Pricing. . . Most wireless pricing plans include a certain number of minutes per month (often called a "basket" or "bucket" of minutes for a certain price, and any minutes over that specified amount are charged on a per-minute basis. Any unused minutes at the end of the month expire. Carriers generally offer several variations of these types of plans with increasing baskets of minutes at increasing monthly fees. Carriers also vary their service plans by where subscribers can use their phones without incurring additional roaming and long distance fees.

NIGHT & WEEKEND VS. "ANYTIME MINUTES"

Many carriers offer plans that include a basket of minutes that can be used anytime during the month plus a larger basket of minutes that can be used during certain times, generally nights and/or weekends. Which time periods constitute "night" and "weekend" vary by carrier.

PEAK & OFF-PEAK MINUTES

Before the advent of "bucket" pricing plans, carriers charged subscribers a per-minute fee for each minute of airtime on every call. Some carriers still offer these types of plans today. With these plans, calls made during certain "peak" times of the day - generally business hours - often cost more, and calls made during other "off-peak" times - generally nights and weekends - often cost less. Again, which times constitute "night" and "weekend" vary by carrier.

WHO PAYS FOR INCOMING CALLS?

With the majority of pricing plans, consumers pay for both outgoing and incoming calls. In the case of bucket plans, the minutes from both outgoing and incoming calls are usually deducted from a customer's monthly bucket of minutes. However, some carriers offer pricing plans where all or some of the minutes of incoming calls are free to customers.

MINUTES OR SECONDS?

In general, mobile carriers charge by the minute. When you use a fraction of a minute, many carriers round up to the next minute, charging or deducting subscribers a full minute when only a portion of it is used. However, some carriers offer plans that round to the nearest second instead of minute.

LONG DISTANCE

Cell phone users have traditionally had to pay additional fees for "long distance" calls. Long distance calls are generally calls made to locations outside of a customer's home coverage area. However, some carriers may define long distance calls differently for purposes of their pricing plans. Several carriers offer pricing plans that eliminate per-minute long distance fees. Some plans charge no long distance fees for calls made from a customer's home calling area, some for calls made from anywhere on a carrier's network, and some for calls made from anywhere in the United States. Whenever a long distance call is made, the mobile telephone carrier determines which long distance carrier will complete the call, unlike with landline service where the customer chooses the long distance carrier.

ROAMING

Carriers have traditionally charged per-minute roaming fees on calls made from the network of the carrier that has a roaming arrangement with your carrier from a location outside of a customer's home calling area. However, several carriers have eliminated these fees in their "nationwide" pricing plans.

"NATIONWIDE" PRICING PLANS

All of the major mobile carriers offer pricing plans that allow customers to purchase a bucket of monthly minutes to use on a nationwide basis without incurring roaming or long distance charges. Consumers should be aware that how carriers define "nationwide" varies. For some carriers, this means being able to use your phone anywhere in the country where any type of signal is available at no additional charge. For other carriers, it means being able to send and receive calls only on the carrier's network without incurring roaming and long distance fees. These carriers' networks generally extend through the country's more populated and highly-traveled locations but do not cover the entire United States.

PREPAID SERVICES

With prepaid service, consumers purchase a handset and pay for a fixed amount of minutes prior to making any calls. There is usually a set time period in which unused minutes will expire. Prepaid minutes are often subject to peak and off-peak airtime rates. When prepaid customers have used up their minutes, they can refill them. Carriers do not obtain credit history reports on prepaid subscribers as they generally do with other subscribers.

SPECIAL OPTIONS

Special options (also known as vertical services) include such things as call waiting, CallerID, voicemail, call forwarding, and three-way calling. Carriers offer these to customers as add-on features beyond simply dialing and talking. Some of these options are included in the monthly price of most digital calling plans, while others are generally offered at an additional monthly or per-use charge. Many of these features may not be available on analog networks.

SHORT MESSAGING SERVICES (SMS)

SMS provides the ability to send and receive short text messages to and from mobile handsets. Many carriers charge a flat monthly fee for a basket of messages, with additional messages costing a few cents per message.

MOBILE DATA SERVICES

"Wireless Web" or "mobile Web" services allow customers to obtain a limited amount of text-based Internet content on their mobile phones. The type of content available generally varies from carrier to carrier. Some carriers charge a flat monthly fee for access to wireless Web content, while others offer the service at no additional charge beyond voice service. In addition, some carriers deduct wireless Web access minutes from their subscribers' basket of monthly voice minutes while others do not.

ACTIVATION FEES

Many carriers charge a one-time fee to customers when they initiate service, called an "activation fee." Carriers will sometimes waive this fee as part of a promotional pricing plan.

SERVICE AGREEMENTS

Most carriers require new subscribers to sign one or two-year contracts or service agreements when they sign up for a new service plan. Most charge an "early termination fee" to users who cancel their service plans prior to the end of that year. Some carriers offer additional incentives to subscribers who sign up for two-year service agreements. Consumers should carefully read any potential service contract prior to signing up for service.