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MONEY COMMENT
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The mobile phone market is a complex one, and choosing a phone that suits your needs can be perplexing. Furthermore, the level of bewilderment has probably been ratcheted up another notch by the official launch of Vodafone's 3G service this week. The telecom giant has introduced ten new 3G handsets and three extra tariffs, which will only compound consumer confusion. Phone companies love to tell us that choosing a mobile phone is simple, but a trip to a mobile phone shop will quickly put paid to that claim. Apart from the myriad of phones and the wide choice of carriers on offer, there are also table-upon-tables of tariffs to plough through! When buying a mobile phone, start by deciding what exactly you want your communication device to do. This site provides a good review of some of the latest phones on the market, and this site is pretty good too. It may seem a little old-fashioned, but if all you want is to talk to other people on your phone then a simple handset should be adequate. However, you may want a snazzier device with games, a colour screen, built-in camera, stopwatch functions or even currency converter. Next decide on the network. If you know that most of your friends are on a particular network, and you plan to call them regularly, then it is worth joining the same carrier. Phone companies offer concessionary prices when you make calls to the same network, but calls across networks can sometimes be 150% higher. It is also worth considering network coverage when choosing a carrier too. For example, coverage of 99% of the UK's population may appear substantial, unless you are one of the 1% who happens to live in a "coverage hole"! (I have to go to the end of my garden just to get a half-decent reception on my mobile phone.) Tariffs, in my view, are unnecessarily complex, though carriers may argue that a one-size-fits-all policy is also grossly unfair. Consequently, making sure you are on the right phone package can save you plenty of pounds. Start by estimating the number of minutes you intend to use your phone daily, then scale that figure up to a year. (That's because most contract packages are for a full-twelve month period.) Don't forget to include the number of text messages that you plan to send too! Generally, Pay-As-You Go deals are appropriate for people who intend to use their phones for less than 650 minutes or ten hours a year. At 20p per minute, this equates to around £130 annually. Additionally, they should also be sparing users of text messaging. Monthly plans, on the other hand, are normally sold on the basis of the wide choice of free subsidised handset. However, this can be a red herring. Consider an example of a £15 a month contract customer who receives a £50 phone for free. This customer would need to make 650 minutes of calls annually on a Pay-As-You-Go rate of 20p a minute just to break even. Moreover, if the phone is kept for two years, break-even will not be reached until 775 minutes on an equivalent Pay-As-You-Go rate! More: Check tariffs at Switch With Which? | Discuss mobile phone issues David owns shares in Vodafone.