The days of having limited options when purchasing a mobile phone are long gone. Mobile phones come in a dizzying variety of sizes and styles today. Your choice of mobile phone and calling plan can literally cost (or save) you hundreds of dollars a year. You owe it to yourself to comparison shop for the best deals when buying a mobile phone online.
Instructions
1. Most important when selecting a mobile phone is what type of service you will require. Are you an "emergency" user who simply wants a mobile phone for safety while traveling or are you a "power user" who eats up many hours of talk time a day on your mobile phone? The type of mobile phone you will want to purchase will be largely dependent on which service you will be signing up for.
2. If you are an emergency user, or someone who uses their phone very sparingly, you may want to look into one of the prepaid mobile phone services. These services from companies like Tracphone and STi Mobile allow you to pay as you go with no monthly contracts. You only pay for the minutes you actually talk on the phone. These plans tend to become very expensive for heavy users though.
3. Once you have decided which type of calling plan you will use, look to some larger Web sites to see which phones those carriers use. A good place to get an overview is eBay and Amazon. These sites have powerful search features, which let you enter plan names or manufacturer names and return models that match. Note the various features available, such as walkie-talkie functions or text messaging. Some mobile phones will even allow you to surf the Internet...for a fee.
4. Make a note of manufacturers and model numbers for mobile phones that have the features you want in your phone and the price ranges that they sell for. Once you have these in hand you can hit the general search engines, such as Yahoo and Google. These will let you see a wide variety of vendors who carry these models. Most likely these stores may be more specialized to phones and other models may appear in your searches that better fit your needs. Make notes of these vendors and prices.
5. Take stock of your lists now and narrow your selections down to three or four models that look most promising.
6. Do search engine searches again on those model numbers. This will usually reveal to you the following information:
-Which vendors sell these exact models.
-User reviews from people who have already purchased this model. Are they happy with it?
-Did the vendor meet the buyer's expectations?
Take special note of users from YOUR GEOGRAPHIC AREA, as one of the biggest factors in how happy you will be with your cell phone is how good the reception or coverage is in your area.
7. Next go to a few sites such as reseller ratings or epinions and make certain the vendors you are selecting generally get good reviews.
8. With this information in hand you should be able to make an informed decision on where to buy a mobile phone online and from which vendor.
9. If you are not in a hurry to buy your mobile phone, you can visit "bargain shopping sites" such as Slickdeals and Fatwallet. These sites are user-supported and list the best deals found on various products. Sometimes discounts or rebates are available simply for purchasing your items through these sites. You may have to wait for a good deal to come along, however it is often well worth it.
Tags: mobile phone, mobile phone, best deals, calling plan, emergency user, mobile phone online, mobile phones