Cell Phone Models

Most people in states such as California, New York and New Jersey are aware by now that holding a cell phone to your ear while driving can get them into legal trouble. Drivers in states with limited cell-phone driving restrictions — such as prohibiting teen drivers from using cell phones — may be somewhat aware of the restrictions and accompanying penalties. (If you’re unsure about your state’s laws, view this list of current state-by-state regulations.)

But, if you don’t live in one of the states or cities that have enacted hands-free cell phone driving laws, you probably haven’t given it much thought.

You still drive around care-free chatting away on your cell phone, daring the gods of traffic to send a tree branch in the middle of the road your way. But, if you plan any kind of road travel this summer, you better perk up your ears, put that cell phone down and listen up. (more…)

Today I’d like to share with you some rather surprising mobile industry data conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between August 3 to September 5, 2007, among a sample of 2,400 adults, 18 and older. I’m not sure what you’ll be able to do with it, but nonetheless this is some juicy data for sure.
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Cell phones are known by many names. Are you using the proper name? Am I? Here are just some of the variations I’ve run across in my time at Wirefly:

Phone - If you call your cell phone a phone are you old school or just ahead of the curve? Everyone knows wired phones are going away so perhaps there is no need to distinguish and a phone is once again just a phone.

Cellular Phone - Used to sound high tech and cutting edge but lately it sounds more and more old fashioned and clearly not high tech. Plus, GSM carriers don’t like being referred to as “cellular”.

Wireless or Wireless Phone - Probably puts you out ahead of the folks saying “cellular phone,” but not by much and everything is wireless these days so it just does not have much edge to it any more.

The one that shows your age and always make me laugh is Car Phone - it used to make you a player if you could work that into a sentence, or even had one, but now it is truly comical. Don’t even get me started on “Bag Phone.” That was always a silly name.

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In Deer Valley, Utah they sure do - and this blog entry is coming to you from a picnic table at 9800 feet on my personal favorite Blackberry Curve 8300.

When I was a kid (way before everyone carried a cellphone, a wireless PDA or a blackberry), we always took ski vacation somewhere in the Rockies. I have “fond” memories of stopping constantly at the mid mountain lodge so my dad could use a payphone to call his office and check in; we were stuck standing in a crowded lobby with other families waiting for a turn on the payphone while all that fantastic ski time went wasted.

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The holidays are stressful enough; add in travel, weather delays and other travelers, and you might be tempted to stay home. But don’t despair, the Wirefly Blog team has assembled the Top Ten Mobile Travel Tips to keep your holidays bright.

Before you Go

1) Save all your contacts before you go; including cell phones and destination phone numbers. If you’ve made any travel arrangements, save those numbers as well. Include your travel agent if you’re using one – it’s easier than trying to find those papers in a crunch.

2) If you’re traveling overseas, know the local emergency number – in many countries it’s 112 rather than 911, but better to be sure before you need it.

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No more searching for quarters or running back to your car to feed the meter before parking enforcement gets there. Sound good to you? Sounds great to me, especially in the Washington, DC, area where parking violations can run up to $125 per incident. San Francisco is testing a system to allow drivers to pay parking meters with their cell phones.

To initiate the service, a driver need only call a toll free number on the meter and establish an account, by providing a credit card number. At that point,l To pay for meter time, it’s a matter of entering the amount of time needed and the meter number. Drivers will receive a text message before time runs out reminding them and prompting them to add more time without having to return to the meter.

Parking Enforcement will have special wireless devices in order to check the status of each space so that tickets will not be given to those who have paid by cell phone. San Francisco will be testing three different services for 90 days and collecting feedback from users and residents. We’ll be watching and hoping the pilot program goes well.

What makes Wirefly better than any of the carrier sites (besides much lower prices) is that we allow people to shop across all carriers. That makes comparing wireless rate plans a snap.

To make that task even easier, we redesigned the Wireless Wizard — a unique and very cool plan-comparison tool that lets you enter basic information about your current cell phone plan and then shows you which plans would save you money on your monthly bill. Even if you know you got the cheapest plan when you first signed your contract, the way you use your phone might have changed. Combined with the fact that carrier plan options change all the time, that’s a great reason to go back and make sure you’re still on the cheapest rate plan available.

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