OK, I have a dead cellphone, a list of providers, and cells, What do I look for in a new one?

Question

I have an obsolete cell with a bad battery. I want a new one. I have a list providers, and new phones to check from. Now, what features should I be comparing?

Answer 1

Hi there:
I am thinking the same thing. I am making a shopping list of features
to try to compare some of the many features. I have a long way to
go and there are MANY internal features that do not appear in the literature. However, here is a basic list of things I am looking for...
COMPARING PHONES

You can go into a store with 100 cell phones on a shelf. If you look at any two, almost identical phones, there will be a small paper showing the so-called features. One phone, may state features as:
TV Tuner, FM radio, GPS Mapping, MP3 Player, Video/Sound Recorder, LED "Photo Floodlight" , Voice Memo Recorder, Multiple SIM cards, 2 Memory Module upgrade Slots, 8000
Megs of RAM, 4 BAND Worldwide Frequency Capable, Touch Screen, BLUETOOTH Wireless, 802G Wireless, INFRARED Wireless, USB computer connection CABLE, Speakerphone, VOICE Dialing, FAX, Amplified Speaker Phone,

Another, almost " IDENTICAL " in appearance phone, might have a list of " features" listing:
Pocket Sized, Easy to Handle, Really nice Display, Organizer Built In, Sleek, small, Compact Design, Unique Soft touch designer Finish, Animated Menu Items, Easy to Use Keypad,
Custom Display Screens, User Customized Menu ICONS, Long Life Battery, etc. etc.

Or, to anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size,
the " FEATURES " list reads " NO FEATURES AT ALL - IT JUST LOOKS LIKE the other phones that actually have real FEATURES "

ALL PHONES, are NOT EQUAL, even though, in the store, they LOOK the same!

A typical example of a phone I used recently that has animations, sounds, animated GIFS, and videos, etc. pre-programmed on the phone, but if anyone SENDS YOU an animation or sound in a MESSAGE, all you get is a message to VIEW the message ON THE WEB on a home computer. The phone refuses all Multimedia messages !!!! It " Looks " identical to all the real phones, and the user who purchased the phone had no idea that all Media messages would be refused!
This type of false advertising is VERY common, and the sales people DO NOT SAY A WORD about "fake" features that are stripped off, cut-back, dissabled, or missing.
Another common mistake people make, is to buy a phone, after " TESTING" it in the store. You often have DEMO ( demonstration ) phones, or the salesman will let you try a real phone, and it works just great. Drive home to the suburbs, and there IS NO SERVICE ! Be certain to check out what Cell Phone towers are in your
area that you live and work, since there are hundreds of Cell Companies, and one phone may not work on many competitor's towers, leaving you with a typical ( ridiculous) 3 year contract, on a phone you can't even use. Most phones are obsolete in one year, if not sooner, and the batteries can fail in just over one year ( just long enough to void the warranty), so that a 3 year plan is absolute nonsense.
Check with other cell phone users in your location and the locations you commonly visit, such as cottage, or relatives, or work, or shopping, or driving. See which areas
have continuous service in the areas that YOU live. Beware of Cell phone company's online and provided maps... One company I am with has a " map" of service areas, with 3 different maps, all on top of each other, for three different frequencies, so that it APPEARS that large areas are covered. However, If you have a typical phone with ONE Frequency range, the REAL map is just a few spots here and there around a few populated areas - most the time, between these areas, your phone is DEAD.
The map is just another example of false advertising, deliberately done to trick the consumer.

Make a checklist of these common features, and when you are comparing new Cell Phones, put a checklist beside the REAL Features, to see what you are actually
dealing with. For MEMORY, etc. write down the actual memory ( 1 Meg, 4000 Meg, etc.),
so that you know the comparative usability of the phone.

TYPICAL FEATURES

Caller ID ( incomming and outgoing )
Call Waiting
Call Forwarding
Call Holding
Downloadable Ringtones
Downloadable Games
Downloadable SOftware and Applications
Picture Message
VOICE Messaging
Video/sound Message ( Note the maximum size in K Bytes allowed for one message)
FAX MEssaging
TEXT Message, ( Note how many characters allowed, and how many line are displayed )
Instant Messaging ( on the WWW such as AIM, Google, Yahoo messenger, etc. )
EMAIL ( from the web, such as Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. )
WEB Internet Browsing
JAVA (programming enabled for common programs and games)
BROADCAST CB ( Cell Broadcast) messages like weatherm traffic, etc.
Vibrating RING capable
SPEAKER PHONE amplified speaker built in
BANDS ( Single Band, Dual, QUad Band, etc. different frequencies - more towers )
VOICE Dialing ( Dial a number and call, by saying the name of the person )
VOICE COMMAND ( SPeak the name of the buttons instead of pressing them )
VOICE Memo Recorder
CLock / with ALARM clock ( Auto time Update from Cellular Network)
Timer ( countdown)
SCHEDULER / memo / alert / Calender / ALert, Reminder
STOPWATCH ( lap timer, total timer, etc. )
CALCULATOR ( simple, or with Square root etc. or scientific )
Measurement Converter ( ex. pounds / Kilograms )
Money COnverter ( Yen to US dollares, etc. )
TO DO LIST
PHONEBOOK
CONTACT LIST ( like Rolodex type info cards )
Electronic Business Card Index ( send and recieve)
GAMES ( pre loaded, and DOWNLOADABLE )
Snap on REMOVABLE front and back covers and keypads in many colors.
MIDI PolyPhonic Sound (a complex sound generator chip )
Predictive Texting Input from keypad
QUICK keypad button dissable ( to prevent accidental button pressing )
LOCKOUT CellPhone WITH PASSWORD
Restrict Outgoing dialed calls with Password
BUILT IN Games, Pictures, Animations, ICONs, Folders, SHortucts
Bluetooth WIreless
Infrared Wireless
802G Wireless Wi Fi
USB connection port to computer
Proprietry computer connection port and cable
TTY/TDD connection Port
TV tuner ( local TV tower broadcasts, live )
FM RADIO tuner ( local FM radio Stations, live )
VIDEO Camera with Sound and LED Floodlight for dark lighting
GPS Satellite Mapping with Streets and Highways
MEMORY, built in - 4000 Megs, 8000 MEGs of ram, etc.
MEMORY, Card Slots, for additional Gigabytes of Ram Memory cards
DISPLAY Screen for Pictures, Animations, and text.( Large, Hi PIXEL Resolution)
DISPLAY Screen on back of phone, if flip type, to see information closed.
TOUCH SCREEN to choose menu items by just touching the screen.
---- COMMON PROBLEMS ------

I can't believe the MENUs on many new phones. These phones are made in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, etc. and the manuals and phone menus are translated from CHINESE or whatever, badly, and the intuitive sequences are destroyed by some electronic Engineer with 10 Degrees behind his name, who is trying to cram in as many " features" as possible, with no regard to the end user, ( you ) who probably does NOT want to carry a 180 page manual around just to operate the phone. The wording, the HELP, the layout of the menus, etc., is getting WORSE, not better, and every single phone is different from all others,
increasingly, with no logical pattern, so that just trying to find the
PHONEBOOK, a standard feature on Cell Phones for 20 years, can be a frustrating experience for anyone not expecting poorly translated CHINESE into an overly technical layout. Before you buy a phone, go online and read the manual,
and see if you can understand the basic functions. I have 50 cell phones. I have been using cell phones since they were only available in a car, big, expensive, and only in a few cities. There are new cell phones, now, that I can't figure out without the manuals, since the menus are so bizzare. Who would think of looking for your PHONEBOOK or CONTACTS under a sub, sub menu, called " PUBLICS " ? ( Another "Very Happy Menu Good Push Button", which probably makes real bunches of sense in Tai.) These companies should really have trials in the countries they SELL the phones to, before they pre-program the menus. Another " FEATURE" is strange, tiny, poorly placed, buttons, for example, with numbers 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8, on a SINGLE button, that you rock up and down, or sideways. It is guaranteed to
dial the wrong number every time. Test out the keypad before you buy. Avoid fancy keypads with two or three or more numbers in a single " Exclusive Designer Look " button from hell. There are hundreds of button "snap" designs as well, underneath the plastic button, and some are so sensitive, that you will add wrong numbers, every time you slightly touch one. Other phones have buttons so stiff that you can'd press the numbers normally, without deliberately forcing each button down, one at a time, slowly... Check them out... Dial a long distance
number you know by heart, quickly, and see if that is what you got on the display!
Outside case buttons on the sides.... Here is a great new "feature" and I have a dozen phones that constantly turn off the ring and the volume and change other features, just walking down the street. The phones usually have a KEYGUARD sequence to lock the keypad, to prevent accidentally pressing buttons, in a purse or in a pocket or beltclip holder, BUT there is NO "feature" to turn off the stupid buttons on the SIDES of the phones ! These buttons go into the setup menus, turning
off the volume of the rings, turning off the rings entirely, and changing settings, or activating other "features" without the user's knowledge or permission. Be certain to check if any outside case buttons are actually dissabled by the KEYGUARD types of features!
OPTONS - you buy a phone with a huge row of pins on the bottom, for all sorts of neat devices such as a computer interface cable, TTY, FAX connection, Mobile Phone amplifier/ handsfree, antenna booster, etc., and after you have the phone a while,
you start to look for the cables, connectors, additions, software, and other add ons.
You go to the phone stores, the Cell phone company that sold you the phone, and on the web, and you find that even though your phone " HAS " the connection ports, there
are NO accessories available ! Not from the company that made the phone, not from the company that SOLD you the phone, not from Cell Phone suppliers around the world. NADA.
ZIP. The phone you bought is "capable " of plugging into all sorts of adapters, and cables and features, and new case covers, but the general marketing of the unit was decided upon from the start to just skip all that stuff, and sell the phone naked and unsupported."You bought it sucker", is the motto for this type of support, and it is very common. Another problem, you don't find out for just over one year, is that they do NOT carry the replacement battery that just died. It might be available, special order, from Japan, or Europe, or wherever, if you wait two or three months ( with no cell phone ), if they can find one... yeah, right. Or, even better, it IS available, from "headquarters",
main office, but it is a RARE battery, and will cost you $160 to buy ( but a replacement new phone is only $49.99 on an "upgrade" special, since you are a "valued customer" )...
SO far, I have covered common problems with the phone itself, but there are many, many, more common problems, caused by the Cell Phone Provider and the towers and the Network
itself. In a Wall Street Journal Cell Phone Survey I participated in, were thousands of complaints.
It was funny to read through them, because they often had completely conflicting opinions. Verizon sucked and gave poor coverage, sayes one, while T Mobile was great. The next person
states that T Mobile gave him nothing but cut out service, intermittent, static, and he switched to VERIZON, and had no problems since. Again, what the users DON'T say, is what
actual phone they were using, and where they lived and worked and travelled, and where the actual cell phone towers were located. I have many really, really badly designed phones, with
poor reception. Add in a Cell Phone provider with few towers in a certain area, and you have wretched service. The worst cell phone designs in the early years had tiny batteries, to
make the " SLIM" designs, small enough to carry easily. The teeny batteries died in no time, and failed under ordinary use, adding to the poor reception caused by tiny antennas, and tiny
speakers, and tiny microphones, and tiny circuits. You can find these " tiny " but once very EXPENSIVE phones in discard boxes everywhere. Check out the actual Milli Amp Hours RATING on
the battery pack before you buy the phone - compare to the actual rating of the other phones you are looking at. The higher the mA Hour rating, the better the phone performace over the 2
to 3 year lifetime of a typical battery. Cell phones are getting smaller, and better, but teeny may be teeny on reception quality as well, so do the math.
The other problems are POLICY problems with the various carriers. What if you move? Can you just pick up the phone and get a new area code and number? Can you get the SAME number, just moved? Can you carry over your old, 3 year plan from hell, on a NEW number and New Cell in the NEW area? Many of the complaints on the Wall Street Survey, were from people who bought a 3 year plan, drove home, and the phone was dead in THAT area. No deal. They had to pay for a
phone they could not use, for three years. Or, they moved. Again, no deal. They had to pay for a phone they could not use for 3 years. Etc. etc. Think ahead. With de-regulation, things
are better, with some companies allowing " ONE " number change free, or transportability of your " OLD" number to a " NEW " phone, or phone service, but there is no guarantee. Be
certain to ASK if you can change area codes, phone numbers, and cellphones, without penalty.

The salesmen never mention these little details.
The other option is " Prepaid", "PayAs You GO" etc. and is gaining popularity. TRACFONE, located from South America to the border of Canada in North America, has a $100, FULL YEAR
pay as Go card, which gives you sevice on a cell phone for a full year. ROGERS, in Canada, just offered a similar $100, One-Year card. The general policy of most cell phone companies
is to annoy the Prepaid customer as much as possible with obtuse, illogical setups and
renewals, to make them buy 3 year plans, out of frustration. The time limit on a typical Prepaid card is 30 days. Instead of programming the computers so that if you activate the
one "month" card on the 5th, it would last until midnight on the 5th, they deliberately use the bean-counting method of " 30 days", so that you NEVER know when the expirey is going to
be, and this is extremely important, since unused minutes are ERASED, if you do not add a new Prepaid card exactly before midnight on the 3rd or 6th or 2nd, etc. and the date constantly
changes throughout the year with 28, 29, 30 and 31 days of each month. It is always a delight on a busy schedule to try to remember on Tuesday Night at Midnight, NEXT MONTH, you have to add a card, even though you might be driving on a long trip, or in the Hospital, or working late at the office to get a project done, etc. There " were", 3 month, and 6 month cards
available, in early years, but one by one, all cards were dropped by most companies, leaving only the 30 day sentence. The GOOD NEWS though, is that if someone gets hold of your phone, they CANT call CHINA and run up a $1200 phone bill that you know nothing about - for a month - when the bill arrives. If a thief gets your phone, again without you realizing it, you are
limited to the amount of the already-paid-for minutes. It is also GOOD NEWS for kids, since most of the cases I hear of where parents foolishly give the gift that keeps on giving, and sign up the kids on a " FAMILY PLAN", they end up with an unexplained bill of a few thousand dollars, WITHOUT FAIL, since if the kids aren't dialling 1-(900) to Nigeria, one of the kids' friends IS... and of course, the bill does not come in for a good MONTH AFTER the problem... Prepaid, and Pay as GO etc. is the ONLY sane way to get the security and convenience of having communication with your kids, without the guaranteed screw ups, offered by the full
featured plans. I have had friends laugh at my Prepaid phones.... and then, after a two week vacation, a month later, they get a $1000 bill. They call the Cell Company " Don't I have
1000 minutes and 500 International Minutes" (( YES )). Did I use up my International Minutes? (( NO )), Then why do I have a $1000 bill? (( You were using Local Cell Towers on your
vacation, and these companies bill us for your talk time on THEIR towers - you were NOT using " OUR " cell towers )). I arrive off a plane, go into a 24 hour store, buy a LOCAL Provider
Pay As YOu GO cell for $40, and a card for $10 at 3 to 6 CENTS a minute, and I have a LOCAL, prepaid phone for my visit. DONE. Sure beats a $1000 unexpected bill a month later, for "
FREE " International " minutes that I am paying for, for 3 YEARS... ( He who laughs last )
The LAST item of note, on POLICIES on the problems list, is the out and out GREED of the typical North American Cell Phone Service Provider. They are almost all the same, and they
watch each other closely to see how the current level of greed is doing. For example, I can go into the local dollar store, anywhere in North America, and get a $1 FM Radio. It comes in
a colored printed package with a blister packed clear plastic front, with a stereo set of headphones. Inside the FM radio are the antenna, the speaker, the amplifier, the buttons, the volume control, transistors, resistors, capacitors, headphone jack, etc. and the single, monolithic FM radio CHIP, typically by Phillips. The store is making a PROFIT, selling all this for $1 ... so if you remove the parts that a Cell phone would NOT need, the volume
control, the amplifier, the headphones, the headphone jack, the packaging, etc. you end up with 12 cents of parts.... Why have NOT FM radios been offered in North America, on Cell Phones, like they have been for 10 years in Singapore, or Taiwan, or Hong Kong ? For that matter, the same situation applies for GPS Mapping, TV tuners, MP3 Players, etc. etc.
There is only ONE reason - If you listen to FM radio, to your favourite station locally, the CELL PHONE COMPANY makes NO MONEY. It is a FREE service.. If you use GPS to show a map of
where you are located, the Cell Phone Company makes No Money. If you Tune into a local TV station to catch local news and programming, the Cell Phone Company MAKES NO MONEY. If they make no money, and add a 12 cent FM radio, the sense of GREED is too much for them to bear, and they just make the statement, " IF WE DON'T CONTROL IT, FOR A PROFIT, YOU CAN't HAVE IT AT ALL ". There is an hilarious commercial running right now, on TV, from BELL, in Canada,
that shows two beavers comming out of a store, after shopping for cell phones. One sayes that there is A phone with TV, another with FM radio, another with an MP3 player, etc. and he
bought them all ! You can also find A ( single ) phone with GPS mapping, and another with " A " feature, and another with " A " ( single ) high resolution, 4 gig memory, video camera, and
another with " a " ( single ), etc. etc. etc. in North America, and generally, every time I find someone with a SINGLE Cell Phone with ALL the features, such as Video, Sound, FM, TV,
MP3, 8 Gigs of ram onboard, with 2 memory card slots, 9 SiM numbers, touch screen, etc. etc. I find that they FLEW to Europe or Hong Kong or Japan or wherever, bought the phone, and then
came home and activated it. All the features work just fine, like they did ten years ago when they were on Cell phones around the world - everywhere but in North America ! Beware when
shopping for a Cell Phone - you will looking at a lot of stripped down, old, partly functional junk that is already out of date before it was put on the shelf. The sales people are trying to pawn off as much of the old stuff as possible, and will NOT tell you that next
month, newer phones with better features are going to be available, for LESS cost !
Also, be aware of a typical marketing technique, I find used increasingly. You take a typical " REAL " cell phone. Call it the "8000" It has 4000 Megs of memory, and a video cam,
and High Resolution screen, and Bluetooth, and whatnot. Then you start stripping it down.
Take away some of the ram, remove the video and put in a still camera, put in a smaller, low resolution screen, and take away some of the internal, hidden features. You re- label it as
The 7950. You then take away more features, more memory, take away the bluetooth, the USB and the wireless, and put in a low resolution screen, and remove the camera. Call it the 7700.
You then remove more memory, dissable some of the hidden internal features, put in a low resolution, tinier screen, remove some buttons, remove some menus, dissable the ability to
RECIEVE video messages, remove some case features, options, and accessories, and call it the 7500. You keep removing features, repeatedly, until you have AMAZING NEW, 7000 Cell phone, and offer it to WALLYs. You then offer the 7010 to Zellmans. You Offer the 7020 to Targats. You offer the 7030 to Heltmans. You offer the 7040 to J-Mart. etc. etc. etc. Shoppers will only see ONE phone at each shopping location, whether a Cell Phone outlet, or a major shopping Chain Store. If they try to COMPARE prices, say of the 7623 model at Verison, to the
7955 at T Mobile, to the 7865 at CINGULAR, they CAN NOT compare, since they are all " different" phones. The fact that it is the SAME phone, just stripped down to various degrees,
never occures to the public. The fact that no matter WHICH phone they buy, there is, somewhere, a much better one, either at a different location, or just about to be released, PRE-PLANNED, in advance, by SALES and MARKETING, also does not occur to the public. It is as if you have a car. Then you start stripping it down. You sell it with no tires and no radio
and no doors, and no seats. Later, you " OFFER " the new and improved, model with 1 door and one seat, then, later, the newer model with TWO WHOLE DOORS and 3 seats - oh wow. Later you offer the even NEWER model with 3 doors, the radio, and a WHOLE TIRE ! Amazing. People would know immediately that this was just the whole car offered in various forms of being stripped down, but with cell phones, they haven't clued in yet... Before you buy, shop around, go on the web, ask questions, make a chart of all features, find out where the towers are for all
the service providers you are thinking about, and think about what happens when the battery dies, or you move. Seriously consider Pay as you Go or Prepaid or such if you have kids or
unreliable people on your shopping list. If you dont use a Cell Phone much, and just wnat one for travelling, or emergencies, PREPAID is the only answer. Don't get locked in on a 3 year
plan for a phone that is already obsolete before you bought it, and has a battery that will die in a year, that costs MORE than the phone. Until the North American Cell Providers smarten up ( along with the consumers ) YOU have to do the comparisons and the math. The " Sales and Marketing " Teams out there in N.A. are calculating on your ignorance, and lining their pockets.
--- Memory ---

How much memory is on the phone? 2000 Meg? 4000 Meg? etc.
How much memory is accessible to the user in To DO lists, Phonebooks,
Memos, downloaded applications, stored files, data, pictures,
videos, games, ring tones, MP3's etc.? Some manufacturers list the
TOTAL MEMORY, including the internal memory used for the programming
of the phone itself, which the user does NOT have access to !
Are there memory card slots for memory card upgrades to store more
MP3's, photographs, videos, phone numbers, files, games, etc?
If there are memory slots, what KIND are they, and are they
available in all the stores at reasonable prices, or are they
proprietary, and ONLY available from the manufacturer, in limited
stores, at high prices? Are they in stock in the store you are
buying the phone from? Are they stocked on the shelves at WAL MART,
other typical stores in your country?
--- SIM CARD MEMORY ---
( SUbscriber Identification Module ) A small stamp sized card with a
programmable memory chip and RAM that identifies the phone, and can
store numbers and data.

Does the phone have SIM Memory cards, and what type - there can be
multiple sims in one phone, with different numbers, and
support for SIM Card applications.. ?
--- ACCESSORIES ---

Wall Adapter charger ( 110 / 240, worldwide )

Wall adapter charger BASE unit for destop phone cradle.

CAR adapater/ charger for cigarette lighter socket

TTY/ TDD ( Telecommunications Device for the DEAF ) adapter

DIGITAL Connection Cable to COmptuer, for Wireless Computer Internet Access

USB / proprietary Computer connection cable to upload or download
files or data to or from you computer.

SPARE BATTERY charger cradle to have a spare battery independently
charging

Wired headset / speaker assembly

Bluetooth headset / speaker assembly

Amplified Speaker and microphone assembly +/or charger cradle for
automobile handsfree use

Amplified Automobile antenna connection and assembly, to give about
10 times the cellular signal range


--- Service Provider Features ---

Just because your PHONE has all sorts of wonderful features, this may not
mean that you can actually USE any of them, because the Cell Phone company
can program the computers to BLOCK these features. Before you buy, check
that the PHONE COMPANY actually supports ALL the features on the PHONE!!!



May give you the COST of the last call made, may give you a running TOTAL
COST of calls made, etc.
May give you ability to make CONFERENCE CALLS between 3 or more people at
the same time.
May give you the ability to have callers leave you a VOICE MESSAGE on a
network recorder, with a Voice MailBox.
May give you the ability to have TWO phone lines on your SIM card or on
your phone itself. (THere are phones with 9 SIM numbers )
May allow INFO MESSAGE SERVICE, giving you Information on weather, Traffic
Conditions, etc. CB ( Cellular Broadcast Messages )
May allow USSD ( Service Command Editor Commands ) to key in and send
Service Requiests
May give you the ability to have SIM memory services and stored programs.
May allow EMS ( Enhanced Messaging Service) to send pictures, sound and
animated gifs with Text Messages. May be a subscription feature.
May set up Network controlled Call restrictions, on a list of numbers, on
international calls, voice calls, fax calls, etc. "CALL BARRING"

If you look over some of these features and make a checklist, you can compare what is available that is " extra " on phones, - I left off stuff like Call timers, Recent Call Lists, Message inboxes, etc. since these are common. The only thing that would change much is the MEMORY amount, and the size of the lists, which are dependent on the memory of the phone,
and THAT is something I do think is important.

hope this information helps

robin

Answer 2

his refers to browsing a stripped-down version of the Web right on the screen of your cell phone. This can be usefull for retrieving web email, checking stock quotes and placing orders or looking up movies or restaurant listings, for example. If that is what you want to do, then you should go for a phone that has what we call a "minibrowser" -- the special kind of broser used for surfing the net on a small cell phone screen. When shopping for a cell phone, once you determined which cell phone you want, ask the vendor if it has a graphic browser or just a text-based browser. Also, if you think you will browse the wireless Internet often, you may want to consider buying a PDA cell phone or a cell phone with a larger than average display. Wireless Internet service with your laptop Almost all digital cell phones can be used as if they were a modem. Therefore, with a data cable or your laptop's infrared connection, you can use your phone to connect to your usual Internet Service Provider (ISP) while on the road or to your cell phone company's data service (requires an additional subscription). If you want to do that, you need to check these essential points, make sure you check what kind of data speed the phone you are looking at supports? Mainly three technologies exist: GPRS, 1xRTTT and EDGE. 1xRTTT and EDGE are the fastest while GPRS is usually slower. In all of these cases though, connection speed may be different than what the carrier advertises. I recommend asking people you know in your area about their wireless Internet experience with a specific provider.

Answer 3

you compare the features that you enjoy and need