One: You need to try and figure out how much you will be using your cell phone on a daily basis. In other words, will you be talking on it a lot every day or will it be for emergencies only? This is important because most cell phone plans are priced according to the minutes they provide.

Two: Determine how many people you are going to include on the plan. If more than one, a family plan might be a consideration. Family plans are typically offered at a discounted rate to accommodate service on multiple lines. Typically, the more lines the deeper the discount on each line. Some plans share minutes between all family members others assign individual minutes to each member, so you may need to shop around and determine what fits your family best.

Three: You need to try and figure out how you plan to use your cell phone.  Is it going to be used just to make and receive calls? Ask yourself, will you need to use text messaging or get on the Internet through your phone? If you do than you will want to find out how much each plan will charge you for this service. Some of the cell phone plans will have unlimited texting. Do you need a smart phone? Are you someone who will use the apps available? Remember smart phones require Internet access, typically, Internet access will cost you between $5 and $15 a month extra.

Four: Find out what the plan will charge you if you go over your minutes in any given month. If the overage minutes are expensive you may want to consider upping you estimated usage (part one), you don’t want to end up with an outrageous bill because you went over your minutes one month.

Five: This is more for selecting the right service provider, but since part of finding the right plan is finding the right service provider we are including it. Service reliability in your area. While the coverage area of most service providers has improved in recent years, there are some areas where some providers offer better coverage than others.

These are just a few of the most important things that you need to find out about before you decide on which of the cell phone plans you want to use. Cell phones have a lot of good uses but they can be expensive if you don’t have the right plan. So take your time and find the one that works best for your phone needs.

The best cell phone for a business depends on the type of business. Some businesses require their phones provide access to e-mail, a calendar, and address book. Other businesses requires photos to be taken with their employee’s cell phone. Businesses whose employees travel may need cell phones that work in countries other than their own.

There are certain features that are often popular with businesses that are not always used as often with consumers. Features such as three-way conference calling, call waiting, and forwarding are often popular.  Nowadays, some service plans may even offer features where callers can chose to leave a message or be directed to someone else, similar to office call systems, making the transition between office and cell almost seamless.

Text messaging is a feature that is growing rapidly among businesses. Text messaging is now being used by some businesses to send information on delivery schedules and special promotions. Businesses that provide entertainment often use text messaging to notify customers of up-coming events.

Internet Service Providers can notify engineers immediately with text messaging when their systems go down. Schools and colleges can use text messaging to alert students and parents when school will not be held due to weather conditions, etc. The list is endless of what text messaging on a cell phone can accomplish for any type of business.

Similar to consumers, business are now relying on cell phones to help propel work forward.

With the onset of “smart phones” there came the ability to customize them with “apps”, to quote Apple, “There’s an app for that™”. WhitePages.com is now offering a mobile app (here) for looking up residential phone numbers and address and YP.com is now offering a mobile app (here) to find business phone numbers and addresses. Both apps are being offered for free with the hope that consumers will tolerate ads in exchange for the ability to  lookup phone numbers/addresses wherever they are.

There are many circumstances in our everyday lives where having the white or yellow pages at your finger tips could be useful. So if you are someone who frequently searches for people or business online you might consider adding these to your smart phone.

Now-a-days cell phones contain pictures, video, dates, addresses, business documents, credit card information and more… The information we often store on our cell phones can be comparable to our home computers. Making them very valuable to some thieves. As such, we thought we would compile a few ways in which you may be able to help protect yourself if your cell phone is misplaced or stolen.

First, always password protect your phone. Password protecting your cell phone is a great way to protect the valuable information stored on it. Should your phone get stolen, it makes it much more difficult for crooks to retrieve the data (but not impossible).

Never keep sensitive information such as social security numbers, bank account numbers or home addresses. Since this can sometimes be saved in certain files, profiles and history it is important to be mindful about using this information on your phone and never have your phone save online or app passwords.

If you purchase something on your phone try to use a payment gateway like Paypal which require a password to use, rather than your credit card.  This may limit the likelihood of sensitive information being stored on your phone.

Should your phone be stolen, make a list of the information found on your phone, and immediately file a police report. Then notify your cell phone carrier to discontinue service. Nothing can replace the unsettling feeling that you get when a belonging as personal as a cell phone is stolen, but hopefully these steps may help to lessen the impact.