Mobile phone providers have come up with nifty ways to not only dominate our free time – with addictive-services like texting, downloading ringtones to video messaging – but also charging us for the privilege.

You text (SMS) your partner about dinner arrangements five times in an afternoon at 30 cents a pop, you check your voice messages three times at 75 cents each, you use your mobile’s multi-messaging service (MMS) to shoot through a couple of photos of your new house to your three mates at 60 cents each time – and you’re already up to $5.50 for the afternoon’s activities. And this doesn’t even take into account any phone calls made, payments for your handset and other features such as downloading ring tones and so on.

Nifty features come at a cost, and the more nifty features you use on your phone – the bigger your bill will be at the end of the month.

Try not to venture into a mobile phone retail outlet without doing your homework first. You should be familiar with the range of options available, the costs and features of various plans, and the category of mobile user you fit into. Do you mainly use your phone for retrieving phone calls, or do you like to make calls to friends, work colleagues and family? And are those phone calls generally of a short or longer duration? And what time of day? These of the types of questions worth asking in order to determine the best plan for you. Frequent travelers, business people and those living in rural areas clearly have other needs that should be taken into consideration when choosing a mobile plan.

It’s worthwhile having a brief look at the various options available for mobile phone users. They range from pre-paid cards, giving you complete control over your mobile phone outgoings, to 12 month and 24-month plans (that wrap a certain number of phone and SMS messaging costs up into a monthly fee), to capped plans, month-by-month plans and more. It sounds complicated, but to make life easier we’ve firstly outlined the personality type suitable for each category before discussing the pros and cons of each option.

Pre-paid cards (pay as you go)

> These cards are suitable for the cash-strapped, children, those who need limits over usage or want complete control over how much they spend, as well as anyone who doesn’t intend to use their mobile phone all that much.

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