Solving the Cellphone Maze One Twist at a Time

February 2, 2003 By Karen Alexander

WHEN Ilissa Best, a mother of two young children from San Carlos, Calif., signed up for cellphone service two years ago, she received 300 minutes of talk time for $40 a month, plus 200 bonus minutes. She figures she uses all those minutes each month talking with friends during the day as she shuttles her children around town. So when the bonus period ended recently because her contract had expired, her monthly bill nearly tripled.

She knew she had to quickly find another plan to keep pace with her use, but which one? Mobile phone carriers are competing aggressively these days for customers. Almost everywhere you look there seems to be an advertisement for cellular plans, with an unwieldy number of options available, along with fees.

Finding the best plan - with the right number of minutes at the right time of day, coverage that holds up where you need it most and a phone that does what you want it to do without being too complicated - can be overwhelming. Because there are so many variables in service and equipment those shopping for a wireless plan must first decide what they actually need before signing up, telecommunications experts say.

Among the questions to consider: Do you want a phone with all the latest features and gadgets? Will you be using the phone for other purposes, like sending e-mail messages? Where are you most likely to use it? Do you plan to travel with the phone? Will you be making mostly local calls, or are your contacts scattered around the country? How many minutes a month do you expect to use, and at what time of day? Are functions like voice mail and call waiting important to you?

Mrs. Best, 40, ultimately decided to stay with her provider, AT&T Wireless, because she says she didn't want to change her cellphone number. The new calling plan, though, gives her the same 500 monthly minutes, plus free long-distance service and no roaming charges within AT&T's network, for about $5 less a month than her previous plan. (She also bought a smaller phone, for $150, wiping out any monthly savings.)

Her husband, Brian, 36, who works for a venture capital firm, buys his cellphone service from Sprint PCS. He says he pays $34.99 a month for 250 peak minutes and "some big number of off-peak minutes that I don't even come close to using." There are no long-distance charges and no roaming fees within the Sprint network.

The couple decided to use different carriers in part to increase the likelihood that at least one of their phones would work at any given time, particularly during their frequent ski trips to Lake Tahoe. "It's all a balancing act," said Edward Hold, the vice president for telecommunication services at Current Analysis, a research firm based in Sterling, Va. He advises consumers to make sure that the coverage and connection are good before considering any other feature.

"They've all got roughly similar pricing, so look for a cheap phone," he added.

Mr. Hold noted that most big carriers offer a grace period of about two weeks, during which customers can return their phones and cancel their contract if the coverage is not good or they are unsatisfied with their phone. But to save the hassle, it makes sense to talk to your colleagues or your neighbors before selecting a plan to see if there are service gaps in your area or along your commute.

And what about extra night and weekend minutes that carriers often promote in their plans? Some people, like Mrs. Best who does nearly all her calling during peak daytime hours, may not need them. But they may be important to someone who sits at a desk all day and needs wireless service only after work or on weekends. Knowing when these nighttime minutes begin is also important - for many carriers, they are only good from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Mr. Hold estimates that the average mobile phone customer spends $50 to $55 a month for service and uses 500 to 600 minutes a month. But the industry spends $300 to $400 a person to acquire each customer, he said. Often a big portion of that expense goes toward subsidizing the cost of a handset, with the carriers hoping to woo customers with the prospect of a cheap, or in same cases, free, high-end phone.

There are Web sites available to help consumers compare the many plans available in their area, including one provided by the TeleBright Corporation, a telecommunications consulting company based in Rockville, Md. Without these tools it may be hard to know which carriers offer the best deals, because the choices often change. Some of the holiday season incentives that wireless companies were offering, like free phones and extra minutes, have ended. A particularly bold offer from AT&T Wireless, to provide unlimited talk time and no additional long-distance charges for $99.99 a month, is set to expire on Saturday.

Sometimes, though, you may be able to negotiate your own deal. "Over the last year or so, customer loyalty has become a key issue," Mr. Hold said. As a result, he said, most carriers will allow customers to switch to a less expensive plan if one becomes available, even before their current contract has expired. "It's better for them to put you on a slightly lower plan than to lose you as a customer," Mr. Hold said.

The cellphone market, meanwhile, continues to expand. By June 30, 2002, there were 134.5 million mobile phone subscribers, up nearly 14 percent from a year earlier, according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association in Washington. At the same time, subscribers' appetite for minutes continues to rise. In the first six months of 2002, Americans used about 300 billion minutes of wireless talk time, a 48 percent jump over the 2001 period, the group said.

The industry is looking to expand even more, by marketing to teenagers and young professionals flashy, colorful phones capable of downloading games from the Internet. "Now it's got to be a cool phone, something you're not embarrassed to be seen carrying around," Mr. Hold said.

Having a fancy phone was of no help to Jeffrey Henderson, 28, who recently obtained his M.B.A. from Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. He just wanted good coverage. Mr. Henderson said his previous carrier, AT&T, did not work at school. He also needed better coverage during his commute from the seaside campus to his inland home in Thousand Oaks. Mr. Henderson said he asked around among his classmates and determined that Cingular Wireless offered the best coverage near school. Now he is conducting a job search from campus, and the mobile phone is Mr. Henderson's primary contact number.

For Allan Cohen, a Manhattan lawyer, the quest for the right wireless phone plan is a continuous process. Mr. Cohen, 32, has had three mobile phone plans over the years. One, from Sprint PCS, offered a stylish phone but had poor coverage in Midtown Manhattan, he said, adding that it didn't work at all from his seventh-floor apartment.

The one he seems to like best right now is from Verizon Wireless. For $45 a month, he said he receives 400 peak minutes and an additional 1,500 night and weekend minutes, which he uses to call his friends on the West Coast when he's coming home from the gym late at night. And much to Mr. Cohen's delight, the coverage is just great in his apartment building.

"Listen to this, I'm talking to you from inside my elevator," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/business/yourmoney/02CELL.html?ex=1045281763&ei=1&en=c7a4444f2441e9fe

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company