I'm cheap. I don't talk a lot on cell phones when I have them. I hate the idea of paying > $30 / month for a service that I'm not going to use to the point of efficiency...
So, when AT&T offered to give me a free phone and not charge me anything but for the minutes that I used (15¢ off-peak and 19¢ during peak hours, plus applicable federal, state, and local taxes, fees, surcharges, etc. - of course), I jumped at the opportunity. I got one. I got another for my wife. The second one died, so I gave the first to my wife and got two more (so that I could use one as a battery charger). Some smart, yah? :^)
Well, fast-forward to the present. Cingular has taken over AT&T's cell phone service. They're cutting the old TDMA service off in 2007 or so and charging $5 / month for the luxury of keeping the old account open. OR we can turn in our phones for subsidized GSM phones that cost $60+ / month for the family.
So, thinking I would just use my company issued cell, I shut off mine and left the wife's on. Then we got rolled over to a new company and the old company wanted their cell back. The nerve! ;^)
So, I'm without a phone, right? Yep.
Well, they didn't ask for 'em all back, so I got one from a co-worker who had cancelled his service months ago and am going to try something another co-worker told me about: a FREE International GSM SIM card
Sure, it seems a bit steep at $1.50 for US calls and $1.75 for incoming calls, but I don't think that I'm going to accept calls. It should be good enough for emergency use and I won't have to pay for 911 service, etc...
Your mileage may vary, but if you're interested, let me know, because I can get 10% off of my charges for successful referrals. S'allright?
As Joe Bob Briggs would say: "Check it out!"
(This almost seems bloggish. Perhaps I'll do some more of this... ;^)
5 comments:
I hate it when they advertise $35 or $60 but then when you get your bill it's like 25% more due to excise tax, interstate tax, fed tax, and there was a tax for the Spanish American War a couple years back, I'm not kidding. My boss told me about it and sent me a link but I didn't keep it.
i dont have a sell phone.
never did.
never will.
i kinda like being unreachable. especially from the wife.
and this guiding principle of mine doesnt cost a thing.
Mercy: That Spanish-American War tax was just repealed.
Gino: Good for you. There are times that they do come in handy, though. And at nearly $2/minute, I'm sure that your wife would understand your not having it on or answering calls if it was. :^)
The only reason I went to a cell is because one time, when my wife was pregnant, she was picking me up at work during a blizzard and got there about an hour late. Scared the crap out of me.
I enjoy and accept modern technology; but I don't accept the proposition from many that it's all a necessity. Example: people that think kids need a computer to learn in school---the people who put a man on the moon used slide rules, not supercomputers.
I've heard that companies like Sony have technology sitting in their warehouses that they'll bring out in 5 years, they want to suck out as much money as they can on the current products.
King: This type of phone plan might be perfect for you then. Can I refer you?
And... I've heard a lot of things in my life, too, e.g., "Big Auto"s have occasionally let slip out of Detroit some of their super carburetors that let your Cadillac go for days and many miles without the fuel gauge even budging. When said gauge was serviced, the dealer replaces the whole car and pledges new models every year for the life of the owner. Neat, huh? Probably not true. Sony is having a hard time - they are on the hook for all the flaming batteries of the past few months and their playstations are taking a beating and they can't compete with the iPod and noone buys their tape or CD players... If they were hiding something, I'm sure they'd quit soon... But, then again, they haven't been making good decisions lately, why should they start now?
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