When I bought my first cell phone, it was all romance and no common sense. I was too young and stupid to heed the warnings of my family and friends. Now I’m on my 3rd plan and take it from me, choosing a cell phone carrier requires more caution than a non-celebrity marriage. The divorce can be almost as ugly.

Unfortunately, cell phone service is one of the hardest things to quantify accurately. These sites do their best:

• CellReception.com: Enter a zip code and see who offers the best reception in your areas of interest
• LetsTalk.com: Sporadic user reviews for each of the providers
• Consumer Search: Wireless Plan Reviews: A listing and description of service provider reviews from ConsumerSearch

The other difficulty confronting the aspiring cell phone owner is the tornado of features and specs that today’s mobile phone market has to offer. I remember when it was as easy as picking the one with the pretty blue screen–when random people would karate high-five me on the sidewalk for my technological awesomeness. “Blue screen! Extreme!!”

Today there are phones that can run Windows, shoot video, and start your car’s ignition. And if you’re one of those people always competing for the most irritating ringtone in the office, I hear there’s a new one that jumps out of your hand and bites your coworkers in the face.

These sites will help you find the one for you:

• HowardChui.com: Professional reviews of phones on the market
• PhoneScoop.com: Find phones that meet your features criteria
• CNET: Cell Phone Buying Guide

AJ Magnuson
Researcher

Related posts:

1. Revisiting Cordless Phones In this day and age of ubiquitous cell phones and...
2. Cordless phones Cordless phones have largely replaced the old traditional corded phones...
3. Camera Phone Not Cutting it As much as I’d hate to admit it, (because I...