The Smart Ones

By Wilson Rothman

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Cell phones are basically little radios; how well they work depends on how many antennas your carrier has set up wherever you happen to be. Since most carriers do not share radio towers, reception varies widely from city to city and even neighborhood to neighborhood. You can't always predict what kind of coverage you're going to get where you need it, but here are a few tips for minimizing that cell-phone blackout:

--Before you sign on, check your carrier's "footprint," the local and national coverage maps listed on its website. If your hometown or the places you frequently visit are not listed, don't go with that carrier.

--If you live in a large city, check out ePinions epinions.com or J.D. Power and Associates jdpa.com for customer satisfaction surveys. Keep in mind that even comparisons within a given city aren't foolproof. What works on Sixth Avenue may not work on Seventh.

--Ask your friends and relatives. They can tell you about dead spots and other frustrations. Borrow a phone and walk around every room in your house while talking to a friend. Go for a drive or visit your office with the borrowed phone and see how far service extends. Testing is the only way to ensure at least minimal coverage.

--If you sign up for a plan and discover that the coverage isn't good enough where you need it, cancel immediately. In your new service contract, read the fine print of the buyer's remorse clause. Some carriers, such as VoiceStream, give you only 72 hours to decide whether to keep their service. Others give you 15 to 30 days. These deals usually have a string attached: you pay for the minutes you used before you canceled.

DON'T BE FOOLED

The advertisements sound too good to be true--3,000, 5,000, even 9,000 minutes absolutely free! Don't be fooled. Free minutes are of no use if you're asleep when they kick in. Before you sign anything, you need to look behind the numbers and find out what they really mean.

First, determine how many of those 9,000 minutes are peak ("anytime") and how many are off-peak (usually nights and weekends). A plan with 8,700 off-peak minutes but only 300 peak is no bargain. Even long-winded midnight gabbers rarely chew up more than 3,000 off-peak minutes. And for most people, 300 peak minutes is the bare minimum.

Also, take a close look at what time in the evening those off-peak minutes begin. The difference between a "nighttime" that starts at 8 p.m. and one that starts at 9 p.m. can add up to a lot of money. One carrier, VoiceStream, doesn't offer any weekday nighttime hours at all; its off-peak starts at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and ends at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

Finally, you may have to choose between a national and a regional plan. The price difference can be substantial, but beware. While many regional plans include free long distance inside the region, some do not. Also, when traveling, you will probably use your phone more than at home. (It's actually a good way to avoid exorbitant hotel-room phone bills.)