CELL PHONES

Why You Need a Cell Phone

People need an easy and quick way to contact you as you build your life. The Cell phone makes this possible. The phone number you establish will hopefully stay with you for the rest of your life, and because of this will allow many opportunities to come your way!

How Cell Phones Work

When you own a cell phone and it is turned on, it periodically registers with towers that you get near, to allow telephone calls to reach you effectively.

Your cell phone only registers with towers that your cell company is allowed to use. Because of this it is important to select a cell company that will register with the largest number of cell towers possible when you are travel about.

As an example, an ATT phone, registers with ATT towers. You could be right next to a Verizon tower and it won’t work!

Some companies got smart and have “Roaming Agreements” which let their company phones register with other company towers. A good example is that our ATT phone can register with a T-Mobile tower because they have a roaming agreement.



Things to Know about Cell Phones

  • If you have a number, Federal Law gives you the right to “port” that number to another carrier. The number can be a cell number or a land line. Because of this you never have to worry about losing your phone number just because you change carriers.

  • Being Anonymous on a Cell phone is impossible. Cell companies keep records of
    • Your unique ID number (your IMEA or ICCD #)
    • Time and Date that number registers to a tower
    • Strength of the connection to a tower
    • Location based on the differing strengths of tower registrations. Usually within 1 block.
    • This data is held for years



Parts included with a Cell Phone

Today’s cell phones have typically the following parts (although some you will have to buy):

  • The Phone Itself
  • A charger (you might have to buy)
  • A Protective Case (you might have to buy)
  • A SIM card used to hold your phone number and contacts always included in the cell plan.
  • An SD card Sometimes not used in some phones. This is EXTRA storage for a phone. You would have to buy this.

How to Pick a Cell Company

The primary characteristics for selecting a Cell company are:

  • Coverage Areas
  • Cell Phone Plan Prices
  • Lack of Problems or Complaints

Coverage Area

Cell companies generally provide maps of their coverage areas. Typically they will color the maps so that they represent the speed technologies and the areas that they cover. Here are some links to coverage maps

They will often color areas that are covered by their roaming agreements with other cell phone companies.

The maps are not perfect although they give a good idea of where service won’t work.

After examining the areas, select a company offers the best service area for your lifestyle.


Pricing Cell Phone Plans

Pricing can vary based on the operational expenses and the coverage areas that a company has. There are two types of companies, and MVNOs are usually cheaper than the other….

MNO‘s (Mobile Network Operators ) like ATT, Verizon, T–Mobile, US Cellular can sometimes be more expensive than an MVNO.

MVNO‘s (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) like Consumer Cellular, PureTalk, TracPhone, SpectrumMobile, Boost Mobile tend to offer lower priced cell phone offerings. In 2025 those plans were as little as $20/month.

Here is what you watch for in a plan.

  • Unlimited Voice and Text messaging is commonly included. Don’t pay extra for that.
  • Paying for Unlimited DATA is foolish when you can use WIFI instead.
    • Start your dataplan at 2GB and increase it if needed.
    • Use Phone apps like NetGuard to control un-needed background use of your data plan
    • DON’T stream on your phone unless you are on WIFI
  • Don’t Buy a New Phone. Shop for a used phone on Craigslist or Ebay. There is always some fool who buys the newest phone everytime one comes out and sells the old one cheaply.
  • Don’t Buy Phone Insurance. It makes money for the company… not you.
    • Spend that money on an a case that covers all the phone edges with a good size bumper edge. Other than sitting on a phone in your back pocket, edge strikes are what break a screen!
  • Don’t Buy Any features outside of Voice/DATA. They are trying to trick you. They are not worth paying for.
  • Avoid Contracts. Use month to month.



Look for a Lack of Problems or Complaints

I have found that if a company has common problems, people will have complained about them online. Using Google with the following search criteria will make problems reveal themselves. Just type reviews “xxxx” where xxxx is the name of the cell company.

As you read the reviews, write down a word or sentence describing each problem you read about. When they repeat, start tallying counts for each problem.

Using this, you will quickly get an idea of the problems you might encounter.


Picking a Particular Cell Phone

Once you have picked a cell company, you can start picking a phone. Important things you will need to remember:

  • Pick a model not currently sold as new.
    • Since Androids a least expensive, Google search “what samsung models are no longer sold as of last year”
      It will reveal some good used models available on eBay and Craigslist for a good price. Lowest model numbers have typically the least features…

      Here is an example of the most popular Android Manufacturer’s discontinued phones (2025):
      • Galaxy A60
      • Galaxy A70
      • Galaxy A71
      • Galaxy A71 5G
      • Galaxy A72
      • Galaxy A73 5G
      • Galaxy A80
      • Galaxy A82 5G
      • Galaxy A90 5G
    • I try to pick something from about a third from the bottom, if I can afford it.

  • Select a model that works with the Cell Company from most popular Android Manufacturer’s discontinued phones

    The phone must be unlocked by the previous carrier, and be compatible with the cell company. In this example I searched for that model on Ebay. I looked for A71 that had former carriers of ATT or Consumer Cellular.

    I Found one for $109 while the cheapest new phone on the cell company site was an A15 at $169. I had 128 GB vs 64 GB and let me save almost $70

So, I picked a company, I picked a phone what else do I need when I go to set up this phone and what happens next

  • You need to provide your Name, Address and Gmail Address
  • You often will need to provide your Social Security Number for credit reasons
  • If you set this up online, the cell company will send you a SIM card and instructions on how to put it in the phone and setup the phone.