Cell Phone Buyer’s Guide

Tech-Connect Communitytech-connect@collab.itc.virginia.edu

Presented by:Zeke Crater

University Library

Personal Versus UVa Phones

This session is aimed primarily at personal cell phone selection

For UVa cell phone selection, please see http://www.itc.virginia.edu/commserv/telephone/cell.html

Cell Phone Buyers’ Guide

Intended Use

Emergency onlyCasual useLand line replacementBusiness phone replacementTextingWeb browsingGamingEmail

TCO over the term of the contractRegarding price, concentrate on

total cost of ownership, not initial cost

If purchasing an extended warranty or insurance, know exactly what is covered and what are the deductibles

Trust not the sales representative. Get it in writing.

Prepaid Cell Phones For light use of 30 minutes or so per

month, prepaid cell phones probably have the lowest total cost of ownership

Independent Prepaid / No Contract Tracfone / Net10 Virgin Mobile MetroPCS

Carrier Prepaid / No Contract AT&T GoPhone Verizon Prepaid T-Mobile To Go Sprint Boost Mobile

Wireless Carrier

Carrier is almost always more important to your satisfaction than is the phone hardware

Coverage is carrier relatedSome phones are carrier specificHowever, no cell carrier is good at

customer satisfactionSome are less bad (Verizon and T-

Mobile)

Wireless Carrier Market Share

Carrier Customers

Verizon 91 Million

AT&T 83 Million

Sprint 48 Million

T-Mobile 33 Million

TracFone 14 Million

US Cellular 6 Million

Selecting Your Carrier and Plan

There are many websites to help select your carrier and plan http://www.myrateplan.com/ http://www.letstalk.com/cell-phone-plan

sKnowing your usage pattern (how

many minutes during which hours at which locations) is key to getting the best price

USA Versus WorldUSA cell phone monthly rates subsidize

the cell phone purchaseOne can purchase an unlocked cell

phone and use on a carrier without a contract (often called “month to month”), but USA rates are high enough to make a $200 phone “free” every two years

GSM versus CDMA Verizon and Sprint are CDMA AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM

USA Versus World IIMulti-band (dual, tri, quad) refers to

frequencies supported by the phoneMulti-mode refers to type of

transmission technology used on the frequency (1G AMPS, 2G TDMA, CDMA2000, UMTS) For example, the iPhone and Nexus One both

support quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz), tri-band UMTS (I/II/V or 2100/1900/850MHz on iPhone, I/IV/VIII or 2100/1700/900MHz on Nexus One), single-band WiFi (2.4GHz) and single-band Bluetooth (2.4GHz), thus supporting four modes

Handset differences Great differences between phone

manufacturers and phone models in: Signal strength Call quality Microphone volume Earpiece volume Know and understand the no fault return

policy Test the phone during this brief period Do not be afraid to return the phone for a

full refund

Dumb Phone ConsiderationsCarrier, carrier, carrierHandset voice quality, both

microphone and speakerAre the buttons and display big and

clear enough? In bright sunlight?Signal and transmission strengthCamera and sending / receiving

picturesBattery lifeData security

Smart Phone Expectations

Expect to miss several meetings per year because calendar synchronization is hard

Finger (ungloved) versus stylus touch screens

“High” speed data coverage area is different than voice coverage area

US Phone Operating Systems

  October 2009

Non-Smart Phone 196,773,054

RIM Blackberry 14,963,238

Apple iPhone 8,970,049

Microsoft Windows Mobile 7,131,797

PalmOS / WebOS 2,843,534

Symbian 1,297,965

Google Android 1,020,364

Source: ComScore survey

Smart Phone Considerations

In addition to the dumb phone considerations Do you need a data plan? Will the phone sync to your email and

calendar systems? With full feature support?

Do you need or want tethering? Replace MP3 player? What does “unlimited” legally mean? Wi-Fi support GPS and compass

Picking The Monthly Calling Plan The cost of exceeding your plan limits

(prime time minutes, evening minutes, weekend minutes, calls out of network, text messages) are often high ($10-$1000)

Know whether you can increase or decrease to the next calling plan tier without penalty or restarting your contract length

Regional versus national versus international plans

With multiple cell phones, consider getting a family plan

Carrier Store Versus Authorized RetailerPhone price differences Incentives / sales differencesDifferent warranty, extended

warranty, and insurance offers I would like to say expertise

differenceGenerally, a non-carrier seller will

have little to no relationship with you after the sale

Also buy… Accessories

Car charger? Second wall charger? Holster? Wired headset? Wireless headset? Faceplates? Screen protectors? Styli?

Consider buying these two weeks later, once you know your phone usage patterns

Exercise Caution

Teenagers Texting overages Data overages

Ringtone or other purchases via phone can entail nasty ongoing charges – know and trust your vendor

Purchases are made in Europe and Japan with cell phones Text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate

Exercise Your Rights Telephone number portability – take your

telephone numbers with you Unlock a cell phone after the contract

ends - use your phone on a different carrier’s network

UVa Employee Discounts

Many if not all carriers give a discount off monthly charges to UVa employees

Often a salesperson tells you there is no UVa discount – this is untrue

Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint all have UVa employee discounts

Cell Phone Buyer’s Guide Did we cover it all?

Prepaid or monthly? Solo or family plan? Smart Phone or FIYP (Fits In Your

Pocket)? Subsidized or unlocked? Which cell phone company is least bad? Do you even need a cell phone?

Questions?