Cellular phone packages, especially the ones you find online, have just taken another leap forward in what you get for what you pay. First it was a free cell phone with your service, then came free cell phones with money back. Now you can get free camera phones and still get money back.
But just a second. Won't you have to pay more for your service contract in order to get the freebie camera phones and cash back? Not really. A little secret of the cellular phone business is that the service plans themselves are the same whether you buy from a branded cell phone store, an electronics superstore, a kiosk at the mall, or from an online dealer. In fact, before we go on, go grab the sale ads from your local electronics and cell phone stores. We'll compare the deals.
Online dealers don't have the overhead of physical store locations. They win customers by offering multiple service providers, lots of free phones, and big cash back rebates. This is one time when you might save a bundle by doing your shopping in a store so you can play with the various phones and then placing your order online to get the best deal. Let's see what's available.
A really popular camera phone is the Motorola V300. It's a flip phone with a VGA quality digital camera (640 x480 pixels) and a 65,535 pixel color display screen. There is another display on the outside of the phone that shows date, time, battery life and caller ID. This phone offers email, speakerphone, 2-way text messaging, MIDI and MP3 ringtones, games and even photo caller ID. That's where a picture of the calling party pops up in case the number doesn't ring a bell. You used to pay big bucks to have a camera phone the same size as a small cell phone. Now it comes with the T Mobile Get More 600 Minutes plan for $39.99 a month. You also get an in-car charger, belt clip, and hands free earbud (please, please use this if you need to talk while you drive). Shipping is free, and after the rebates you make $75.
Want an even better deal? Choose the FamilyTime shared plan with 500 minutes a month for $49.99 a month from T Mobile and you'll get TWO Motorola V300 camera phones plus... get ready for this ... $150 back.
Other camera phones are available, too. For instance, chose the Motorola V600 and you get Bluetooth capability added to your phone plus about the same money back. Or get the Sharp T150 Video Phone and you'll be in the movie making business. You can capture up to 15 seconds of video with the built-in megapixel camera. Free? Yes. Money back? Yes.
Other carriers offer free camera phones with their service plans. Sprint has models from Samsung and Audiovox that include built-in flash. Cingular gives you money back with the Sony Ericsson Z500a video phone that has a 4x digital zoom. After the rebates you'll make $80. Or pick a family plan and get that doubled to $160. Verizon features the LG VX3200, and also has Audiovox, Samsung and Motorola models available.
Still think you get the best deals from that guy at the kiosk, the big box electronics supermarkets or the brand-name cellular stores? How much money are you paying up front? After you've mailed in the rebates, are you ahead or behind? Don't sign any contracts until you've checked out the latest free camera phone offers and service plans using the Cell Phone Plans Finder.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Monday, March 21, 2005
Teens should drive now, talk later
The state of Illinois is considering passing a law that would ban use of a cell phone while driving by anyone younger than 18 years old. Driver's education teachers routinely teach their students that they need to keep their full attention on the road. There are so many new skills needed by young drivers and so many demands on their attention that any unnecessary distraction should be avoided. I hope that this bill passes and is signed into law. If we teach our new drivers to get used to driving without cellphones, maybe they will continue that good habit later in life.
Drivers should allow calls to be picked up by voicemail while driving, and they should pull over before initiating any calls. Anything else takes the driver's full attention away from controlling a 2,000+ lb. battering ram being propelled at high speeds down the road mere inches away from other vehicles, buildings and even pedestrians. The slightest error can irrevocably change or end lives in an instant. If this doesn't deserve your full attention, what does?
Drivers should allow calls to be picked up by voicemail while driving, and they should pull over before initiating any calls. Anything else takes the driver's full attention away from controlling a 2,000+ lb. battering ram being propelled at high speeds down the road mere inches away from other vehicles, buildings and even pedestrians. The slightest error can irrevocably change or end lives in an instant. If this doesn't deserve your full attention, what does?
Monday, March 14, 2005
The Copper Rule
Remember the Golden Rule? Oh, you're thinking of the one that says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That's a good way to live, and I often wish that more people observed it. Today though, I'm thinking of what has become known as the Golden Rule of business, "He who has the gold makes the rules."
The telecommunications industry has a similar but unwritten rule that I call The Copper Rule, "He who owns the copper makes the rules." Copper refers to the phone wires that are strung all across the country, whether above you on poles or buried under your front or back yard. Those wires are owned by your main local phone company. Maybe you live in a major metropolitan area where you are served by one of the former "Baby Bell" companies, such as SBC or BellSouth. Perhaps you live in a more rural area where your phone company may be a regional or even smaller company. No matter where you live, there is one phone company in your area that built the original network and strung all the phone lines. They own the copper, and anyone who wants to use their network has to go through them.
What does that mean to you? Well, whenever you need to order new phone service for your home or business, you have to have it installed by whomever is the local phone company in your community. Since they own the lines, they are the only ones who do installations and repairs to their system. You have to sign up with them.
What about competitors? Well, they can provide your minutes, but they have no control over the copper. That's why they will only transfer your existing account. If they accepted an order for new service, they would just have to arrange installation by your local provider anyway. That just causes delays and confusion in case of quality problems, which is why most competitive carriers just won't get into it at this time.
Once you have active landline service from your local phone company, you are generally free to select any long distance provider you want. Even there though, the competing long distance providers have to pay the local company to tie into their network. If you have ever moved from an area served by a huge local provider to a smaller provider, you may have noticed that your rates are higher in smaller areas. It's all about volume. The competitive providers can negotiate better deals for a lot of minutes with a few major phone companies than the many, smaller deals they have to make with all the smaller providers.
You can also transfer your entire bundle of local and long distance service to a competitive carrier. Again, this option is more available, and the rates are better, in larger markets. There is currently a change in the wind though, regarding competitive local phone service. Until now, the FCC controlled the rates that competitive carriers had to pay to lease part of the network. A new rule just went into effect on March 11, 2005, that allows your phone company, known as the incumbent local exchange carrier, to raise the rates they charge to the competing bundled carriers. Also, the competitive carriers will have to change the way they do business. They will have to build their own facilities or change their method of delivering service within the next year.
What does this mean to you today? Well, if you are currently a customer of a competitive carrier, there is no immediate change. Watch your bill for more information from them as they make this transition. If you are considering switching to a competitor, you may have fewer options now. The incumbent local carriers are raising their rates so much higher that some competitors have withdrawn from much of the market.
Remember that if you are a customer of your main local provider, you can change your long distance carrier at any time. Rates are currently as low as 2.7 cents per minute for interstate calls, and instate rates can be even lower. Unless you use more than 10 to 12 hours per month of just long distance calling, a separate long distance plan will save money over a bundled plan.
Check for bundled local and long distance services or separate long distance calling plans from Long Distance Rate Finder.com
If you'd like more background on the change in telecommunications deregulation, read "What's Spooking the ILECs" at Telexplainer.
The telecommunications industry has a similar but unwritten rule that I call The Copper Rule, "He who owns the copper makes the rules." Copper refers to the phone wires that are strung all across the country, whether above you on poles or buried under your front or back yard. Those wires are owned by your main local phone company. Maybe you live in a major metropolitan area where you are served by one of the former "Baby Bell" companies, such as SBC or BellSouth. Perhaps you live in a more rural area where your phone company may be a regional or even smaller company. No matter where you live, there is one phone company in your area that built the original network and strung all the phone lines. They own the copper, and anyone who wants to use their network has to go through them.
What does that mean to you? Well, whenever you need to order new phone service for your home or business, you have to have it installed by whomever is the local phone company in your community. Since they own the lines, they are the only ones who do installations and repairs to their system. You have to sign up with them.
What about competitors? Well, they can provide your minutes, but they have no control over the copper. That's why they will only transfer your existing account. If they accepted an order for new service, they would just have to arrange installation by your local provider anyway. That just causes delays and confusion in case of quality problems, which is why most competitive carriers just won't get into it at this time.
Once you have active landline service from your local phone company, you are generally free to select any long distance provider you want. Even there though, the competing long distance providers have to pay the local company to tie into their network. If you have ever moved from an area served by a huge local provider to a smaller provider, you may have noticed that your rates are higher in smaller areas. It's all about volume. The competitive providers can negotiate better deals for a lot of minutes with a few major phone companies than the many, smaller deals they have to make with all the smaller providers.
You can also transfer your entire bundle of local and long distance service to a competitive carrier. Again, this option is more available, and the rates are better, in larger markets. There is currently a change in the wind though, regarding competitive local phone service. Until now, the FCC controlled the rates that competitive carriers had to pay to lease part of the network. A new rule just went into effect on March 11, 2005, that allows your phone company, known as the incumbent local exchange carrier, to raise the rates they charge to the competing bundled carriers. Also, the competitive carriers will have to change the way they do business. They will have to build their own facilities or change their method of delivering service within the next year.
What does this mean to you today? Well, if you are currently a customer of a competitive carrier, there is no immediate change. Watch your bill for more information from them as they make this transition. If you are considering switching to a competitor, you may have fewer options now. The incumbent local carriers are raising their rates so much higher that some competitors have withdrawn from much of the market.
Remember that if you are a customer of your main local provider, you can change your long distance carrier at any time. Rates are currently as low as 2.7 cents per minute for interstate calls, and instate rates can be even lower. Unless you use more than 10 to 12 hours per month of just long distance calling, a separate long distance plan will save money over a bundled plan.
Check for bundled local and long distance services or separate long distance calling plans from Long Distance Rate Finder.com
If you'd like more background on the change in telecommunications deregulation, read "What's Spooking the ILECs" at Telexplainer.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Golden Ringtones
Adding a new ringtone to your cell phone is an affordable luxury that many people allow themselves. After all, why settle for what Nokia, Samsung, Siemens, Motorola, LG or SonyEricsson build into the phone? Why, you'd sound just like everyone else! We can't have that, can we?
There are a multitude of ringtones available for any taste of music or sound. The original ringtones could only play one note at a time. These are called monophonic ringtones. Newer technology allows for several notes to be played together. This is called polyphonic. These tones sound more like real music. The newest tones are small clips of your favorite songs, environmental sounds, sound effects and more in MP3 format. Since they are not synthesized, like the monophonic and polyphonic tones, they are truly realistic.
Yes, there are ringtones that are not music, such as the Crazy Frog, animal calls, people ordering you to answer your phone and even ringtones of body sounds that we normally try not to release in public! Imagine that one going off in church. Dear Lord!
Need better screensavers or games than what was included with your phone? Get wallpaper, animated screensavers and games downloaded just like the ringtones.
New games and ringtones are very inexpensive. You can sign up for a monthly subscription plan that allows you to download several new tones, games etc. each month for a small fee. You can customize your phone as often as you want.
There are a multitude of ringtones available for any taste of music or sound. The original ringtones could only play one note at a time. These are called monophonic ringtones. Newer technology allows for several notes to be played together. This is called polyphonic. These tones sound more like real music. The newest tones are small clips of your favorite songs, environmental sounds, sound effects and more in MP3 format. Since they are not synthesized, like the monophonic and polyphonic tones, they are truly realistic.
Yes, there are ringtones that are not music, such as the Crazy Frog, animal calls, people ordering you to answer your phone and even ringtones of body sounds that we normally try not to release in public! Imagine that one going off in church. Dear Lord!
Need better screensavers or games than what was included with your phone? Get wallpaper, animated screensavers and games downloaded just like the ringtones.
New games and ringtones are very inexpensive. You can sign up for a monthly subscription plan that allows you to download several new tones, games etc. each month for a small fee. You can customize your phone as often as you want.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Don't hand your data to hackers
Once again, hackers have found an easy way to get personal information. Apparently, although there is usually a 4 digit passcode to access your cellphone voicemail, some cellular providers allow, if not encourage, you to turn off that protection. They claim that you have to initiate the call from your own cell phone to access the account, so that should be enough protection.
Well, that might be ok if they had a better way to ensure that you are actually placing that call from your phone yourself. It has been discovered that the service providers use caller ID to know where the call comes from. Did you know that caller ID can be spoofed? No? Neither did the cell phone companies. Not only is it possible, there's even at least one company offering to do it for commercial customers!
Now, if you need to enter your passcode to access your voicemail and contact list, the hacker spoofing your caller ID is still out of luck. But if your service provider gave you the option to bypass the code, and you accepted the offer, your messages and friends' phone numbers are ripe to be plucked. Not only can an enterprising hacker get your information, a jealous girlfriend/boyfriend or other sneaky friend can do the same.
This is one case where any careful consumer can protect themselves very easily. If you have taken advantage of the "skip passcode" feature on your cellphone, just cancel it. Reinstate a 4 digit passcode and, of course, keep it safe. Please don't use the last 4 digits of your phone number, your address, etc. Even a child would be able to hack those. Choose a code that none of your family or friends could guess, and don't keep a copy anywhere near your phone.
With just 4 digits, you can break the link between clever hackers and foolish service providers.
Note that many T-Mobile and Sprint customers have turned off their passcodes. Verizon and Cingular/AT&T appear to be less vulnerable to this hack because their customers don't have the option to "skip passcode." If you are a customer of any other cell phone company, contact them for more information.
Shop with us for the best cellphone plans with rebates
Well, that might be ok if they had a better way to ensure that you are actually placing that call from your phone yourself. It has been discovered that the service providers use caller ID to know where the call comes from. Did you know that caller ID can be spoofed? No? Neither did the cell phone companies. Not only is it possible, there's even at least one company offering to do it for commercial customers!
Now, if you need to enter your passcode to access your voicemail and contact list, the hacker spoofing your caller ID is still out of luck. But if your service provider gave you the option to bypass the code, and you accepted the offer, your messages and friends' phone numbers are ripe to be plucked. Not only can an enterprising hacker get your information, a jealous girlfriend/boyfriend or other sneaky friend can do the same.
This is one case where any careful consumer can protect themselves very easily. If you have taken advantage of the "skip passcode" feature on your cellphone, just cancel it. Reinstate a 4 digit passcode and, of course, keep it safe. Please don't use the last 4 digits of your phone number, your address, etc. Even a child would be able to hack those. Choose a code that none of your family or friends could guess, and don't keep a copy anywhere near your phone.
With just 4 digits, you can break the link between clever hackers and foolish service providers.
Note that many T-Mobile and Sprint customers have turned off their passcodes. Verizon and Cingular/AT&T appear to be less vulnerable to this hack because their customers don't have the option to "skip passcode." If you are a customer of any other cell phone company, contact them for more information.
Shop with us for the best cellphone plans with rebates
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Ron Reagan agrees with me!
MSNBC - Why no one should be a cell phone driver
I was delighted to stumble into Ron Reagan's post at his Connect blog. He explains far better(and more humorously) than I could why driving while using a cell phone is so dangerous.
Ron has such a quick wit, and his writing style is just like the way he speaks. I really enjoyed watching him on After Hours through the presidential campaign season and beyond. MSNBC wisely gave him his own show, now I just wish it was on when I could watch it. Guess it's time to fire up the DVR!
I was delighted to stumble into Ron Reagan's post at his Connect blog. He explains far better(and more humorously) than I could why driving while using a cell phone is so dangerous.
Ron has such a quick wit, and his writing style is just like the way he speaks. I really enjoyed watching him on After Hours through the presidential campaign season and beyond. MSNBC wisely gave him his own show, now I just wish it was on when I could watch it. Guess it's time to fire up the DVR!
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Cell Phone Use While Driving Increases
NHTSA - Driver Cell Phone Use in 2004
According to a newly released study by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a record high 5% of all drivers use a handheld cell phone while driving during daytime hours. This is up from 4% in 2002 and 3% in 2000. Use is highest among young drivers, age 16 to 24. This age group, who has less experience behind the wheel under all circumstances, is estimated to have approximately 8% of drivers using a hand held cell phone while driving. Usage is lowest in those motorists 70 and above. I wonder whether older drivers are less likely to own/use cellphones or if they prefer to keep their full attention on their driving.
Use of hand held phones appears to be lowest in the Northeast. This may be because there are laws in New York and New Jersey requiring use of a hands free device when talking and driving. Rates of drivers using headsets are much higher in the Northeast, and lowest in the Midwest.
Interestingly, more drivers hold the phone(no pun intended) while driving in urban and rural areas than in the suburbs. Relative percentages of drivers using headsets in these areas are similar, so drivers do not seem to be choosing one over the other. The data is not broken out by urban setting and part of the country. It would be helpful to know whether the urban vs rural breakdown changes in different parts of the country.
Considering that this study suggests that at any moment during the day there are approximately 800,000 motorists who are using a cell phone, either with or without a headset, many of the drivers around you on the road do not have their full attention on their driving. If you are one of those who uses your phone while driving, please think about postponing your call until you have reached your destination and parked. Drive defensively, and then talk on the phone later when you can give your full attention to your conversation.
If you need a new cell phone with a headset remember that the best rebates and lowest out-of-pocket costs are available online. We can provide new contract plans by T-Mobile, Cingular, Nextel and more as well as no contract, no credit check plans by Venture Mobile, OPEX Wireless and Liberty Wireless.
According to a newly released study by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a record high 5% of all drivers use a handheld cell phone while driving during daytime hours. This is up from 4% in 2002 and 3% in 2000. Use is highest among young drivers, age 16 to 24. This age group, who has less experience behind the wheel under all circumstances, is estimated to have approximately 8% of drivers using a hand held cell phone while driving. Usage is lowest in those motorists 70 and above. I wonder whether older drivers are less likely to own/use cellphones or if they prefer to keep their full attention on their driving.
Use of hand held phones appears to be lowest in the Northeast. This may be because there are laws in New York and New Jersey requiring use of a hands free device when talking and driving. Rates of drivers using headsets are much higher in the Northeast, and lowest in the Midwest.
Interestingly, more drivers hold the phone(no pun intended) while driving in urban and rural areas than in the suburbs. Relative percentages of drivers using headsets in these areas are similar, so drivers do not seem to be choosing one over the other. The data is not broken out by urban setting and part of the country. It would be helpful to know whether the urban vs rural breakdown changes in different parts of the country.
Considering that this study suggests that at any moment during the day there are approximately 800,000 motorists who are using a cell phone, either with or without a headset, many of the drivers around you on the road do not have their full attention on their driving. If you are one of those who uses your phone while driving, please think about postponing your call until you have reached your destination and parked. Drive defensively, and then talk on the phone later when you can give your full attention to your conversation.
If you need a new cell phone with a headset remember that the best rebates and lowest out-of-pocket costs are available online. We can provide new contract plans by T-Mobile, Cingular, Nextel and more as well as no contract, no credit check plans by Venture Mobile, OPEX Wireless and Liberty Wireless.
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