Mellowlen62 asks:

Took my son to VZW corp store to price the Droid X at full retail. He wants for Christmas and was giving me half of the price. No upgrades at this time. Rep says “running a promotion. Put another line on your account, get him the X, put an old phone on his existing line and we will waive the $10 fee for the life of the 2 yr contract.” Does this sound legit?? I’ve been scratching my head…

Sounds like a sales rep trick I like to call “the new line switch."  Let me explain…

If you own an unlocked GSM phone it can generally be used on any GSM carrier. If you have an unlocked “world phone” and travel out of country you can use a prepaid SIM and avoid costly roaming fees. You may also be able to use your existing phone when switching carriers; this could save you money and possibly even help you avoid entering into a contract.

Using your phone on a different provider isn’t quite as easy as throwing another carrier’s SIM into your phone. While GSM technology is standardized- the bands that cell phone carriers own licenses to are not. Also if your phone is branded with the name of a service provider it is most likely “subsidy locked” to that carrier. So if you’re up for the challenge, read on to learn how to find out what bands your phone supports and how to get your device unlocked whether your carrier is ready to provide you with the code or not.

The writers and editors of PhoneCan are asked one question more than any other: how do I get out of my contract without paying a fee?

Many carriers have Early Termination Fees (ETF) built into their contracts.  This is, by far, one of the biggest reasons why people don’t like signing contracts (even though the overwhelming majority do).  But most people don’t run into this bill killer unless they have an emergency or immediate need to cancel or transfer service.  When they do, though, they tend to feel like their service provider is raking them over the coals.

We’ll take a quick look at Early Termination Fees, talk about your options, then reveal the truth about trying to get out of your contract without paying a fee.

SIM cards are an important component in GSM cellular systems.  Knowing what a SIM card is and what it can do isn’t something that’s only of interest to engineers, there are many practical features built into SIM technology that are easy to use and can save you money and frustration.

Everyone hates them, but most people sign them: contracts.  And in the wireless business, contracts are part of standard everyday business for most service providers.  Prepay plans aren’t always what they seem - there’s often a sacrifice to be made for not signing a contract.  Carriers give few incentives for going without a contract (even though more money can be made on non-contract plans).  And we haven’t even talked about phone discounts yet!

How did we get into this mess?  Is there a way out?

Come with us as we explore the past, present, and future of those stinkin’ phone contracts, and why you really CAN do without them.

I was just digging through our search-related hits, and saw that a number of people are visiting our site through search engine results, but looking for topics we haven’t written about yet.

Did you know you can ask us anything and we will do our best to answer it?  Click on the Ask Us link at the top of each screen and send us your question.  We will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

The folks at PhoneCan have been contemplating how to address Verizon Wireless’s impending 4G network launch.  We talked about it.  We thought about it.  And the consensus we had was this:

If you’re not in a city where it’s being launched, it really won’t be of much interest to you.  Seeing as how that seems to be most of us, we felt that a more realistic take on Verizon’s 4G launch and it’s impact is in order.

I wrote in my previous post about why Task Killers are evil, and how they can harm your device if used. But a lot of users will hesitate uninstalling their beloved ATK because of the perceived battery loss.

Task Killers do provide a boost to your battery life, at least initially. But it’s not because they’re killing programs that are running wild in the background. Instead, they’re killing the ability of apps (like your Facebook account) from syncing additional information. These services aren’t constantly running; they start up, get their information, and then shut back down on their own. But left unchecked, they can kill your battery because they update very frequently as a default.

Join me after the jump where I’ll go over some tips on how to maximize your battery life without using Task Killers.

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Here’s what we know:

LTE network launches December 5th.
38 Markets at launch, 60+ airports.
5-12 Mbps download, 2-5 Mbps upload, claiming up to 10 times faster than 3G.
Two USB devices available at launch, $99.99 each after $50 rebate.
5GB plan for $50, 10GB plan for $80, $10/GB overage standard on both plans, no usage limit, no speed throttler
Expected to expand to full coverage by or in 2013.

Here’s what we don’t know:

When an LTE phone will launch.

Verizon will announce it’s first LTE-capable phones at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in January.  In the Q&A they clarified that we would be seeing an LTE smartphone “by” mid-2011, but not necessarily “in” mid-2011.

We’ll update you with more as or if it comes.