Contract Or Pay As You Go – Which Way For You?

When buying a mobile phone, there are any number of questions you need to ask yourself. Do you want all the latest gadgets included, or are you happy with a basic model. Do you want a phone that can fit in your shirt pocket, or are you happy with one that could double as a doorstop? But one of the most important questions is the one of whether you get a contract or pay as you go phone.

If you get a contract phone, then there is more cost upfront. You need to pay a monthly subscription which is often referred to as “line rental”, even though there is technically no line to speak of. You may also have to factor into that a monthly cost for your pricing plan. In return for this, you will usually get a set number of texts and calling minutes for free each month, and some other deals.

If you take a pay as you go phone, then you will need to purchase credit for it occasionally. This credit will then be deducted when you make a call, send a text or, with a newer phone, use the internet. You may be able to get certain deals which allow you free minutes and calls, but this will depend on how much credit you buy and use.

It is generally considered that if you use your phone often you will benefit more from having a contract, whereas if you simply have it as a way of being contacted and sending the occasional text or making a call occasionally, pay as you go works out cheaper. But the choice is up to you.

Predictive Texting – A Blessing Or A Curse?

Most mobile phones in this day and age have an option for predictive texting – a system whereby using the alphanumeric keypad on your phone, you can tap in messages one key press at a time, as opposed to the older way of hitting the “2” key twice to get a letter B, and so forth. This is a beneficial innovation in many ways, but as is the nature with all predictions, predictive texting can be inaccurate.

If your phone has an alphanumeric keypad, take it out and have a look at it. As you will notice, the keys each have more than one letter corresponding to them, and predictive texting works by taking the most likely meaning for your combination of key strokes and allowing you to change it if inaccurate. This would be fine, if people never sent a text in a hurry or without checking.

Thus it is that you can be trying to drive home in thick fog, and send a message to your friends or family saying “Slightly delayed. Stuck in dog!”. The looks you will get when you do arrive will be quite something to behold. As, I’m sure, were the looks that one man got when he sent a text to tell his wife he was sat outside a café sipping wine – only for the phone to interpret this as “ripping wind”.

Another thing to look out for with predictive texting is that it often does not recognise proper names. So, if you happen to be travelling with a friend named Anna, bear in mind that if you send a text to tell someone this, it may come out as “Will be there soon, am sat on a bus with bomb”. And that’s never a good place to be.

A World Without Cell Phones

It often seems difficult to imagine yourself in a world without mobile phones, even if to all intents and purposes we were all doing exactly that not so long ago. But when you think about the prevalence in the present day of the cell phone, it is clear that if they were taken away tomorrow the world would be a very different place.

Think about how you react now if you are delayed in returning from work or a shopping trip. If you are stuck in transport, you couldn’t get to a pay phone to call home and tell your family or friends you were safe and would be back soon. With a cell phone, you can make this call and/or send a message.

Arranging to meet someone is now a lot more failsafe than it used to be. There was a time when, if you turned up at the meeting place and your friend was late, delayed, or just not coming, you would be left to stand around for as long as was appropriate, until they showed up or you decided to give up and leave. Now you can send a message to ensure they’ll be there, and to tell them you will be.

Mobile phones also have immense use in business capacities. If you are looking to arrange or make a delivery, then being able to make contact and be contacted on the move is more or less essential these days – because if you cannot, then you can be sure that someone else will.