Cell Phone Buyer’s Guide

1. Cell Phone Buyer’s Guide Tech-Connect Community tech-connect@collab.itc.virginia.edu Presented by: Zeke Crater University Library

2. 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

3. Cell Phone Buyers’ Guide

4. Intended Use • Emergency only • Casual use • Land line replacement • Business phone replacement • Texting • Web browsing • Gaming • Email

5. TCO over the term of the contract • Regarding 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.

6. 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

7. Wireless Carrier • Carrier is almost always more important to your satisfaction than is the phone hardware • Coverage is carrier related • Some phones are carrier specific • However, no cell carrier is good at customer satisfaction • Some are less bad (Verizon and T-Mobile)

8. Wireless Carrier Market Share

9. 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-plans • Knowing your usage pattern (how many minutes during which hours at which locations) is key to getting the best price

10. USA Versus World • USA cell phone monthly rates subsidize the cell phone purchase • One 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

11. USA Versus World II • Multi-band (dual, tri, quad) refers to frequencies supported by the phone • Multi-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

12. 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

13. Dumb Phone Considerations • Carrier, carrier, carrier • Handset voice quality, both microphone and speaker • Are the buttons and display big and clear enough? In bright sunlight? • Signal and transmission strength • Camera and sending / receiving pictures • Battery life • Data security

14. 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

15. US Phone Operating Systems Source: ComScore survey

16. 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

17. 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

18. Carrier Store Versus Authorized Retailer • Phone price differences • Incentives / sales differences • Different warranty, extended warranty, and insurance offers • I would like to say expertise difference • Generally, a non-carrier seller will have little to no relationship with you after the sale

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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?