by Jo Ann Rangel

Created on: December 06, 2008

When you make the decision to get a cell phone plan, whether it is your first cell phone or maybe you just broke your tenth one and wonder if you can do better before committing to a new cell phone plan, it is always good to take a self inventory of what you want from a plan that will make life less complicated and worth the cost. The following examples illustrate why it is good to take a really close look at what your needs will be and to anticipate having extra wiggle room so you don't end up spending way over your plan each month.

For someone who never had a cell phone before, think about what you really want to use the phone for the majority of the time. For example, you might notice a coworker at your job keeps a cell phone in her purse but she only uses it 99% of the time to check on her daughter at home for a few minutes once a day. This person might choose a prepaid plan and keep a stack of prepaid wireless cards in her purse so she never has to worry about having the phone sit the other 23 hours and 55 minutes out of the day and lose out on using the minutes she paid for.

If a person is more comfortable with technology they might get a regular cell phone plan that is more for text messaging their friends and family than for making phone calls and just pay for the minimum level of free minutes but spends an extra twenty bucks a month for unlimited texting. Folks who want to have internet on a phone or own a Blackberry or an iPhone have to consider the volume cost of the data they are transmitting to and from their device in addition to making sure they have enough free minutes to talk each month.

The difference between "Volume Data" and "Text/Picture Messaging" is measurement. It takes a lot more megabytes to look at a music video on your cell phone than it is to send a text or photo and the idea with a data plan is to charge you a monthly rate for a set amount of data that can be used for uploading and downloading email, videos and MP3s. Usually there is an extra charge per megabyte of data you go over your monthly allowence, which is why you have to consider how much data wiggle room you will need. To illustrate what I mean, go have a look at a visual example of data volume on an iPhone here .

One more thing about cell phone plans; don't think just because the rep at the phone store is recommending a particular model of phone it is because it is the most expensive and has the latest widgets. Most upgrade plans on contracts require you to wait a least

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