{"id":5000,"date":"2020-02-05T11:26:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/?p=5000"},"modified":"2020-02-05T11:27:05","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:27:05","slug":"how-do-you-choose-which-cell-phone-provider-to-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/how-do-you-choose-which-cell-phone-provider-to-use\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Choose Which Cell Phone Provider To Use?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You might not have put that much thought into your cell phone provider more, but it\u2019s worth considering. Most people just decide on the phone that they want and then pick the cheapest deal, but that isn\u2019t necessarily the best way to decide. The cost of calls and messages is one important factor, but there are other things that you should think about as well.\u00a0
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When it comes to choosing a provider, you are quite limited. There are only 4 providers that actually have their own network, and that may become 3 if the Sprint & T-Mobile merger<\/a> goes ahead. There are other smaller providers but they will piggyback on these same networks. If you are lost and you don\u2019t know where to start, these are some of the things that you need to consider when deciding on a cell phone provider. 
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The Reputation Of The Company<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are signing a contract that could last up to 2 years, you need to make sure that you are dealing with a reliable company that offers a good service. If you are using a smaller provider, you should always look at some reviews and check the reputation of that company. You don\u2019t want to be tied into a contract with a company that offers terrible service. 
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Your Own Needs\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, you need to consider what your own needs are and how you are going to use the phone. For example, if you are using it as a source of entertainment<\/a>, you need to make sure that you have a good data package and you can get good coverage so you can stream videos and music etc. However, if you are using the phone mainly for work and you need to be contactable at all times, the number of minutes you get and the signal strength will be your main priorities. By thinking about how you will use the phone, you will get a better idea of what you should be looking for in a provider. 
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Customer Service\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of customer service that the provider offers is so important. We all rely heavily on our phones and if something goes wrong with yours, it can be a real pain. That\u2019s why you want to work with a provider that will get things back up and running again as soon as possible. Make sure that you look up some reviews online and see what people\u2019s experience with the customer service team has been like. 
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Contract Length\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can get some cheap deals if you sign on to a long contract, but that isn\u2019t always the best option. These long contracts come with very steep penalties if you try to get out of them early, which means that if a better deal comes along before your contract is up (which it probably will), you can\u2019t take advantage of it. It\u2019s much better to go for a shorter contract so you can keep switching<\/a> and save yourself some money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need to weigh up all of these different factors before you can make a decision about which cell phone provider is right for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.<\/em>
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You might not have put that much thought into your cell phone provider more, but it\u2019s worth considering. Most people just decide on the phone that they want and then pick the cheapest deal, but that isn\u2019t necessarily the best way to decide. The cost of calls and messages is one important factor, but there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"How Do You Choose Which Cell Phone Provider To Use? #dadbloggers ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,1,183],"tags":[126,12,897],"class_list":["post-5000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apps-tech","category-blog","category-reviews","tag-apps-and-tech","tag-blog-2","tag-cell-phone-plans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JMKA-1iE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5002,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5000\/revisions\/5002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}