Your mobile guide

With all the hundreds of mobile phone options available these days, just about everyone could use a helping hand. Tariffs change so quickly you'd need a team of assistants just to keep up. Handsets are evolving at such a pace that there’s always something smaller, faster, sleeker, more capable either coming up or already available. One day you could call home from the road to say you'd be late, the next day you needed a hands free car kit.

So what do you actually need? What would work best for how you want to use your mobile? Do you know what to watch out for, how to avoid common problems and easy mistakes? There’s so much choice but don’t let that put you off finding the best deal for you. uSwitch.com is here to help.

These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself when you're looking to change mobiles, get your first mobile or just shopping around to see that you're taken care of as well as you should be.

So, how do you expect to use your mobile?

• how much will you use your phone?
• what time of day will you make most of your calls?
• which mobile network is used by most of the people you are likely to call? And how much does this matter?
• what kind of services do you want on your mobile – e.g. mobile internet, TV, organiser, computer synching, music player?
• will you make much use of the more expensive types of calls, such as calls to premium rate services or using your phone whilst abroad?
• which networks provide adequate coverage for your area and where you expect to travel?
• will you be needing to access voicemail regularly?

There are two ways to pay for your mobile phone, both with their very own strengths and weaknesses.

Pay monthly contract

• you are billed for calls and monthly subscriptions, typically for a minimum contract period of at least 12 months
• there is a wider choice of services and handsets
• call charges and handsets tend to be cheaper – but not always
• you normally get inclusive call minutes, i.e. an allowance of call minutes (and perhaps also text messages) which is included in your monthly subscription and not charged for separately

Pay as you go

• you pay before making calls, generally either with a top-up credit voucher or with a credit or debit card which you register to your phone number
• unlike a pay monthly contract, there are no credit checks or minimum contract period
• there is usually a limited choice of services and handsets are typically much more expensive, needing to be paid for upfront
• it is easy to control spending, but you won’t get an itemised bill and call charges tend to be higher than with a pay monthly contract

There are plenty of handsets to choose from but the main thing to ensure is that you get one that you like and that you can use easily. uSwitch.com gives you the basics on the types of handsets available.

Mobiles seem to do so much but don’t be put off choosing a new one – you’ll be amazed at what you can do with a phone these days. Our mobile essentials section tells you all you need to know about what today’s little pocket wonders are capable of:

• text messaging
• music and your mobile
• 3G
• games on your mobile
• mobile TV
• ringtones
• camera phones
• accessorising your mobile