Find the Best Cell Phone and Plan for You
PhoneDog's innovative comparison tool can help you save on cell phones and plans. Find the best phone and plan for you today with PhoneDog!
PhoneDog's innovative comparison tool can help you save on cell phones and plans. Find the best phone and plan for you today with PhoneDog!
Compare cell phone carriers in Ames, IA to find the best cell phone carrier for your needs using PhoneDog. Compare cell phone carrier coverage maps in your area. Click or tap on the wireless carrier logos to view the coverage map for that carrier. Use our cell phone plan comparison tool to find and compare the wireless carrier plans, pricing, and more. The comparison tool includes major and minor carriers. The minor carriers and MVNOs run on the networks of one of the major carriers.
Most consumers are probably aware that mobile phone plans have become exceedingly commonplace and perhaps abundant, but that doesn't mean that every plan is equally appropriate for every situation. People’s lives vary greatly, and what works for one might not work for anyone else. With such a huge variety of needs, and a system that tries to meet as many of those needs as possible, it's vital that you find a plan that works optimally for your life. You don't want to pay for voice minutes, text messages, and data coverage that you aren't going to use, but you also don't want to limit your services to the point that overages become common. By using the comparison tools at PhoneDog, you can see a full range of cell phone plans in Ames, IA and compare their offerings, obligations, and costs.
You want a plan that offers you the most features for the least amount of cash. But most importantly, a plan should offer you quality coverage in the Ames, IA area. This is vital, as what good is a plan if it doesn’t allow you to actually connect with the outside world? However, most national carriers realize that this is the biggest factor for customers deciding on a plan, so more and more carriers are pushing to offer cell phone coverage in every city across the country. Chances are the carrier you choose will have coverage in your area. Check the coverage map of your carrier to find out before you decide to go with their service.
The majority of Ames, IA residents want the same thing out of a cell phone plan, making it pretty profitable for cell phone providers to capitalize our modern communication requirements. Just like everyone needs to drink water to survive, modern society requires communication to survive. A cell phone carrier aims to provide you minutes, text messages, and data. However, if you don't have a smartphone, you might want a plan that gives you a reduced data rate. If you don't text, you might not need to purchase a texting plan.
Many Americans depend upon cell phones constantly, using their smartphone to check the score on sports games, set up a romantic fling with a stranger at a short notice, or secretly search the web under the table at trivia night. You need to know how much data you think you will be using. Do you use your smartphone to listen to music at work or watch videos while driving? You won't be connected to the internet while doing this and will need some extra data. You’ll want to make sure you have the best plan available in Ames, IA.
There are three basic types of wireless plans: individual plans, family plans, and no contract plans. Are you single? If so, you will want an individual plan, giving you a single rate for data, text, and talk. Because you won't be sharing your deal with any family members, a single line phone plan may be the best deal for you. Unless for some reason you need to have two separate cell phones, you should be fine using a single-payer plan.
Family plans let you mitigate the costs of paying for multiple members of your family, bundling these up into a single plan. While these typically cost more overall, you save money if you have two or more family members needing to talk on the phone. This saves you significant money, making family plans ideal for sharing minutes, text message, and data fees.
On the other hand, you can get a prepaid or pay-as-you-go phone for quick communication needs. These are especially good for traveling in foreign countries, and involves no contract. This means that you can pick up the phone, open the package, and start talking. If you want, this can keep you completely anonymous, since no one will know that you bought that particular cell phone.
Contracts, by contrast, make you pay for a minimum of two years, committing you to a long-term relationship with your carrier. Make sure the plan you select has good coverage in Ames, IA before making such a big commitment, otherwise you'll be stuck with your carrier for the foreseeable future. Typically, carriers charge a significant termination fee for breaking your contract. This hits you harder when you have a significant amount of time left on your contract.
Consider the people who may be on your plan and what types of features they will use the most. Most major cell phone carriers in Ames, IA will factor three things into their plans: text, talk, and data.
If you decide on a cheaper plan, you will be able to limit how many minutes and text messages you receive to around 400 or less with a contract plan. If you would rather not worry about your talk and text usage, choose an unlimited plan. A prepaid plan allows you to purchase a wireless card to add to your plan with a certain amount of minutes for a set price, such as 1000 minutes for $60. When you use up those minutes, you will simply need to buy another card.
Many customers are looking at how much data they can receive when they consider their newest cell phone plan. Most Ames, IA carriers charge lump sums when high amounts of data are used. A plan is usually charged either by megabyte or by gigabyte. With many plans, going over your allotted data will cause expensive overages. To avoid this happening, make sure you pick a plan that offers high data usage per month
The four most common carriers in the United States are Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless. Smaller carriers tend to operate within the same networks as these industry leaders by renting part of the network spectrum. It is highly unlikely that Ames, IA isn't covered at least partially by all of these carriers.
Verizon Wireless is one of the two largest carriers, with AT&T being the second. Verizon has options for no-contract plans, family plans, and individual plans. Shared data plans are available as well as prepaid plans and unlimited plans. Data plans can be shared by a family or used solely by an individual, and they all come with unlimited text messages and voice minutes.
AT&T has many different plan tiers available in Ames, IA. Pay-as-you-go plans, no-contract plans, family plans, and individual plans are all available, and they even offer unlimited plan options as well.
T-Mobile only offers no-contract plans, which makes them unique. A single price provides unlimited text messages, voice minutes, and data, although it is worth mentioning that data speeds will decrease after a certain usage threshold.
Sprint offers one of the most affordable unlimited plans on the market, and they have a 4G LTE network that never throttles data speeds for high-usage customers.
Smaller carriers should also be considered since they may offer plans at even better prices than the national carriers. Don't forget to use the PhoneDog comparison tool to find the best plan for you in Ames, IA.