Let’s face it — wireless phones have pretty much become a commodity. There’s the technology choice between analog or digital, but after that, it’s tough to differentiate one phone from the next.
The styles might be different — one may come in different colors or have another special feature — but what it really boils down to is you get a phone with a keypad and an antenna. What you’re really buying on is who will give you the best price for the plan that meets your needs.
And this is where things get difficult. How do you compare the endless varieties of plans and options from each carrier? Understanding the plans from just one carrier can get complicated.
That’s where Decide.com comes in.
“There are three basic components in a wireless purchase: plan, carrier and phone call quality,” says Mitch McCoy, vice president of marketing for Decide.com. “People also want to know whether the phone works where they live and where they work. With so many different plans, people don’t like the feeling that they might not have gotten the right one. It’s really hard to do comparisons between carriers and there is a lot of leg work involved.”
Which is why Decide.com was formed. You pick your city on its Web site, then make a profile of your usage patterns, either in general terms or by entering specific data from your phone bill. The engine on the site will return recommendations based on the information.
“We will make a recommendation for a plan whether we have a relationship with the carrier or not,” says McCoy. “You cannot buy all the carriers directly from the site, but we will still recommend which plans are best for you.”
One aspect that is difficult to determine over the Internet is call quality. You may find the right phone and the perfect plan, but if your calls are continuously dropped, the phone isn’t much good.
“We test for call quality,” says McCoy. “We have vans loaded with computers and cell phones from each carrier, both digital and analog. We drive 90 percent of the most populated areas of each metro region and do testing of all the carriers at the same time and grade their call quality.”
The grades are good, poor, dropped or no connection. Buyers can go online, look at the map and see the results graphically for their area. They can also listen to a sample call to hear the quality level for themselves.
“This is important, because you can really get burned by this,” says McCoy. “This way you can verify before you buy. This is also great for business travelers who can check out the areas where they visit the most often, including around the airports.”
The service is free. If you sign up and buy a phone online, Decide.com receives a commission. McCoy says the company also recommends phones from carriers which don’t pay a commission because in the long run, it will get those carriers’ business from the recommendations. How to reach: Decide.com, www.decide.com
Todd Shryock ([email protected]) is SBN’s special reports editor.