cel phone

[hillclimber]

I pay about $45 a month for service, and since my wife's been with our daughter in Bend off and on for a bit, it rose to $172 last month, due to overuse and wrong planet, or whatever. I called and asked for some guidance, and he knocked off about $70, which was nice but I wasn't calling for that. In the course of our conversation it became apparent that the fee schedule is set up just for this trap of overuse.

I suggested that maybe the fee should be for time used, where additional minutes would be discounted,(because if I'm buying more time I deserve a discount) whereby he insisted that more time used should be more expensive, actually for the reverse reasoning. I guess they have only so many minutes for sale.

In the final analysis, it is set up just right for maximising their profits during periods of unusual circumstance.

He also gave me 200 complimentary minutes, to get me through this month, because I was nice to him. Go figure. I went from 650 to 800 minutes, which changed the cost to $55. So the cost of the added minutes dropped slightly. So much for his above theory.

 

[Joseph_Botwinick]

The $45 dollars pay for your alloted minutes, and then whatever you use above that costs extra. That is the way all cell phones have always worked. I have Cingular. We pay $40 per month for my phone. In return, I get 1000 minutes that I can use any time, day or not, week day or weekend, and whatever I don't use one month, rolls over to the next month. I like it. Do you have Cingular in your area?

Joseph Botwinick

 

[carpro]

What really drives me crazy is that every time I want to upgrade or change my service, I have to buy a new phone. My old one won't work for some reason.

Doesn't seem to matter if it's just been 4 months. I think it's a racket. Planned obsolescence in hyper speed or something.

 

[Pastor Larry]

That's why you have a land line and pay attention to what you are doing with your cell phone. These companies are set up to make money. Why should we have a problem with that? Their number one interest is their profit, and well it should be.

In every package, there is a stated charge for the per minute fees over the included time, so you know what it is upfront. The reason you get free phones is becuase they will make their money in profit. In other words, the free phone is a small cost of getting your $50 a month for the next two years. And their overhead is relatively small. If you don't want to buy a new phone and a new contract, keep the old one.

I have a pay as you go phone (which I got recently ... even most of these are scams but Virgin Mobile has the best plan for this). My cell phone rarely gets used. People can't believe I don't have a cell phone for regular use. I tell them I have two phones and you can call me and leave a message. I will call you back if I am not there.

I have to laugh at most pay as you go plans. It costs you 30-40 a month just to have the phone. Verizon charges you $.99 a day just to have the service. Then you have to pay for each minute you use. For the same price, you can get one with minutes included. I pointed that out to a salesperson. I said why would I want that? She said, "Parents use it to limit their children's minutes." I said, "I got a better plan than that. Don't give you child a cell phone. Or restrict his use on it."

 

[hillclimber]

Originally posted by Joseph_Botwinick:
The $45 dollars pay for your alloted minutes, and then whatever you use above that costs extra. That is the way all cell phones have always worked. I have Cingular. We pay $40 per month for my phone. In return, I get 1000 minutes that I can use any time, day or not, week day or weekend, and whatever I don't use one month, rolls over to the next month. I like it. Do you have Cingular in your area?

Joseph Botwinick

I don't know but when I researched, this is the one I settled on. Most all my trucking buddies have this one. The company actually pays each of us $20 a month for the phone.

The point I was trying, but failed to give was that I think they should simply charge me for the minutes I use and not make me check on the air time I have available in the last few days of the billing cycle. But I know they are far better profit situated this way. If I use 450 minutes this month, charge me for 450 minutes. If 850 then charge for 850. It goes to something like $.40 a minute after using all my minutes instead of the $.066 in the plan.

 

[hillclimber]

What I hadn't realized is that when my wife's in Bend the charge is big because of roaming. I actually talk to her the same amount of time.

 

[hillclimber]

If I get her a cel, then I'm charged and so is she, double the fee, and then some if she's in Bend.

Our travel agent went totally cellular and I don't think she can be listed in a phone book. I don't know how that works.

 

[carpro]

Originally posted by hillclimber:
What I hadn't realized is that when my wife's in Bend the charge is big because of roaming. I actually talk to her the same amount of time.

Get a plan with no roaming or long distance charges. Minutes on roam can eat you alive...financially speaking.

 

[billwald]

Cheapest is a phone card from COSTCO. 3 cents/minute.

 

[hillclimber]

Originally posted by billwald:
Cheapest is a phone card from COSTCO. 3 cents/minute.

That is what we do on our land line phone. Though I don't think we've found $.03.