OT - cell phone advice

[Mark Lloyd]

How efficient is the inverter? Older ones could be bad that way.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

Good idea. What would you expect to see on caller ID when you do this?

"No longer available" applies to NEW customers. My service continues to work as well as always. However, the options I chose are "text messages" and "nights & weekends", and changing one to "favorite number" might trigger that "no longer available" (requiring a Verizon plan).

[SMS]

That's an odd way to save the $3-5 cost of a car charger.

[SMS]

It depends how you set up your Google Voice. You need to configure it so its the Google Voice number that is sent out by Google Voice, not the number that called the Google Voice number. Hence _all_ incoming calls made via Google Voice to the cell phone will show as the Google Voice phone number and your caller ID will be pretty worthless.

There may be some violation of the terms of service to do this---if they can catch you.

You might call them and ask. Couldn't hurt.

[gfretwell]

Hide quoted text -

You really have to try it. I turned on my bag phone a few months ago and got a recording that I could still make a call if I had a credit card. I will try it again the next time I am in the car.

[SMS]

Contrary to popular belief analog most certainly does still exist. It was turned off in urban areas by major carriers, but out in rural areas there is still a lot of analog service still operating. The FCC gave the carriers _permission_ to turn off analog, they did not require that analog be turned off.

A lot of coverage on the fringes of urban areas was lost when analog was turned off in those areas.

[SMS]

Yes, that was the American Roaming Network. You can pay by the minute (I believe that it's $3/minute) or sign up with them for service at 25 cents to $1/minute.

Contrary to popular belief analog most certainly does still exist. It was turned off in urban areas by major carriers, but out in rural areas there is still a lot of analog service still operating. The FCC gave the carriers _permission_ to turn off analog, they did not require that analog be turned off.

A lot of coverage on the fringes of urban areas was lost when analog was turned off in those areas.

[PatM]

Yes, and ironically Mom probably feels guilty about using the 2 minutes.

In fact, Stormin, you might want to port their home number over to your cell phone service plan and let them give up their land line to save money. Giving them each a cell phone would be cheaper than keeping the land line. Step up and be the good son! :-)

[mike]

All the cell phone companies have it set up where they get their gallon of blood out of you per year one way or another. Don't be fooled.

Since so many other people have cell phones, just paint up a big sign for them to keep in their car that says "CALL 911".

[SMS]

Well my mother and stepfather need the land line for 911 service. They now qualify for the quantity discount on rescue squad visits and ambulance rides.

[MRS. CLEAN OR MRS. ROPER]

Tracfone or buy any cell phone but don't turn on service. Every cell phone has 911 on it. So, if it's really for emergencies ONLY, the unactivated cell phone fills the need for FREE.

[Phisherman]

Well, I probably won't ever get nor use one then. Strange I don't use a cell phone, yet I can program the processor which is a lot more fun than talking a lot about nothing. ;)

[Marina]

Phisherman wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Cell phone yakking is nothing. Calling the police/ambulance is everything.

[SMS]

Nope. Look for a prepaid provider that has:

a) Low minimum monthly cost, not more than $2.50/month

b) Low per-minute rate (not more than 15 cents for low usage, not more than 6 cents for high usage)

c) Low texting rate (10 cents or less)

d) Coverage everywhere that there is a signal

The fact that many people over-pay by a huge amount for wireless service does not mean that those that are smart enough to not be overpaying are being fooled.

If anyone is paying more than $35/month for unlimited voice and texts then they are overpaying.

[Higgs Boson]

Haven't been following entire thread, so hope this isn't redundant.

I have subscribed to Virgin Mobile for several years, not because I love them (NOT) but because they are the cheapest for pre-paid. I use a cell phone only for emergencies and while traveling, so a monthly plan would be a waste of money for moi.

Virgin Mobile charges my cr. card $15 (just went up to $20) automatically every

3 months.

They have always been HORRIBLE to deal with on the phone. Used to have a female robot named "Simone" with a phony black accent who was no help; in fact hung up on me several times.

Their on-line service is equally opaque if one happens not to have the "V" number or whatever they now call their six-digit customer code.

Following an emergency (next para), I had no recourse but to call the cust svc number, which turns out to be much more user-friendly than the old horror.

Emergency: I ran out of gas ON A FREEWAY ON-RAMP AT RUSH HOUR . That has to be the acme in driver stupidity!!! Several drivers slowed and stopped to help, but I waved my cell phone as signal "I'm OK". NOT! My calls to Road Service would not go through! Terror!

I was saved by an MTA (Los Angeles transit) truck whose job is to get idiots like me off the road.

When I got home I tried again to use my cell phone. Nada! I had my friend call me; he reported "service has been suspended". What???!!! Plenty of money in my account.

Back to phone service: After a tense period of dealing with a nice, willing person with a hard-tto-understand accent (offshore call center), I realized that service had been "suspended" because my last credit card payment had bounced.

It was MORE fallout frorm a smash'n'grab robbery over two months ago!! I had spent WEEKS -- no, MONTHS, trying to reach everybody -- credit cards, bank accounts, insurance, direct-pay, etc.etc.etc. but did not think of cell phone payment plan set up years ago, since I hardly use the phone. Unbelievable what it takes to put one's life together after identity theft (plus property loss and damage!).

Why am I posting this OT rant? Because Virgin Mobile did not follow up on the bounced payment. They should have made every effort to contact me! I have faxed their CEO a strong complaint, which I hope (hah!) will lead to better outcomes for the next person faced with a potentially life-threatening emergency.

Please, save your flames. I have been through enough!

I just wanted to (a) reluctantly endorse Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go as cheapest for only emergency/travel use, and (b) alert people who may have suffered identity theft to check their cell phone payment plan as well as the other, more obvious exposures you need to change.

Burned "idiot driver"

[SMS]

They are not the cheapest, not by a long shot.

Relatively poor coverage, high per minutes rates, high texting charges, and relatively high monthly minimums.

See "

" for less expensive options.

You can have T-Mobile for as little as 74¢/month after you spend $100 in air time and go "gold."

You can have PagePlus (Verizon network) for as little as $2.31/month.