Cell phones

[sandra]

I have Cellular South too. We do not have a landline phone, only cells, so I need my cell to be reliable. My hubby has the "free" Motorola flip phone and he never has this problem, but he doesn't have voice mail either. I wonder if it is the voice mail somehow.

[sandra]

I was reading about Tracfones to see if that would work for me. This is my primary phone, not just one that I use occasionally. I use between 500 - 700 minutes per month. It varies. Is Tracfone for someone like this?

There plans are confusing. How much is it per minute and is this nationwide, no roaming?

[Tuckervill]

No, I think you'd be better off with a flat rate plan at those minutes per month. I don't use a pay-as-you-go because I don't want any chance that it won't work on my travels and don't want to pay extra for roaming.

I spend way too much a month for a cell phone to have both me and my son on the same plan. But during baseball season I go over my minutes (I'm president of the league now so it will only get worse!). The rest of the year I barely register (most people who call me are also on Alltel, so there is no charge anyway).

Karen

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Sandra, with all that mega-yakking you do (700 minutes/month?!) yes you might be better off with a flat rate plan. (just teasing)
Tracfones are the absolute CHEAPEST of the cheap for people who tend to use their cell phones occasionally and for emergencies, like me. They are worthwhile for moderate users too.
Of course they do have decent plans for heavy users as well, but you have to check it all out on their website. You might just need "unlimited".

P.S. I don't get charged roaming fees at all. Same cost per unit/minute no matter where in the USA I go. Same cost calling across the street as across the country.

[bmccasland]

First - the original question - i have Alltel because at the time I was phone shopping they had better coverage in rural parts of the country. Digital and analog. Am loath to do the research to change companies. I have found that "all digital" will not cover the entire country (well nothing does). But in some areas analog is the only option.

Secondly, and this is from experience kids - you really need a basic land line with a hard wired phone (not portable).
1. Portable phones don't work in power failures, but there's enough power in a regular phone to call out.
2. you are cut off from the outside world if you cell tower goes down. After Katrina the lines were limited and so clogged that people couldn't reach me. I was evacuated far enough that technically I was "roaming" so I could call out, but to receive calls, they had to go through the main tower in New Orleans. Frankly I liked having a modicum of control - I could call folks when *I* felt like it, but they couldn't call me.
3. If your cell goes without power long enough, it's dead. If you're home, you still have ways to call out in an emergency if you have a land line.

[sandra]

Oh Lisa! I am mistaken. I SHARE 710 minutes a month with my DH and he uses his phone for work. Also these phones are instead of our home phone.

The funny thing about this is, I really don't do phone. I hate talking on the phone. I never pick up the phone to call a girlfriend just to say "what are you doing" I figure I'll see her later. And here I made myself out to have a phone glued to my ear!

[sandra]

Beth, it was after Katrina that we decided to cancel our landline phone. We were without service forever. We have Cellular South and we were the only people walking around with cell phones that worked. My friends and family that were Alltel customers had no service.

After so long with no landline service, we decided that we did not need it and it was foolish to pay the extra $45 a month when we were already paying $65 a month for cellular service and we could just use our cells.

Are there any more "all cell" users out there?

[Blueberry]

We have Vonage plus cell phones. Works out to be not very expensive. Seems like I end up with too many hour + "customer service" type calls to make just a cell phone work.

We did have Alltel. My job required that I purchase a blackberry, so we've switched to Verizon. Alltel owed me a refund. It took 4 hours on hold, 5 phone calls, one trip to the store and 5 months to get a refund. I wouldn't recommend them. Plus, our reception wasn't great, but then neither is our reception with Verizon, so go figure.....There are places I expect to lose service (e.g. out hiking or biking in rural areas), but NOT on interstate 40 in Raleigh. That should be covered.....(Alltel had a dead zone, Verizon has a not great zone)

We're actually at 1500 minutes a month used on the cell phones (but I rarely talk on the home phone). I have a long commute and DH and I frequently catch up about our days while I'm on the road.....I'm working to change the commute and go to a much lower rate plan. Crossing fingers.....

[AgilityAddict]

Hey, I'm a cell phone only kind of person too!! I also am NOT a phone person. While my family (and DH's family) only lives about 25 miles away they were all long distance on the land line, so we only used the cell phone to talk to them anyway. I had the land line cut off several months ago and it hasn't been a problem. The only difference is we do keep our cell phones on 24/7 now since we both have elderly parents and you never know when there might be an emergency.

Would you believe someone told me it's "rude" not to have a land line??? He said if I were in a restaurant and he called me about something "important" it would be rude for me to talk?!! That is some strange logic - you still don't have to answer the DANG THANG!!!


Beth

[Blueberry]

I've not heard (and don't think) that it's rude not to have a land line. I have lots of friends who are cell only.

I've had some folks get a little PO'd that I won't give out my cell to everyone. However, most people don't respect limits and I'd prefer not to have my cell ringing all the time (I also unlisted my number and have requested that all companies with whom I do business not telemarket to me). One that comes to mind was a credit card company. FWIW we finally gave it to them (since they kept mistakenly detecting fraudulent activity on our account and suspending use for example when we were on vacation, when we had called to tell them we would be travelling). Wouldn't you know - they didn't call the cell because "they weren't allowed to telemarket on it." Common sense and credit card companies do not go together...

[OakLeaf]

My ex cancelled his landline service and is cell only.

We would do the same, except out in the boonies we don't get cable, so we get our internet via DSL which requires a phone number.

We rarely pick up the landline phone. It's hard to imagine that just 10 years ago when we moved in here, we had to have three additional landline numbers installed so that we could both get internet and voice calling

[Tuckervill]

I think it is rude to talk in a restaurant. Most people who do answer their phone in a restaurant raise their voice to be heard, and so other people can not only hear what they are saying, it's sometimes loud enough to drown out other's conversation.

I'm not talking about a 5-star Zagat's rated place. I'm talking about Western Sizzlin' (happened just the other day).

I turn my phone to silent when I don't want to answer it. If I do want to know who is calling me, I will put it on vibrate. I had a lot of practice remembering that from when my son was in Iraq--no way was I going to miss his call, so I was glued to the cell phone all the time.

Karen

[Zen]

Interesting article (and reader replies) in the New York Times about cell phone usage.

[sundial]

I think it is rude to talk in a restaurant. Most people who do answer their phone in a restaurant raise their voice to be heard, and so other people can not only hear what they are saying, it's sometimes loud enough to drown out other's conversation. Karen

You know what irqs me? Cell phones being used in movie theaters. I'm trying to watch a movie and some ninny is talking over the dialogue. Usually it's a *mature adult* who decides to talk about something trivial--like his tires being rotated. I'd like to rotate something else!

[sundial]