Detailed Step by Step Guide to Buy a cell phone

1) Figure out what features of a phone are most important to you. This will decide what the phone will be used for most.

• Will you be text messaging? Maybe a qwerty keyboard on a phone will be useful.
• Will you be needing camera capabilities? A variety of phones offer competitive quality to digital cameras, though on average a camera phones are used for fun. Most pictures are not taken to be developed.
• GPS comes available in some phones? Will you be traveling a lot and don't have a GPS in your car?
• Do you want a substitute for your mp3 player? Many phones offer mp3 capabilities.
• Are you more of a talker then a texter? If so, then maybe a plain phone is best for you with little features and lots of battery life so that you can talk as much as possible.

All of these questions must be considered before purchasing a phone.

2) After you have reached a decision you must decide what carrier you will use. Not all carriers provide national service. MetroPCS for example does not provide coverage for New York. Though there are carriers such as Verizon and Cingular aka AT & T, which are national service providers.

Most service providers are chosen by a customer because that person knows more people with that certain provider so that they can have unlimited mobile to mobile talk time. Mobile to mobile means unlimited talk time between phones of the same carrier.

You have to do the research for yourself to figure out:

• Which carrier most of your family/relatives/friends have? So that you could have mobile to mobile.
• What price range fits your wallet? How much do you want to pay and what is the best promotion in your region for your phone?
• Do you need additional features such as mobile internet/data or Txt/Photo packages? Will you be using the internet often? Will you be sending pictures or text messages to your friends?

Most carriers offer a package for everything at different rates. You have to decide what's your need.

3) Chosing where you purchase your phone:

Many people get their phones from stores in their authorized retailers in their neighborhood. Usually when a person has questions about their phone the first person they call is the one who sold them the phone.

Generally, new customers tend to purchase through neighborhood retailers and people who have had a phone for quite some time purchase over the phone or online.

4) Accessories

Each phone model has a wide variety of accessories. Data cables, chargers, cases ......

• Do you drop your phone or scratch it quite a bit? Maybe a leather case will be a good investment.
• Do you download a lot? Memory cards are very useful for those who need a lot of storage.
• Do you want to transfer your data from your phone into your computer or visa versa? Data cables can help you with that need.
• Are you using your phone often and find that your battery runs out quickly? An extended battery will help you talk or surf the web more.