Paying for my phone

[memelaina]

I've had a phone since about 1997. A cell phone. First I had a pager, but then one day I was stuck in traffic on the freeway when my boss paged me and she was NOT happy. The very next morning there was a phone on my desk and666 I was instructed to carry it with me at all times. I did for the next 19 years. First it was big and chunky and had a thick, little arial sticking up from the corner. It made and received phone calls. That was all it did. It was enough.

Eventually the company provided me with smaller and more powerful phones. One that texted (remember texting on a number keyboard where each key could be one of three letters?). Then there was the year that my phone broke. Literally broke in half. And the only phone the company would replace it with was a brand new - but already two versions out of date - iPhone. I had a 2, a 3, a 4, and then my current 5s. I came to do many, many more things on my "phone" than make and receive phone calls.

But you know what I never did in all those years? I never PAID for the phone service. And yesterday, for the first time in my life, I went into AT&T and started to do that. SIXTY DOLLARS A MONTH FOR BASIC PHONE SERVICE!!!! Insane. I won't do it. At least, I won't do it long. But because of issues here at home, I need to have phone service during our time in Europe over the next few months. So I have a $60 a month service, and a $40 a month "international package" on TOP of that. I only need the international package in months when I will be in Europe. And I can delete it in months when I am not. But - wait for it - you can't get the international package without the "basic" $60 a month service for it to ride on. So until September I am stuck.

What's the purpose of this rant? I need my friends and family (who were my friends and family long before anyone trademarked "Friends and Family"TM) that while I am in England and Iceland from the 30th of January to the 16th of February PLEASE, please, please DO NOT PHONE ME. Send me texts. It will work just fine. It is free (for some value of free). If you phone me AT&T will charge me for each minute or part of a minute that I am on the phone. Texts are fine. Text all you want. If you really need to phone, then phone the house and the folks there will take your message and pass it on to me as a text.

Thank you for your cooperation in this new and exciting venture.

When September rolls around I'm moving to what they call a "pre-paid" phone where I get the same service for $25 a month but I have to pay for the service before they give it to me instead of after I use it.

Comments

I bought a Google Pixel.

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

It was a challenge to purchase - best place with best prices is store.google.com which only has google hardware. Other places (including Amazon and Verizon) are more expensive if you look. I bought (added) the most memory, an insurance policy and an extra charging cord. And a free sim card for Google's Fi network. This network is mostly wifi - but uses other networks as well (as available). AND Fi is available in Europe (no idea about Iceland) for free (no extra charge.) Costs of F1 - $20/month (plus $10/month per downloaded GB. You pay ONLY what you use for the GB downloads. look at fi.google.com. I admit to only having it for about 3 weeks, but the phone is great, and I've no complaints about service or battery life. Joyce (Scrivner)

[rockycoloradan.livejournal.com]

Look to get a GSM Phone and unlock it. Then you should be able to swap out SIM chips when you travel. Text the new number to people you want to communicate with and ignore the rest. I see that ATT and T-Mobile have GSM networks in the States.

When you are travelling see how much you would be using a smart phone if you had one that you could use whenever. I imagine the mapping apps alone would get heavy use.

Jack