The major contract-based cell phone carriers are AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. In the U.S., the standard penalty for breaking a cell phone service contract has been in the range of $150 to $200.

While signing a contract will typically lower the cost of the cell phone you buy, the design of the cancellation fee is to keep you with the carrier and demotivate you from switching to another.

Prepaid wireless, on the other hand, comes with no contracts. The no-contract carriers, though, can charge you more for your handset and tend to have less of a cell phone selection.

Verizon Wireless recently decided that it'll become even more strict with its contract-based consumer and business customers and among the highest in the industry with its cancellation fees.

As the FCC continues to debate whether or not cancellation fees are justified, Verizon Wireless announced last Thursday that its early termination fee (ETF) will double from $175 to $350 specifically for customers under a one- or two-year contract with an "advanced device".

A Verizon spokesman says these higher-end phones typically include "a combination of advanced capabilities that ... increase the cost of the device," according to PC Magazine.

"These capabilities can include a premium HTML browser; high-resolution ... camera with optical zoom; dual-processor chipsets; Wi-Fi; very high display resolution; and operating systems such as BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm or Android," the Verizon Wireless spokesman added.

The Verizon Wireless cancellation fee, though, does prorate and has done so since 2006. It decreases by $10 after each month of service has elapsed. T-Mobile and Sprint began prorating its cancellation fees later in 2007 and AT&T began doing so in May 2008.

"This is an attempt by Verizon Wireless to keep consumers from switching to prepaid carriers that are offering better value," Omar Abhari, senior vice president of operations for prepaid carrier PlatinumTel, said in a Friday statement.

Abhari added: "This is a short-term solution that only proves that contractual wireless plans are not in the consumer's best interest and that prepaid should be considered."

Information about most of the prepaid wireless carriers can be found here. Also, take our new Verizon Wireless poll below!

Page Plus Cellular, which is one of the many nationwide prepaid wireless carriers in the United States, offers low per-minute rates without contracts.

The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), which uses the Verizon Wireless network, on Thursday announced that it's lowering the rate of its standard prepaid wireless voice plan even more.

Page Plus says its $10 replenishment card, which is the best-selling refill for its standard plan, will provide 100 minutes of talk time instead of the 83 minutes previously provided. The increase effectively lowers the per-minute rate from 12 cents to 10 cents.

The change will go into effect on Nov. 16, 2009.

In Oct. 2009, Page Plus Cellular launched its Talk n Text 1200 plan, which provides 1,200 voice minutes, 1,200 text or picture messages and 50 megabytes of data for $29.95 a month. In Aug. 2009, the carrier released its Unlimited Talk n Text plan for $39.95 a month.

While the Talk n Text options are monthly prepaid wireless plans, the standard plan is a pay-as-you-go service that can be refilled at any time in denominations of $10, $25, $50 or $80.

At its lowest rate, a Page Plus Cellular plan can get the cost down to 6 cents per minute. The minimum replenishment period is 120 days, which means a low-use customer can use the service for approximately $3 a month.

Learn more about the other prepaid wireless carriers here. Learn which networks the prepaid wireless carriers use here. More links about Page Plus Cellular are below.

1. Prepaid Wireless Carrier Ratings
   
2. Cheap Page Plus Texting

If you lose your cell phone, what you might be most upset about is losing all the data with it.

While services can't protect you from misplacing a phone, they can help you get some of it back by backing up your data to their servers.

CyberSynchs is one such service. The software installs on Windows-powered smartphones (but not cell phones) in about five minutes.

The service, which costs $2.99 per month, confidentially backs up a phone's accumulated data to a secure server. This includes photos, emails, text messages and music. If parents are using the service to monitor their children, they can log into CyberSynchs and review their kid's smartphone activity.

CyberSynchs, which currently supports the Windows Mobile 5 operating system and later versions of it, says it's working on compatibility with the iPhone and BlackBerry devices. Other services exist (like Treasuremytext) so you can backup your text messages, too.

My Phone from Microsoft also backs up data and competes with CyberSynchs. It even allows you to locate a lost phone. My Phone only works on "most phones" that run the Windows Mobile 6 operating system or later. The service is free.

Are you a cell phone master? If you think so, could you correctly answer multiple-choice questions about cell phone technologies?

Are you familiar with SMS, MMS, T9, QWERTY, Bluetooth, 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, SAR, MVNO, GSM, CDMA, TDMA and EDGE?

Answer my 16 new test questions and find out in this fun and educational About.com quiz!

Hint: Keep your eyes closely peeled in this quiz. I sometimes have fun with you in these questions. At other times, I stick to the facts. Good luck!