Will it get cheaper than this?

If you have still been waiting to buy that cellphone, your time is now. The cellphone subscribers have never had it so good with cellphone c...

If you have still been waiting to buy that cellphone, your time is now. The cellphone subscribers have never had it so good with cellphone companies wooing them with lower rates almost every other week. Some of the deals are so good that you may even be tempted to give up your land line. And cellphone companies are now going by the basic economic principle of economies of scale 8212; as usage increases, prices fall.

So if you are wondering what to choose, the answer is simple 8212; cellphones have never been so cheap in usage. And if you are still wondering whether to opt for the much touted WiLL wireless in local loop mobile phones, chances are that if the WiLL phones are available in your city, like MTNL8217;s Garuda in Delhi and Mumbai or Tatas WiLL phones in Andhra Pradesh, they would cost almost as much as cellphones with a lot less facilities like SMS short messaging service which has almost become a necessity with the cellphone users club.

The only disadvantage that cellphone users have is that when outgoing calls are called free, it means that if you call a cellphone you don8217;t pay anything, but if you call a landline, consumers end up paying Rs 1.20 per 3-minute call. And that is because the basic phone companies like MTNL/BSNL or even your private phone company like TouchTel, you pay called the access charge to call these companies because the operator favours his customer by giving him a free incoming call while he charges the mobile customer 8216;because somebody has to pay for the call travelling on the basic network.8217;

This apart, cellphones have never been this affordable. At the entry level most people opt for pre-paid cards, but unless you want to freeze your monthly expenses on cellphones at the level of Rs 300 to Rs 400 it doesn8217;t make sense to buy pre8212;paid cards as a lot of airtime advantage doesn8217;t go to the subscriber. Administrative costs and high airtime rates are the main disadvantages of using a pre-paid card.

Lots of people opted for these because they were available off the shelf without any need for authenticating the address and details about the subscribers, but now the government has made it mandatory even for pre-paid card owners to furnish these details before they can be given a connection.

Most cellphone companies like Airtel and Hutch earlier Essar are now moving towards a regime where incoming calls would become free 8212; so you don8217;t pay for calls made by somebody else.

For a model example, choose the latest tariffs launched by Hutch. If you don8217;t know what your monthly usage pattern is, Talk Flexi is the option for you. Under this plan as your usage goes up, the company automatically bills you a lower tariff. For example if your incoming/outgoing calls are in the range of up to 200 minutes per month, you will end up paying at a rate of 99 paise for every 30 seconds. As your usage increases, like up to 450 minutes per month, the rate you pay is 84 paise or at the highest end of 650 minutes plus 8212; 69 paise per 30 second8212;pulse.

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But if you are a heavy user, you could choose from the Talk Heavy or Talk Max plans. While Talk Heavy is for those who make a lot of calls outside the city or country because this plan offers you calls to three STD numbers and 3 ISD numbers free of cost as well as 3 local numbers. But here too, STD/ISD calls to cellphones are absolutely free while calls to landline phones are charged at Rs 1.20 per three minutes which is the fixed rate levied by basic phone companies. This plans comes with a monthly rental of Rs 295 and a subscription fee of Rs 1,500 plus the extras on STD/ISD charges for calls other than to the three listed numbers. Incoming calls are free on this plan outgoing calls are charged at 50 paise per 30 second pulse.

The Talk Max Plan is for those who are heavy cellphone users, but on a local level. Under this plan, you pay a monthly rental of Rs 295 alongwith a subscription fee of Rs 1,900 with incoming and outgoing calls absolutely free, on airtime. The golden access charge to all landline calls however, applies in this plan too.

While the Hutch tariff model has been taken for reasons of simplicity, you could look for similar tariff plans from your local cellphone company which would all veer around something similar. Once this is done, choice of your customised plan becomes easy. But remember to check the fine print on the following issues 8212; the CLIP facility or what is called the calling line identification costs you another Rs 100 per month, detailed bills cost you Rs 50 to 100 depending on the operator, STD/ISD facility on your phone comes free but national roaming costs you Rs 30 to Rs 40 per month.

If you need more than one cellphone for your family, check out add-on deals from your local operators as it pays to take the second phone from the same company.

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Armed with all this, if you still have more queries, you could go to your company8217;s website and fill in your needs and they will advise you for your individual needs. So happy celltalking.