a buzzkill, eh? Jack Wong made an off-the-cuff remark in a forum post today about the M9 in two flavors -- M9c for CDMA networks and M9t for China's 3G TD-SCDMA networks -- but beyond that, he's said nothing about specs or availability. Odds are, we can expect a good 18-24 months of teasers, missed launches, and brushes with vaporware status before either model actually launches, so if you had your heart set on an M8, seriously, don't feel bad about taking the plunge.

Is this Motorola's Android-powered Touch ZINE HD?

Better shots and rumored specs have emerged of that mysterious Moto slate we saw a few days back, and if this all checks out, it's pretty much exactly what Motorola needs to be doing to earn the gadget-loving world's respect and admiration right now -- but there are a few holes in the story that have us concerned. First off, it's alleged that this monster is going to be called the Touch ZINE HD, and considering the phone's uncanny resemblance to HTC's Touch HD, the name seems a little too close for comfort. Secondly, it's said that it'll do 1080p video playback via HDMI, but the collection of leaked images shows the phone connected to a composite RCA cable, which isn't gonna cut it for 1080p -- and we're not buying that the display itself is going to be capable of that kind of resolution. That all being said, let's suspend reality for just a moment and enjoy this list of monstrous specs: Android, Tegra, 5 megapixel cam with HD video, and 16GB of onboard storage. Moto, let's put it this way: if this isn't real, can whatever it is you're working on right this second and do precisely this instead.

Woman Finds Cell Phone in Bag of Potato Chips

While not nearly as disgusting as finding a Band-Aid or (gag) a human finger in your food, we still understand why Emma Schweiger of Wisconsin was a little perturbed to find an aging Nokia cell phone in her bag of Clancy's Ripple Potato Chips.

Schweiger was absentmindedly munching away on her salty snack when she felt something hard, and a tad misshapen, in the bottom of her bag of chips. After the mild heart attack subsided, she removed from the bag what appears to be a Nokia 6810. The messaging phone from 2004 wouldn't turn on, but still held a T-Mobile SIM card captive in its innards.

The store where Schweiger bought the chips has pulled all of the bags of Clancy's with the same expiration date and offered her a replacement bag, but she's feeling a little turned off of potato chips for the moment. We wonder if she would have been just as disgusted if it had been an iPhone instead of a five year-old POS

Choosing a good cell phone company for college

If you don’t already have a cell phone, you’re definitely going to want one before college. Cell phones are extremely useful nowadays, and if you don’t have one, you’re going to be surprised at how frequently you’re inconvenienced.

You may already have a plan that you’re going to continue, but if you’re open to the idea of a new phone and/or provider, you should definitely make sure you make the right choice.

Depending on where you go to school, the providers that you believe are best may not necessarily be the best choice. I use Verizon — a network that’s normally considered to be very reliable — yet I get the worst service here. Text messages rarely send and calls won’t always go through. That’s only around my dorm, but that’s still a giant inconvenience.

Try your phone out on campus.

If you’re going up for orientation or just to visit, bring your phone up and try to make a few calls while on campus. Get an idea of how good the signal is. Don’t just count the number of bars you have — actually try out your phone and make sure it seems to be reliable. Walk around different spots. If you have an idea where you’ll be living, try your phone out around there especially.

Talk to current students.

If you know somebody who already attends the school, ask him or her if there’s anything you should know about phone providers before you attend the school. If you don’t know anybody, just approach a random person while on campus or add a random person from the school on Facebook or MySpace and ask them quickly.

Having a phone is very essential, and if your phone never works, it’s just as bad as not having a phone at all. Make sure that you’re going to be getting the most for your money and making the best choice about what plan to have.

Cell Phone Ringtones That Define Your Style

Nowadays, you can have your preferred ringtone alert you when you have an incoming call or even when you receive a new message depending on your style and taste. You may want the old-hat monophonic tone which is based on the Ring Tone Text Transfer Language (RTTTL) format. Or do you belong to the new-school to whom today's realtones or truetones are much more appealing and desirable? Whatever your choice, the good thing is that you can make a bold statement about your style with whatever ringtone you choose.

The mobile phone has developed a lot and along with this development, it is now possible to fully customize your cell phone and do it yourself without help from a tekki. What you really need to understand before you begin looking for your desired ringtone is the various types of tones. This is to prevent wasting time finding a ringtone that would not work with your cell phone because of compatibility issues.

The monophonic ringtones is the first development of mobile phone ringtones. A monophonic ringtone, as the name shows, consist of a single note. In other words, it can only play one sound at a time.. If you have a Nokia 3310 or an older phone, then your only choice of ringtone is the monophonic since this is the only type that is compatible with phones like this. When compared with the real old-school chirps and chime of much older mobile phones, the monophonic ringtone is a genius. If nothing else, it lets you to play a favorite song as your ringtone.

But how does it feel hearing a ringtone consisting of only one note? If you're like most people, then you would get bored in no time. No wonder the development of monophonic to polyphonic ringtones. Like the name implies, a polyphonic ringtone can play more than one note at a time. With polyphonic ringtones, you can enjoy any of your preferred songs. No wonder polyphonic cell phones outnumber monophonic cell phones these days. 

But polyphonic ringtones are not the must advanced. Realtones, also called truetones make polyphonic ringtones look like child's play. The latest development of ringtones are the realtones. A realtone is simply an audio recording usually in MP3, WAV or WMA format. Compared with it's rivals, realtones are much more advance. It's output is radio-quality, ringtones at their very best. For you to use realtones, your phone must be capable of playing whole music along with complete vocals and all musical accompaniments.

You can get incoming call alerts in style. Your taste and cell phone model can determine what ringtone you choose. You can get the latest ringtones either by visiting popular sites that offer these services or by doing a simple search on the Internet. You can have any song by your preferred artist or some special tunes that would have your friends crack up with laughter. Whatever you choose as your ringtones, remember that your choice helps define your style and taste, and also make utilizing your cellular phone a thing of joy.