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Keep in Touch With the Right Mobile Phone Plan
Richard Peck
Small Firm Business
03-29-2004
With the wrong service plan, a mobile phone is little more than an overpriced
pocket watch. Before selecting a service plan, think carefully about how
you want to use your phone. Are you replacing a land line? Protecting
yourself for roadside emergencies? Using a walkie-talkie unit to stay in
constant contact with colleagues on the other coast?
Forecasting is an inexact science, but absolutely worth the effort. Signing
on for a year with the wrong plan can leave you choosing between riding it
out, at a loss, or paying a steep service termination fee.
To help you make some initial distinctions between service offerings, we
surveyed several plans.
For the sake of a level evaluation, we looked at national plans that offer
approximately 600 "anytime" minutes per month, to be used with a single
phone, by a single user. Most all plans include caller ID, call waiting, and
voice mail. All plans include nationwide long distance (i.e., no "roaming"
fees). This roster reflects rates and plans available in March 2004.
SPRINT
For $45 per month, Sprint Communications Co. offers 500 anytime minutes,
unlimited nationwide long distance, and unlimited night and weekend minutes
(starting at 9 p.m., during the week, a staple crossover time for most
service providers). PCS Service Plan users may elect to start unlimited
night minutes at 7 p.m., but there's a catch: a two-year contract, along
with an extra $5 per month.
PCS Vision Picture Phone customers who want to take, upload and send an
unlimited number of pictures using Picture Mail can tack on an extra $5 per
month; and $5 more on top of that for users who want to take, view, store
and send 15-second video clips. Walkie-talkie users (with a PCS Vision Ready
Link Phone) can connect with colleagues elsewhere on the Sprint Nationwide
PCS Network for $15 more each month.
NEXTEL
The Nextel National Instant Connect 500 plan, for $49.99 from Nextel
Communications, includes 500 anytime minutes, unlimited night and weekend
minutes, and unlimited Direct Connect minutes -- the walkie-talkie minutes
that Nextel ads have made iconic
For $69.99 each month, users can opt for 600 anytime minutes, and unlimited
free incoming calls (a nice feature that allows for actual conversations,
midday).
CINGULAR
Cingular Wireless adds an interesting concept to the mix -- the rollover
minute. For users of Cingular Nation Plans that run $45 or higher,
customers receive rollover minutes. Unused anytime minutes roll over for up
to a year. An important caveat: Night and weekend minutes do not roll over.
The Cingular Nation 500 with Rollover plan provides, for $55, 500 anytime
minutes, and 5,000 night and weekend minutes.
News watch: Cingular has agreed to acquire AT&T Wireless, and says it expects
to complete the acquisition by year's end. Once merged, the company will
then cover 97 of the top 100 U.S. markets, it says.
AT&T
Meanwhile, AT&T Wireless reports that any new subscriber who signs up before
the deal with Cingular goes through can count on their service plan running
its duration, unaffected by the merger.
AT&T Wireless' most popular plan provides 600 anytime minutes, unlimited
night and weekend minutes, and includes long distance, for $39.99 per month.
The company has also announced the availability of "Early Evenings." Users'
nights start at 7 p.m. instead of 9p.m., when they choose a plan for $59.99
or more, with a two-year service agreement.
T-MOBILE
T-Mobile USA's Get More plan includes 600 whenever minutes, and unlimited
night and weekend minutes (local or long distance), for $39.99. The
company's Three-Day Weekend Plan -- also for $39.99 -- includes 600 whenever
minutes, and unlimited weekend minutes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The
snag is that there aren't any night minutes included during the week.
T-Mobile is also tied to Research in Motion -- maker of the BlackBerry
handheld computer. The T-Mobile BlackBerry Minutes & Mail plan includes
1,000 whenever minutes for voice calls, unlimited wireless e-mail and 300
inbound/outbound text messages each month, for $69.99.
The BlackBerry Unlimited E-mail plan is only $39.99, but voice calls are
billed on a pay-as-you-go basis for 20 cents per minute.
VERIZON
The America's Choice 500 plan, from Verizon Wireless, offers 500 anytime
minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, and 1,000 mobile-to-mobile minutes,
for $49.99 per month.
The company also offers walkie-talkie style "Push to Talk" functionality.
America's Choice with Push to Talk plans start at $59.99 per month. They
include free unlimited group calling, unlimited one-to-one Push to Talk,
unlimited night and weekend minutes, and 1,000 national
in-network calling minutes.
Contributing editor Richard Peck is a graduate student at Syracuse
University. E-mail: rpeck@amlaw.com.
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