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Do you spend a lot of time in a mall, an emergency room (meaning base floors
or lower levels of the building) or out on the range? During
the trial period go to these areas and check your bars. Better
yet, call a friend or two and see what type of reception you
get. Go to the local mall and try to make a call from the
parking lot, first level, second level etc.
Are you roaming?
Did your call go through?
Was it clear?
Can you make calls from the kitchen, but get constant static
in your living room?
Knowing where you spend the majority of your time and the
type of reception you receive will give you a realistic idea
of how much your service will really cost every month.
Geography
Despite the claims made by the wireless companies, some services
work better indoors, in cities, in the south, on the west
coast etc. Pick a service that provides excellent local service.
Do not rely on commercials, special offers or recommendations
from friends and families in other states when you are picking
your service. The only thing that matters is the type of reception
you will receive in your town. Take your cell phone out for
a day and this will determine your ultimate level of satisfaction.
If you’re a business traveler, take an average of where
you spend most of your time each month, and use this as your
geographical guide when you sign up for a plan.
Budget
So you’ve got your $39.99 plan all ready to go. Do you
want to check email when you’re out of the office? Do
you plan to send text messages to friends, family or lovers?
Whip out that contract and start reading. This time, read
the entire thing, not just the pretty part that describes
all the excellent benefits of having a cell phone.
You want the ugly part with things like per minute, over
limit, roaming, extra fees, taxes, surcharges and other financial
terms. This is the part that takes your $39.99 phone bill
and turns it into $89 at the end of the month. If you’re
not sure, call and ask. Some companies will even let you use
your phone for free (no minutes deducted) for some of the
more pressing customer service issues, or if they make an
error on your statement
Customer Service
Give your cell phone company a call. Okay, so you don’t
need to really make a call, but you’re going to make
one anyway. Call them at different times of the day. Did you
get the automated service from hell? Press 5, and then #,
so you can come to 5, and a nice “thanks for your service,
goodbye.” Almost every user will need to contact their
service provider at some point. Make sure customer service
is available 24X7 before you need to call.
Cell phone companies are notorious for incorrect billing
and credit charges. Cell phone users are well known for not
reading their contracts. Put these two together and you will
find the need to make at least one customer service call during
the year.
Can you get through?
Was the service prompt and courteous?
Does the customer service rep have an accurate and complete
knowledge of your contract?
If you find constant discrepancies between your contract and
the customer service line, be prepared to make calls on a
regular basis to get your bills straightened out.
If you follow these simple tips, you can use your trial period
to weed out a bad service with a good sales force, and avoid
a host of potential problems later on.
Go ahead, enjoy your service. If it’s great, please
spread the word. If it’s not good, you’ll probably
do that anyway. Either way, we’ll all thank you for it
About The Author
Syd Johnson is the Executive Editor of RapidLingo.com, Financial
Solutions Website. You can see more articles at http://www.rapidlingo.com.
This article may be freely distributed as long as the author's
bio is included with an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com.
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