Verizon Wireless Text to Landline Image © Verizon WirelessFor the same reason you'd sometimes prefer to send a text message to a cell phone, did you know you can text to a landline phone, too? Text-to-landline service is already available to you at various cell phone carriers (including Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Alltel Wireless and other carriers). The service, which is sometimes free or...

Image © Chad Baker, Getty ImagesThese days, you don't have to be shackled to a cell phone contract if you don't want to. The four major cell phone carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless) typically want to lock you down for two years in exchange for a subsidized handset price. But carriers like Boost Mobile, Cricket, Virgin Mobile, PlatinumTel, Jitterbug, Straight...

The slim Nokia 1600 phone sports a color display, speakerphone, changeable faceplates, and polyphonic ringtones. Product Features This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel

Image © Verizon WirelessThe major contract-based cell phone carriers are AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. In the U.S., the standard penalty for breaking a cell phone service contract has been in the range of $150 to $200. While signing a contract will typically lower the cost of the cell phone you buy, the design of the cancellation fee is to keep you with the carrier and dem...

Image © KajeetVery niche cell phone offers are getting more popular. Just as there is cell phone service targeted at seniors (i.e. Jitterbug and Consumer Cellular), we also have a company that is specifically formulated for parents and their kids: Kajeet. Kajeet, which uses the Sprint network, is a prepaid and pay-as-you-go cell phone carrier designed specifically for kids. Within AT&T, ...

Image © SprintSprint in Sept. 2009 changed the cell phone game with its industry-first "Any Mobile, Anytime" feature. While other carriers offer free and unlimited calling to five or 10 phone numbers, this feature from Sprint gives you unlimited calling to and from all cell phone numbers on any network. Calls to or from landline numbers, though, do not apply. Calls to your own cell phone'...

Image © AT&TWithin hours of Sprint announcing its game-changing, industry-first Any Mobile, Anytime feature (place and receive calls unlimited with any U.S. cell phone for free), AT&T is maintaining the status quo by unveiling a copycat of a feature T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Alltel all unveiled some time ago. AT&T announced on Wednesday the launch of A-List so its users ca...

Image © Alltel WirelessNo. No. No. IÂ’m not impressed. When a cell phone carrier takes the time and money to announce a new plan, feature or cell phone, thereÂ’d better be something brand-spanking new, better, fun or useful. The biggest mistake is newly announcing something thatÂ’s already obsolete. ThatÂ’s what Alltel Wireless just did with its Thursday news of now automatically “enhancingÂ...

MVNO kajeet has an interesting spot in the market. While other carriers are moving towards a more general audience, kajeet remains one of the few committed to a certain demographic. That might seem like a disadvantage, but strategically it’s a smart move. It allows them to stay on message — that they’re the safest cell phone company for kids — and allows them to run promoti...

On Call runs every two weeks, alternating between answering reader questions and discussing hot topics in the cell phone world. Q: I was an Alltel customer, but I'm now with Verizon Wireless following the merger. I want to add a fourth line to my family plan, but Verizon informed me that my Alltel phones were not compatible and that I'd need to replace them. Replacing all four phones wou...