At&T Wireless - What Have They To Offer

In the confusing world of cell phone carriers, finding the right carrier and the right plan to fill your needs can be a daunting task. One carrier that stands out, and has nationwide name recognition is AT&T Wireless. A major problem for cell phone users is poor coverage outside of major urban areas like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans or Washington D.C. However AT&T uses a new Technology Time Division Access (TDMA is also used by Cingular). Analog roaming services are available almost everywhere in the U.S.

Calling plans with AT&T start as low as $39.95 s month. This plan allows 450 daytime minutes and unlimited night and weekend minutes. What AT&T customers really seem to enjoy are such features as the AT&T Connect or Teleconcierge. Operators quickly find numbers for anyplace, anywhere in the U.S., make reservations for you, get local movie times, and call back to confirm your dinner reservations. Other unique services include stock quotes, event listings, weather reports, and daily horoscopes.

One increasingly popular type of cell phone plan is pre-paid calling plans. AT&T offers the Go Phone with pre-paid plans, free unlimited night and weekend minutes, no contracts to sign, no credit check or activation fee, or deposit. They also offer Free 2 Go Wireless Solutions, also pre-paid with no contracts or credit checks. However the Go Phone plan gives you the unlimited free off prime minutes, lower per minute prices, wider choice of AT&T cell phones, and more choices of AT&T ring tones, and choices in payment options. For instance you can even set up a plan to have your credit or debit card to automatically add to your account when the minutes get low. The AT&T Go Phone plan also offers lower international dialing rates to its Go Phone customers.

Recently AT&T began to offer a new type of digital phone service known as GSM/GPRS, which provides a true 56 kilobyte per second internet connection speed for lap top computers hooked up to the GSM phone line or that use a GSM plug in cord. Remember though that the rates for this service is high with 400 voice minutes and one megabyte of data transmission can add $50.00 to your regular monthly bill. AT&T's numerous plans, versatile payment options and TDMA and GSM technology have helped placed AT&T near the top of successful cellular phone carriers.

Alltel Wireless Cell Phones - At The Cutting Edge

Unlike many other cell phone companies that have several calling plans, Alltel Wireless offers only three plans. The Total Freedom Plan is ideal for those who travel extensively on business and need to keep in touch with clients and the home office, as well as family. It provides coast to coast coverage within the United States with no long distance or roaming charges.

You can get between 200 and 3000 anytime minutes, 1000 night and weekend minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile home minutes. The cost for this Alltel plan ranges between $39.99 and $299.99 a month depending on the amount of anytime minutes you choose. The cost per minute for calls over your plan minutes is between $.40 and $.20, again depending on the level of anytime minutes chosen.

Alltel relies on its National Freedom Plan to provide subscribers in most medium to large cities with coverage. However subscribers in smaller cities and rural areas or making calls to these places may incur unexpected charges. The benefit, however, is more anytime minutes in the same price range as in the Total Freedom Plan. For instance the National Freedom Plan gives 450 minutes for $39.95, while “Total Freedom” gives only 200 for the same amount.

The “Greater Freedom” plan is Alltel's offering to the casual user who doesn't do a lot of traveling or who is considering replacing their standard home phone with an Alltel cell phone. For under $30.00 a month you can get 300 anytime minutes. At $39.99 a month you get 700 anytime minutes, 1000 night and weekend minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile home minutes. Alltel's mobile to mobile home minutes refers to calls placed from one Alltel cell phone to another Alltel user.

Alltel cell phone plans all offer the same basic features such as voice mail, caller ID, 3-way calling, call waiting, call forwarding and 411 information. Be cautious about these features, some of them are not covered by all levels of the plans and these charges can add up quickly. Recent research by Consumer Reports show that these seemingly minor add ons can add significant charges to your monthly bill. You need to make sure you know what your coverage area is, what is considered roaming and what the charges for these services are.

If you go prepared, know what type of service you need, make sure you understand all of the features you want and the associated charges, you will be sure to get an Alltel plan that is right for you. Alltel's corporate philosophy is that simplicity or ease of understanding, means sales. This has allowed them to become and remain a viable contender in the confusing world of cell phone carriers.

With approximately 12 million customers and an estimated 8 billion dollars in annual revenues, Alltel has fine tuned their calling plans to insure that they are easy to understand. This simplicity has been a strong catalyst for the sales and longevity of this company.

Phones offered by Alltel are among the best on the market. Alltel cell phones are made by Nokia, Kyocera, and Audiovox. They have one of the largest selections of cell phones available today. You can get all the new “bells and whistles.” Do you want web access while on the road? Alltel can provide you with a phone that has that capability. Interested in voice dialing? They can give you that. You can also get speaker phones, color displays, stock reports, picture phones, cell phones that can be used as walkie talkies, advanced graphics and a collection of Alltel ring tones including hip hop, country, classical, movie theme songs, and fight songs. Before signing any cell phone contract you should investigate the available plans thoroughly to make sure that the Alltel cell phone plan you choose will suit your needs