A cell phone contract is an agreement between the consumer and the cell phone provider, which binds the consumer to a fixed monthly payment for a designated period of time. During this time, the consumer will be paying a fee, which may cover the cost of the phone as well as the service fee. By the end of the contract, the consumer might have paid more than the value of the phone as well as an exaggerated service fee. However, the consumer may be relieved of having to pay a large amount of money up-front, in order to purchase his or her dream phone.
In any event, unless the consumer fully utilize the facilities available with the phone and the phone service to which he or she pays a monthly fee, the contract may in fact become a headache and a waste of money. Thus, before signing a cell phone contract, there are many things to consider other than the appearance of the mobile phone offered with the contract.
Be guided by your requirements
Before entering into a cell phone contract, one needs to assess his or her requirements. For some, the offer of a futuristic looking phone could mean everything and therefore are the most vulnerable to suffer from an unwanted long-term cell phone contract. Thus, consumers should know how to look beyond the cell phone that is on offer and read the clauses mentioned in the contract rather than focusing their attention only on the pictures and advertising highlights.
Select after doing a research
Consumers should also do their own research before signing up for a cell phone contract. Going through newspaper advertisements, brochures and websites of local phone dealers can be helpful to gather information related to phone deals, which are on offer. However, one should not make a decision after seeing one or two offers but should continue to search for a better deal, which caters best to his or her needs.
Think twice when deciding your mobile needs
When talking about needs, one has to think twice before deciding to purchase a phone and a service, which will fulfill his or her perceived needs. In most instances, people tend to forget what they really want when they see a gadget that does something cool. However, the function, which caught the person’s attention, may not be useful in the long-run or else might be costly to operate on day-to-day basis. Therefore, consumers need to understand what their real needs are and prioritize the same in order to select the best phone deal. For instance, one consumer may want to send a large number of text messages while another will want to access Internet through his or her mobile phone. For another, communicating with business contacts, friends or relatives abroad would be the most important aspect of his or her cell phone plan. Thus, not all plans will suit everyone’s needs and therefore one should take care to prioritize his or her needs and select the phone plan that best caters to specific needs.
Read and understand the fine print
Once a suitable cell phone contract has been selected, the consumer should go through the fine print in order to understand the consumers’ obligations during the contract period. One should focus his or her attention on terms related to contract termination, the cost of such terminations, the ability to change plans, hidden costs, possibility of altering the services given away with the contract and similar statements that will affect the long-term sustainability of such contracts.
Double-checking the device and thinking carefully about last minute offerings
Furthermore, the consumer should double check the device given away with the contract and its functionality. Lastly, there may be last minute additions to the cell phone contract that may be in the form of insurance coverage, additional services given away without a subscription, but with recurrent fees and extra fees for certain upgrades. While some of these additions may be worthwhile to consider, in most instances, these last minute additions would be an added burden.
After considering all these aspects and understanding the true meaning of the contract, one should make a decision to either sign or refuse the contract even at the last minute.