i don't know anything about cell phones, does anyone know who is a good company to sign with, what kind of plans are good for family plans. what kind of equipment do i need. are there any kind of charges that i should be concered about and how much do they charge. what is the technical ideas in cell phone service, like what the hell is roaming are prepaid plans a good idea, what are the cons and pros how do prepaid plans work what happens if i go over and don't go over the limited minutes are there services for call only then having a special bundle, like not wanting text message and stuff btw, what is a family plan and i need one where the family can use it for family use and for personal use.
I'm afraid I can't help you much with this, it is very specific to the country/state that you reside in. However, I can tell you one or two general things. Roaming: This is when you are outside the coverage area of your 'home network' (the company that you pay for your service) and you are using a different company's service. Your phone will still work as normal, although some fancy features (like watching TV, EDGE/3G/GPRS data services (i.e internet access)) may not be available. Roaming is usually automatic, and the phone will select the best network ('best' in terms of signal strength), if it cannot find your home network. You can tell it is roaming by either a symbol on the screen, or the provider's name on the display is different. The downside to roaming is it costs an absolute fortune. Calls/services that you would not normally be charged for (such as incoming calls in the UK), are charged, and services that are normally charged are charged at a much higher rate. This service is best avoided, unless you really need to roam. Turn your phone off when outside your home network coverage area. Prepaid plans work along the idea of having money 'on the phone'. The exact method varies, basically you 'top-up' your phone with an amount of money, then you use the phone until the money runs out, which is when you put more on. This is ideal for kids, as the parents can control how much the kids use it. (I used to get £10 (roughly $20) on my phone each term) Even now, I use prepaid, because if my phone were to get stolen, I would only lose the money that is on the phone at the time it is stolen. Once that runs out, the thief would have to add money from their own sources. Not just that, but with a contract, you are paying a fixed amount every month, whether you use the phone or not, whereas with prepaid the money is only taken for the amount you use it. Can't really help you much more than this, maybe if you specify what country (and state, if applicable) you are in then someone else may be able to help you.
Ah i think i can help you with some of this information =D Loonylions Info is correct just to verify. What kind of plans are good for family plans - Family Plans =D. They offer you say 4 phones and you all share the ammount of minutes they give you. for example. compnay a has a family plan with 1000 minutes. You get 4 phones and those 4 phones share the 1000 minutes. What kinda equipment so i need - You'll need a cell phone. Some companies offer deal when you sign up with them for a year, you get certian phones for free. The phones suck most of the time. the ones when you sign up for a 2 year plan are better but 2 years! That is all the equipment you'll need. As far as the phone goes, a charger, some people like cases and such. Car charges come seprate. Are there any kinds of charges that i should be concerned about and how much do they charge. - Yes there are a few charges. Roaming is one of them and is really expensive! If you go over you set ammounts of minutes, they charges you some cents per minute. If you don't have a plan with unlimted text, they charge you a few cents per text. some give you 500 texts then charge you. some charge for sending pictures. Some charge for getting on the internet. and stuff like that. What is the technical ideas in cell phone service, like what the hell is roaming - loonylion gave you a description of some. if you like to know what others are post agian. Are prepaid plans a good idea, what are the cons and pros - read Loonylion's post How do prepaid plans work - read Loonylion's post What happens if i go over and don't go over the limited minutes - If you go over. You get charged. If you don't. you don't. Cingular tho has roll over minutes. So if you don't use them, you can use them next month. Are there services for call only then having a special bundle, like not wanting text message and stuff - You would have to look at the plans. Some plans are really cheap with all the extra stuff =D What is a family plan and i need one where the family can use it for family and for personal use - Family plans are just plans you can use a certain ammount of phones for a set ammount of minutes. So if you call your family and other phones also. Here are some services: t-mobile cingular alltell sprint/nextel amp'd mobile helios Hope this helps.
just thought I better add that as a rule you don't get free minutes and stuff with prepaid, you get charged for all use.
i live in nyc, which is of course in the united states of america. how does using the internet and those other features work in a prepaid plan? also, don't you have to buy your own equipment if you plan on using a prepaid plan, i see prepaid plan phones being sold in electronic store (best buy, target, circuit city, etc...)? i'm asking because my home phone is fucked up, i get static (don't know if it's the wiring in the house, possibly the phone box in the basement, or the poles). my phone also some times just dies, i don't get any dial tone at all. i call the tech support to come, but you should know how these people work. currently there is now dial tone in the phone and it's been like this for about a week. i wouldn't be surprise if i have to pay for calling charges (maybe someone is using my line) or for repair charges, even though it's in the contract that i get repair services.
I have a prepaid plan, I don't need free minutes and then a monthly charge, I just pay for my usage which isn't much compared to others my age.
Internet usage depends on what kind of connection you use. Standard modem like use is charged as phone call, GPRS/EDGE/UMTS(3G) is charged per MB (in the UK at least); but dont use a mobile for internet access, its relatively expensive, slow and crap. as for equipment, what tends to happen is with a contract you get a phone with the plan, whereas prepaid you get the plan with the phone concerning your repairs; you stand your ground. If they try to charge you, tell them that repairs are part of your contract and therefore you do not owe them any money. Also say that they should give you compensation for the length of time and inconvenience while they repaired it. Research your consumer protection law and read the small print in your contract. Companies usually give in if they think you know what you're talking about.
are all the prepaid plans the same? i bought a virgin mobile phone during black friday at bestbuy. i bought it because i couldn't get the computer i wanted and wanted to leave the store with something after waiting to get in for nearly 2 hours from 5am in the morning. anyway, i bought the oyster(that's the way they spell it i guess). i checked out their plans and it's that you have to pay 20 dollars regardless if you have minutes or not on your phone. does that rule apply to every prepaid phone company.
They have virgin in the US? IDK what they're like over there, but they're crap in the UK. all my immediate family have them cos they're cheap (I don't) and Im the only one with any signal most of the time (I use Orange) Also, over here virgin arent a real network, they're a T-Mobile reseller.
Ultra, this is where I should help you out =) If you are living in NYC, and want to sign on with a provider, you really have 2 choices. Tmobile Cingular Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, etc, all suck in NYC, so forget them. Depending on where you live, Tmobile is good for outside only. If you plan on talking while your inside, you may expirience low signal/ or garbling on the phone(with tmobile) because they use the 1900mhz network. Now, Cingular on the otherhand, works well everywhere in NYC. Cingular uses 850mhz/1900mhz band, 850mhz works very well while in doors. Both networks are very well built out, as Tmobile bought the old Cingular network, and Cingular uses the old AT&T network. If you want value, go with Tmobile. If you want quality, go with Cingular. Good luck! -Jarrett
Meaning if I was to come to america for an extended period I'd be better off getting a Quad band phone (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) than a tri band (GSM 900/1800/1900), even in areas where a tri-band would work?
If you were traveling internationally, a quad band phone would be needed -- for cingular. Tmobile, would work with tri-band phones, anywhere. ;D
follow up. well we went with cingulars family plan where you can add an additional like for 9.99 and get a free phone with a mail rebate. and there was something like 9.99 where you can have additional services for the other lines[9.99 phone line]. we got the camera flip phone and a pink one [non flip] with music and camera. the flip phone can only make phone calls because we only asked for the basic calling feature since mom, dad me and my second older sister don't have a clue on how to use this thing. the other one is used by my younger sister which sends mail, text and other stuff. the service is okay, we actually do get some drop calls. my mom once called in 34th street where macy's is and she was actually breaking up or low in sound or there was some kind of sluggish speech thing going on. the bills first came about 185+ due to 2 months prepaid or something like that. now the cost is about 80-100 dollars, somewhere there. the problem now is that they gave us our rebates in the form of a debit atm cards which are hell to use. some stores don't accept them or that there is a problem with it where it doesn't accept the pin or something. my second sister purchased the oyster. a liittle piece of crap, but lucky for us it only cost us 9.99 during the early bird best buy special during christmas week. the plan is that you have to continue using this phone by having to purchase the virgin cell phone cards. if you don't use the minutes by 90 days, the number to that cell will be killed. i don't know if it can be reactivated because we don't want to try it. also, the best thing about this phone is that target have specials on buy 2 of them for 30 dollars, you save 5 dollars on a 20 dollar card. all in all, i would say that getting the pay per call is better if you don't make frequent or don't use those fancy features like texting, emailing, etc..
