Cell phone companies are corporations that specialize in providing services and equipment for mobile or wireless phones. Some of the most popular cell phone providers are; AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile, Metro PCS and Verizon. The first company to offer cellular service was Ameritech in 1982. Ameritech later became AT&T.http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa070899.htm

The first cell phone was invented and used by Dr. Martin Cooper. Cooper, who had been a project manager at Motorola, invented the cell phone at the age of 70. He produced and introduced the cell phone in New York in April 1973. The first call he made was to his rival Joel Engel, at Bell Labs.http://www.cellular.co.za/cellphone_inventor.htm

With the popularity of cell phones growing everyday, there is a large variety of companies that offer services and phones.http://www.google.com/search?q=Cell+Phone+Companies&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a Some companies offer pay as you go; this is when you buy a specific amount of minutes to use that you need to buy each time you need to reload the phone.http://www.metropcs.com/ Others require contracts for a year to two years with activation that usually will come with a plan that includes x amount of minutes for you to use each month, as well as other features such as texting and access to the web.http://www.attonlineoffers.com/specialoffers/index.jsp There are also some that offer both pay as you go and contracts.http://www.tmobile.com

There is also a plethora of choices when deciding what phone and plan would be best for you. Many companies will offer a free phone with activation and the purchase of a plan.http://www.attonlineoffers.com/specialoffers/index.jsp Plans usually consist of minutes to use monthly, free nights and weekends and mobile to mobile (meaning free calls to phones in the same network).http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Cell-Phone-Plans.aspx?catgroup=Individual&WT.z_shop_plansLP=individual Prices for cell phone plans vary from one company to the next and average between $29.99 and $99.99 for individuals,http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Cell-Phone-Plans.aspx?catgroup=Individual&WT.z_shop_plansLP=individual and $49.99 and $179.99 for family plans.http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Cell-Phone-Plans.aspx?catgroup=Family&WT.z_shop_plansLP=family

AT&T is located in Dallas,Texas. They are also an affiliate of Apple making it possible to purchase the iPhone through their website.http://www.att.com/

T-Mobile is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and offers plans for individuals, families and businesses. http://www.t-mobile.com/

Sprint offers business, individual and family plans ranging from $29.99 to $169.99.http://shop.sprint.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/SubmitRegionAction?isUpgradePathForCoverage=false&currZipCode=&upgradeOption=&nextPage=DisplayPlans&equipmentSKUurlPart=%3FcurrentPage%3DratePlanPage&filterStringParamName=&newZipCode=48134

Metro PCS is a pay as you go cell phone company. Their plans range from $40.00 to $60.00 with features such as; unlimited texting, voicemail, unlimited local and nationwide long distance, unlimited picture messages and web access.http://www.metropcs.com/plans/

Verizon Along with the normal plans other companies offer Verizon also has plans such as; International Services, Messaging Only Plans, 65 plus, Push to Talk and Nationwide plus Canada.http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanOverview&lid=//global//plans