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Question 2 :Technology is crucial to drive changes in consumer behavior.

Why and how


psychological factors influence consumer buying behavior? As a potential buyer of a
latest brand of Android Phone and television, briefly explain the social and cultural
factors affecting buying decisions.
Answer :Within the study of Marketing Management, the "Consumers" or the "Customers" play a
very critical role as these are the people who finally BUY the goods & services of the
organization, and the firm is always on the move to make them buy so as to earn revenue.
It's crucial from both the points of view as given below:
1. From the customers' point of view: Customers today are in a tough spot. Today,
in the highly developed & technologically advanced society, the customers have a
great deal of choices & options (and often very close & competing) to decide on.
a. They have the products of an extreme range of attributes (the 1st P - Product),
b. they have a wide range of cost and payment choices (the 2nd P - Price),
c. they can order them to be supplied to their door step or anywhere else (the 3 rd P Place),
d. and finally they are bombarded with more communications from more channels
than ever before (the 4th P - Promotion).
How can they possibly decide where to spend their time and money, and where they
should give their loyalty ?
From the marketers' point of view : "The purpose of marketing is to sell more stuff
to more people more often for more money in order to make more profit". This is
the basic principle of requirement for the marketers in earlier days where
aggressive selling was the aim. Now it can't be achieved by force, aggression or
plain alluring. For the customers are today more informed, more knowledgeable,
more demanding, more discerning. And above all there is no dearth of marketers
to buy from. The marketers have to earn them or win them over.
- The global marketplace is a study in diversity, diversity among consumers, producers,
marketers, retailers, advertising media, cultures, and customs and of course the individual
or psychological behavior. However, despite prevailing diversity, there also are many
similarities. The object of the study of consumer behavior is to provide conceptual and
technical tools to enable the marketer to apply them to marketing practice, both profit &
non-profit.
- The study of consumer behavior (CB) is very important to the marketers because it
enables them to understand and predict buying behavior of consumers in the marketplace;
it is concerned not only with what consumers buy, but also with why they buy it, when
and where and how they buy it, and how often they buy it, and also how they consume it
& dispose it. Consumer research is the methodology used to study consumer behavior; it

takes place at every phase of the consumption process: before the purchase, during the
purchase, and after the purchase. Research shows that two different buyers buying the
same product may have done it for different reasons, paid different prices, used in
different ways, have different emotional attachments towards the things and so on.
- According to Professor Theodore Levitt of the Harvard business school, the study of
Consumer Behavior is one of the most important in business education, because the
purpose of a business is to create and keep customers. Customers are created and
maintained through marketing strategies. And the quality of marketing strategies depends
on knowing, serving, and influencing consumers. In other words, the success of a
business is to achieve organizational objectives, which can be done by the above two
methods. This suggests that the knowledge & information about consumers is critical for
developing successful marketing strategies because it challenges the marketers to think
about and analyze the relationship between the consumers & marketers, and the
consumer behavior & the marketing strategy.
- Consumer behavior is interdisciplinary; that is, it is based on concepts and theories
about people that have been developed by scientists, philosophers & researchers in such
diverse disciplines as psychology, sociology, social psychology, cultural anthropology,
and economics. The main objective of the study of consumer behaviour is to provide
marketers with the knowledge and skills that are necessary to carry out detailed consumer
analyses which could be used for understanding markets and developing marketing
strategies. Thus, consumer behaviour researchers with their skills for the naturalistic
settings of the market are trying to make a major contribution to our understanding of
human thinking in general.
- The study of consumer behavior helps management understand consumers' needs so as
to recognize the potential for the trend of development of change in consumer
requirements and new technology. And also to articulate the new thing in terms of the
consumers' needs so that it will be accepted in the market well.
The following are a few examples of the benefits of the study of consumer behaviour
derived by the different categories of people :
1. A marketing manager would like to know how consumer behaviour will help him
to design better marketing plans to get those plans accepted within the company.
2. In a non-profit service organisation, such as a hospital, an individual in the
marketing department would like to know the patients' needs and how best to
serve those needs.
3. Universities & Colleges now recognise that they need to know about consumer
behaviour to aid in recruiting students. "Marketing Admissions" has become an
accepted term to mean marketing to potential students.
- Consumer behaviour has become an integral part of strategic market planning. It is also
the basis of the approach to the concept of Holistic Marketing. (See the article on
"HOLISTIC MARKETING written by the author). The belief that ethics and social
responsibility should also be integral components of every marketing decision is
embodied in a revised marketing concept - the societal marketing concept - which calls
on marketers to fulfil the needs of their target markets in ways that improve society as a
whole.

Consumer Behaviour deals with the study of buying behaviour of consumers.


Let us understand the effect of psychological factors on consumer behaviour:

Motivation

Nancy went to a nearby restaurant and ordered pizza for herself.


Why did Nancy buy pizza ?
Answer - She was feeling hungry and wanted to eat something.
In the above example, Hunger was the motivating factor for Nancy to purchase pizza.
There are several other factors which motivate individuals to purchase products and
services. An individual who is thirsty would definitely not mind spending on soft drinks,
packaged water, juice and so on. Recognition and self esteem also influence the buying
decision of individuals.
Why do people wear branded clothes ?
Individuals prefer to spend on premium brands and unique merchandise for others to look
up to them. Certain products become their status symbol and people know them by their
choice of picking up products that are exclusive. An individual who wears a Tag Heuer
watch would never purchase a local watch as this would be against his image.

Perception

What is Perception ?
- What an individual thinks about a particular product or service is his/her perception
towards the same. For someone a Dell Laptop might be the best laptop while for others it
could be just one of the best brands available.
- Individuals with the same needs might not purchase similar products due to difference
in perception.
- Catherine and Roselyn had a hectic day at work and thus wanted to have something
while returning from work. Catherine ordered a large chicken pizza with French fries and
coke while Roselyn preferred a baked vegetable sandwich. Though both Catherine and
Roselyn had the same motivation (hunger), but the products they purchased were entirely
different as Roselyn perceived pizza to be a calorie laden food. Individuals think
differently and their perceptions do not match.
- Individuals perceive similar situation differently due to difference in the way they
interpret information.

There are three different processes which lead to difference in perception:


Selective Attention - Selective attention refers to the process where individuals pay
attention to information that is of use to them or their immediate family members.
An individual in a single day is exposed to numerous advertisements, billboards,
hoardings etc but he is interested in only those which would benefit him in any
way. He would not be interested in information which is not relevant at the
moment.
Selective Distortion - Consumers tend to perceive information in a way which would
be in line to their existing thoughts and beliefs.
Selective Retention - Consumers remember information which would be useful to
them, rest all they forget in due course of time. Michael wanted to purchase a
watch for his wife and thus he remembered the RADO advertisement which he
had seen several days ago.

-- Buying a new smartphone can seem like a daunting task. There's a dizzying array of
different kinds of devices, each with a different set of features that may or may not be
what you're looking for, all available on a different mobile networks.
- In fact, smartphones are like cars there's no single "best car" for everybody, and
there's no "best smartphone" for everyone, either. Just like walking into a car dealership
without doing your research on prices and features is a recipe for getting overcharged,
walking into your local Verizon or Sprint store without knowing what you need is a
recipe for future unhappiness.
- So what seems like a simple question "What kind of smartphone should I get?"
can quickly turn into days (or weeks!) of research, different pieces of advice from your
friends and coworkers, and pressure from salespeople. We're here to help you avoid as
much of that as possible. If you're new to this crazy world or if you're an old pro looking
for some tips, read on to find the best tools and tactics for buying your next handset.
- Before you ever set foot in a store or get your heart set on a particular device, the first
thing you need to do is evaluate the current situation with your phone and service that
will often determine your course of action. There's a pretty good chance you were right to
pick the carrier you're currently using.
- With which carrier do you currently have service? The old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't
fix it" definitely applies here: depending on the locations of your home, workplace, and
areas where you frequently travel, finding a carrier that works well around all of them can
be tricky so if your current carrier is getting the job done, that's something you'll want
to take into consideration. Of course, the opposite is also true: you shouldn't feel
compelled to stick with a carrier that has no signal or frequently drops calls or data
connections in places you need it to work, just because you've been with them for a long
time or you like the product lineup. Rest assured, there are great phones available with
every carrier!
4

- How far are you into your current contract? Early Termination Fees often known by
their acronym, "ETF" are the unavoidable bane of the wireless world. In order to make
an informed decision about how to proceed, you'll need to know whether you're eligible
to drop your account without paying an ETF, which can run as high as $350 depending on
your carrier and the device you're currently using. It's also important to note that just
because you're eligible to get a discounted upgrade on a new phone with your current
carrier doesn't mean you can leave the carrier altogether without getting hit with an ETF
most carriers treat those dates differently. Generally speaking, you can upgrade at a
discount before you can leave, often by as long as six months or more. Carriers would
always rather you stick around, and they're willing to give you steep discounts to do it.
- If you paid full price (usually $400 or more) for your current phone or you bought it
from someone other than your carrier, you may not be under contract at all, which means
you can leave whenever you like without paying an ETF. Most carriers make it tricky to
determine your contract status from your online account portal they'd rather you not
know whether you can leave for free, of course so your best bet is to call into
customer service and ask directly.
- Are you part of a family plan? Virtually all carriers (including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint,
and T-Mobile) offer family plans, which bundle multiple lines of service into a single
shared bucket of minutes. That means that you don't need to stick with your current
carrier just because you want to keep your family on a family plan but since it's more
effort to move an entirely family over to another service, it may mean that you want to
pay extra attention to your current carrier's latest offerings first before considering others.
- Do you have multiple devices? In some situations, you can save money by going with a
carrier that offers data buckets that can be shared between multiple devices (a smartphone
and a 3G- or 4G-enabled tablet, for instance). On AT&T, this is called Mobile Share; on
Verizon, its Share Everything. Either way, the concept is the same: you pay an extra fee
for each additional device you attach to the data bucket. Youll want to run the numbers
before you sign up, though. In many situations, youll end up paying more on such a plan
if you only use data on your tablet every once in a while, for instance, you might be
better off buying data for it a la carte rather than tying it to your phones data bucket.
- Do you get any corporate or group discounts? When you originally signed up for
service with your current carrier, the sales representative may have asked you who you
work for. The reason? Some companies and organizations have arranged special rates
with a specific carrier so that their employees and members can get discounts, often even
if the line is for personal use. These discounts can sometimes total 20 percent off your
monthly bill or more and can also include deals on handsets and accessories that regular
customers don't receive. If you're in such an arrangement, you'll need to remember that
moving to another carrier could result in some bill shock, so you'll want to ask every
carrier you're considering (and your employer) if there are any deals available. And even
if you're not currently getting a discount, it doesn't hurt to call your carrier's customer
service line to ask if there are any available to you.

- Coverage doesn't necessarily need to be a dream-killer for you, though. If you've just
got one nagging dead zone say, your home or your office all four national carriers
now offer options to help patch the problem. Broadly speaking, there are three different
types of solutions. Well lay them out below, but be warned that none of these are silver
bullets and each has its own particular pain points.
JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE GOT GOOD RECEPTION DOESN'T MEAN DATA
SPEEDS WILL BE REASONABLE
Femtocells. Think of femtocells as miniature cell towers (about the size of a Wi-Fi
router) that you can install yourself wherever they're needed. They need a
connection to your broadband internet service cable, DSL, FiOS, so on and
in turn, they produce a small cloud of cellular service that can cover several floors
and a couple thousand square feet of a building. These devices typically support
between five and eight simultaneous connections from different phones, and you
can authorize specific lines so that outsiders can't use your connection. One word
of warning: because they could potentially be used to "create" service in other
countries where your carrier doesn't operate and the required frequencies are not
permitted for consumer use, femtocells need an active GPS connection, which
means they either need to be positioned near a window with a sky view or they
require an external GPS that can be wired to such a location. AT&T, Sprint, and
Verizon offer femtocells.
Signal boosters. Unlike femtocells, signal boosters don't create a new cellular signal
that gets routed over your internet connection; instead, they simply amplify an
existing signal so that it's more usable by devices that are nearby. This means that
you must be able to find at least a weak signal in some part of the affected area in
order to use a signal booster, otherwise it won't do any good but the advantage
is that it doesn't require an active internet connection or a GPS signal to operate.
T-Mobile offers a signal booster.
Wi-Fi calling. Femtocells and signal boosters both require separate pieces of hardware
that must be installed and set up, but Wi-Fi calling is much simpler: if the feature
comes on your phone, you're good to go. When enabled, your phone places and
receives calls through Wi-Fi (if you're connected to a Wi-Fi network, of course)
instead of the normal cellular connection and unlike services like Skype, it's
totally seamless and it uses your regular phone number. There are downsides,
though: if you go out of Wi-Fi range while you're on a call, it'll probably drop
in most cases, the phone can't switch from Wi-Fi to cellular mid-call and many
phones don't support the service at all. T-Mobile is the only major US carrier that
offers Wi-Fi calling at the moment; most of its Android devices (and several of its
BlackBerry models) have it pre-installed.
If Wi-Fi calling isn't a viable option for you (either it isn't available on your phone or
carrier, or you don't have Wi-Fi where you've got a bad cellular signal), you should call in
to customer service don't go to the store! Femtocells and signal boosters frequently
aren't carried in carrier stores, and more importantly, you may be able to talk a customer
service agent into sending you a unit for free or a discount (for instance, AT&T's 3G

MicroCell is normally a whopping $200). When you call, be sure that they're aware you
don't get any signal in an important location and that you may need to cancel your service
if it can't be fixed that often catches their attention.

Speed- Though it was almost completely irrelevant a few years ago, most
smartphone users end up caring about data speed much more than voice quality. A
good smartphone without high-speed data is a much less compelling device.

Plagiarism Report :-

Plagiarism approximately 35% in 4 Sources


Sources found:
all sources

35% www.theverge.com

31% wiki.answers.com

30% voices.yahoo.com

16% www.managementstudyguide.com

Master Document Text


Within the study of Marketing Management, the "Consumers" or the "Customers" play a very critical role
as these are the people who finally BUY the goods & services of the organization, and the firm is always on
the move to make them buy so as to earn revenue. It's crucial from both the points of view as given below:
1. From the customers' point of view: Customers today are in a tough spot.
Today, in the highly developed & technologically advanced society, the customers have a great deal of
choices & options (and often very close & competing) to decide on. a. They have the products of an
extreme range of attributes (the 1st P - Product), b. they have a wide range of cost and payment choices (the
2nd P - Price), c. they can order them to be supplied to their door step or anywhere else (the 3rd P - Place),
d. and finally they are bombarded with more communications from more channels than ever before (the 4th
P - Promotion). How can they possibly decide where to spend their time and money, and where they should
give their loyalty ? From the marketers' point of view : "The purpose of marketing is to sell more stuff to
more people more often for more money in order to make more profit". This is the basic principle of
requirement for the marketers in earlier days where aggressive selling was the aim. Now it can't be
achieved by force, aggression or plain alluring.
For the customers are today more informed, more knowledgeable, more demanding, more discerning. And
above all there is no dearth of marketers to buy from. The marketers have to earn them or win them over. The global marketplace is a study in diversity, diversity among consumers, producers, marketers, retailers,

advertising media, cultures, and customs and of course the individual or psychological behavior. However,
despite prevailing diversity, there also are many similarities.
The object of the study of consumer behavior is to provide conceptual and technical tools to enable the
marketer to apply them to marketing practice, both profit & non-profit. - The study of consumer behavior
(CB) is very important to the marketers because it enables them to understand and predict buying behavior
of consumers in the marketplace; it is concerned not only with what consumers buy, but also with why they
buy it, when and where and how they buy it, and how often they buy it, and also how they consume it &
dispose it. Consumer research is the methodology used to study consumer behavior; it takes place at every
phase of the consumption process: before the purchase, during the purchase, and after the purchase.
Research shows that two different buyers buying the same product may have done it for different reasons,
paid different prices, used in different ways, have different emotional attachments towards the things and so
on. - According to Professor Theodore Levitt of the Harvard business school, the study of Consumer
Behavior is one of the most important in business education, because the purpose of a business is to create
and keep customers. Customers are created and maintained through marketing strategies.
And the quality of marketing strategies depends on knowing, serving, and influencing consumers. In other
words, the success of a business is to achieve organizational objectives, which can be done by the above
two methods. This suggests that the knowledge & information about consumers is critical for developing
successful marketing strategies because it challenges the marketers to think about and analyze the
relationship between the consumers & marketers, and the consumer behavior & the marketing strategy.
- Consumer behavior is interdisciplinary; that is, it is based on concepts and theories about people that have
been developed by scientists, philosophers & researchers in such diverse disciplines as psychology,
sociology, social psychology, cultural anthropology, and economics. The main objective of the study of
consumer behaviour is to provide marketers with the knowledge and skills that are necessary to carry out
detailed consumer analyses which could be used for understanding markets and developing marketing
strategies. Thus, consumer behaviour researchers with their skills for the naturalistic settings of the market
are trying to make a major contribution to our understanding of human thinking in general.
- The study of consumer behavior helps management understand consumers' needs so as to recognize the
potential for the trend of development of change in consumer requirements and new technology. And also
to articulate the new thing in terms of the consumers' needs so that it will be accepted in the market well.
The following are a few examples of the benefits of the study of consumer behaviour derived by the
different categories of people : 1. A marketing manager would like to know how consumer behaviour will
help him to design better marketing plans to get those plans accepted within the company. 2. In a non-profit
service organisation, such as a hospital, an individual in the marketing department would like to know the
patients' needs and how best to serve those needs. 3. Universities & Colleges now recognise that they need
to know about consumer behaviour to aid in recruiting students. "Marketing Admissions" has become an
accepted term to mean marketing to potential students. - Consumer behaviour has become an integral part
of strategic market planning. It is also the basis of the approach to the concept of Holistic Marketing. (See
the article on "HOLISTIC MARKETING written by the author).
The belief that ethics and social responsibility should also be integral components of every marketing
decision is embodied in a revised marketing concept - the societal marketing concept - which calls on
marketers to fulfil the needs of their target markets in ways that improve society as a whole. Consumer
Behaviour deals with the study of buying behaviour of consumers. Let us understand the effect of
psychological factors on consumer behaviour: Motivation Nancy went to a nearby restaurant and ordered
pizza for herself. Why did Nancy buy pizza ? Answer - She was feeling hungry and wanted to eat
something. In the above example, Hunger was the motivating factor for Nancy to purchase pizza. There are
several other factors which motivate individuals to purchase products and services. An individual who is
thirsty would definitely not mind spending on soft drinks, packaged water, juice and so on. Recognition and
self esteem also influence the buying decision of individuals. Why do people wear branded clothes ?
Individuals prefer to spend on premium brands and unique merchandise for others to look up to them.

Certain products become their status symbol and people know them by their choice of picking up products
that are exclusive. An individual who wears a Tag Heuer watch would never purchase a local watch as this
would be against his image. Perception What is Perception ? - What an individual thinks about a
particular product or service is his/her perception towards the same.
For someone a Dell Laptop might be the best laptop while for others it could be just one of the best brands
available. - Individuals with the same needs might not purchase similar products due to difference in
perception. - Catherine and Roselyn had a hectic day at work and thus wanted to have something while
returning from work. Catherine ordered a large chicken pizza with French fries and coke while Roselyn
preferred a baked vegetable sandwich. Though both Catherine and Roselyn had the same motivation
(hunger), but the products they purchased were entirely different as Roselyn perceived pizza to be a calorie
laden food.
Individuals think differently and their perceptions do not match. - Individuals perceive similar situation
differently due to difference in the way they interpret information. There are three different processes which
lead to difference in Selective Attention - Selective attention refers to the process where individuals pay
attention to information that is of use to them or their immediate family members. An individual in a single
day is exposed to numerous advertisements, billboards, hoardings etc but he is interested in only those
which would benefit him in any way.
He would not be interested in information which is not relevant at the moment. Selective Distortion Consumers tend to perceive information in a way which would be in line to their existing thoughts and
beliefs. Selective Retention - Consumers remember information which would be useful to them, rest all
they forget in due course of time. Michael wanted to purchase a watch for his wife and thus he remembered
the RADO advertisement which he had seen several days ago. -- Buying a new smartphone can seem like a
daunting task. There's a dizzying array of different kinds of devices, each with a different set of features
that may or may not be what you're looking for, all available on a different mobile networks. - In fact,
smartphones are like cars there's no single "best car" for everybody, and there's no "best smartphone" for
everyone, either.
Just like walking into a car dealership without doing your research on prices and features is a recipe for
getting overcharged, walking into your local Verizon or Sprint store without knowing what you need is a
recipe for future unhappiness. - So what seems like a simple question "What kind of smartphone should
I get?" can quickly turn into days (or weeks!) of research, different pieces of advice from your friends
and coworkers, and pressure from salespeople. We're here to help you avoid as much of that as possible.
If you're new to this crazy world or if you're an old pro looking for some tips, read on to find the best tools
and tactics for buying your next handset. - Before you ever set foot in a store or get your heart set on a
particular device, the first thing you need to do is evaluate the current situation with your phone and service
that will often determine your course of action.
There's a pretty good chance you were right to pick the carrier you're currently using. - With which carrier
do you currently have service? The old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" definitely applies here:
depending on the locations of your home, workplace, and areas where you frequently travel, finding a
carrier that works well around all of them can be tricky so if your current carrier is getting the job done,
that's something you'll want to take into consideration. Of course, the opposite is also true: you shouldn't
feel compelled to stick with a carrier that has no signal or frequently drops calls or data connections in
places you need it to work, just because you've been with them for a long time or you like the product
lineup.
Rest assured, there are great phones available with every carrier! - How far are you into your current
contract? Early Termination Fees often known by their acronym, "ETF" are the unavoidable bane of
the wireless world. In order to make an informed decision about how to proceed, you'll need to know
whether you're eligible to drop your account without paying an ETF, which can run as high as $350
depending on your carrier and the device you're currently using. It's also important to note that just because

you're eligible to get a discounted upgrade on a new phone with your current carrier doesn't mean you can
leave the carrier altogether without getting hit with an ETF most carriers treat those dates differently.
Generally speaking, you can upgrade at a discount before you can leave, often by as long as six months or
more. Carriers would always rather you stick around, and they're willing to give you steep discounts to do
it. - If you paid full price (usually $400 or more) for your current phone or you bought it from someone
other than your carrier, you may not be under contract at all, which means you can leave whenever you like
without paying an ETF.
Most carriers make it tricky to determine your contract status from your online account portal they'd
rather you not know whether you can leave for free, of course so your best bet is to call into customer
service and ask directly. - Are you part of a family plan? Virtually all carriers (including AT&;T, Verizon,
Sprint, and T-Mobile) offer family plans, which bundle multiple lines of service into a single shared bucket
of minutes.
That means that you don't need to stick with your current carrier just because you want to keep your family
on a family plan but since it's more effort to move an entirely family over to another service, it may
mean that you want to pay extra attention to your current carrier's latest offerings first before considering
others. - Do you have multiple devices? In some situations, you can save money by going with a carrier that
offers data buckets that can be shared between multiple devices (a smartphone and a 3G- or 4G-enabled
tablet, for instance). On AT&;T, this is called Mobile Share; on Verizon, its Share Everything. Either way,
the concept is the same: you pay an extra fee for each additional device you attach to the data bucket.
Youll want to run the numbers before you sign up, though.
In many situations, youll end up paying more on such a plan if you only use data on your tablet every
once in a while, for instance, you might be better off buying data for it a la carte rather than tying it to your
phones data bucket. - Do you get any corporate or group discounts? When you originally signed up for
service with your current carrier, the sales representative may have asked you who you work for. The
reason? Some companies and organizations have arranged special rates with a specific carrier so that their
employees and members can get discounts, often even if the line is for personal use.
These discounts can sometimes total 20 percent off your monthly bill or more and can also include deals on
handsets and accessories that regular customers don't receive. If you're in such an arrangement, you'll need
to remember that moving to another carrier could result in some bill shock, so you'll want to ask every
carrier you're considering (and your employer) if there are any deals available. And even if you're not
currently getting a discount, it doesn't hurt to call your carrier's customer service line to ask if there are any
available to you. - Coverage doesn't necessarily need to be a dream-killer for you, though.
If you've just got one nagging dead zone say, your home or your office all four national carriers now
offer options to help patch the problem. Broadly speaking, there are three different types of solutions. Well
lay them out below, but be warned that none of these are silver bullets and each has its own particular pain
points. JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE GOT GOOD RECEPTION DOESN'T MEAN DATA SPEEDS WILL
BE REASONABLE Femtocells. Think of femtocells as miniature cell towers (about the size of a Wi-Fi
router) that you can install yourself wherever they're needed.
They need a connection to your broadband internet service cable, DSL, FiOS, so on and in turn, they
produce a small cloud of cellular service that can cover several floors and a couple thousand square feet of
a building. These devices typically support between five and eight simultaneous connections from different
phones, and you can authorize specific lines so that outsiders can't use your connection.
One word of warning: because they could potentially be used to "create" service in other countries where
your carrier doesn't operate and the required frequencies are not permitted for consumer use, femtocells
need an active GPS connection, which means they either need to be positioned near a window with a sky
view or they require an external GPS that can be wired to such a location. AT&;T, Sprint, and Verizon offer
Signal boosters. Unlike femtocells, signal boosters don't create a new cellular signal that gets routed over
your internet connection; instead, they simply amplify an existing signal so that it's more usable by devices

10

that are nearby. This means that you must be able to find at least a weak signal in some part of the affected
area in order to use a signal booster, otherwise it won't do any good but the advantage is that it doesn't
require an active internet connection or a GPS signal to operate.
T-Mobile offers a signal booster. Wi-Fi calling. Femtocells and signal boosters both require separate
pieces of hardware that must be installed and set up, but Wi-Fi calling is much simpler: if the feature comes
on your phone, you're good to go. When enabled, your phone places and receives calls through Wi-Fi (if
you're connected to a Wi-Fi network, of course) instead of the normal cellular connection and unlike
services like Skype, it's totally seamless and it uses your regular phone number.
There are downsides, though: if you go out of Wi-Fi range while you're on a call, it'll probably drop in
most cases, the phone can't switch from Wi-Fi to cellular mid-call and many phones don't support the
service at all.
T-Mobile is the only major US carrier that offers Wi-Fi calling at the moment; most of its Android devices
(and several of its BlackBerry models) have it pre-installed. If Wi-Fi calling isn't a viable option for you
(either it isn't available on your phone or carrier, or you don't have Wi-Fi where you've got a bad cellular
signal), you should call in to customer service don't go to the store! Femtocells and signal boosters
frequently aren't carried in carrier stores, and more importantly, you may be able to talk a customer service
agent into sending you a unit for free or a discount (for instance, AT&;T's 3G MicroCell is normally a
whopping $200). When you call, be sure that they're aware you don't get any signal in an important location
and that you may need to cancel your service if it can't be fixed that often catches their attention.
Speed- Though it was almost completely irrelevant a few years ago, most smartphone users end up caring
about data speed much more than voice quality. A good smartphone without high-speed data is a much less
compelling device

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