What’s the deal with a Free Cell Phone?

Start your research right here! If you want to know who has the best cell phone deals and cell phone plans or who offers the best coverage and reception services then you are in the right place. The Internet is making it easier than ever to compare cell phones and cell phones plans right from your home. Get a free cell phone or replace your old cell phone by finding the right offer today.

Modern cell phone users have lots of feature choices including camera and video recorders, Bluetooth wireless, MP3 players, voice activated dialing, 2 way communication, SMS, Internet access, and even email. The hottest phones today include the the Apple iPhone, Palm, Razr and Smartphone PDAs like the Treo and Blackberry.

An important consideration when choosing a new cell phone or pre-owned cell phone is the brand and features. Common cell phone manufacturers and dealers are Apple, Audiovox, Firefly, Hitachi, LG, Kyocera, Sony Ericsson which is commonly mispelled Ericson, Nokia, Motorola, Palm, RIM, Samsung, Sanyo and panasonic. There are flip phones, bar phones, PDA phones, smartphones, camera phones, MP3 phones and standard handset style phones available. No matter what free cell phone offer you choose, make sure your phone has the calling features and accessories that you use most. The calling features may include free voice mail, call waiting, 3 way calling, conference calling, and caller id. Many free cel phone offers come with free shipping, free night and weekend minutes, free long distance, nationwide long distance, regional roaming.

Naturally, “free” cell phones aren’t really free and you’ll end up paying for the cell phone over the lifetime of your cellular contract. Even so, free cell phones can save you a lot of money and let you start cell phone service for little or no money down. Most of these free cell phone offers are found online as online agents have less overhead to support then regular brick and mortar stores. Shopping for a free cell phone online can save you a lot of money but you will have to wait a few days before you get your cell phone. The calling plans offered by every cell phone retailer are exactly the same but sometimes there are additional plan features that only one type of dealer can offer so it pays to shop around before deciding on where you buy your cell phone and not just taking the first offer you see.

Most free cell phone offers will come standard with a free accessory kit that includes a car charger, home charger, headset and phone case. Not all of these accessories will be top of the line and you’ll have to pay extra to ugrade to better quality accessories. But more important then the quality of the accessory kit is the quality of the cell phone network. Not every cellular carrier uses the same cell phone technology with most offering digital and analog networks and others offering PCS service. There are pros and cons for every network but perhaps the most important thing to consider is whether or not your phone will work when you are out or your home network and “roaming” onto another network. A cell phone is only good when you can use it after all. Most every cellular carrier will offer a free cell phone and the larger networks will even offer no credit check or no credit card contracts to get you to sign up. If not, you can be sure that they will also have a pre-paid plan that many times will also include a free cell phone.

GSM (Global System for Mobile) is the international standard in Europe, Australia and much of Asia and Africa. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is mainly found in the US. In covered areas, cell-phone users can buy one phone that will work anywhere where the standard is supported. However, no one phone hand set will work everywhere. So even if your cell phone plan includes free roaming, your phone will not work unless you are roaming in an area that uses similar network archtecture. Both networks have their advantages and disadvantages with GSM giving you the freedom of massive worldwide coverage and CDMA giving you plans with high speed digital access.

Most cell phone providers offer either pre-paid or regular monthly billing plans. Although you will usually get a lot more minutes with your regular billing plans, a pre-paid plan can offer many advantages. They are easier to monitor, have no service fees or monthly bill and the cost can be spread out over many months. You won’t usually find a free cell phone offer with a pre-paid cell phone plan but that shouldn’t matter too much of you don’t use a cell phone very often and are just looking for basic service when you need it. Pre-paid cell phone plans are also great for those with less than perfect credit or if you don’t want to use your real name when you sign up for a plan.

Tired of using an old cell phone model? If your original service contract has expired and you are paying on a month by month basis, then contact your carrier and see what deals they have on new cell phones or free cell phones. If you don’t like what they are offering, consider switching your carrier. You can easily port over your old phone number to your new cell phone so your friends won’t have to update their address books and you’ll never miss a call. Want to add a line to your account for your spouse or child? Again, be sure to check with your carrier to find out what deal they are offering you. Most carriers will bend over backward to give you a good deal for fear that they might lose you to a competitor.