Hold your calls - Nokia 2120 and 100, AT and T 3770, Panasonic EB-H40, Oki 1325 and Motorola Ultra Classic II and MicroTAC Elite cellular telephones - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, March, 1995 by Wayne Rash, Jr.

AH, THE UNCERTAINTIES OF MODERN LIFE--TRAFFIC jams, delayed airplanes, postponed meetings--all of which happen at precisely the wrong time. But with a cellular phone in hand, you can laugh in the face of adversity and turn ill-timed delays into productive opportunities. And if staying accessible is among your best business assets, a cellular phone is an excellent tool for the job.

Indeed, cellular phones are well on their way to becoming as ubiquitous in business as the fax machine. Although they first appeared in automobiles, more and more phones are showing up in convenient pocket-size forms, including the seven portables we've reviewed here.

Unfortunately, buying a cellular phone is slightly more complicated than purchasing a regular model. For one thing, you must first select a cellular carrier to provide service (for tips, see "Faith Goes Cellular," June 1994, page 110), then find a phone dealer affiliated with that carrier. Next, you must settle on the type of phone you want, and the array of available features can be bewildering.

To add to the confusion, the amount of money you'll pay for your cellular phone can vary widely--from free (it's common for dealers to practically give away phones if you sign up for a year's service) to over $1,000. Since phone prices are all over the map, we've avoided them altogether in this review; scan the newspapers or call your local cellular dealer to check out the latest deals.

Cellular Basics Cellular phones are really just sophisticated two-way radios that get their service from a matrix of radio transmitters all over the world. These communicate with the cellular phones in their areas, and when a phone travels to another area (or cell site) closer to another transmitter, the connection with that phone is handed off.

Because of all this cell hopping, your connection is subject to interference and even signal loss when passing through tunnels or driving in parking garages. Therefore, cellular phones that have powerful receivers-meaning the ones that are capable of receiving the weakest signals--will tend to outperform other, less powerful phones.

In addition, if you plan to use a cellular phone in a problem area, such as one with weak or congested signals or inside some office buildings, a portable, which can output only 0.6 watts, might not suffice. Other phones--such as mobile (those mounted in a car) and transportable (which use a separate battery pack) models--put out a heftier three watts and pack a lot more punch.

Typical Features Although each manufacturer boasts special features that make its portable phones more attractive to customers, nearly all share some Common Ones.

Dual/multiple NAM. As if having one cellular number weren't expensive enough-all of the phones reviewed here support more than one number assignment module (NAM), which means they can have more than one phone number. Actually, having different numbers to access local service in cities you visit frequently can save you from paying expensive roaming charges for calls made outside your local calling area.

Ringer select. Nearly all cellular phones let you set the volume of the phone's ringer. Some will let you select the style of the ring as well, and a few will vibrate silently instead of ringing--handy in such sticky situations as meetings or at the opera.

Retractable antenna. A phone with a retractable antenna is much easier to store than one that has an awkward protruding antenna, and it's decidedly more convenient than one requiring you to screw the antenna on each time you want to make a call. Some phones allow you to retract the antenna inside the body of the phone and still make and receive calls.

Paging: numeric and alphanumeric. Certain phones will allow the receipt of text or numerical messages much like a pager. Generally, if your number is busy, callers can leave their phone numbers. These features require that your cellular carrier provide support, and they'll probably cost extra.

Timers. Because cellular phone service is billed by the minute and can be so costly, it's valuable to keep tabs on how long you've been on the phone. Most phones will allow you to time calls as you make them, and many will also let you tally the total time of several calls.

Call restrictions. Most phones let you control which services the phone will connect with (which allows a business to control employee roaming charges) and whether the phone can make long-distance calls---or calls of any kind. Some will allow restrictions on specific long-distance calls, such as international calls, but let others go through.

Locking. To keep others from using your phone, all phones allow you to set a password. A few will also lock other specific functions or the keypad itself so that accidental presses won't create problems.

Emergency call. This feature, found on many phones, lets you override restrictions or locks in case you need to dial an emergency number, such as 911.

Memory: numeric and alphanumeric. All phones let you store frequently called numbers in memory and access them by pushing just one or two numbers. Many will also let you enter an alphanumeric entry to help you find and identify those numbers.