A federal court judge has approved a lawsuit which alleges that both AT&T and Apple abused their power when they locked the iPhone. The judge moves the case onward now as a class action lawsuit which can include anyone that had bought the iPhone along with a two year contract.
What the case claims is that Apple formed a secret monopoly with AT&T when it gave the carrier five years of exclusive iPhone rights in the United States. Additionally, the claim is that this stifled the competition and drove up the prices.
Basically the customers would in essence be locked into a five year relationship with AT&T even if their phone contract isn’t for five years due to the fact that they couldn’t use their iPhone with any other provider during that time due to the fact that there’s the exclusivity pact in place.
So the court has now allowed multiple plaintiffs to actually represent over 20 million consumers who’ve been forced into using AT&T for their iPhone data and voice service plans despite the fact that there’s an agreement which would allow the termination and carrier switching at any time.
In the court documents, which were filed last week, the United States District Judge Ware stated that there were portions of the case which deal with antitrust law violations and that it would continue on as a class action suit involving those consumers who purchased their iPhone with a two year AT&T contract.
This includes the iPhone:
•    4
•    3GS
•    3G
•    2G
In addition the lawsuit seeks an injunction of Apple selling any locked iPhone in the United States.
Apple states that the disclosure of the exclusivity with AT&T was widespread and that there was absolutely no suggestion by either Apple or anyone else that their iPhone would ever be unlocked after the initial two year agreement. They went on to state that it’s total speculation and completely illogical that not disclosing the five year exclusivity term would ever produce any monopoly power.
In the recent weeks both AT&T and Apple have faced many suits and those additional ones stem from the reception and antenna complains on the iPhone 4.

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There are a lot of users of the iPhone 4 that are making complaints about the upload speeds as they’ve finally slowed to a complete crawl which has prompted countless numbers of customers to make the speculations that AT&T could actually be capping the speeds of their network.
There are numerous forums online and they’ve been completely filling up with postings about slowing in the upload speeds going down to a nice 1mbps down to as completely low as just 100kbps. This is happening even more so, in regards to the slowing, in the major metropolitan areas including those cities as Boston, New York, Seattle and others.
The issue had begun this past Saturday according to the reading of the complaints. An AT&T spokesman had stated that the company is going to be explaining this situation soon. This is far from a denial or the typical banter that you’d expect to get from the company with the antenna issue that’s surfaced with the phone as well.
The delay might just be due to the fact that networks have been a really, really bad sore spot for those that rushed out to purchase the iPhone 4 and have complained about the dropped calls, the slow downloads and many other issues in the more urban cities.
Back in June the carrier had announced that their network was completely iPhone ready. This came after the extensive New York infrastructure upgrades and other improvements happening in San Francisco and so on. It seems that the announcement might have been a tad premature.
Before the release of the new iPhone 4 AT&T decided to stop offering their unlimited data plan in favor of instead charging their customers predicated instead on offering fixed data packaging. This is the way that they found they could largely reduce the network strain in the anticipation of the large influx of newer iPhone subscribers.
The networks problem is just the latest in the string of many issues for both Apple and AT&T. after they went through shortages on the iPhone 4 on just the day of their launch the early owners had complained about the major antenna defect which had caused their calls to be dropped when the hand covers the lower side of the mobile. There have actually been many lawsuits that have sprouted up and there are claims that Apple actually had committed fraud through concealment through misrepresentation and a defective design. What once looked so bright isn’t shining so brightly now.

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Verizon just managed to grab the latest smartphone from Motorola. The new smartphone is called the Motorola Devour. The Devour is going to be the very first phones that will Verizon will be offering which features the Motoblur. Motoblur is the Android powered delivery system for content from Motorola. Through the Motoblur option the user will be able to have accessibility to many different types of customization and personalization options and features for the smartphone it’s on.

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A bipartisan Senate bill would be the first of their kind to be aimed at stopping terrorism suspects from being able to hide themselves behind the cloak of the use of a prepaid cell phone to plot their attack. Currently a prepaid cell phone requires nothing in the form of identification.
The bill would require anyone purchasing a prepaid cell phone to present some identification and when this happens they would require the cell phone companies to keep this information on file just like they currently do with any subscription cell phone or landline phone.
The two senators sponsoring this legislation are:
1. Senator Charles (Chuck) Schumer – Democrat from New York
2. Senator John Crnyn – Republication from Texas
Their proposal would require this information to be retained by the carriers for a period of 18 months once the cell phone has been deactivated.
Schumer talks about the proposal being very overdue for many years as the drug kingpins and the terrorists and gang members being able to stay steps ahead of the law through using a prepaid cell phone. Prepaid cell phones are way too easy to get away with things as they are so hard to trace.
One of the most recent examples of this is the Times Square plot. Apparently the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, used a prepaid cell phone in order to arrange the purchase of the Pathfinder that he used to attempt his bomb attempt. In addition to that he used the prepaid cell to make many calls into Pakistan before attempted his bombing. The federal authorities were able to catch a break when the number that was listed in the call log of the phone matched another that was provided to United States Immigration and Customs officials months earlier. This was when he entered back into the United States after being in Pakistan.
If it wasn’t purely for that one stroke of luck the authorities wouldn’t have ever been able to match the phones number. This is what was provided by the seller of the Pathfinder.
There is currently no House companion bill. Schumer has been speaking to the Attorney General though and does believe that the legislation has some good chances of winning support from the administration. This comes not directly from Schumer himself but from one of his spokespersons.
Privacy Concerns
The advocates for civil liberties though have some concerns about the proposal stating that there has to be a role for anonymous communications in any society that is a free one. Anonymity is important for the whistleblowers, for the battered spouses, for the reporter’s sources, etc… Even with that the spaces for the anonymous or pseudonymous communications have been extremely narrowed. One example of this would be pay phone; they’ve for the most part been disappearing.
Additionally the privacy advocates are worried that necessitating prepaid cell phone registration could be just another step forward to something that is more worrisome, identity registration in order to access the internet. The thought is that almost anyone would admit that in any free society there is a need for people to be able to communicate without leaving a complete digital paper trail behind them. So the privacy advocates are stating that the proposal has to be considered and taken in with a much broader context.
Countries that already have cell phone registration requirements in order to help prevent terrorism are:
• Australia
• German
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Norway
• Switzerland
• Thailand
• South Africa
In the United States there have been some similar state laws proposed in many states including Texas, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Read the rest of this entry »

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With the electronic age there was a plethora of electric equipment that was invented:
•    TVs
•    Refrigerators
•    Air conditioners
•    Etc…
When the technology finally came around to the creation of the personal computer and the mobile phone our lives got even more convenient. They are so ingrained in our daily lives they’ve become indispensable.
People communicate through their cell phones all of the time. It has become an essential tool to the way that we live our lives. The computer plays that role too. The computer is where we work, relax and watch. For someone that is used to using their computer they can’t imagine their life without one. I know as I sit here typing this I couldn’t. Even if my internet goes out I’m left wondering what I’m going to do.
No matter how well we take care of our personal belongings, our computers and our cell phones, things happen.

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Although a cell phone contract will give you a free or virtually free cell phone most of the time it will also force you into a contract and if you want to go off of your contract you’re going to have to pay a hefty termination fee. Going with a pre-paid wireless plan though is going to give you service without the contract and also an affordable plan. The only caveat though is that you’re going to have to pay more for the phone.
The following is a listing of the pre-paid/pay as you go plans with the major carriers of non contract in nature. The following features the plans from the following carriers:
•    AT&T
•    Boost Mobile
•   Consumer Cellular
•    MyCricket
•    Jitterbug
•    Kajeet
•    Platinum Tel
•    Straight Talk
•    T-Mobile
•    TracFone
•     Virgin Mobile
Take a look at what the different carriers and their plans have to offer and make a decision on which pre-paid route is the best for you.

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Rogers Handset Protection Guarantee

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More people than ever use a cell phone. Think to yourself about anyone that you know that actually doesn’t have one and use it. We use the cell phone as they are important to the ways that we live our lives and are something that can really transcend the age barrier in regards to importance. They not only make our lives easier but they can make our lives safer.
It’s fairly obvious that the majority of seniors aren’t going to be able to use the same types of cell phones that others are using. The seniors for the most part simply prefer and need a simpler cell phone that incorporates the proper levels of standard technology. Seniors simply have some difficulty in learning how to use the more advanced technologies and simply get simply frustrated with it.
So it’s important to buy a cell phone for a senior but they don’t want the advanced technologies. That’s where the cell phone that has the minimum of the technology but enough to get them the help that they need if they need it. Not only is it important to stay in touch with the people that we cared about but it’s also so important that they have an emergency outlet no matter where they are and you simply just can’t do that with a landline phone.
So it’s important to find and buy a simple cell phone for the senior in your life. It’s actually one of the best targets that are out there and everybody gains. The cell phone companies that offer simple cell phones to their customers and the customers that purchase them being the seniors or the loved ones of the seniors purchasing the cell phones for them. It’s really a market that has yet to be tapped to the level that it should but it’s an excellent situation for everyone. The companies can produce cheap and efficient cell phones and then they well sell them. Things are getting better but it’s really a market that has yet to be tapped to its full potential, especially when you talk about the major carriers. Read the rest of this entry »

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The FCC warned this month that they are seeking some public comments on a plan which would mandate that cell phone carriers notify their customers when they’re running up abnormally  high charges for their:
•    Data usage
•    Roaming
•    Other uses beyond what is covered under their regular monthly plan fees
The initiative was outlined by the FCC through the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. The plan is intended to help the consumer avoid something that has been coined by the commission as “bill shock”.
The commission has been prompted by the hundreds of complaints that they’ve received from consumers about their receiving of bills with many unexpected charges, with these charges sometimes even amounting to hundreds of dollars. The charges often stem from the customers misunderstanding of the contract terms.
The FCC states that it is an avoidable problem and it’s really hard to disagree with that at all. Avoiding “bill shock” is something that is very good for the consumer and in the end a very good business move for the wireless carriers too. Not only will they be keeping their customers happy but they’ll be keeping their customers period.
European wireless carriers are actually required by law to send their customers a text message when the customer is running up roaming charges or are getting close to going over their limit for data usage. The FCC is issuing a Public Notice to see if there’s actually any reason why the American carriers can’t do something similar as the European automatic text messages to inform their consumers when they’re getting to the threat of having a very large bill.
In order to get more information on the “bill shock” initiative and to find more instructions on how to publicly file your comment can be found on the FCC website.

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So when would prepaid save you money over contract-based plans and vice versa? We’ll now put that very question to the test by comparing many plans from various cell phone service carriers. With data current as of Feb. 16, 2009, this analysis takes such a comparison a step further than an earlier analysis of Virgin Mobile versus Verizon Wireless. 

Virgin Mobile is often synonymous with prepaid wireless and oftentimes pops into the minds of consumers first when considering such a route. Why? The hip company keeps its pay-as-you-go-pricing low, doesn’t require commitments and (unlike the warning mentioned above for typical cases) even allows your prepaid minutes to roll forward. 

Virgin Mobile has even rolled out an especially attractive plan with unlimited voice minutes for $49.99 per month with no contract. 

The various scenarios below compare three common amounts of minutes used per month – 200, 400 or 1,000 minutes – at Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, Net10, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Tracfone and AT&T so you can see which carrier gives you the most bang for your buck. For the purpose of this analysis, carriers were only included with true nationwide coverage (i.e. Cricket Wireless didn’t make the analysis for not meeting this criteria).
200 anytime minutes per month with Virgin Mobile:
30-day minute pack with no contract: $20 or 10 cents per minute
By the minute with no contract: $26.99 or 10 cents per minute (including a $6.99 monthly fee)
By the minute with no contract: $40 or 20 cents per minute
Monthly plan with a contract (plus 500 minutes on nights and weekends): $25
Note: Text, picture and video messaging is $5 a month extra for 200 messages, $10 for 1,000 or $20 for unlimited on the no-contract plans. The mobile Web is $5 a month extra for 5 megabytes, $10 for 20 megabytes or $20 for 50 megabytes.
200 anytime minutes per month with Boost Mobile:
Pay as you go with no contract: $20 or 10 cents per minute
No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but $50 for unlimited minutes)
Note: Text messaging is 10 cents per message with no contract. Picture, audio and video messaging is 25 cents each. The mobile Web is 35 cents a day for unlimited use.
200 anytime minutes per month with Net10:
“Airtime on demand” with no contract: $20 with 30 days of service
No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but 250 “easy” minutes for $25 with no contract)
200 anytime minutes per month with Verizon Wireless:
$27.92 with no contract using eight 99-cent days (“Core” plan at 10 cents per minute), $25.92 using eight $1.99 days (“Plus” at 5 cents per minute) or $27.92 using eight $2.99 days (“Power” at 2 cents per minute) with various expirations
No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but 450 minutes for $39.99)
200 anytime minutes per month with T-Mobile:
$28 using eight $1 pay-by-the-day days at 10 cents per minute
No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but 300 minutes for $29.99)
200 anytime minutes with Tracfone:
$39.99 with no contract and 90 days of service
No monthly contract plan offered at this level (but 150 minutes for $29.99 per month)

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So what cell phone service is the best for you? The wireless text communication ability has really become more of a basic communication necessity for the deaf community.
Through the ability of wireless pagers and handheld communication options the hard of hearing and deaf population are able to do a few very important things:
•    Exchange emails
•    Instant message
•    Important communication in case of emergencies
There are more and more companies that are now offering more and more options for wireless communications with messaging and paging options. So, which one is the best for you?
Out of all of the options the Danger Sidekick is one of the most popular ones. If you’re not familiar with the Danger Sidekick you’ve probably heard of it referred to as the T-Mobile Sidekick though T-Mobile is not the manufacturer, it’s just the dealer network. The Sidekicks are sold by the dealer and the contract for the service is done through T-Mobile.
T-Mobile will offer to customers a data communications package only for those that either don’t wish to have or can’t use a voice communications package as it is for the deaf or the hard of hearing. In addition to that there are some providers that have other options like a captioned movie information option and more. The other features that are listed to those that are thought to have the most benefit to the hard of hearing and deaf customers.
The biggest and perhaps the most essential feature that is needed by the hard of hearing and deaf population is that of instant messaging and internet relay service options are now accessible through instant messaging.
So knowing that which provider or dealer is the best to go with? The business is one that is very highly competitive and very fluid. When you’re looking for providers you should realize that sometimes they will switch quickly and some of the devices will change rapidly.
Almost all cell phones will offering something in terms of instant messaging options so the deaf and hard of hearing customers definitely don’t have a lack of options.

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Is Prepaid Wireless or a Monthly Contract Cheaper?
While communicating on your cell phone can now be considered a basic human necessity, scoring you as an ongoing customer is a business need for a sea of cellphone companies competing for your wireless dollar. 

Just as you now have a wide variety of cell phone service carriers to choose from, so do you have many ways to pay for the same service. Is a monthly contract for one or two years right for you or might no-contract prepaid wireless be your holy grail instead? What’s the difference and how do you know? 

This analysis will help you debunk the confusion between the various plans and analyze your unique situation to see which most fits you like a glove. 

The Benefits of Prepaid Wireless The first most commonly cited advantage of prepaid or pay-as-you-go wireless is not being bound by a monthly service contract. 

U.S. carriers have been binding customers to contracts for years and penalizing them for early termination fees in the amount of $150 or $200. Such carriers then discount the cost of their cell phones when a customer is willing to commit to a contract. That’s the give and take. 

This is a very different story in Europe. Prepaid wireless is much more the norm there and Europeans are now used to the flexibility without the jail sentence. In a time of economic uncertainty, though, even the U.S. is starting to fall in love with prepaid wireless and more consumers are finding themselves converting. 

A second primary benefit of prepaid wireless is that there are no credit checks required. Especially in uncertain economic times, many Americans have found their “excellent” credit slip or many might not have had such stellar credit in the first place. 

One black mark in the past could still be haunting your credit score years later. It could take you quite a while to make up for past or current credit mistakes likely due to low funds, maxing out a credit card, being late on payments, defaulting on payments or going into foreclosure or bankruptcy. 

Prepaid wireless companies are willing to call you a customer even without a contract because you’re doing just what the name implies: paying for your minutes in advance. Even with no contract and the ability to bolt at any time, prepaid companies are willing to remain blissfully ignorant about your credit because they know you’ll be paying in advance for whatever you plan to use. 

The Potential Drawbacks of Prepaid Wireless 

On contract-based plans, your minutes don’t “expire”. If you buy 1,000 in a month and don’t use 200, you just lose them and move onto the next month. Some plans (such as withAT&T) will even allow those unused minutes to “roll over” to the next month. 

With prepaid wireless, though, you often need to use what you buy. If you don’t, they can expire. Make sure to read the fine print before selecting a prepaid wireless plan to understand if your minutes will expire and when. In addition, some prepaid minutes might cost more than they would with a contract. 

Analysis: Prepaid Wireless vs. Monthly Contract Plans 

So when would prepaid save you money over contract-based plans and vice versa? We’ll now put that very question to the test by comparing many plans from various cell phone service carriers. With data current as of Feb. 16, 2009, this analysis takes such a comparison a step further than an earlier analysis of Virgin Mobile versus Verizon Wireless. 

Virgin Mobile is often synonymous with prepaid wireless and oftentimes pops into the minds of consumers first when considering such a route. Why? The hip company keeps its pay-as-you-go-pricing low, doesn’t require commitments and (unlike the warning mentioned above for typical cases) even allows your prepaid minutes to roll forward. 

Virgin Mobile has even rolled out an especially attractive plan with unlimited voice minutes for $49.99 per month with no contract. 

The various scenarios below compare three common amounts of minutes used per month – 200, 400 or 1,000 minutes – at Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, Net10, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Tracfone and AT&T so you can see which carrier gives you the most bang for your buck. For the purpose of this analysis, carriers were only included with true nationwide coverage (i.e. Cricket Wireless didn’t make the analysis for not meeting this criteria). Read the rest of this entry »

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The unfortunate circumstance is that a lot of senior citizens are not well off financially but yet they are still in need of some sort of communication device. Do any of the following questions apply to you?
•    Has your home phone been turned off?
•    Do you currently have a cell phone but you don’t have any minutes for it?
•    Are you simply unable to pay for a cell phone at all?
If any of those questions are answered yes how are you planning on contacting someone in case of an emergency? For many of us this isn’t something that we will have to worry about but for many people it is a very real problem and a problem that doesn’t seem to have a solution.
A lot of these people are seniors and they could easily find themselves along and injured without any possible way to contact someone should an accident happen.
There is a solution now. The government has come up with a solution to this problem through the offering of a free cell phone. In addition to that there are monthly minutes. All of this is of course subject to qualification.
If you’re someone that is handicapped, currently draw disability or purely live on a very low income you can potentially qualify for this very unique program. Through working with Safe Link Wireless almost all states are offering a government funded program which allows qualifying citizens to receive both a phone and the minutes without incurring any personal cost.
Both the minutes and the phone will vary a little from state to state but regardless of the differences the core remains the same of the free phone with the free monthly minute allotment. If any of the monthly minutes go unused they will simply rollover to the following month. There are some features which will come free with the phone service as well, like call waiting, caller id and even a voicemail box.
Regardless of the state in which you live the phone is almost always just going to be offered to one person in the home. The reason for this is that the phone serves the purpose of being a family phone. You’ll most likely qualify for the free program if you are:
•    On food stamps
•    On disability
•    In a government housing program
•    A family member is drawing SSI
Read the rest of this entry »

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It looks like Google is about to get into the broadband industry. Google is making plans to position their own trial fiber-optic network going to a minimum of 50k homes and it could go to as many as a potential 500k.
This fiber-optic set-up is something that would deliver amazingly high speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second. This is an unheard of speed when it comes to the residential fiber-optic set-ups as the 1 gigabit per second is over 20xs faster than any of the other services offered in the United States today.
On their blog Google talks about the fact that they’re planning on the building and testing of the mega hi-speed broadband networks within a small area of trial areas throughout the United States. They promise the deliverance of internet speeds of more than 100xs faster than everything that is available to the population today, offering the 1 gigabit fiber-optic in home connection. They also make mention of the fact that they are planning on offering the service at a very viable price to the 50-500k people.
The broadband that is offered by Google is going to be very competitive when it comes to pricing in the broadband service that is offered by the telephone and cable companies of today and it is going to be even faster. Google is talking about how it will be doing this on a trial basis in order to promote new applications that are going to be able to utilize the faster speeds and through experimentation be able to find new and better ways to be able to deploy fiber-optic networks to the homes on a larger scale.
The other hope with this is to be able to create some pressure when it comes to allowing of more open access to the broadband services on the whole. Google sees the effort of what they’re embarking on to be symbiotic with the United States government’s plans for the national broadband deployment. You are able to apply hereif you are a community or municipality and would like to be taken into consideration for the Google service.
Google actually already owns a very large network of what’s called dark fiber around the entire world in order to:
•    Connect their data centers
•    Speed up their search function
•    Lower the costs of the streaming of billions of YouTube videos every month
With this current undertaking Google is taking the very first steps in connecting all of the dark fiber to actual backbone connections in consumers’ homes.
As of right now it’s not completely clear as to how Google’s services will conjoin with the broadband subscription but there is one thing that is clear and that is that Google is going to be both the default search with their Gmail service being the default email. Maybe Google Voice could potentially be thrown into the mix by the time everything comes to fruition. Only time will tell but for those lucky enough to be a part, with speeds that amazing, it should definitely be an interesting ride.

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Contrary to some things floating around there is no new federal program that is currently providing free mobile phones and there is no special “Obama” phone. If you didn’t know it before, you will now know that this is a myth that’s circulating on the internet through email and some blog sites. It’s been proven factually inaccurate many times, just one of these being through the site through this link.
It talks about the fact that the low-income homes have actually been eligible for a discounted phone serviced for over a decade and the program is actually funded by the telecom companies themselves, not through taxes and the president has zilch to do the program. Read the rest of this entry »

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For those that are low income and having problems being able to find and afford cell phone service there is an answer through Lifeline and Link Up from Verizon Wireless.
So what is Life Line and what is Link Up? The Lifeline and Link Up are two programs which put forward cell phone plan discounts for those low-income customers that will qualify in order to get a wireless phone discount. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cell phone technology improves at a notably faster rate than most cell phone plan contracts expire, but don’t let that hold you back from upgrading to the latest and greatest mobile handset or smartphone. Check out these money-saving ways to get a new cell phone regardless of how many months remain on your cellular service contract: Read the rest of this entry »

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Consumer Cellular isn’t a company that is specifically tailored for seniors; however it has cell phone plans that are simple, low cost and will provides a variety of those to choose from. What happens is Consumer Cellular buys airtime from the other leading wireless phone providers and then takes those minutes and repackages them for their individual service plans. Since they are purchasing airtime from other providers the coverage areas are basically going to be the same as the other cellular companies.
The nice benefit when it comes to Consumer Cellular is that there isn’t any long term contract that has to be signed and their service comes with a  risk free, satisfaction free guarantee. What this entails is someone can try the service for 30 minutes of phone use or 30 days, whichever comes first and if you don’t like the service at that point you’re able to cancel and don’t have to pay anything.
The plans start out at as little as $10 a month and there is no long distance or roaming charges with the plans. Additionally you can change your plan at any tie and if you want to add a phone to the same plan you can do so for only $10 dollars.
There is a $35 activation fee and there are only four phones to choose from. There is a phone that is offered for free after a mail in rebate and the most expensive phone is around $115.
The Plan Costs and Details
•    $35 activation fee
•    $.25 per minute for overage
•    No long-term contracts
•    Free voicemail (airtime rates do apply)
•    Can switch plans without charge
•    Text messaging (for a fee)
•    Are able to keep the same phone number
For all additional information and to choose a plan visit http://www.consumercellular.com/
AT&T Senior Nation 200
AT&T released a wireless cell phone plan that is directed at those that are 65 years of age or older. The new plan is a lower cost one that is geared towards the senior that doesn’t need to use a cell phone all that often but would like to have one for emergencies and to help them stay connected to:
•    Family
•    Friends
•    Children
•    Grandchildren
•    Doctors (for medical purposes)
You’ll find that the plan is structured like the other plans that are offered by the company but will provide lower minutes and will not offer as many extras and features as the regular wireless plans. This plan includes 200 anytime minutes, 500 night and weekend minutes with unlimited mobile to mobile calling with only $29.99 per month for access.
Additionally, there are no roaming or long distance charges and unlike the other plans you will not get rollover minutes with this plan.
Just like the other plans there are early termination fees but there is a 30 day satisfaction grace period to try the service and still avoid the termination fee. In order to be eligible you have to be 65 years of age or older.
For additional details and to purchase the Senior Nation 200 plan visit AT&T

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Unlike before there are now wireless phone plans available for seniors that want to have a cell phone but don’t need all of the bells and whistles that all of the current cell phone plans and providers offer. A good cell phone plan for seniors offers an awesome alternative for the people that want to have a phone while they are traveling or for emergencies.
The important thing to note is while the plan will be more affordable they will be more limited in the minutes that they offer and if you are someone that will be using your phone more often than a more common plan is going to be better to fit your needs. This will help you to avoid any of the costly overage charges. Sometimes it can be hard to track the amount of minutes we are using on our phones and we can often tend to use our phone more often than we had thought come the end of the month.
The plan that we’ll talk about today is the Verizon Nationwide 65 Plus plan.
Verizon Nationwide 65 Plus Read the rest of this entry »

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While AT&T doesn’t have a specific cell phone designed solely for the senior citizen in mind it does have a cell phone plan that is designed for seniors. While they don’t have the phones specifically for seniors millions of the older generation doesn’t really have the need as they are more accustomed to using a more traditional cell phone and are actually quite at ease using them.
The thing that AT&T does offer though is the cell phone plan that is specifically designed with the needs of seniors and the aging customer base in mind. Those people that have reached retirement, have all grown children and those that might require a smaller minutes bundle for any other reason are able to realize the cost savings that is associated with lower cell phone usage.
The cell phone plan is the Senior Nation 200 plan. What this plan offers is any users that are over the age of 65 will get the following:
•    200 anytime minutes
•    500 night and weekend minutes
•    Unlimited mobile to mobile calling
All of these options are available in this plan and it is only $29.99 per month. Just like with any regular cell phone plan there will be no long distance charges and additionally there will be no charge even if the customer should be roaming.
There is a 45 cent per minute charge for any minutes used beyond the plan allotment and there is a two year contract required.
There are a couple phones below that are the more traditional type of cell phone that could easily double as a “cell phone for seniors” due to some of the features they come with. 

AT&T PanTech Breeze
The PanTech Breeze is claimed to be able to be a senior friendly phone. Some of the features offerings are:
•    A clear speakerphone
•    Loud clear volume
•    Large buttons which are well spaced for easier dialing capability
•    Three programmable quick call buttons for easy dialing
•    Large fonts
•    Simple menus
Even though the cell phone is a more basic phone the phone does offer additional functions that its competitors don’t offer that will be appreciated by the senior that is more confident and wants to use a more modern cell phone while still having some of the senior friendly features.
The additional offerings are:
•    VGA quality camera
•    Downloadable games
•    Ringtones and wallpapers
•    Text messaging capability
•    Picture messaging capability with sound
•    Web browsing
•    Bluetooth
This phone is available for no cost when the customer purchases a two year qualifying plan.
The final phone we’ll quickly talk about is the AT&T Nokia 6085.
AT&T Nokia 6085
This phone offers the following options:
•    Large and simple keypad
•    Hearing aid and TTY compatibility
•    Speakerphone
•    Voice dialing
•    Voice driven menus
It also comes with all of the features that a more experienced cell phone user would want:
•    Multimedia messaging
•    Web browsing
•    MP3 player
•    Digital camera
•    Much more
This phone is also free with the purchase of a qualifying plan.

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Some will ask the question of why the cell phones for seniors would need to be any different from the more typical type of cell phone. The reason for this is actually pretty simple as for many people as they get older needs change. That goes for anything really but definitely goes for cell phone usage.
There are many cases where the senior is going to need a cell phone this is much easier to:
•    Handle
•    See
•    Hear
In other words the aging adult/senior needs a simpler cell phone.
With the thought above granted there are a lot of seniors that are able to handle the typical cell phone but the typical cell phone plan isn’t something that fits their needs any longer. Things like with the kids all grown and out of the home, full time employment is just a thought in the past, etc… The typical cell phone plans that come with the huge pools of minutes are a thought of yesterday and are extremely excessive and unneeded expense.
The nice thing though is while it wasn’t the case in the past the options are increasing greatly and there are a lot of cell phones for seniors that will meet the needs of the aging adult.
The Original in Simple Cell Phones
When it comes to cell phones for seniors the original simple senior cell phone is the Jitterbug. The Jitterbug is widely considered to be the original phone that includes basic senior friendly plans as well.
When the Jitterbug was initially in conception it was thought for and designed specifically for the older adult, the senior, in mind. The Jitterbug is also very well suited for anyone that is seeking a cell phone that has:
•    Fewer functions to have to mess with
•    Larger buttons
•    Larger print (font) on the display screen
•    A high volume for easier hearing
The J phone from the Jitterbug line is also hearing aid compatible.
The Jitterbug is an amazing phone for any person that might need to have the occasional operator assistance. The operator assistance also provides other support which can help users with just about anything to do with their phone including helping the customer program numbers into their contact list.
The Jitterbug cell phone plans offer their customers very simple options that will provide such options as calling without having any long distance or roaming charges and there is no time of day restrictions which is very convenient to not have to track the day/night time minutes.
Plans for the Jitterbug phones will start as low as $14.99 per month and there is no long term contract that has to be signed unlike many of the cell phone provider counterparts. The price per minute change is going to be a little larger than many other packages that will offer the larger time bundles but this plan is more for the person that wants a phone for more limited use and those that want something for an emergency and a call here and there. for that type of person this plan is going to be an extreme cost saver.

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Cell phones keep getting smarter and smarter and smaller and smaller. Manufacturers are cramming more and more features into increasingly more compact designs (seriously – my first cell phone had twice the functionality and processing power of my first computer). For some, this is a plus. You can do more stuff without carrying more stuff. But for senior citizens who just want to make calls and don’t care if their phone can run Sim City, shoot a feature film and poach an egg, today’s smartphones are more than a little overkill. In fact, they are worse – they can actually be harder to use. Still, cell phones are a necessity for many senior citizens who wish to remain independent and keep in touch with their family.

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The recent unveiling of the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pre Pixi Plus (both on the Verizon Network) had previous Pixi and Pre owners excited with anticipation. While there were a few significant changes to each phone, some users will find that these changes are somewhat disappointing.

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Just about every company runs a credit check on potential customers before signing them up for service – including cell phone companies. If you’re credit score isn’t tiptop or there is something else on your credit report that is indicative of higher risk, you may get a $125+ deposit tacked on to your initial Verizon cell phone bill (which will be refunded after a year).

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Android has upped the ante in the battle of the smartphones and many consumers are torn between the iPhone and the sleek new Android phones running Google’s mobile operating system, particularly Verizon Wireless’s HTC Droid Eris and Nextel/Sprint’s Samsung Moment. These are all fine phones packed with all the features and functionality you need from a next generation smartphone, including unlimited data, corporate email connectivity, social media and messaging and seamless 3G web browsing.  But in light of the touch economic times, the X factor for most family cell phone plans (and individual cell phone plans) will be the cost of service. To help you choose the cheapest smartphone cell phone plans, we’ve put together a quick reference breakdown of the major costs and fees for today’s latest and greatest smartphones. Read the rest of this entry »

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Much buzz has been circulating about the latest Consumer Reports survey of cell phone service. If you’re considering switching cell phone plans or are signing up for cellular service for the first time, now is a good time to decide, while the Consumer Report ratings are their freshest. Here’s a quick summary of their findings:

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Like most cellular phone companies, it breaks Nextel’s heart to see you go. That’s why they’ve put up so many obstacles in the way to prevent you from doing so – 200 obstacles, to be exact. That’s right, if you want to move on to greener pastures before your contract is up, it’ll cost you $200. The rationale is that when you signed up with Nextel, they gave you a free Motorola Debut or a BlackBerry Curve or some other super awesome phone that would normally cost you hundreds of dollars to buy without a contract. Cutting out before your contract is up is sort of on par with being invited to a wedding, skipping the ceremony, dropping in at the reception to slug down two glasses of champagne and fill a doggy bag with chicken and beef and then hitting the road before the cake is cut. So, Nextel has a point.

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Many families are looking for cell phone deals, family plans, and wireless plans that make the most financial sense for their situation. They want great service, state-of-the-art technology, and good coverage areas, without spending a fortune. But, finding those cell phone deals, family plans and other great deals can be a cumbersome, difficult process. There are so many bargains and promises on the internet, that it can be hard to determine which are the best deals. Thankfully, Cell-phone-plans.net has a Cell Phone Comparison Tool, which allows you to narrow your search for the best cell phone deals, family plans and more.

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