It is still a very tricky world out there and purchasing wireless service requires you to determine, in advance:

1. How often will you use your wireless phone?
   
   
2. Where (in what location) and what time of day will you use your wireless phone?
   
   
3. Do you need a wireless phone that is light and that has lasting battery power?
   
   
4. Do you need lots of enhanced services such as Caller ID, voice mail, Call Forwarding etc?
   
   
5. Are most of your wireless phone calls short ones or over one-minute?

Even after answering these questions, there are some traps and pitfalls for which you need to be aware:

Watch out for weekend and evening minutes. Companies will give them away, but they aren't worth much unless you'll use them. 

Included minutes apply only to local calls. If you call or receive out of area calls, your minutes aren't counted. 

Billing by one-minute increments is a costly hidden charge. GTE is the only company that bills by 30 second increments for some of its plans. The other companies can cost a lot more if you make a lot of short calls. 

Beware the hand-set come-on. While phone equipment is important, there is not a huge distinction between phones offered by the competitors. UCAN recommends you focus on rate differences. That's where the costs add up. 

Coverage is important but overblown. The two cellular incumbents have better coverage than the PCS companies. But Nextel has good digital coverage and PCS is improving. 

Question the emergency plans. If you think you need wireless service only for emergencies, know that you can get access to 911 using any cell phone without having to sign up for service! Wireless companies must offer free access to 911 to anyone -- even non-subscribers. Just buy a used phone, turn it on and you are in business. 

We discourage long-term contracts. Some providers want to lock you into two-year contracts. Just say no. The market is changing quickly, as are your needs and you may lock yourself into a high-priced deal unnecessarily.