Cell Phone Plans

Choosing Cell Phone Plans

To choose a cell phone plan:
It starts with how you are going to use your wireless cell telephone.
Ask yourself some questions about frequency of use and your other needs to determine the best cellular phone plan:

What time of day will I be making most of my calls?
This can be a real money-saving decision. Most carriers/providers operate at or near capacity during peak-business-hours and they won't hesitate to charge users for every second they tie up a circuit.
If you use your cell telephone heavily at night and on weekends, many carriers cater to that need by offering off-peak specials of 300, 500 or more minutes of evening and weekend calling for a nominal fee with the purchase of a standard calling plan.
This can save you money, but be careful because different carriers define peak, off-peak and weekend hours differently.

- how long last most calls?
- will I use my cell telephone for long distance calls?
- how often do I travel outside my home calling area?

It's almost always better to choose a plan with too many minutes, rather than not enough. There is a higher charge for exceeding the allotted minutes.

On the other hand, if you think you're going to make few calls then you might consider a prepaid plan. Here's more prepaid cell phone info.


And here's info on finding a best value cell phone plan

Cell Phone Plans: Local, Regional, National

Local cell phone plan:
If you use the cell telephone most of the times in your local area you might consider a local plan.

Regional cell phone plan:
If you want to make calls from or to anywhere in your state and maybe neighbouring states (i.e. if you travel frequently), you might consider a regional plan (if those states are covered in the plan).

In exchange for a higher fee, you may have free long distance and free roaming (= when you make and receive calls outside your local service area). So the calls made in the regional area (covered by that plan), do not cost any more than a regular call.

National cell phone plan:
It offers nationwide coverage.
For a higher fee, you pay the regular rate, without the costs for long distance or roaming.
You can also choose for a plan providing free long distance and charging for roaming.

Top of this cell phone plans page.

Family and Share Plans

These plans provide an affordable and effective means to stay in touch with the people who are closest to you. You can link together relatives, friends, loved ones, or anyone you'd like to talk to regularly and stay connected on-the-go for less than you would pay normally!

Family Plans of ATT (at&t)