Choosing a cell phone and service provider these days can be overwhelming. When I got my first cell phone three years ago the only major decision I had to make was whether or not I wanted, or actually needed, a camera in my phone. Nowadays phones double as MP3 players, PDAs, and video game consoles.
I’ve had my Sanyo 8100 with Sprint for over three years and I am completely satisfied with it. Unfortunately, however, the battery is dying and for some reason it’s a lot cheaper to get a new phone these days rather than buying a replacement battery.
Before getting bombarded with offers from pushy salesmen at the local cell shop, I always find it better do some research and know what I want prior to stepping foot onto the sales floor. So as I Googled my way across the web, I came across a few sites that helped me make my decision a little easier.
Mobiledia is a great place to start for selecting your new phone. They have all the phones categorized under the manufacturer’s name and the carrier that provides service to them. So all you have to do is select a few phones that interest you and click compare. The site then displays all the features available for any of the phones in a table format that makes it much easier to base your decision. Sites that provide similar features include PhoneDog and EasyCellPhones.
To help me decide which carrier to go with, I used LetsTalk. This site has a comprehensive list of all the major carriers and the different plans each one offers. With this site you can search for plans based on various parameters and sort them accordingly. LetsTalk also has phone searching and decision making tools on their site as well.
While the sites discussed definitely help bring some clarity to the task at hand, they can’t tell you if you actually need all those bells and whistles that come with Apple’s new iPhone, or if you really require broadband with your phone plan. For that you must be able to distinguish your wants from your needs, and if you’re like me, this is really hard to do because for some reason these are frequently the same thing.
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