By Mike Naughton
When walking down the street it is almost impossible to not hear someone talking on a cell phone. With countless cell phone companies and even more phone options, picking a plan can be a dreaded task.
Only recently has the cellular phone become popular among students and teenagers. Ten years ago, cell phones were primarily seen as a luxury item for businessmen who had to travel for company purposes, according to Sprint’s Director of Public Relations for the Northeast Larry McDonnell.
“The earliest adapters [of cell phones] were students,” McDonnell said.
From Sprint, to Nextel, to T-Mobile, to Verizon, and so on, cell phone companies are attempting to gear their promotions to a younger audience by offering free phones, new features and lower prices.
Sprint is one of the many companies for customers to choose from when looking for a cell phone plan.
For the college student who wants a phone that has features like a camera and up to the minute news updates from Sprint’s own news network, Sprint’s Sanyo 8100 is an option. The Sanyo 8100 is under $100 after the rebate, appealing to students on a tighter budget.
According to Amy Ferrara, Senior Account Executive for Clarke ‘ Company, a representative for Sprint, the Sanyo 8100 is sleek in appearance with a silver clamshell design. Not only did the phone have a design “appealing to a younger generation” but is also simplistic in design and easy to operate. By following the prompts, a user can take, save and send a picture to a friend.
The Samsung A600 was just released by Sprint, with features including a camera and a game pad. The A600, like the Sanyo 8100, has a silver clamshell design and can take pictures. The A600, however, has a rotating flip screen, a zoom camera lens and gaming capabilities that resemble those of handheld entertainment systems, and is priced at over $300.
Nextel is another company that offers different phones and plans as well as a different technology.
Some Nextel phones are equipped with a walkie-talkie feature that allows users to connect with someone on the other side of the nation with the push of a button. Nextel’s direct connect feature does just that, it enables users to directly contact other users on the Nextel network.
Cell phone companies are trying to compete with each other by coming out with new technological features and lowering prices at the same time, according to McDonnell.
“Intense competition is what is driving prices down,” McDonnell said.
Sprint plans to come out with phones that not only take still pictures but also are capable of taking five or 10 second motion pictures. Sprint is one company that focuses on technological advances while still focusing on the basic communication principles cell phones were created for, according to McDonnell.
“Voice is still king,” McDonnell said. “We try to improve reception by trying to find areas where you have a dead zone and work with the communities to put up an antenna.”
Another cellular company, T-Mobile, offers a free trial period where a prospective customer can take a phone home for a small period of time and try it out. However, the customer does have to pay a charge for this trial period, which appears on the next bill issued to the T-Mobile customer.
Becky Flot, a freshman business major, has a small idea of what plan she has and what her phone is capable of.
“I think I have some Cingular plan,” Flot said. “I don’t know what gadgets I have. I can’t even set the alarm.”
Some students do not pay their cell phone bills and are not aware of how much the phone costs. Eric Sinclair, a freshman business major, has no clue what his bill amounts to.
“I am not sure how much my bill is a month,” Sinclair said.
Knowing how much per month a cell phone plan will cost, reading the fine print and asking questions is one of the easiest ways a student can avoid being charged for a plan or service beyond what a student may want.
