Before You Buy a Cell Phone

Cell Phone Services for the Young, for Parents, and for Frugal Callers

If you want a cell phone service that lets you track your friends or kids, or that specializes in cool phones for messaging and multimedia, you might consider a specialty carrier. Companies such as Boost, Disney Mobile, Helio, and Virgin Mobile target niche types of customers with services and handsets that set them apart from national operators.

These carriers are known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) because they don't own their own network infrastructure; instead, they lease network capacity from the national carriers (Sprint Nextel is the most popular lessor). Many MVNOs provide pay-as-you-go or prepaid services to a mostly youthful clientele.

Boost Mobile, for example, is a pay-as-you-go service. Its most unusual feature is Loopt, a technology that lets you track friends who are Boost customers themselves (if you and those friends own GPS-equipped phones). Boost also supports Nextel's reliable walkie-talkie feature. Other MVNOs deliver similar push-to-talk service, but Nextel's implementation is the most stable.

Like Boost, Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's network and caters to a young crowd: Its Web site is filled with offers and news about ring tones, games, graphics, and the like. Disney Mobile, another service on Sprint's network, provides services and phones that are designed with families in mind. Its handsets include a GPS locator that lets parents and kids track each other's physical location. In addition, robust parental controls enable moms and dads to specify what times their kids can and can't use the phone, and even whom they can call or text-message.

Helio is all about Web services and hip handsets. It's the first service in the United States to offer MySpace support on its phones, and its GPS handsets let users upload photos and videos with GPS tagging. Like some other MVNOs, Helio operates on Sprint's network.

If you do decide to go for one of these specialty cell phone services, however, note that you can't count on enjoying the financial and service stability of the major carriers. Amp'd Mobile, another youth-oriented service--it uses Verizon Wireless's network--filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this June, and while the company says it is committed to maintaining service to some 200,000 customers, a growing number of unhappy subscribers are posting complaints on gripe sites. Last year, an ESPN-branded MVNO went out of business.

Another group of alternatives to the major national carriers is made up of regional service providers such as Alltel, Cricket, Metro PCS, and US Cellular. These regional carriers usually offer relatively inexpensive service for people who don't need a phone with national coverage. But if you do sign up with a regional service and roam on its plan, be prepared for hefty charges.