Table Of Content1 YEAR UPGRADE
BUYER PROTECTION PLAN
Consumer’s Guide to
Everything You Need to Choose the Right Brand,
with the Right Feature Sets,for Your Needs:
• Complete Coverage of All Major Vendor Phones
and Service Plans,Including Nokia,Motorola,
Sprint,Ericsson,Verizon,AT&T Wireless,
Nextel,and More!
• Answers Your Questions AboutFamily Plans,
Roaming Packages,and Prepaid Plans
• Tells You What“Free Long Distance”Really
Means and Deciphers Misleading or
Confusing Service Plans
GetConnected, Inc.
Jeff McLaughlin
Beverly LeDonne
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s o l u t i o n s @ s y n g r e s s . c o m
With more than 1,500,000 copies of our MCSE, MCSD, CompTIA, and
Cisco study guides in print, we continue to look for ways we can
better serve the information needs of our readers. One way we do
that is by listening.
Readers like yourself have been telling us they want an Internet-
based service that would extend and enhance the value of our
books. Based on reader feedback and our own strategic plan, we
have created a Web site that we hope will exceed your expectations.
[email protected] is an interactive treasure trove of useful
information focusing on our book topics and related technologies.
The site offers the following features:
(cid:2) One-year warranty against content obsolescence due to
vendor product upgrades. You can access online updates for
any affected chapters.
(cid:2) “Ask the Author” customer query forms that enable you to
post questions to our authors and editors.
(cid:2) Exclusive monthly mailings in which our experts provide
answers to reader queries and clear explanations of complex
material.
(cid:2) Regularly updated links to sites specially selected by our edi-
tors for readers desiring additional reliable information on
key topics.
Best of all, the book you’re now holding is your key to this amazing
site. Just go to www.syngress.com/solutions, and keep this book
handy when you register to verify your purchase.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve your needs. And
be sure to let us know if there’s anything else we can do to help
you get the maximum value from your investment. We’re listening.
www.syngress.com/solutions
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Consumer’s Guide to
GetConnected Inc.
Jeff McLaughlin
Beverly LeDonne
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Syngress Publishing,Inc.,the author(s),and any person or firm involved in the writing,editing,
or production (collectively “Makers”) of this book (“the Work”) do not guarantee or warrant the
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Syngress Media®,Syngress®,“Ask the Author UPDATE®,”and “Career Advancement Through
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KEY SERIAL NUMBER
001 H3N5A7S9C9
002 M93C5S5SB2
003 CMN23CBN25
004 JRN21AEN54
005 DEN55KJN81
006 ACS26DMD27
007 QRD34MNB54
008 D94H97S983
009 EMS36JVP35
010 W2KNOAD147
PUBLISHED BY
Syngress Publishing,Inc.
800 Hingham Street
Rockland,MA 02370
The Consumer’s Guide to Wireless Phones and Service Plans
Copyright © 2002 by Syngress Publishing,Inc.All rights reserved.Printed in the United States
of America.Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976,no part of this publication
may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means,or stored in a database or
retrieval system,without the prior written permission of the publisher,with the exception that
the program listings may be entered,stored,and executed in a computer system,but they may
not be reproduced for publication.
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
ISBN: 1-928994-52-0
Technical Editor:GetConnected,Inc. Freelance Editorial Manager:Maribeth Corona-Evans
Co-Publisher:Richard Kristof Cover Designer:Michael Kavish
Acquisitions Editor:Catherine B.Nolan Page Layout and Design:Reuben Kantor
Indexer:Rich Carlson Copy Editor:Adrienne Rebello
Distributed by Publishers Group West in the United States and Jaguar Book Group in Canada.
165_cell_ aFM.qk 11/12/01 1:58 PM Page v
Syngress Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the following people for their kindness
and support in making this book possible.
Karen Cross,Lance Tilford,Meaghan Cunningham,Kim Wylie,Harry
Kirchner,Kevin Votel,Kent Anderson,and Frida Yara of Publishers
Group West for sharing their incredible marketing experience and
expertise.
Mary Ging,Caroline Hird,Simon Beale,Caroline Wheeler,Victoria
Fuller,Jonathan Bunkell,and Klaus Beran of Harcourt International
for making certain that our vision remains worldwide in scope.
Annabel Dent of Harcourt Australia for all their help.
David Buckland,Wendi Wong,Daniel Loh,Marie Chieng,Lucy
Chong,Leslie Lim,Audrey Gan,and Joseph Chan of Transquest
Publishers for the enthusiasm with which they receive our books.
Kwon Sung June at Acorn Publishing for his support.
Ethan Atkin at Cranbury International for his help in expanding the
Syngress program.
A special thank you to Janis Carpenter at PGW.Thank you for your
excellent service and all your kind words Janis.
v
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Thanks and Acknowledgments
We would like to thank three special GetConnected customer service
gurus for their help in compiling the information for this book.
Martin,Veronica,and Ali have been working tirelessly to make sure our
customers get all the answers they need to make their telecom pur-
chase painless and simple.Their industry expertise is truly a huge
advantage that our customers enjoy when researching and buying any
telecom service—they know all from wireless to DSL to long distance.
They are inspirational in their ability to switch from one incredibly
complex topic to the next without missing a beat.
We also could not have completed this work without the support
of the entire team at GetConnected.From our marketing staff to our
programmers,everyone here has devoted themselves to the mission of
finding the right type of communication services for every customer
who comes to our site,and making sure everyone has the best infor-
mation possible to choose the best service for their hard-earned
money.
Special thanks to the co-founders of GetConnected,Inc.,Tracy
Lawrence and Sasha Novakovich.These two had the vision to create
an electronic resource to help consumers get the most telecommuni-
cations service for their money.We are proud to be able to extend
their vision into this Guide for wireless consumers.
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About GetConnected, Inc.
Founded in 1999,GetConnected,Inc.provides a suite of software
tools that facilitate the sale of wireless,broadband,local phone,long
distance,cable,and satellite television services.
The Telecommunications Deregulation Act of 1996 was the cata-
lyst for a proliferation of telecommunications services which made
the process of selecting the best providers and plans a daunting task
for consumers.The Internet offered a tremendous opportunity for
consumers to easily find and compare all options available to them
and make the right choice through an informative and intuitive elec-
tronic shopping process.The Internet was also the ideal medium to
help telecommunications service providers cost effectively acquire
customers.www.GetConnected.com resulted from the confluence
of these three market forces.
Named by Newsweek as one of the 103 Best Web Sites and by PC
World as Best Cell Phone Site,GetConnected.com,the showcase of
the GetConnected functionality,is an easy-to-use Web site that
empowers users with the information necessary to help them select
the services that best meet their individual needs.In addition to being
a source of the most comprehensive and accurate information avail-
able,the GetConnected site,shopping technology and transaction
processing capability make the purchase process simple and straight-
forward.Consumers are shown all plans,products,and special offers
available in their area.GetConnected.com also provides highly intu-
itive and interactive wizards and bill calculators that allow the user to
customize searches and make it easier to locate and buy the most
suitable plans.The end result? Consumers get the most for their
telecommunication dollar.
GetConnected,Inc.offers consumers and small businesses access to
its services directly through its Web site www.GetConnected.com,and
through a network of partner Web sites.Consumers will also be able to
access the GetConnected telecommunication shopping services in pri-
vate labeled applications at retail,where GetConnected will power the
shopping experience and order processing for its retail partners.
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