One cell phone or two?

[rames14]

If its close to the time when your daughter's cingular plan is up, have her switch to Verizon. Verizon just changed their pricing to $5/mo to match the others. Get her a Verizon phone on your plan and save big money.

[jrgwdenner]

I may have to see if I can get my parents on my Verizon plan. They would love the price break. Judy

[2007dura]

Company I use to work for required me to have a cell phone so I could handle problems at any time. When I left, I said I would never have another one. When we got camper, wife said we needed to have one so we could be in touch on the road. Got the Virgin mobile. Every 3 months, I buy a $20 card. Charges .25 for first minute, then .10 for each minute after. Time rolls over so you never loose what you have not used. No roaming charges, works everywhere we have been.

[stiles watson]

This has been another in a series of topics that have generated a great deal of dialog. Those of us who will continue to use a cell phone or phones find sufficient justifications for doing so. Those of us who don't do the same.

All this proves is we are different in our tastes and priorities. That's what makes this forum deliciously addictive. I have lived with a cell phone and/or pager for the better part of the last 28 years. They are just tools and I have no emotional attachment to them nor do I loath their existance.

I will use any tool of technology as long as it suits my purposes. When it doesn't, it is deleted from service. My gadgets serve me, I don't serve them. An esteemed ancient writer once wrote, "All things are permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything."

[jrgwdenner]

Well, put Stiles. Anything that keeps me in touch with family is valuable to me.

[Montana_354]

We also have a phone for each of us and since Bob is handicapped I feel better knowing he can (hopefully) call for help. Being a woman, and not very big either, it's safer for me to have one as well. We have our sons on our plan and my parents (Snowbirds in AZ) also have Verizon like we do. It has been really handy with calls to them because we just found out my mom has cancer so you can imagine all the calling back and forth we've been doing.
Kalamity

[vickir]

Judy; We had two Cingular phones when we still had the stick house ... ditched the landline when we got the second cell phone. When the contract on one of them expired we went with a Tracphone we bought at Walmart. We just buy 150 minutes for about $100. And they always have bonus minutes ... this year we ended up with almost double the minutes for no extra charge.

I insist that Steve take the Tracphone with him whenever he goes out ... for emergencies and I frequently end up calling him and asking him to stop and buy milk or whatever. And he's getting much better about actually turning it on!

As others have said here, the emergency and convenience issues outweigh the economic issues ... but you still want to get the best deal for the money. This way works for us. When these minutes run out, we'll look into the plans Cingular has to offer and go that route if it works out to be a better deal.

[sreigle]

Just to add a comment to Vicki's post -- $100 for 150 minutes, or 300 as we got this year for that price, seems pretty steep until you realize it includes a year's service. For that $100 we get a year's service plus 150 to 300 minutes over that year. If we use up those minutes we can buy more minutes. Our service normally expires in May. This year, in February, I got notice that if I bought another 150 minutes/year service during my birthday month they would double the minutes. So I did. We got 300 minutes added to the 30+ we had remaining and our service was extended a year, not from Feb, but from May when our year is to expire. Since we use this tracfone only to communicate with each other and for emergencies when I don't have the Cingular phone with me, it works out well for us. It works out to about $8 per month, just over that. As Vicki said, we're always looking for a better deal. We've been extremely pleased with Cingular for the several years we've used them and really like the no roaming, no long distance nation plan we have been on since we started fulltiming. But we'll look to see what the new plans are like and then decide whether to stay with the tracfone.

You should be aware that tracfone charges two minutes for one minute of talk (they call them units) when outside your 'home' area. You can call and change your home area but I don't normally do that.

[richfaa]

We use Cingular national plan..just paid the bill 41.65 Including all the stupid taxes.1000 anytime mins that you can collect for 1 year.I note that I have 5695 Mins outstanding..Helen has another plan but will switch to Cingular when her plan expires..yes we have two phones..works for us..Having spent over 40 years in the technology field we always have the latest gadget..Example we have four P.C's in the house on a network..laptop goes with us in the RV.DSL T1 service. Direct Tv..also goes with us in the RV. Just bought the garman GPS system. Technology...never leave home without it...

[sreigle]

I'm with you on the technology and technology career but have slowed the toy purchases down a bit. We do have four laptops in the Montana, though, including the truck's laptop (used for gps).

We have the national plan, too, but one of the older ones. Our bill is a little bit higher than yours so I'll have to check out the current plans. I'd like to have two phones sharing one plan and minutes if I can find that at a reasonable cost. Also, no roaming, no long distance is imperative for us.

[Iowafan]

Our solution turned out to be one Verizon phone and one Cingular phone. This way we figure we can talk to anybody most anywhere. We need the Verizon for the internet (I'm using it now) and we put my dad on that plan. He got a new phone for $20.00, $10.00 more per month on our phone bill. Glen has Cingular, moved his number from Sprint for free, a new phone, and he ability to talk to our daughter without effectiving her Cingular minutes. We're on her plan, actually and will split the bill with her, saving each of us a little $$. She watches our house and will get our mail while we're in Alaska for five months so we feel good about not using up her minutes. I think this is will work good for us.

I agree, Rich and Steve, I love all those new gadgets. Too bad I don't know how to use them. Judy

[richfaa]

sreigle..Cingular has the no roaming,no long distance also important to us,,Have not looked at their current plans..Got the 1000 any time mins about 8 months ago. www. cingular.com not saying cingular is the best, verizon is really good also. There is differeent technology in use in wireless systems..to be simple the dedicated system..like Sprint they have their own towers and you must use their system or perhaps incur additional charges or have no coverage...and Cincular, verizon where they will use any system/tower. It is also good to have everyone on the same service as it is a money saver. That is really over simplified but you can "google" wireless information and learn all you ever wanted to know about wireless operation...Internet/ technology/ limitless information..Oh..the site how things work is a great learning site..... i think it's www.howthingswork.com

[Kimmrg]

Judy, we have 2 cell phones and they are worth every penny to me. Steve has a hard time hearing his, but when I am gone, he knows to listen closer and use the vibrate. We researched and went with Verizon and local Alabama numbers with no roming or long distance. Good luck! Congrats on Glen's retirement!!!
PS we will be leaving Ozark this coming weekend and heading east. See ;you in Virginia??

[Iowafan]

We seem to do a good job of just missing everybody. We've decided that we would go south from Savannah to Jacksonville and on to Tallahassee. The weather was one factor as there are storms coming across LA and MS again. There's also a Camping World Superstore in Tallahassee we'd like to see as we're still adding a few things to get ready for our trip to Alaska this summer. It's fun just being able to go any direction we choose and not having a real schedule.

We'll miss you in Virginia. What area are you planning to visit? We used to live in Hampton which is just south of Williamsburg.

[sreigle]

Rich, we've been using Cingular for several years and all over the country and have been very, very happy with it. So we'll stay with them if they meet our needs. I think our contract runs out in about a year. Or maybe it's this month. Will have to check. I'm pretty sure it's April of some year. On the other hand, I heard somewhere Cingular has had more complaints than the others. I don't understand why, we've had no reason to complain. But when we're due we'll check them all. We've used the standard Cingular plan we have for our phone and used the phone as a modem without additional cost or additional plan. It's worked fine, though very slow.

Kim, I have a bad ear and have not heard high tones very well since a softball injury when in my twenties. I see Vicki scramble to find the phone. That's how I know it's ringing. If it's next to me I hear it. When Vicki is gone I put it in my pocket so I feel the vibration, like your Steve does. Works for me. When I'm running errands I put the tracfone on 'loud' and use the loudest ring. I most of the time hear that one but not always so I check the screen for missed calls periodically.

[Lstierw]

We are strongly considering T-mobile. Their plan offers 1000 anytime minutes with unlimited minutes on weekends for about 45 bucks a month. Probably will get a 2nd phone from Virgin moblie prepaid because you only have to spend 6.67 a month (20.00 per 3 month period) to keep it active. You can talk about an hour for about 7.50. From what we have seen on the ratings, T-mobile and Verizon are rated the highest for regular plans and Virgin is at the top for prepaid.

[jrgwdenner]

I didn't know that T-mobile had good coverage all over the states. Can you hook up to the internet with them? Welcome to the forum.

[Lstierw]

Thanks, You can hook up to the internet with t-mobile. Here is the link that shows the coverage and ratings...... T-Mobile Info ....Les

quote:Originally posted by jrgwdenner

I didn't know that T-mobile had good coverage all over the states. Can you hook up to the internet with them? Welcome to the forum.

[jrgwdenner]

Glad to hear that T-mobile will work for you, Les. I'm on the forum for the first time with my new Dell computer via Verizon. Sure glad to see that it's working. I love to stay in touch with family and the forum. I was threatening to go visit Steve and Vicki and hijack their wireless network here in Gatlinberg. But this seems to do the trick. Sure makes RVing more pleasant when you have internet access. Judy

[Lstierw]

quote:Originally posted by Lstierw

Thanks, You can hook up to the internet with t-mobile. Here is the link that shows the coverage and ratings...... T-Mobile Info ....Les

I think you are doing the right thing in finding out what is right for you. We have not yet decided which way we will go. Verizon has the best coverage overall but are alittle stingy on minutes. T-moble is great for minutes but doesn't quite have the coverage of Verizon........we are still deciding