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o/t A really dumb question about cell phones


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Hi,

Sorry to ask this; but I am hopelessly stuck in the last century and have never had or used a cell phone.

A friend of mine who can be somewhat naive and rather stubborn has become paranoid about using up his minutes--hence he always cuts conversations short and is starting to alienate people (including me). He is under the impression that he's using up his minutes when I call him on my land-based phone. . .is this true? (If so, I'd love to have a piece of that racket!)

Can anyone shed light on this for me? I would like my friend back!

cheers

Old Blind Dog

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I take it he doesn't have a landline? Anytime a cell phone is connected or used, regardless of which end, the minutes are counting. Unless he has Free minutes set up (usually after 9pm weekdays, sometimes weekends, depends on the plan he is signed into). If for extended conversation, I will call my hobby friends from my landline. HTH

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it depends on what carrier and what plan he has. Most likely though, he has enough minutes that he doesn't have to worry about using all of them. I think I have around 600 minutes a month on my plan and have never gone over (I don't even have a land line anymore).

When my friends do something like that I make fun of them and they shut up. LOL

John

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When my friends do something like that I make fun of them and they shut up. LOL

Ha!

Its hard to believe that only a few generations have passed since toxic gas and trenches and now its "Oh god my minutes!!"

Tell him how you feel and offer to pay if he goes over (odds are he won't of course) it will put his mind at ease... for a few more minutes at least. :woot.gif:

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I agree. depending on which carrier he has unles its a prepaid phone he should have a fixed amount of anytime minutes. then normally after 9 at night until like 6 in the morning is all free as well. On a prepaid phone with most carriers i have seen only give you mobile to mobile free and that even costs you sometimes. Its amasing how cell phones have changed everyone and the costs keep going up. Its nice to have mobility but the costs associated with it are a little unnerving. another thing you guys could use is Skype. i use it all of the time and its free. you can video chat and voice chat just like being on a cell phone but your on a computer instead. Hope this helps my friend. If you decide to go the skype rout and need help feel free to pm me anytime. JOSH

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Unless I'm missing something or the plans available in the US are vastly dufferent to those we have here in New Zealand. If I ring a cell phone from a landline, my landline account is debited, the receiver of the phone call pays nothing, whether on a plan or prepay. The opposite is also true. It is always the caller, whether landline or cell, that is debited, in NZ anyway.

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
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slartibartfast im sorry but assuming he is on the internet even asking this question in the first place then he has internet. that being said Skype is a free service he can use as another option. There is a skype option that you have to pay for but that is for video confrencing with like up to 5 people at one time. Thats odd Steve it is very different here. The only time a land line here gets charged is if its a collect call or long distance when the customer doesnt have long distance on the plan. thats why cell phones are taking over here because normally on a good contract you get free long distance and so many free to use minutes plus free mobile to mobile.

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Unless I'm missing something or the plans available in the US are vastly dufferent to those we have here in New Zealand. If I ring a cell phone from a landline, my landline account is debited, the receiver of the phone call pays nothing, whether on a plan or prepay. The opposite is also true. It is always the caller, whether landline or cell, that is debited, in NZ anyway.

Steve.

Same here in OZ....caller pays. We can set up certain cell numbers, such as family, so that the first five minutes or so of every call are free.

My two older kids have cell phones as well, which is all covered under my account. They're on basic plans because they don't use them much..........yet....and my plan covers me nicely for local and international calls, and data. Makes it very easy to budget..

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Unless I'm missing something or the plans available in the US are vastly dufferent to those we have here in New Zealand. If I ring a cell phone from a landline, my landline account is debited, the receiver of the phone call pays nothing, whether on a plan or prepay. The opposite is also true. It is always the caller, whether landline or cell, that is debited, in NZ anyway.

Steve.

Same here in my little part of Europe. Caller pays, no matter if it's from a landline or mobile. The receiver does however pay if he's across the border. Example: if I call a Dutch friend of mine who is at that moment in Germany; I pay for calling him (the regular fee, no mark-up for calling international as on a landline) but he gets to pay a certain amount per minute too for using the infrastructure of a German provider. Het gets to pay that through his own provider. So it pays :) to switch off your mobile abroad. In any case you definitely don't want to use mobile internet services abroad. If you survive your first look at the bill you probably will be under the impression that you bought the provider instead of a service...

Edited by One-Oh-Four
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I couldnt help but chuckle at One Oh Fours comment. Data rates are murder for anyone who goes over their allotted amount but I really couldnt imagine how high they would be while roaming another country.

There are people here have been confronted with bills over a thousand dollars after having been on vacation for a week or two... Another fact of the matter is that the Dutch are in another country in the blink of an eye. Since the Netherlands is from north to south something like 240 miles and from east to west about 125 miles....

But I do think that there is legislation in the make on a European level against this.

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I have a cellphone strictly as an emergency phone. I pay 20 cents a minute but the monthly fee is only about $5. I drive old cars.....so I like the security of a cellphone incase I ever need a towruck. I don't use mine at all most months.

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I'm a cell phone luddite, a $20 top up on my prepay will last me about 6-8 months, the kids get thru theirs a tad quicker. <_< I've not used mine internationally but I have heard some horror stories of people being hit with huge bills on their return, mainly for data transmission rather than texts & voice calls though. I would certainly do my homework before travelling & know just what I was up for.

Steve.

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I leave for Hawaii on tuesday and am greatful my service provider is there to help otherwise id'e leave it at home. Roaming charges here are what really get us. you can have a 2 minute call on roam and spend 10 bucks on it just because you roam on someone elses tower its pretty pathetic if you ask me. I used to work in the Cell industry and dont know how they get away with gouging everyone so much. I guess its because noones has stepped up and said enough is enough.

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I've been on T-Mobile's family plan (three phones) for about seven years at one set monthly price which includes unlimited anytime minutes & data (texting, photos, Internet, etc.) and free roaming.

We never need to worry about how long a call lasts, how many texts until a limit is reached and overage fees kick in or if we're still in our call area. We can call any landline or cellphone (regardless of provider) and it doesn't cost us extra.

And yes.... the unlimited plan was necessary after we got the first bill where our daughter went over on mintues and texting. It's much cheaper having this plan than paying the overage fees.

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Unless I'm missing something or the plans available in the US are vastly dufferent to those we have here in New Zealand. If I ring a cell phone from a landline, my landline account is debited, the receiver of the phone call pays nothing, whether on a plan or prepay. The opposite is also true. It is always the caller, whether landline or cell, that is debited, in NZ anyway.

Steve.

Bloody sensible, too. Would stop these $^&%* collection agencies who troll old cell phone numbers demanding payment for debts racked up years ago by someone else.

Ask me how I know.

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IF I call anyone on their cell phones and I use MY landline I get to pay the hefty bill.

They dont pay a thing and they do not lose their credit and their battery gets low.

If I call on their cell from MY cell then I get to use MY allocated minutes for that month and I get to pay for the call and the receiver

probably only gets the charge on his battery low! {so all he has to do is recharge it!}

If I do not use the allocated minutes etc then it stays with ME till I do use them...

I also have to keep recharging if I use the cell phone a lot ..

I lose everywhich way..Just saying...when you have to make THE call you have to do what you have to do !

if the other person uses his cell to call ME and I answer then IT GOES on his bill as the call has been registered whether it be landline or MY cell THAT he dialled...... :P :P

LOL!! what a world....good job it is switched of most of the time... :whistle:

Edited by HOLMES
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Unfortunately for Canada, the landline user gets off scott-free. The pay-your-cellphone structure here is that if you call from a cell-phone, you get docked. However if a landline calls you, you get docked because you're the one whose cell phone is being used. That's why there's a lot of plans that include specified persons and free calling after so many hours. If you're working, you shouldn't be on the phone unless your job requires it.

Edited by The_Animal
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Unfortunately for Canada, the landline user gets off scott-free. The pay-your-cellphone structure here is that if you call from a cell-phone, you get docked. However if a landline calls you, you get docked because you're the one whose cell phone is being used. That's why there's a lot of plans that include specified persons and free calling after so many hours. If you're working, you shouldn't be on the phone unless your job requires it.

how is that unfortunate? as far back as I can remember, landline users are were not billed by the minute unless it was long-distance. There's no reason why that should change.

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It's unfortunate because if you end up being a Chatty Cathy/Carl, you can end up docking the cell-user a bunch of money by running your mouth. Thank goodness I don't have that problem because if you call my cell, you'd better make the call short and sweet or you'll get hung up on.

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