Once the province of the power executive, cellular telephones are being used by more and more average people in myriad everyday and not-so-everyday ways. If you think now is the time to consider buying a portable phone, you’re not alone. According to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, one in every 10 Americans now owns a cell phone. Some 28,000 people sign up for cellular service every day. That’s because the cost of cellular service is dropping; since 1988 the average monthly bill has fallen from $100 to $56–just enough to make the gadgets alluring.
Using everything from custom pricing to phone giveaways to offers of free air time, cellular companies are doing whatever they can to lure consumers. A key pitch is to stress peace of mind. Studies show the principal reason for buying a cellular phone these days is security. If it isn’t alligators posing the threat, it’s dark streets or empty parking garages. According to a Motorola survey, nine out of 10 people say they feel safer carrying a phone, and most people say they are more willing to make a call to help-or turn instrangers. Shari Riley, a public-relations account executive in Los Angeles, got her cellular phone when she worked a late shift as a CNN desk assistant in a dangerous part of town. She used the phone to report car breakins, and called ahead to the security guard to let him know she was approaching the building. “With the phone, I didn’t feel quite so isolated,” Riley says. Now that she’s in a job with normal hours. she still has the phone and tries to resist the temptation to chat with friends while stuck in traffic.
As the cost of service has drifted downward, the price of the phones themselves has plummeted. A phone often comes “bundled” with a service deal, and cellular carriers offer deep discounts for phones or even give them away as a sign-up bonus.
The trendiest phones are the portables (as opposed to those mounted in cars). Portables are getting smaller, lighter and crammed with more features. and their “talk time” (battery life) is improving. The state-of-the-art Micro TAC Elite from Motorola, the company that invented the popular “flip” phone, weighs under live ounces. Though it’s expensive (about $1,000), its built-in voice mail and dozens of other features make the Motorola Elite one of the slickest phones on the market. Sony makes a palm-size portable with an earpiece that slides up. And Fujitsu has just introduced a small, lightweight phone called Personna. which has a special 911 key. With a dial tone (cellular phones generally don’t have one) and a “talk” key in place of “send” and “end” keys, the Personna is intended to work just like a household cordless phone. in California, where bundling is prohibited, the Fujitsu phone costs $250. But in some markets, where the phone is offered together with service, it’s $100, or even free.
Going cellular may be more tempting than ever, but it still isn’t particularly easy. Finding the best rate package among an array of plans can be daunting. For people who use their phone just for emergencies, a carrier may offer a low,-priced “security plan.” The monthly fee can be as low as $10, but air time can cost as much as $1 per minute. For cellular addicts who use their phone constantly. the monthly fee can be as high as $200, with per-minute charges at around 20 cents during off-peak times.
One of the most expensive and cumbersome aspects of cellular service is “roaming,” which means using your cellular phone outside its home service Some cellular providers are beginning to apply local per-minute charges throughout a larger geographical area, which eliminates some of the high roaming fees. Most cellular systems have automatic roaming agreements with others, but a few still require you to register with them before you can place or receive calls. Traditionally, cellular users have paid the air time for incoming calls as well as outgoing. Now some carriers offer a phone that identifies the calling party, so customers can decide whether they want to spring for the call. And in some markets, companies are introducing a service that makes the caller pay for the call.
To make the cellular terrain still more (,or)fusing, the world’s mobile-phone systems are in the process of switching from analog to digital transmission. The major advantage of digital cellular is that three or four conversations can be carried on a channel that Linder the original analog technology could carry one. For the consumer, this means it will be easier to find an open channel in crowded cities like Los Angeles. Digital is also supposed to bring improved sound quality, because the signal maintains its clarity regardless of where the caller is, “An analog call under ideal conditions is very good, but as you get farther from the base station it may become noisy,” says Irwin Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, Inc., in San Diego. Another advantage to digital is that it is more resistant to eavesdropping.
The next wave in wireless technology is PCS, or personal communications services, which operate on a different part of the radio spectrum than cellular. PCS, expected in the next few years, is a family of wireless services ranging from basic cellular to high-speed data transmission. Last month, the FCC finished the first round of auctions for PCS privileges, and a handful of telecommunications ants pledged some $7 billion for licenses to offer the service. For now, every service area still has just two major carriers. With PCS, the number of carriers in each market will increase to as many as seven. The increased competition is good news for consumers.
At the rate things are going, entire families will soon be outfitted with cellular phones. Michael Houghton, a spokesman for the CTIA, says that when his 17-year-old daughter goes out at night, he gives her a cellular phone to take along. His reasons aren’t just related to safety. When she comes home late she no longer has the old excuse of not being able to find a phone. Now there is a new alibi: the battery died. Houghton’s solution’? “I give her extra batteries.”
Many people buy cellular phones for the peace of mind they provide. But their tiny size, longer battery life and features like built-in voice mail are big lures, too.
