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Apr. 2nd, 2010
Well, my cell phone turned up last night. I found it face-down under my bed while I was searching for my duffel bag. Still haven't found my duffel bag; I suppose that will have to wait until I've lost something else.
Called AT&T this morning to see if there was anything I could do about reducing my rates. Apparently there isn't, at the moment. I'm on a $40 plan, + $5 for 200 text messages per month, + $15 for unlimited Internet service. With fees and stuff, I end up paying about $70 a month.
My contract expires as of the 25th, at which point I will be free to change my options. It turns out AT&T also offers pay-as-you-go phone plans. I could pay $3 per day on which I use the phone for unlimited calling, or $1 per day on which I use it for unlimited mobile to mobile minutes and 10 cents/minute to everyone else, or I could pay no daily rate but 25 cents per minute to everyone.
I would have to pay another $5 for a 200 text message a month plan, and either $5 for 1 megabyte of Internet per month or $20 for 100 megabytes per month. I only seem to use about 10 megabytes per month at most, but about 4 at least.
The benefit is that I could keep my existing phone—which is good, since I didn't find any other phones on Boost or T-Mobile's PAYGO plans that were as nice as this one. The drawback is that, for my usage pattern (texts + web usage), I'd still end up paying about $25 per month, plus minutes. (That is better than paying $70 per month, but still a lot more than I might pay on a plan from one of AT&T's competitors.)
The plan I really like the most is Boost Mobile's. No monthly fees. 10 cents per minute, or per text message. 35 cents per day on which I use Internet services, but unlimited bandwidth during that day. It seems to offer everything I need at rates I can afford. (Granted, that's a lot more per text message than I'm paying now, but I can cut back on text messages a lot more easily than I can cut back on mobile Internet.) They'll even port my AT&T cell phone number over for me.
The only drawbacks are that there aren't any Boost phones as nice as my Motorola RAZR2 (at least, not listed on the website. I'll have to check the local stores and see what models they carry and how much they are) and there is no coverage whatsoever anywhere near Mom & Dad's house down south of McDowell.
Even the latter isn't necessarily a dealbreaker. The cell phone reception down there even with AT&T is pretty lousy; you have to go upstairs to make or take a call. Even my parents are using Google Voice now with their local-only landline in preference to the long distance they originally bought the cell phone for. (Hmm, maybe once their contract is up, my parents should consider switching to AT&T PAYGO. They don't text or use the web from their phone as it is anyway.) If I'm going to be down there (which won't be that often anyway) I'll have my VOIP-equipped laptop, and can redirect my own Google Voice to their landline.
Anyhow, I have until the end of the month to consider it.
Called AT&T this morning to see if there was anything I could do about reducing my rates. Apparently there isn't, at the moment. I'm on a $40 plan, + $5 for 200 text messages per month, + $15 for unlimited Internet service. With fees and stuff, I end up paying about $70 a month.
My contract expires as of the 25th, at which point I will be free to change my options. It turns out AT&T also offers pay-as-you-go phone plans. I could pay $3 per day on which I use the phone for unlimited calling, or $1 per day on which I use it for unlimited mobile to mobile minutes and 10 cents/minute to everyone else, or I could pay no daily rate but 25 cents per minute to everyone.
I would have to pay another $5 for a 200 text message a month plan, and either $5 for 1 megabyte of Internet per month or $20 for 100 megabytes per month. I only seem to use about 10 megabytes per month at most, but about 4 at least.
The benefit is that I could keep my existing phone—which is good, since I didn't find any other phones on Boost or T-Mobile's PAYGO plans that were as nice as this one. The drawback is that, for my usage pattern (texts + web usage), I'd still end up paying about $25 per month, plus minutes. (That is better than paying $70 per month, but still a lot more than I might pay on a plan from one of AT&T's competitors.)
The plan I really like the most is Boost Mobile's. No monthly fees. 10 cents per minute, or per text message. 35 cents per day on which I use Internet services, but unlimited bandwidth during that day. It seems to offer everything I need at rates I can afford. (Granted, that's a lot more per text message than I'm paying now, but I can cut back on text messages a lot more easily than I can cut back on mobile Internet.) They'll even port my AT&T cell phone number over for me.
The only drawbacks are that there aren't any Boost phones as nice as my Motorola RAZR2 (at least, not listed on the website. I'll have to check the local stores and see what models they carry and how much they are) and there is no coverage whatsoever anywhere near Mom & Dad's house down south of McDowell.
Even the latter isn't necessarily a dealbreaker. The cell phone reception down there even with AT&T is pretty lousy; you have to go upstairs to make or take a call. Even my parents are using Google Voice now with their local-only landline in preference to the long distance they originally bought the cell phone for. (Hmm, maybe once their contract is up, my parents should consider switching to AT&T PAYGO. They don't text or use the web from their phone as it is anyway.) If I'm going to be down there (which won't be that often anyway) I'll have my VOIP-equipped laptop, and can redirect my own Google Voice to their landline.
Anyhow, I have until the end of the month to consider it.
Well, my cell phone turned up last night. I found it face-down under my bed while I was searching for my duffel bag. Still haven't found my duffel bag; I suppose that will have to wait until I've lost something else.
Called AT&T this morning to see if there was anything I could do about reducing my rates. Apparently there isn't, at the moment. I'm on a $40 plan, + $5 for 200 text messages per month, + $15 for unlimited Internet service. With fees and stuff, I end up paying about $70 a month.
My contract expires as of the 25th, at which point I will be free to change my options. It turns out AT&T also offers pay-as-you-go phone plans. I could pay $3 per day on which I use the phone for unlimited calling, or $1 per day on which I use it for unlimited mobile to mobile minutes and 10 cents/minute to everyone else, or I could pay no daily rate but 25 cents per minute to everyone.
I would have to pay another $5 for a 200 text message a month plan, and either $5 for 1 megabyte of Internet per month or $20 for 100 megabytes per month. I only seem to use about 10 megabytes per month at most, but about 4 at least.
The benefit is that I could keep my existing phone—which is good, since I didn't find any other phones on Boost or T-Mobile's PAYGO plans that were as nice as this one. The drawback is that, for my usage pattern (texts + web usage), I'd still end up paying about $25 per month, plus minutes. (That is better than paying $70 per month, but still a lot more than I might pay on a plan from one of AT&T's competitors.)
The plan I really like the most is Boost Mobile's. No monthly fees. 10 cents per minute, or per text message. 35 cents per day on which I use Internet services, but unlimited bandwidth during that day. It seems to offer everything I need at rates I can afford. (Granted, that's a lot more per text message than I'm paying now, but I can cut back on text messages a lot more easily than I can cut back on mobile Internet.) They'll even port my AT&T cell phone number over for me.
The only drawbacks are that there aren't any Boost phones as nice as my Motorola RAZR2 (at least, not listed on the website. I'll have to check the local stores and see what models they carry and how much they are) and there is no coverage whatsoever anywhere near Mom & Dad's house down south of McDowell.
Even the latter isn't necessarily a dealbreaker. The cell phone reception down there even with AT&T is pretty lousy; you have to go upstairs to make or take a call. Even my parents are using Google Voice now with their local-only landline in preference to the long distance they originally bought the cell phone for. (Hmm, maybe once their contract is up, my parents should consider switching to AT&T PAYGO. They don't text or use the web from their phone as it is anyway.) If I'm going to be down there (which won't be that often anyway) I'll have my VOIP-equipped laptop, and can redirect my own Google Voice to their landline.
Anyhow, I have until the end of the month to consider it.
Called AT&T this morning to see if there was anything I could do about reducing my rates. Apparently there isn't, at the moment. I'm on a $40 plan, + $5 for 200 text messages per month, + $15 for unlimited Internet service. With fees and stuff, I end up paying about $70 a month.
My contract expires as of the 25th, at which point I will be free to change my options. It turns out AT&T also offers pay-as-you-go phone plans. I could pay $3 per day on which I use the phone for unlimited calling, or $1 per day on which I use it for unlimited mobile to mobile minutes and 10 cents/minute to everyone else, or I could pay no daily rate but 25 cents per minute to everyone.
I would have to pay another $5 for a 200 text message a month plan, and either $5 for 1 megabyte of Internet per month or $20 for 100 megabytes per month. I only seem to use about 10 megabytes per month at most, but about 4 at least.
The benefit is that I could keep my existing phone—which is good, since I didn't find any other phones on Boost or T-Mobile's PAYGO plans that were as nice as this one. The drawback is that, for my usage pattern (texts + web usage), I'd still end up paying about $25 per month, plus minutes. (That is better than paying $70 per month, but still a lot more than I might pay on a plan from one of AT&T's competitors.)
The plan I really like the most is Boost Mobile's. No monthly fees. 10 cents per minute, or per text message. 35 cents per day on which I use Internet services, but unlimited bandwidth during that day. It seems to offer everything I need at rates I can afford. (Granted, that's a lot more per text message than I'm paying now, but I can cut back on text messages a lot more easily than I can cut back on mobile Internet.) They'll even port my AT&T cell phone number over for me.
The only drawbacks are that there aren't any Boost phones as nice as my Motorola RAZR2 (at least, not listed on the website. I'll have to check the local stores and see what models they carry and how much they are) and there is no coverage whatsoever anywhere near Mom & Dad's house down south of McDowell.
Even the latter isn't necessarily a dealbreaker. The cell phone reception down there even with AT&T is pretty lousy; you have to go upstairs to make or take a call. Even my parents are using Google Voice now with their local-only landline in preference to the long distance they originally bought the cell phone for. (Hmm, maybe once their contract is up, my parents should consider switching to AT&T PAYGO. They don't text or use the web from their phone as it is anyway.) If I'm going to be down there (which won't be that often anyway) I'll have my VOIP-equipped laptop, and can redirect my own Google Voice to their landline.
Anyhow, I have until the end of the month to consider it.