by Lauren Ice

Created on: May 11, 2009

Cell phone plans get more complicated as time goes by. There are many things to take into consideration when getting a cell phone plan, or even when changing it. While you can ask the representative when you sign up, knowing what you want can save you a lot of money. Ask yourself the following questions before you walk in the store.

Contract or Pre-paid:

1. Will you be using your phone for emergency's only? Do you have poor credit? Are you unwilling to sign a contract? Is the phone for a child or young teenager? If you plan on not using your phone very often, would like to purchase minutes as you go, or the phone is for someone who may not monitor their phone use very well then a pre-paid cell phone or a pay as you go plan would be best for you.

2. Will you be using your phone frequently for business or personal use? Is the phone going to replace your home phone service? Is a cell phone part of your daily life? If you said yes, then you would be best served by a phone plan that includes a contract with a major wireless service provider. These plans include different bundles of minutes and features to meet your needs.

Selecting a contract plan:

1. Individual plan or a family plan? Individual plans have a number of minutes for that phone number to use every month. Family plans have a pool of minutes that are used by all the phones on that plan. For example, if you have a Family plan with 1000 minutes and you have 3 phones on that plan, then those 3 phones have a pool of 1000 minutes to be shared every month, not 1000 minutes per phone.

2. Minutes. If you have never had a cell phone, you may not know how many minutes to get in your plan. Consider if you will add any features (listed below) such as mobile to mobile or friends and family. Most plans include free nights and weekends, so you will actually be calculating how many daytime minutes you will be using. Most companies consider daytime 7:00am-8:59pm. You can change your plan at any time, so if you use more than you thought or have lots of extra minutes every month you can alter the plan to fit you better.

Features to consider:

1. Nights and weekends. While most plans include free nights and weekends, some basic plans may not. Nights are considered 9:00 pm to 6:59 am. Weekends are considered Friday at 9:00 pm until Monday at 6:59 am.

2. Long distance. This is another feature that is generally included in all plans now, but check to make sure it is a feature in the plan

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