PICKING a cellphone plan has become one of the connected life's great chores.
Many of the nation's 235 million mobile-phone customers have faced the mind-numbing task of poring over an overwhelming array of available services and handsets, and it's not getting any easier.
Nearly 9 out of 10 cellphone users get their service from the nation's top four carriers: AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA. Each offers dozens of individual plans, family plans and handsets. Then there are the add-on features, such as text messaging, streaming video and photo sending.
Cellphone customers, especially parents with two or three mobile-crazed teenagers, can face huge bills if they make the wrong choice.
They may miss the "gotcha" charges for items like that call that began before the free night or weekend period. And sometimes their bills soar because their kids have no idea how quickly the costs for text messaging, ring tones, songs, videos and games can add up.
To avoid paying more than you should, you've got to be smart and prepared. After all, you will most likely be locked into a one- or two-year contract -- mainly for discounts on handsets -- and terminating that deal early will cost you $150 to $200 a line.
Start the decision-making process by asking yourself a few simple questions: Where, when and how much do you use your cellphone? What features do you really plan to use? And how much do you want to spend?
The answers can narrow your choices quickly.
Erik Melendez, a mechanic in Los Angeles, doesn't usually leave Southern California and needs a cellphone only to make calls -- but he's often on the phone four hours a day.
"An unlimited plan gives me peace of mind," Melendez said.
So he went with a prepaid plan from Boost Mobile, a youth-oriented subsidiary of Sprint, with unlimited talk time for $55 a month.
Although a regional plan may work for many people, the more popular ones are nationwide calling plans that come with various bundles of minutes and, sometimes for $5 or more a month, a designated amount of text messaging -- an important feature for teenagers, especially.
To figure how much talk time you'll need, count the minutes you spend on your current phone in a typical month, then add 25% to 50% as a buffer to avoid hefty overage fees. That should give you an idea of how many minutes you'll need for your new cellphone.
Here are some other tips:
