With so many features, styles and prices out there, how do you find the best systems for you? When you think back, can you recall the time when a cell phone was not essential? It is no longer a luxury to have a phone in your possession at all times. The cell phone has more bells and whistles and ringtones than the dictionary has words it seems. Plus you can do all sorts of things on your cell phone other than calling home. You can use it to get on the internet. take pictures or video, play games and much more. It can be very confusing and complicated. But what combinations of carriers or contracts is the one for you? Let’s just take a while to think about your needs with our hopefully simple guide below.

Is your area covered?

The neatest and newest phone connected to the best and cheapest plan will be useless if your signal does not get through. If you are in your home or office this could be a problem during the weekday period. Some models get better reception than others but the area covered is determined by the carrier. If you do not travel outside of your home town, choosing a regional carrier would be the simplest answer. Some of the smaller carriers like Sprint or Verizon offer better coverage for rural users, as well as more personalized care and convenient retail locations that come with your local carrier if you often spend time traveling to different cities or live in big towns. Travel the globe? T-Mobil or Cingular both use compatible systems with European and Far Eastern networks.

What is the best Plan?

There are many different plans and service selections offered by all of the carriers. You need to think of how you are going to use the phone, then choose the plan that give you all of the time you think you need. Then add more just to cover your bases. Fees can be very high if you go over your limit, some up to 45 cents per minute. You also need to look into what your carrier considers “night” if they state that they have free service on nights and weekends in your area. The plans with free long distance is the one to look for if you make more of those than local calls. Traveling more outside of your home base? Then you need to look into the regional or nationwide calling plan to avoid roaming charges that will be sure to follow. Prepaid cell phone plans are good for young ones that need limits or anyone with questionable credit. For those who only need a phone for emergency in the call or who call very infrequently would benefit with a prepaid plan too.

Do you need any Extras?

Just talk on a cell phone? Must be old technology. The latest thing on the phones is ring tones that are downloadable plus text, pictures and video. You can check your email and surf the web. Some of these features can be pricey but if you check into a minimal data plan it may be worth your while if you frequently use some or all of them.

Try them out first.

It can be mind boggling to go through all of the prices, features, styles, colors and other extras. Your personal needs will dictate what phone and services you will choose. After you have your phone you need to look for the right service. Just remember that all carriers offer trial periods of at least 2 weeks of no risk service. Get out there and use that phone and pay attention to the service. Good Coverage? Dropped calls? How many bars do you see in the most places you use the phone. How about the battery? Does it hold up? And most of all can you use the features? Is the manual easy to understand and can you operate all that you need to. The best phone for you is out there somewhere and all you have to do to is find it.

Michael Myers is writer and administrator for CellPhonesUniversal.com, which provides reviews and information about cell phones.

Often when buying a cell phone people find it hard to decide on what sort or what type to get. There are so many models and brands out there that trying to get the best one for you is often a long and hard task. However here is a basic guide I have put together to help you get your head around choosing.

Often when buying a cell phone people find it hard to decide on what sort or what type to get. There are so many models and brands out there that trying to get the best one for you is often a long and hard task. However here is a basic guide I have put together to help you get your head around choosing.

The first thing you want to do is choose a cell phone service provider, people often think that good communication on a cell phone depends on the cell phone, it doesn’t. The majority of how good your communication is depends on your cell phone service provider, so firstly make sure you shop around and find a good provider. After this and only after, you should start to look at a cell phone handset.

To me I class cell phones into 3 different categories, the basic cell phones, the advanced cell phones and the smart cell phone, often known as a PDA’s. When looking for a handset you should work out a budget on how much you can spend and the sorts of phones in that price range that you could get. Another thing that I want to point out about buying a cell phone is that it is very important to actually physically see the phone and hold it. You can’t tell if a phone is for you just by looking at a picture, you need to go to the shop and have a play around with it.

Ok let’s talk about the basic cell phone handsets. Basic handsets these days come with the everyday features that a user needs things like making phone calls, sending SMS messages and now having polyphonic ring tones. These basic cell phones are perfect for a consumer not looking to spend a lot of money, they do not have the up-market style and features that the more advanced phones have but they are relatively cheap and easy to use.

The more advanced cell phones these days offer extensive features in cell phone technology and often come in small compact units. They come with the ability to shoot photos, shoot movies, play music, have real and polyphonic ring tones, have Bluetooth features and have built in and removable memory cards to store data. These features are not generally necessities for a consumer but more of a want for the pleasure of the feature. Compared to the basic handset the more advanced phones have a lot more features but also come at a higher price, they often cost 2 to 3 times more than your basic handsets.

The most technologically advanced phones one the market today are called smart phones or PDA’s, they combine advanced cell phone technology with computer technology. They contain all the features of an advanced phone plus the features of a computer. These features include internet, email, basic documenting, memory storage, calendar and appointment scheduling, and often more. These are also the most expensive type of cell phones and often costing in excess of hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

As you can see from this there are many of different cell phones out there, however if you narrow down to what sort of phone you want and how much you are prepared to spend than your choice on what sort of phone you should buy is not as hard. After this it just becomes a matter of what phone in your price range appeals to you the most.

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No one is untouched by the rising wave of mobile culture today and teenagers are the most effected of this. If you want to have a new mobile phone and are confused as which mobile phone carrier you should go for then you should possibly think over a few things and then arrive at some decision. You should always choose a carrier, then a service plan and at the last about your hardware.

Compare competing carrier’s coverage

1. You should make sure that the prospective carrier’s services works where you are and you intend to be most of the times. Most of the carrier’s provide the maps of their service areas and in case you travel a lot then you should go for a national coverage.

2. You can ask your friends and colleagues about the carrier they use and whether they are satisfied of its services. Then ask them to check the reception by making some calls at your home or office because there is nothing worse than the dead spot where you spend most of your time.

3. You can check the data services such as e-mail, internet access, pictures or games that are available which you want.

Compare various service plans

1. You should look at your needs such as if you stay near to your home then you can go for a plan with unlimited local callings or if you travel a lot then you can choose from a national plan that can save your money else roaming charges will add up in hurry.

2. If you have the mobile phone u sage throughout the day then “anytime” minutes would be better deal as compared to “night and weekend” minutes.

3. You should know where you call because mobile phone plans can include free long distance that is a huge money saver if you make long distance calls very frequently.

4. You can ask for standard features such as call waiting, voice mail, caller id to be included in your plan at no extra cost.

5. You should look for a plan that has rollover minutes and don’t expire at the end of the month if your calling pattern varies over time.

6. You should watch for rounding up because many carriers round phone time to its nearest minute.

7. You can also check for package plans for data services if you plan to use those services more often as these could add extra charge per month.

8. Then look for a plan with a low cancellation fee if you think that your needs might change. You should ask your carrier to switch you at no cost to a plan that is more suitable for you in the near future.

Later, you can ask for free phones and can get some good full featured phones when you sign a one or two year contact.

Olivia Andrews, writer of t-mobile-ringtone.info is a freelance journalist and has written many reviews on subjects such as finance, education, health, entertainment, music, gifts, crafts, travel, apparels and mobile phones.