Pre-Paid or Post-Paid

When choosing a phone, many people get suckered into something they don't need and end up paying way more than necessary for good service. One way to avoid this problem is to know ahead of time whether you want a prepaid or a postpaid phone service.

What's the difference? Well, the name gives away one clue. For prepaid service, you pay for your service before you use it. For postpaid service, you pay for it after you use it. Leaving the differences there would be unfair though.

How do I know which one to get? Here are a few indicators that will let you decide between the two.

Prepaid -

• You do not want to sign a contract for anything.
• You do not want a credit check, or know you have bad credit.
• You will not use the phone more than 100 minutes per month total.
• This will be an Emergency-only phone.
• You are between the ages of 13-17 and mommy and daddy are making you pay for your own phone.
• Examples of Nationwide Prepaid carriers are Virgin Mobile, GoPhone (AT&T), Tracfone, Net10 (owned by Tracfone), Boost Mobile (Nextel), INpulse (Verizon), Alltel Prepaid, and T-Mobile Prepaid.

Postpaid -

• You will be using the phone regularly.
• You don't mind being under a contract as much as 2 years as long as it's worth the time.
• You want a free phone.
• You have good or decent credit.
• If you have bad credit, you don't mind paying a cash deposit.
• You want multiple phones on the same bill.
• Examples of Nationwide Postpaid carriers are Sprint, Nextel, AT&T (formerly Cingular), Alltel, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

For further questions, try going into a retailer that sells both postpaid and prepaid service and ask them which is better for you. However, keep in mind that most retailers get paid way more for setting you up with postpaid service, so a second opinion couldn't hurt.

What is Bluetooth?

What is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is basically a technology that allows things to connect wirelessly. However, there is more to it than that.

The most common use of Bluetooth is using wireless headsets with cell phones. Any Bluetooth headset will work with any Bluetooth cell phone. The major differences in price are usually based on brand name, battery life, and noise reduction.

Using Bluetooth usually involves two major steps: 1) "Pairing" the two devices. This is basically informing the two devices that they can trust each other. 2) "Connecting" the two devices. This connects the two devices that now trust each other.

There are also several other uses of Bluetooth. Almost any phone with Bluetooth can send a contact to another Bluetooth phone to save the effort of typing it in manually. (F.Y.I. Doing this without the recipient's permission is called "Bluejacking".)

Most Bluetooth phones can also become a wireless modem for a Bluetooth compatable computer. This usually involves setting up the phone as a modem in the computer's settings and subscribing to a Phone-as-Modem (PAM) service from your cellular provider.

Some less common, but still very cool, features are the ability to use stereo Bluetooth headphones to listen to music in your phone and the ability to send files (like ringers, games and songs) between phones wirelessly. Most Bluetooth phones cannot do this though!

Should I be worried about security?

If you're just using a cell phone, you usually do not need to be worried about Bluetooth security. However, if you are doing quite a bit with it, or you just want to be safe, there are a few things you can do to further protect yourself.

1) Turn Bluetooth off/disable it if you are not using it. This can usually be done fairly easy from the settings or connections menu.

2) Set your phone as "Hidden" when Bluetooth is on. The only reason you should not be hidden is if you know someone/something else (like your computer) is trying to connect with your phone and you want to allow it. You do not need to be "visible" to connect or use a Bluetooth headset or to connect to anything you are already "paired" with.

3) If you get a request to receive a contact or file or make a connection and you don't know who's doing it, then press "Deny" or "No." This will ensure that no one will connect to your phone without your permission.

What do all those acronymns mean?

There are a lot of acronymns that are commonly seen or heard with cell phone plans. Here are a few of the more popular ones and what they mean.

CDMA - Code-Division Multiple Access - This the technology that Verizon, Sprint, Alltel, and CellularOne use. It allows an unlimited number of phones to use the same tower, however the signal quality and distance of that tower reduces as more phones are on it.

TDMA - Time-Division Multiple Access - This is the technology that Nextel (and formerly all CDMA carriers) use. It lets phones take turns sending information back and forth from the tower. However, this happens so quickly that it does not usually affect call quality.

iDEN - Integrated Digital/Dispatch Enhanced Network - This is the specific type of TDMA that Nextel uses. It functions on certain frequencies that allow Push-to-Talk (described below) services to work better.

GSM - Global System for Mobile Communication - This is the technology that Cingular and T-Mobile use. It gives one frequency to each phone and only one phone can be on that frequency at any moment. This does limit the amount of people that can be on a tower at any given moment; however, it reduces interference and allows for a more consistent signal.

PCS - Personal Communications Service - This is a non-technical name that is used to refer to non-Nextel Sprint service. If there is a technical definition it is that PCS uses, it is that it uses the 1900MHz frequency range when all other CDMA carriers use the 850MHz frequency range.

SMS - Short Message Service - Text Messaging (Really, that's all it means.)

MMS - Multi-Media Message Service - Video messages, Audio clip messages, and longer text messages.

SIM (card) - Subscriber Identity Module - This is a small card that holds the customer's phone information. It is used mainly by GSM carriers and a few others (notably iDEN/Nextel).

FTP - File Transfer Protocol - This is the language that allows phones to send files between them. Some phones are able to do this through Bluetooth between phones. Others are limited to sending files between the phone and a computer. Some phones cannot do this at all.

WAP - Wireless Application Protocol - This is a way of creating a web page that makes it more appealing to the eye when you view it on a cell phone screen.

LCD - Liquid Crystal Display - This is the kind of display that nearly all modern cell phones use. The screen that you see on your phone is light shining through liquid crystals that change color.

VGA - Video Graphics Array - This basically means 640 pixels (dots) wide by 480 pixels (dots) tall. It is comparable to 0.3 MegaPixels (MP) on a digital camera. This is the quality of most cell phone cameras today, though many are now 1.3 MP's.

QVGA - Quarter VGA - This means 320 pixels (dots) wide by 240 pixels (dots) tall. This is good for an LCD screen quality, but horrible for camera picture quality (about .08 MegaPixels).

GPS - Global Positioning System - This is the technology that allows your cell phone to tell you where you are at based on a GPS satellite in orbit, or based on teamwork between your carrier's tower and that satellite. The most common use of this is E911 which allows 911 operators in some areas to locate you and your phone when you call in.

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol - This is what would allow a customer to download emails to their phone without having to use the web browser on the phone. This is more common with Smart phones/PDAs than with regular phones.

EV-DO - EVolution, Data Only/Optimized - This is basically the faster data service for CDMA carriers (in comparison to RTT, which is rarely referred to). Sprint calls this Power Vision, while Verizon and Alltel refer to it as EV-DO.

PTT - Push-to-Talk - This is the walkie-talkie or chirp service from cell phone carriers. Currently, Cingular claims the largest PTT network (because it can work anywhere there is Cingular coverage). Nextel, however, has the fastest connect speed, connecting nationwide in under a second. Other carriers vary between 1-5 seconds depending on distance and how many users are listening.

For a more detailed description of any of these, or to ask any other questions, email me at . Thanks to Phone Scoop's glossary for helping me out with this.

Can I Activate a Phone I Found or was Given?

I was given a UT STarcom 6700 [a.k.a. PPC 6700] and wanted to connect it to my Sprint line. Since Sprint carries the same phone, but the phone has "Qwest" on it, is it still possible?

As a general rule, you can only activate a phone for the carrier whose name is printed on the phone. So in this specific example, you can only activate the phone for Sprint if the Sprint name actually appears on it. If you found or were given a phone with a Verizon logo, it could only be activated on Verizon service, etc.

There is, however, at least one exception to the rule. Phones that use GSM technology, mainly Cingular and T-Mobile, can be "unlocked." In other words, the phones can be set up to be activated on any GSM service. There are various places that will unlock phones, mainly online and in malls. Make sure you check out the reputation of the place before you have them provide this service to you, as it can become a little shady in places.

So, for instance in the example above, say you were given someone's old Cingular phone that they no longer use, and you want to add it on to your T-Mobile account. You should take it in to be unlocked, then you could call T-Mobile customer service and add it onto your account.

If you ever want to double-check, take it into a place that offers the carrier you want to activate the phone on. (So, in our last example, you would take it into a place that sells T-Mobile phones.) Someone there could tell you for sure if the phone can be activated on their service.

What is roaming?

I've heard of roaming and that its a bad thing, but what the heck does it mean?

All cell phones need to be in range of a cellular tower to make a call. Each cellular carrier (like Sprint, Nextel, Alltel, Cingular, etc.) has their own towers. If your phone cannot reach a tower from its own provider, then it uses a tower from another provider if it is available. For instance, if your Verizon phone cannot reach a Verizon tower, then it will use an Alltel or Sprint tower if there is one close enough by. This is roaming.

Briefly stated, roaming is when a cell phone uses another carrier's tower.

Generally, the ability to roam is a good thing. If you could not use another carrier's tower, then if you broke down on the road and you weren't near the right tower, then you couldn't make a call at all. However, its bad for a lot of people because they are charged for it.

Why am I charged for roaming? Well every time your Sprint phone uses an Alltel tower (or whatever carrier), Alltel charges Sprint for every minute you're using their tower. Therefore, Sprint wants to charge you for every minute you're roaming.

So what should I do? Get a plan with no roaming if you think you'll roam more than 5 minutes or so a month. A "no roaming plan" doesn't mean that you can't roam at all. Instead, it means that you can roam without extra charges. Sometimes you have to pay extra for these plans, but it's often well worth it. The average rate for roaming charges if you don't do this is about 50-75 cents per minute. No roaming plans are pretty common these days and are usually available from any carrier.

Also, pay attention to the details. Sometimes, even though you're not charged extra for roaming on certain plans, other penalties may apply. For instance, you may not have unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes in these areas, even though you have it on your plan. Be sure to ask a Customer Service associate to make sure.

One final detail: Phones can only roam on networks that use the same technology. For example: Verizon, Alltel, Sprint (and some other smaller carriers) use a technology called CDMA, and they can only roam on each others' towers. Cingular and T-Mobile (and some other smaller carriers) use GSM and can only roam on each other's towers. So, a Cingular phone cannot use a Verizon tower, etc. Nextel is generally on its own, as it is the only large carrier that uses TDMA technology.