Dispelling Cell Phone MythsNov 30 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Cellular Phones
The Bottom Line Choose your service provider first.
I have decided to write this review as a follow up to my related review on How To Choose The Right Type Of Mobile Service Plan,at http://www.epinions.com/content_1595449476, because I have seen a lot of erroneous information that people have been giving about how to choose a wireless phone. I felt that there are a lot of myths and misconceptions when it comes to choosing what wireless equipment to purchase. Following bad advice could simply just cause some inconvenience while some other advice I have seen here could cause one a lot of embarrassment or even unnecessary costs. Let us now expose the myths. Decide what phone you want then find a service provider that carries that model. This has to be probably some of the worst advice I have ever seen when it comes to buying a wireless phone, yet it seems to be how most people go about shopping for wireless service. When I am on location at a call center of a wireless company, you would not believe how many calls I hear where people are asking ’..do you have the Motorola V60..? (you can insert any brand and model of phone here.) I can just see this person calling around to 3-4 different providers and choosing whom to go with based solely on what phones they have. For a few people with specific needs this may be the best idea, but for a majority of people you should start your search in exactly the opposite direction. The reality is, when choosing what mobile phone to buy, it is more important to find a service provider that meets your needs first and only then choose the actual phone equipment. For the most part, the equipment you buy is only as good as the service provider you choose. Service quality has almost everything to do with your service provider, and very little to do with the actual equipment you are using. For example, on a Nokia 5185, you will find the same CDMA digital transmission chip as you would in a Kyocera 3035. This is because there are only a couple of companies that make the transmission chips for all of the different brands of phones. Another key factor to this point is that here in the US, the government has restricted the transmission power of any handheld phone, either digital or analog, to transmit at a maximum of 6/10ths of a watt. Every manufacturer that I have dealt with takes full advantage of the 6/10th rule. Instead of first focusing on what equipment you want, think about what you want out of your service. Where are you going to use your phone? How much are you going to use it? What type of digital service is best for you? The biggest factor in choosing your phone is what technology to go with. Choosing the right type of technology can make the difference between being able to use your phone, or being stuck with out service. The three main types of digital technology in the US are: CDMA CDMA is a digital technology that splits up each conversation into small bandwidth channels. CDMA is the most common digital service sold in the U.S. and is what is carried by service providers such as: Verizon, Cingular, and Alltel. PCS service, such as what Sprint uses, uses CDMA as it’s underlying technology, but works at a different frequency than the aforementioned carriers. Because the greatest number of carriers through out the country use CDMA, CDMA technology has the largest current footprint of coverage. GSM GSM is the most common used wireless service through out the world. For our readers in Asia and Europe, this is almost your only choice in wireless service. In the U.S., however, GSM is the least carried digital service. Only Voicestream and Nextel use GSM service, and its coverage is limited to the areas that these companies are licensed to service. The only reason I would recommend anyone who lives in the U.S. choose GSM digital service, is if they travel around the world a lot. If you spend any amount of time out of the country, and wish to use a cellular phone, GSM is almost your only choice. The unfortunate part about GSM service is that it is very limited in the U.S. Both AT&T and Cingular are considering converting their networks over to a GSM type system with in the next few years. TDMA TDMA is a digital service that compresses many conversations onto the same frequency, separating each packet of data by microseconds of time. AT&T is the primary carrier of TDMA service, and jumped on this technology because of the ease of co-locating TDMA equipment alongside their existing analog service. The biggest drawback of TDMA service is that the more customers a carrier has, the worse this service becomes. Because the technology breaks down each conversation into packets of time, the busier the service, the more the signal becomes degraded. This is the only type of wireless service that I know of that is actually worse in larger cities, than it is in rural areas. I would only recommend choosing a carrier that uses TDMA digital if you have a lot of positive recommendations from people in your area, as to the quality of the service, and you do not travel much. Most carriers that currently use TDMA are in the process of either converting to a 3rd generation CDMA2000 or GSM type of service. No matter what type of service you choose, you will most likely be able to find almost identical equipment from a TDMA carrier as one would a CDMA carrier. Most of the major manufacturers like Motorola or Nokia make identical models of phones that will work on different networks. For example, Motorola makes a V60 for the CDMA network and a V60t for the TDMA network. The phones in all respects are identical with only the actual digital frequency changing between the two. Even if you have your heart set on a certain model of phone, you will most likely find something almost identical with a different carrier. There are a few notable exceptions to this advice. The most notable is the direct-connect feature that is found on a few models of phones. If this is a feature that you need, you will be limited to just a couple of options of service carriers who support this feature. The other exception would be if you needed a specific model of phone that would work with satellite service. Here, you are limited to just a single carrier choice available in the US. Go with what is on sale.. There is no reason at all to spend $300 on a phone.. When shopping for a wireless phone there is a unique paradox that many people do not know about. The paradox is that you get what you pay for, and price means nothing. For the consumer, finding the right balance of price and features can sometimes be a confusing prospect. The old adage that you ‘get what you pay for’ is quite true as a general rule, however what you pay for is not always consistent. The cost of phones can actually vary widely depending on where you buy your phone as well as when you buy it. Anytime you see a phone advertised at $1.00 or $100.00 dollars you can bet that the carrier paid about $150-$200 more than the advertised cost for that equipment. The loss that a carrier takes on a phone is accounted for in their ‘cost to acquire’ (CTA) as would be advertising and sales personnel’s salaries. Most companies generally shoot to have a total CTA in the neighborhood of about $350.00, or an average of 9 months service. You will notice major differences in what phones are given as promotional equipment or at a special price depending on the carrier you choose as well as the quarter. The best time to get the lowest prices on equipment is generally at the end of the 2nd or 3rd quarter, or at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Unlike what another reviewer wrote, you will not run into trouble if you buy a phone at the end of the month. While that reviewer may have some unscrupulous sales personnel working for him, most wireless providers keep a very tight reign on their CHURN numbers (the amount of customers who cancel versus activate service, and are quite concerned about accurate information being given out. Most wireless providers do care about giving you accurate information, however, the consumer should always educate themselves and read their contracts fully. Some companies, in order to keep costs down, have even been known to sell ‘refurbished’ equipment as new. This is just one more reason why it is important to first choose a service provider that you trust then to find the equipment that is best for what you want. Smaller is better. There is one reason why I start most of my wireless equipment reviews with a section on the ergonomics of the phone. Most people seem to gravitate toward the smallest or lightest phones. In some cases, these phones may be the best for them, however in many cases, choosing the smallest and lightest phone will do nothing more than give you a cramp. I would suggest that when you a choosing a phone to buy, the first thing you do is actually pick up the different phones and hold them like you would when you are making a phone call. Most people are surprised to find that the lighter the phone, the more uncomfortable it is to hold. I have found the perfect balance of a small phone with some weight to it is the Motorola V60. Motorola actually made this phone larger than their previous ‘Vader’ models and I have found that it is much more comfortable to hold. The V60 is also a heavier phone than most phones of a similar size. This is because Motorola has moved away from the cheap, light, plastic cases and built this phone with a durable metal case. To contrast this, the Nokia 8890 is one of the lightest phones available (3 ounces versus the V60’s 5 ounces) yet I feel it is one of the least comfortable to hold. I actually have a beta model of a phone on my desk now that is built into a wrist watch. This TDMA digital phone will be the smallest ever sold, however, this has got to be the most difficult phone to use as well. Sadly, however, I have a feeling that whey these phones start selling on the open market next year, they will be popular solely based on their size. Basically, don’t just go for the smallest phone, find the phone that you are comfortable with using. Accessorize Something I find quite funny whenever I am visiting a retail location or a mall kiosk is everyone hovering around the multi-colored faceplates. I have seen many people make their phone decisions strictly based on the color of the faceplate. All this does is cause people to first, not think about the phone they are getting, and secondly, find the need to buy a different faceplate as soon as they become bored with the color of the one they have. While I do not discount many people’s need to choose a phone to ‘coordinate’ with their outfits, something as trivial as the color of your phone should take second to your actually being able to use the phone. In regards to accessories, I would suggest that with any phone you purchase, you make sure that it is compatible with some sort of hands-free speakerphone kit. Many cities and states are making it illegal to talk on the phone while driving with out one of these kits. In a town close to where I live, they are handing out $750.00 fines left and right. Not only is using a hands-free kit safer, it can save you money. One accessory that I am asked a lot about are the little ‘stick on antennas’ that you see on TV. These do about as much as improving your reception as standing on your head. Don’t let anyone con you into buying one of these. The more features the better. As you will see in a lot of reviews on Epinions, a lot of people focus on the ease of use of a phone. Many manufactures have put everything into a cell phone from a PDA to a digital camera. Instead of being ‘wooed’ by all of these features, really consider how many you will actually use. The problem is that many features are just plain inconvenient to use on a cellular platform. I have decided to make your feature decision as simple as possible. The three most important features to look for that are most overlooked: 1. Caller ID Compatibility. Surprisingly not all phones are compatible with every service’s caller id system. If you plan to use caller-id on your cell phone, make sure that the phone will work with that carrier’s caller id service. 2. Alpha-Numeric Address Book: It is much easier to scroll through any phone numbers you have stored on your phone by looking at the names versus trying to remember who's number is whose. 3. Locking Key Pad: Prevent any unauthorized use on your phone. The three, mostly useless, and overrated, features, that everyone wants. 1. Games: These will keep the average 5-year olds attention for about 10 minutes. For the rest of us it is just a drain on our battery life. 2. Downloadable Ring Tones: Mostly these are annoying. Downloadable ring tones are also overrated as there are very few phones in the US that are compatible with these services. Did I mention they are annoying? 3. Internal PDA Functions: By the time you go through entering your appointments on the numeric keypad, you will have missed your appointments. These are so inefficient that they defeat their time management purpose. It is important that I note that there is a difference between a cell phone with PDA functions and a PDA with cell phone functions (those are somewhat more useful). So what is the most important thing one should look for in a wireless phone? Out of everything there is to choose from in a wireless phone, the one thing I would look for above everything else is multi-network compatibility. Many wireless companies will sometimes call these phones ‘Tri-mode’ phones. Basically these phones will work whether you are on different digital or analog networks. I feel that the most important part of choosing a wireless phone or service is actually finding something that will work when you need it. With a multi-network phone, even if your main service provider uses 800mhz CDMA digital, it will still work if analog service is the only thing around. Choose Wisely As many of my regular readers know, I work for a company that provides service systems for many of the major wireless players so I have no specific dedication to any one carrier. I do, however, have some favorite carriers and phones solely based on experience and seeing how they operate ‘behind the scenes.’ With that said, I suggest that anyone shopping for wireless service educate themselves as much as possible and not just buy on a ‘whim’. For further reference check out some of my other reviews: How to avoid a $10,000.00 phone bill: http://www.epinions.com/content_1595449476 Alltel Wireless Service, The Good: http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-1D8F-1CACB77A-3A06CD63-prod5 Cricket Wireless, The Bad: http://www.epinions.com/content_35503443588 Motorola V60c, My Top Rated Phone: http://www.epinions.com/content_29249277572 Links to other wireless reviews can be found on my profile page.  |
| Read all comments (6)|Write your own comment |
