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Here are some tips that'll help you to perform some very basic maintenance on your cell phone in order to get the best possible experience and service.

Charging Your Phone

Charging your phone isn't rocket science, but you'll find that a lot of people make a big deal out of it for some reason. As such, I'll dispel some myths about the charging process for you, as well as share other tips.

First off, you don't need to turn your phone off whenever you're charging it. Most phones turn on in some form while they're being charged, anyway, so it should be blatantly obvious that you don't need to turn them off entirely in order to prevent any form of damage to them.

Secondly, don't charge your phone every single day if it's just for the sake of charging it. If your phone's battery indicator is showing 50% or more battery life left, then you should only charge it if you feel that you won't be able to get through the next day without it. Batteries generally only take 400-500 charges before they're done for, so why wear it out unnecessarily?

Building on my previous point, you needn't wait until your battery is almost completely dead before charging it. Most newer phones use Lithium Ion batteries, and they don't have the "battery memory" issue that a lot of older batteries did. If you need to charge your phone, then charge it.

Lastly, you don't need to immediately unplug your phone from its charger once charging is completed. There's usually technology that's built into the battery, the charger or both that prevents damage due to over-charging. I still wouldn't recommend keeping your phone plugged into its charger for more than 48 hours at a time, though.

Power-Cycling

What is power-cycling? Basically, power-cycling is the process of turning your phone off, then simply turning it back on. It's more important than a lot of people let on, as your cell phone registers with your carrier upon booting up. While your cell phone will periodically register with your carrier while it's on, certain services may suffer the longer you go without power-cycling your phone. Calls may drop more often. Text messages may take longer to arrive. Voice mail notifications may be delayed.

No, you don't need to turn your phone off for long periods of time. It isn't a person, and it doesn't need to rest. It is, however, very important that you power-cycle your phone, whether it's by turning it off, then immediately back on or simply leaving it off overnight.

Updating Your Roaming Capabilities

(Note: I don't know if this applies to GSM carriers at all.)

CDMA-based carriers generally have some form of over-the-air (OTA) programming that allows you to program your phone or updating your roaming capabilities. This isn't necessarily important if you don't travel at all and just happen to live within your carrier's coverage footprint. Still, it's very important if you do travel, and it's always a good idea to keep the roaming information in your phone up-to-date. From my experience, this is usually done by dialing *228 and pressing SEND while on your carrier's network, then navigating through a voice menu by pressing the appropriate keys on your phone.

When I say roaming information, I'm referring to a preferred roaming list (PRL), a list that contains information that tells your phone which carrier or carriers to connect to while you're off of your own carrier's network. It also tells your phone what to display if you have the ERI banner enabled on your phone. The ERI banner will usually display the name of your carrier if you're on your carrier's network, and it'll display "extended" or "roaming" if you're on another carrier's network.