Comments on: Five Minute Finances #17: Check Your Cell Phone Minutes

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:46:03 +0000

Prepaid, prepaid, prepaid works very well and is available from any number of carriers.

Up to 300 minutes/month, prepaid is usually cheaper than postpaid.

If you’re not using it cellphone to make money, why even sign up for a postpaid plan – in that case, it is an expensive luxury compared to a landline.

By: Ursula

Ursula — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:12:45 +0000

That verizon app is pretty cool, but how do you know it’s SAFE? I loaded it onto my computer and now I instantly can see my minutes used, which is cool, but … how did it know? I can only assume it used my stored password in Firefox to gain access to my verizon account, since I didn’t have to do anything other than click “install” — I provided neither my cell phone number nor my verizon password! So, now I am all creeped out … if this program clearly was able to access my stored Verizon password, what about all my *OTHER* stored passwords???

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance!

By: Kay

Kay — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:14:21 +0000

I’m new and LOVE this blog.
So, I was with cingular for about 2 years. And for the last year I noticed how I was paying about $55 dollars but only using less than 100 minutes for month and my gf would put like 100 min on there when she didn’t want to use her phone. So I would still have like 200 minutes left.
I kept telling my self I should just get prepaid minutes and now I am so sad that I waited over a year to do it.
I decided to go with T-mobile because they have this plan that once you spend $100 dollars on minutes you are referred to as a “gold member” and you don’t have to use up the minutes until a year. So with $100 spent you get 1000 minutes. When I started out in Febuary 2007 I had 1000 min. + the free 200 they gave you. Guess what? I still have 1100 minutes left. So it appears that this will save me so much moeny in the long run.
It’s funny because alot of my friends laugh and have so many funny comments like “why are you now prepaid” or “that’s so unfortunate”.
No whats unfortunate is that I will be saving close to $500 or more a year in cell phone charges and I an def. put that money into good use.
Plus I am so over talking on my cell phone. I now use it for emergencies.
Of coure I’m sure there are people that need like 1000 minutes, pay $89 a month, and actually use all of their minutes. However most of us, with some modifications don’t need to talk on the cell phone as much.

By: Louise

Louise — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 02:25:56 +0000

@PF
Cingular mentioned roadside assistance and voice dialing when I signed up and they made it pretty clear that I would have to pay for them after the free introductory period (60 days or something) was over.

By: Zeb Palmer

Zeb Palmer — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:22:37 +0000

Even simpler on T-Mobile… you hit #646# and hit dial. (#min#)

a couple seconds later you’ll get their “minute message” as an SMS text message but you don’t get charged for it.

zeb

By: noah kagan

noah kagan — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:48:53 +0000

Here is really cool app that can track your cell phone minutes:

Watchmycell.com

By: PF

PF — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:43:16 +0000

Cingular automatically adds on annoying fees that they don’t mention when you sign up like roadside assistance and voice dialing. These things add up if you don’t need them.

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:25:22 +0000

One problem with this, at least with Sprint, is that changing your minutes may require a contract extension. I had that problem a few months ago when I was going over my allotment. I was near enough to the end of the contract that I just lived with it, but now I am well over my minutes. I may have overreacted, but I don’t have to worry about some outrageous charges and that has some value, at least in my own mind.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:31:11 +0000

To get your minutes with a Verizon phone you can dial #646 and hit send. Verizon will send you a free text message with your current minutes used with a break down of Peak, Off Peak/Nights, IN-Calling, Off Peak IN-Calling and Family Share (if you have that type of plan).

By: Louise

Louise — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:23:03 +0000

There is a Firefox add-on for Cingular. http://cingularminutes.blogspot.com/

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:14:56 +0000

I only use prepaid. I guess I don’t talk on my phone as much as some people (I prefer talking in person). So I spend about $12-$15 a month buying prepaid minutes.