No contract phones - No service plan cell phones
How to buy a cell phone With No plan / Contract or a unlocked cell phone. You may be tired of your current carrier supplied cell phone or maybe you've dropped it on to many times and now your cell phone works when it feels like it. After dropping my AT&T / Cingular LG Cell Phone one two many times the buttons didn't work on it any more that's why i need a new phone not to mention that My LG looked like a 1990's model. To make a long story short i purchased a Nokia N80 more than a year ago and it works great. Back to you for whatever reason you are in need / want of a cell phone without the attached pain of a multi-year contract / plan.
The main issue you may have is price no contract cell phones can get expensive specially the higher end models plus if you purchase them from you local wireless store or carrier. The reason for this is carriers like AT&T and T-mobile and others subsidize the cost of the cell phone they sell to you. Over the contract period they make back whatever they've spent on the cell phone plus a profit. If you really don't want to pay up front for a cell phone you should check with your cell phone carrier if you are covered under a warranty to get a new cell phone. Most carriers have rebates on new or refurbished cell phones. They offer discounts and even free cell phones specially if you are eligible for a upgrade. But they may extend you contract for another few years. So ask questions before you purchase for a carrier or a carrier affiliated wireless store.
Okay so you have your heart set on a new no contract cell phone. Here is how to get one.
cell phones without contract
You can you can go to your local wireless store and ask to purchase a cell phone without the contract. Or go directly to a carriers website i.e. AT&T or T-mobiles sites and purchase a cell phone without the plan. If you purchase from the carriers website you may get the phone for a little cheaper than the wireless store but its still more expensive than buy the phone with a contract. The phone that you purchase from the wireless store or carrier will be locked to that carrier so you can't use it with any other carriers unless you have it unlocked and it has the right frequency bands.
Understanding Unlocked Cell Phones
first step you have to figure out what gsm frequency band your carrier uses. You can call up your carrier and ask them. This will help you purchase the right unlocked cell phone. You can find some more information on How Unlocked Cell Phones Work Here. In The united States AT&T currently uses 850mhz and T-mobile 1900mhz.
Purchasing a Unlocked Cell Phones
The internet makes it possible to find exactly what you need. Google "Unlocked Phones" or "Unlocked Cell Phones" or do a Yahoo! search and You will find that there are 100's of websites specializing in unlocked phones. Two that come right on top in Google and Yahoo! are CellHut and Cellular-Blowout. You can also vist E-bay or amazon. By shopping around you will find the right unlocked cell phone for the right place. Unlocked cell phone can range in prices $35 up to $1,000 plus. So there is something for everyone.
Prepaid cell phones
One last option is to buy a prepaid cell phone. these cell phones are very cheap. Plus this way there is no contract to deal with you just buy minutes. If you like / want AT&T as your carrier they offers monthly plans. So you can get a unlocked cell phone and go to an AT&T store and purchase a SIM card for one month. After a month if you don't like the service or for whatever reason you can go to another carrier. This is a good option if you use your cell phone often because otherwise every time you run out of minutes you will have to run to the store to purchase more.
Note: Unlocked Cell Phones work with GSM Carriers meaning you have to have a sim card carrier to use them. Verizon Alltel or Sprint are CDMA carriers unlocked cell phones will not work with them. Understanding CDMA Cell Phones Technology
What are dual sim phones?
Dual sim means the phone has the ability to take two sim cards. So you can use two different carrier sim cards in one phone. For example if you use AT&T as your personal carrier but your work place gives you a T-Mobile phone. You can take both sim cards put them in a Dual sim phone and carry just one phone insead of two.
For whatever reason you need two different carriers or even the same carrier with two different numbers you can use a Dual Sim Phone.
