On the Leading Edge

For most of our lives, Bonnie and I have been on the leading edge of changes in society. We got a waterbed when they were still considered "weird hippy things." We took La Maze classes when they were recommended by only a few OB/GYNs. We bought a VHS recorder shortly after they first came out. And while the "in crowd" was still extolling the virtues of white wines, I was sampling merlots.

But one bandwagon that I did not jump on until this week was that of the users of cell phones. My problem was not an aversion to technology, but rather one of simple economics. As long as I was paying $30.00+ per month for a land line to my home, I saw no value in signing a contract to pay an additional $30.00 a month for a cell phone.

I counted up the situations in one year in which I might need to make a call when no land line was available. There were maybe two or three--once when on the way to a retail store, and unable to locate it, once when I was at the grocery store and forgot one of the items Bonnie wanted me to buy, once when I was stuck in traffic, and would be way late getting home. It hardly seemed worth $360.00 per year.

Besides that, many folks who already have cell phones really anger me. They take a call while dining in a restaurant. They check their messages in a movie theater. They gab on the phone while shopping for groceries (I am sure there is nothing so urgent that it could not wait until they get home). And, most aggravating of all, the yak into the little boxes while driving down the freeway at 40 mph, instead of the posted 55 mph. I do not want to become one of those crass inconsiderate jerks.

This week, though, I finally decided to get a cell phone. The main reason is that the "pay as you go" plans make more economic sense. I bought a Trac Phone and one year (400 minutes) of cell time. The whole package ends up costing about $10.00 a month--less if I subtract the cost of the phone. Not only that, if I have not used the 400 minutes when I renew next year, the excess rolls over. The benefits I get for the $10.00 a month seem worth the cost. First, the phone will be there in the 3 or 4 situations that I expect I will need it for. Second, since I will turn it on virtually all of the time I am away from home, Bonnie knows she will be able to reach me if an emergency arises. Now that the telephone companies are phasing out pay telephones, the cell phone becomes almost a necessity.

So far, the Trac Phone experience has exceeded my expectations. When I activated the phone and added the minutes from the card, I received 510 minutes instead of 400. Although I signed up on June 3, the renewal date is August 3, of next year, so I get 14 months instead of 12. That's hard to beat. In the 4 days I have had the phone, I have not used any minutes yet.

Some may say that 20 cents a minute is not a bargain rate. However, these are emergency minutes; they are worth more to me. Moreover, the big companies advertise 10 cents a minute, but they add a $1.00 surcharge for each day that you access the service. That means one five-minute call can cost 30 cents a minute. With the Trac phone there are no "roaming" charges, and long distance calls within the continental US and to some foreign locations are charged at the same rate as local calls. So for the usage I expect, the Trac Phone is a good buy.

Talking about the economics, have you noticed that most cell phone calls are "double-billed?" When you make a call from land line to land line, only the originator is charged for the call. But when a cell phone is the receiver, both originator and receiver are billed for the minutes. In the long run, it would seem the telephone companies would like us all to use cell phones, and eliminate land lines completely.

So I have arrived in the 21st century with respect to telephone service. But I am not giving you my cell phone number. I only want to receive those urgent calls from immediate family and very close friends. Everyone else should just call my land line number. If I am not there, leave a message on my machine. But don't look for my number in the telephone book; it's unlisted. Most of the time, I view the telephone as an intrusion.