Hart Nat Hentoff David Horowitz Arianna Huffington Marianne Jennings Michael Kelly Mort Kondracke Ch. But both seasoned cell-phone users and recent recruits to wireless calling face a new generation of baffling service plans and technologies. Here's some advice on how to do both. Even with the new lower-priced plans currently available, what you pay to use the phone will be the biggest cost in your cellular budget by far. Safety users simply want to have a cell phone handy for emergency use.
Some plans charge a low monthly rate with a high per-minute fee for every call.
But others, with a higher monthly rate that includes 20 to 30 free minutes before per-minute charges kick in, can actually be cheaper if you make few calls. But if you don't use all those minutes, your per-minute rate will be higher than you expect. Shop carefully, however, as total monthly costs can very widely among carriers. Price is a key factor in choosing a service plan, but so are the quality, reliability and extent of coverage of the network you'll be using. While the service providers test their coverage areas for trouble spots, they don't share their findings with the public.