Best phones & service

If the best news about mobile life these days is the arrival of smarter phones and faster networks, the worst is what those improvements can cost.

The advances are significant: large, dazzling displays; full-featured cameras; enhanced video chat; and better voice recognition. And then there's speed. Many new smart phones have faster processors, and one in five—including most of our top-rated models—can connect to speedy 4G (fourth-generation) data networks.

Such advantages no doubt account for the fact that more than 60 percent of Consumer Reports readers responding to our latest survey on cell phones own a smart phone. In most cases, those with 4G phones were more satisfied with their carriers than those with no access to that high-speed service—especially when it came to the data service used to download videos, browse the Web, and more.

But progress comes at a price, and it's little wonder that value was the biggest factor by far in driving satisfaction with cell-phone service among our survey respondents. The cellular cutting edge can be expensive and could get even costlier.

The latest smart phones typically cost $200 and up, even with a two-year contract, and monthly service can easily cost $100. With data usage on smart phones skyrocketing—the average soared by almost 90 percent from 2010 to 2011, according to Nielsen—bills could go even higher.

That's especially true now that all the major carriers except Sprint have dropped unlimited, full-speed data provisions. Most have moved to plans that bill in tiers according to the amount of data you use or that slow download speeds after you hit a specified monthly limit.

But some things about cell-phone plans don't change much—unfortunately. Carriers still don't make it easy to compare plans; each typically offers unequal buckets of minutes, messages, and megabytes. Some phone owners are texting more and talking less, but most contract plans still require buying hundreds of voice minutes a month, whether or not you need them. And unless you buy messages in bundles or in unlimited plans—again, possibly more messages than you might need—you'll pay an à la carte charge that's exorbitant, considering how little data a text message carries.

Read on for a rundown of the latest developments in the market, news from our tests and reader surveys, and advice on how to get more and better for less.

When it comes to standard cell-phone service (meaning billed monthly, often under a contract), the most satisfying carriers in our Ratings were smaller. At the top of the Ratings were Consumer Cellular, a national carrier that uses AT&T's network, and U.S. Cellular, which operates in 26 states. Credo, which offers service in much of the country over Sprint's network and donates part of its earnings to socially responsible causes, was next in satisfaction.

The major national monthly-bill carriers now rate no better than the third tier, occupied by Verizon and Sprint. T-Mobile was below those two but continued to rate significantly better than higher-priced AT&T, whose plan to eliminate its better rival was thwarted by a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit last summer. A trial is scheduled to begin in February.

On the whole, readers who prepaid for their service (without a contract, for monthly minutes, unlimited or pay-as-you-go) were more satisfied overall than respondents with standard service.

Customers at prepaid carriers were also happier with the value for money of their service. Paying à la carte for the calls or texts you send can be a cost-saver for occasional phone users, and unlimited plans offered by prepaid specialists such as Straight Talk typically cost less than standard service from a major carrier.

One reason prepaid customers may be happier with their service is that they use the phone less than customers with standard service for such demanding tasks as Web surfing and watching videos. With simpler needs, those customers might be easier to please overall. (Not surprisingly, most so-called prepaid carriers offer few if any smart phones.)

And prepaid looks like it's getting cheaper—again. As we went to press, TracFone began promoting a "triple minutes for life" option free with certain phone models, which means if you buy 120 minutes for $30, you get 360 minutes, which cuts the unit price from 25 to 8 cents per minute. T-Mobile offered a data- and text-centric prepaid 4G plan providing 5GB of data, unlimited texting, and 100 voice minutes for only $30, which is great for data hogs who don't talk much.

Interestingly, usage patterns for subscribers to Consumer Cellular's contract plans more closely resemble those of typical prepaid customers. That, along with its relatively low prices, might help explain the carrier's high standing in the standard-service Ratings.

The top phones in our smart phone Ratings are the best we've ever tested, with the highest overall scores for phones so far. Most of the standouts are 4G phones that share several traits, including stunning screens and cameras with more sophisticated controls and features. Many were from Samsung, which made 20 percent of the phones in this Ratings, up from only 5 percent in our 2009 report. Our tests uncovered other news, too: Apple's newest iPhone, the 4S, scores highly in our Ratings and is recommended.

Speed. Fourth-generation models provide super-smooth video streaming and ultrafast loading of Web-based content, at least under optimal network conditions. That's not entirely due to the faster download speeds of 4G networks. 4G phones are also likely to have state-of-the-art processors that can provide fast performance even on 3G networks.

Another plus to 4G: It allows you to talk and surf the Web at the same time on all four major carriers; only AT&T and T-Mobile allow such multitasking on 3G networks.

Contrary to popular belief, not all 4G phones have notably short run times on a charge. Though 4G phones from Verizon and Sprint had lower scores for battery life than the carriers' 3G-only models, plenty of 4G phones from AT&T and T-Mobile scored very well in our battery tests.

Many more 4G models will be out later this year, possibly at lower prices, and more areas will have 4G coverage. And 4G service could be faster than it is now for AT&T and Sprint, which plan to shift from their current network technologies to LTE, the high-speed technology used by Verizon. (T-Mobile is on the HSPA network.) But if you use your phone mainly to talk and text, you won't get the benefits from 4G that a heavy data user will, so decide whether you need it.

Note, however, that the biggest data hogs who have grandfathered unlimited plans with AT&T and Verizon may see their data speeds clipped in months when their usage is high, in a controversial practice known as data-throttling.

Screens. Displays of 4 inches or larger are becoming more common, as are high-resolution screens that look better than ever, with bright, vivid colors.

Cameras. More phones than ever have 8-megapixel cameras and such big-camera features as ISO settings, tap to focus, and face detection. Two rated phones, the HTC Evo 3D and LG Thrill 4G, can capture subjects in 3D. One feature still missing, though, is optical zoom.

In addition to offering more features, the best phone cameras have very good photo quality, with little or no graininess, decent detail and color rendition, and a short shutter lag. And even run-of-the-mill phone cameras offer photos that are typically good enough for casual use.

A growing number of phones can shoot HD video at 1080p (so-called full high-definition) resolution, the best of them with video quality approaching that of the best pocket camcorders we've tested. (But even smart phones with better cameras and pocket camcorders can't match full-sized HD camcorders for image quality.)

Consumers have grown tired of a common gotcha that affects one in five cell service subscriber—"bill shock" from unexpectedly high charges. The surprises often occur because consumers are unaware that they've exceeded their plan's voice, message, or data limits and have begun to incur hefty overage charges.

In October, CTIA-The Wireless Association agreed that carriers should send customers alerts before high penalties and fees begin piling up as a result of voice, messaging, or data overages and international roaming. At the same time, the Federal Communications Commission and Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, agreed to work with the FCC on a website that will monitor compliance with the new industry guidelines.

Some carriers, including top-rated Consumer Cellular and U.S. Cellular, say they already provide data-overage alerts. Some smart phones, including iPhones, have a built-in feature that monitors your data usage, and apps from companies such as Pageonce offer the same capability on other phones.

Companies that market software to protect computers from viruses and other malware are stepping up their efforts to sell similar programs for cell phones, especially smart phones. While the risk of phones being infected may be rising as their Web access increases, we don't believe that it justifies installing yet another program at this time.

For most people, the possibility of losing a phone poses the greatest security risk. We urge the use of a password-protected screen or other measure to ensure that a lost phone cannot easily be accessed. The easiest way to protect data against loss is with a personal identification number (PIN) or password.

When you pay your phone bill, you pay a fee to the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes phone service, and now also broadband access, in rural, underserved areas. The FCC, in late 2012, will direct more funding into broadband development in remote locations. The agency says that the Universal Service fee will not be increased due to the change.

Despite the rollout of 4G networks, rising demand for wireless broadband is expected to outstrip network capacity, and the search is on for ways to expand network access and speeds. The FCC is supporting legislation that would allow the agency to pay broadcasters for relinquishing TV spectrum that could then be auctioned for wireless broadband use.