Now that’s convenience – Use your Bell mobility phone as a regular phone or a walkie-talkie with the 10-4 walkie-talkie.

This flexible mobile service gives you more ways to communicate – whether it’s to find information on the internet, send a text message to a colleague, talk to the project supervisor on the phone, or walkie-talkie your team. It’s all right at your fingertips.

What’s unique about the 10-4 walkie-talkie service is that the person(s) you are calling can be anywhere in Canada and you’ll never be charged long distance. You just pay your flat monthly fee and call 10-4 anywhere in Canada and there are no roaming charges.

Bell’s 10-4 service has become popular with trucking and fleet services and parents with children at university or living across the country.

For companies the 10-4 walkie-talkie service is a great choice. It offers you advanced contact management options, which means you have both flexibility and control over your company contact information.

You can improve your team’s productivity by signing up for the Bell 10-4 walkie-talkie service. It’s simple to use – just push the button and your cell phone acts as a walkie-talkie for immediate conversations with up to 9 of your team all at once. You can save time and money by talking with all of your team at once. Or use it as a regular cell phone.

Each mobile phone gets a unique 10-digit phone number that is used for both regular calls and 10-4 calls. With just one number for each user there’s less to remember and that’s convenient.

The 10-4 service is available on several Sanyo mobile phones that are exclusive to Bell. Sanyo has the highest customer satisfaction rating of all manufacturers so you can relax knowing you have a quality phone. All that’s left to do is choose the Sanyo phone with the features you want.

Below is a list of Bell Mobility cellular phones compatible with the 10-4 services (at the time of this article’s publication):

Sanyo 2300
Sanyo 2400
Sanyo 4920
Sanyo 7000
Sanyo 7050
Sanyo 7300
Sanyo 7500
Sanyo 8300
Sanyo S1
Sanyo Pro 200
Sanyo Pro 700

And if you liked this article you can find more articles and videos for Bell Mobility users at http://cellarama.com/articles/ – At http://cellarama.com you’ll also find great contract-free cell phones for Bell Mobility. Written by A. Thompson

Whether personal or business, changing your phone number is a real hassle. Just the idea of getting in contact with your friends, family, and business associates is enough to keep you with your current carrier even if you’d like to change. So when the ability to keep your existing cellular phone number yet change carriers became an option in Canada it was met with excitement.

Rogers, Fido, TELUS, and Bell Mobility have all implemented Local Number Portability in most areas across Canada. It is very easy to switch from one carrier to another. For example, if you currently use Rogers you can keep your current cellular number and move it over to the Bell network.

Let’s look at the process to port your cellular number to Bell Mobility.

1. Call Bell Mobility’s customer service at 1-800-667-0123

2. A Bell representative will check to make sure your number is eligible to be transferred.

3. Once the ability to transfer is confirmed you will need to choose a plan that meets your needs.

4. Since each network has their own line of phones that work only on their network, you will need to choose a new handset. This is where Cellarama’s line-up of inexpensive and contract-free Bell Mobility cell phones comes in very handy, you can easily pickup a phone that you can use for your porting process.  With a contract-free phone from Cellarama.com you will not need to sign a long-term contract when you join Bell.

5. Next the Bell representative will complete a request to transfer your cell phone number from the carrier you are currently with.

6. This initiates the process to transfer your phone number.

7. Once the transfer is complete Bell Mobility will let you know that you have full services according to the plan you chose.

8. Your original carrier will deactivate your number on their network.

If you are in a contract with your existing provider and it is not up for renewal, you will face a penalty for early cancellation. You’ll need to speak with your cellular provider to find out how much that will be.

Don’t make the mistake of cancelling your contract first and then trying to transfer the number. Many times the network will tell you the number is no longer available, even if it is within minutes of cancelling your contracts. Instead first do the transfer and then cancel your plan.

Not all numbers can be ported. There are some restrictions that can prevent you from transferring your number to another carrier. For example, the number may be in an area where porting is not available.

Porting your TELUS or Rogers cell phone number to Bell Mobility can be an easy process and if you follow the steps in the guide, you won’t miss a beat. Best of all no one will even know you changed companies since your number remains the same.

And if you liked this article you can find more articles and videos for Bell Mobility users at http://cellarama.com/articles/ – At http://cellarama.com you’ll also find great contract-free cell phones for Bell Mobility. Written by A. Thompson

As Canadians, when it comes to the cellular market we don’t enjoy the same type of competitiveness that the United States and other parts of the world do. It’s led to many problems relating to rates and contracts.

Some would like to you to believe there are at least 10 cellular carriers in Canada, with more arriving each year. The truth is there are three main cellular networks in Canada – Bell, Rogers, and TELUS.

Newer service providers such as Koodoo Mobile, PC Mobile, or Virgin Mobile are either completely run by, or are partners of Bell, Rogers, or TELUS. So there really are only three main networks.

Even major regional carriers such as MTS (Manitoba), Aliant (Eastern Canada), and SaskTel (Saskatchewan) purchase their phones directly from Bell and are a part of Bell’s BWA (Bell Wireless Alliance).

That means if you have a cellular phone that it’s almost impossible to not find yourself dealing with one of the Big Three. It also means that because of the lack of competition we don’t get the breaks other countries do.

We pay rates that are much higher than those US residents pay, and our 36 month contracts are the longest in the world. On top of all that we pay a system access fee. Tto add insult to injury, our data rates here are around 4 cents/KB and almost everywhere else on the planet they are 0.2 cents. Not 2 cents but 0.2 cents. There is no question that we are at a disadvantage because of limited competition.

One of the lone advantages of the Canadian cellular tri-opoly is that for the most part, cellular service is very consistent throughout most of urban and suburban Canada.  With their expensive rates the Big Three can afford to build out a mostly reliable mobile network.

There are not many options if you want to have a cell phone. We need to complain to the CRTC, the regulating telecoms body in Canada. Sufficient complaints may result in changes. Without complaints the CRTC will simply assume we are okay with the high rates we pay.

We as Canadians must let the regulators know that we believe it is objectionable for us to pay these deplorable rates and that we insist the CRTC permit more competition into the Canadian market, which will allow for a natural market adjustment. That in turn will create competition and much better rates for consumers.

Recent actions by the CRTC have opened the door for greater Canadian competition;  let’s hope that initiative is successful but it may take several years to see the results of these actions.

And if you liked this article you can find more articles and videos for Bell Mobility users at http://cellarama.com/articles/ – At http://cellarama.com you’ll also find great contract-free cell phones for Bell Mobility. Written by A. Thompson

Dearest Bell Mobility User,

We’ve been working really hard to put together the best blog for Bell Mobility users on the web.  And from the responses that we’ve received, many of you think that we are off to a great start.

Well today we we’re excited to share with you the introduction of video blogs.  Starting this week you’ll be able to view great videos on a variety of topics that we hope will add to your Bell experience.  

Topics will include how-to videos, tutorials, and general interest.  These short videos can all be found under the “Videos” category on the right-hand side of our blog.

I truly hope you enjoy our new video section.

A. Thompson

If you’ve purchased a used or refurbished Bell phone you’ve likely saved some money and should have a cellular phone that acts like a new phone. Here are the top 5 things you should test immediately after buying your used or refurbished Bell phone.

1. Check the physical condition of the phone:
When your get your Bell phone you should inspect the physical condition of the phone to ensure that the appearance matches the description you were given when you made your purchase.  This is not as important when buying your cell phone at a store, but when making your purchase online this becomes much more important (obviously).

2. Check the moisture indicator:
If the sticker under the battery, which is normally white, appears either pink or red, it means that your Bell phone has been exposed to moisture or worse, water. In fact, a pink sticker indicates there could be water damage inside the phone.  Water damage could lead to a lot of functional problems with that phone.

3. Test all the features and confirm all accessories are there:
You also need to check to ensure that all the accessories and parts that were promised are included. Typically this includes things such as the manual, home charger and battery.

Once you’ve confirmed the physical condition is fine you’ll want to check to make sure it is working properly. Test the camera, Bluetooth features, speakerphone, video, music player, and the hands-free functions. While your phone may not have all of these features, check all the features that it does have.

4. Check the buttons:
You will want to check all the buttons to make sure they are not loose and that they work properly. If a second-hand Bell phone has been used heavily sometimes some of the keys may not work well or not at all.  Sometimes you may need to push really hard on these buttons to get them to work.  This could be really inconvenient when dialing numbers or when sending text messages. 

5. Complete an initial test call:
You’ve looked at the physical condition, checked for water damage and tested the features and buttons – now you need to test the phone’s ability to connect to the network.  Do this by turning on the phone and completing an initial test call.  For Bell Mobility users dial [*][2][3][5][5] and press the send button.  When your Bell phone connects to the network you should hear “Welcome to the Bell Mobility Network” (or something similar).  Please note: this test will only work with phones that have a phone number already programmed into them.  If there is no number programmed in your Bell cell phone you will get a busy signal.

Bonus.  Charge and check the battery:
When you first get your Bell cellular phone home, charge the battery completely. This will let you know that the charger and battery both work.  Next monitor how long the battery holds its charge.  If the battery works normally you should have a standby battery life of up to 4 days on some older handsets.  Average talk-time should be at least three hours in digital (1X mode).

Once you’ve confirmed that everything is okay with your Bell phone, it’s time to activate it. You’ll need to visit an authorized Bell Center, either Bell World or Espace Bell. There a Bell representative will set up a new account for you or add it to your existing account. It usually costs $15-25 to activate a Bell cell phone.

Most phones are activated within 15 minutes but it can take up to 24 hours. Once it’s activated you’ll want to complete a test call. When you make your call ask how clear your voice sounds to the person you called and note how clear their voice sounds.

If the used Bell phone fails any of the tests you conducted you should immediately contact the seller for a full refund or a replacement cellular phone. Of course that only applies if they have a return policy. You should always ask before you make your purchase. Of course buying from a reputable retailer like www.cellarama.com means you have peace of mind.

And if you liked this article you can find more articles and videos for Bell Mobility users at http://cellarama.com/articles/ – At http://cellarama.com you’ll also find great contract-free cell phones for Bell Mobility. Written by A. Thompson

If you’re buying a used or refurbished Bell cell phone here are the top 7 questions to ask before you commit.

1. Is it a Bell phone?
Just because it looks like a used Bell Mobility cell phone doesn’t mean it is. There are many similar looking phones that might not be Bell phones. To tell if yours is a Bell phone look for the Bell logo or name on the phone. Bell cell phones will also have the Bell logo displayed on the phone’s screen when you turn them on.

In order to activate a cellular phone you must make sure you are buying a phone for the network you are going to use. For example, a TELUS phone will not work on the Bell network.  This is why, if you are going to use Bell, you must make sure you are buying a true Bell phone.

2. Does the phone offer the features that I require?
Each of us needs something different from our cellular phone depending on our needs. To ensure you are getting the features you need refer to the cellular phone’s specs. They are easily available online for almost every cellular phone on the market.

3. What is the physical condition?
You will want your used Bell cellular phone to be in good working condition. Check for buttons that are worn or sticking. Make sure the battery is holding a charge properly and look the case over carefully for damage that could affect the operation of the phone. Also, if it has an external antenna, you need to make sure that it is properly attached to the cellular phone.

4. Will I get a warranty or guarantee?
That depends where you purchase it. If you purchase your used Bell cell phone from a place like www.cellarama.com you will receive a warranty and return policy. If you purchase your Bell phone privately you will almost never receive a warranty.

Buying a used phone privately is risky. Before any money exchanges hands you should talk to Bell and make sure they will activate it. Another way to protect yourself is by purchasing your used or refurbished Bell cellular phone from a trusted source like Cellarama. Good companies will eliminate any risks associated with your purchase so you can relax.

5. Can it be activated?
There are some restrictions relating to activating a used Bell cellular phone. Actually it applies to almost every carrier (Rogers and Fido excluded). If the cell phone has been reported as lost or stolen you will not be able to activate it. You will also not be able to activate it if there is an outstanding balance on the account.

6. Is the price fair?
You will want to compare online prices for a similar phone to determine if the asking price of the used Bell phone is fair. You should also keep in mind, if it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.

7. Can I trust the seller?
Who you purchase your Bell phone from is vitally important.  In fact I believe that it is the most important factor. If you purchase a cell phone in a private sale you really know nothing about the person you are buying the phone from (unless you are buying it from a friend or family member). Purchasing your next used or refurbished Bell cell phone from a respected company can eliminate most of the issues that can arise from dealing with individuals.  Of course warranties, return policies, and guarantees all reduce your risk and increases your trust in the seller.

Buying a used or refurbished Bell cellular phone is an great way to save a few dollars and is an excellent alternative to the cost and long-term contracts associated with a new phone.  By asking these important 7 questions before buying your next used Bell phone, you will definitely increase your odds of finding the perfect reliable unit and protecting yourself.

And if you liked this article you can find more articles and videos for Bell Mobility users at http://cellarama.com/articles/ – At http://cellarama.com you’ll also find great contract-free cell phones for Bell Mobility. Written by A. Thompson