i believe that cingular (how ever you spell it) has rolll over minutes. if you do not use all of your time it rolls over to the next month.
might be worth a look-see.
Also, see if Verizon (or whichever provider you want to use) has ‘loaner’ or ‘trial’ phones: not only to verify that their coverage is good where you need it to be, but how easy the phone is to use, etc. I personally hate the ‘stick’ phones, because the keys are exposed, and they don’t fit my face well. I much prefer the clamshell ones, where there’s a little screen (or the main screen is visible) so you don’t have to open the phone to see who’s calling, but yet the keys are still protected from accidental bumps.
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www.virginmobileusa.com , do NOT get an emergency phone without looking here, with most prepaid phones the time expires (and it ends up costing a fortune), I do not use my phone very much and it costs me $80.00 A YEAR.
unclviny
Re: combining bills. Not very likely, I’m afraid - I’ve had Verizon for my wireless for 3 years, and of course for land since I came to New York in 1991. But I never found a way to combine the two, and in fact my understanding is that Verizon Wireless is now at least partly separate from Verizon Land.
Nevertheless, I like Verizon anyway. In the northeast, their coverage is the best - AT&T has been very problematic in Manhattan (I had it at first, and a friend of mine still has it and curses), and the others have pretty significant gaps elsewhere.
In fact, like erislover, my cell phone is now my only phone. I buy way more minutes than I need but it still saves money - all the extras I used to pay for, like voicemail and caller ID, are included, and my number is now permanently unlisted.
I have a cellphone for emergencies, and have never paid a dime.
It’s a Qualcomm (with AC charger) left over from work. They had a box of them that they were getting rid of, so my boss announces “Anybody want a phone? Here, take some of these”.
I do NOT have an account of any kind. I can dial 911, or *HP for the highway patrol (in NC) without one. I’ve used it 2 or 3 times that way for roadside breakdowns. If I need to dial any other #, the phone connects me to some menu that asks for a credit card #. Never used it that way, so I don’t know how expensive it would be, but that might not be a consideration for a one-time real emergency.
Jesus, this is complicated!
Thanks for all the info—I also got a six-page, indecipherable list of advice from my tech-geek brother-in-law. I will bookmark and read that virginmobile site, too, unclviny, thanks.
Lol.
I think Verizon also offers a plan in which you pay one bill for cell and home phone. I haven’t read the fine print, but it seems to be a good value. Make sure your plan is modular, because many people start off using it solely for emergencies, and use it more after they discover the convienience of having one.
My wife and son have a two phone plan with Sprint; since he’s away at university he can call us (400 some miles) from Mpls and not incur long distance charges. My daughter and I have a two phone plan with Cingular which suits us fine, tho we may go w/ Sprint when our plans expire.
The boy recently dropped his phone into Lake Superior (long story, don’t ask) and it cost him a bundle for a replacement…so be careful with whatever you buy.
<shameless plug>
The other consideration - in a true emergency, a cell phone probably will work sporadically, if at all.
If the phones are down in the immediate area, or towers have been cut off, or the power’s out, your phone will not work.
Being a survivor of at least 3 major catastrophies here in Southern California, I’ve seen cell phones not work at all for 6-10 hours after a major earthquake. After the 1994 Northridge quake, where I lived 1/2 mile from the epicenter, I was the only form of communication in our neighborhood with my amateur radio gear. Another ham operator in Long Beach was relaying emergency calls for me to the 911 operator. And when the immediate emergency had passed, he was nice enough to call my family for me, to let them know I was OK.
Yes, I carry a cell phone, but for true emergencies, I’m confident my two-way radio gear can communicate when other means fail.
</shameless plug>
Check out Tracfone. You can buy minutes as you need them and this can be done on the Web. You do have to use their phone but I just got one for my daughter for 30.00. You can use them locally or nationally but the rate is a bit higher outside your service area.
I have Verizon’s Free Up service as my only phone. When I originally signed up, you could roll over your minutes by adding $1.00 to your account–a great deal, since I don’t really use the phone that much. However, they changed that policy (without notice!!), and now it costs $15/month to keep the account active. I don’t think you can get nationwide service for much less than that.
I’ve used the phone from San Diego to Key West–decent coverage, although when outside of my service area, I have to
dial the number twice. When I hiked up to Half Dome in Yosemite, my girlfriend’s Cingular had no signal, but someone was talking away on a Verizon phone…better overall coverage than most providers.
A cell phone will not do you any good. The cell phone system will jam up and you will not be able to get through unless you are extremely lucky. It took me over 4 hours to contact my wife after an earthquake in the Seattle area last year. Cell phones are useless for widespread emergencies.
FYI, I have been with T-mobile (formerly Voicestream) for quite a while. It cost me $30 a month and nationwide long distance if free on evenings and weekends.
Okay, I made the plunge—got a Verizon phone, with $30 of prepaid minutes I have to buy every two months. I’ll spend the weekend studying the instruction book and trying to figure this whole dealie out.
Hmm . . . I do recall seeing people talking on their cell phones on 9/11/01, as I was fleeing uptown. Which is odd, as the WTC had the phone antennea on it. But a lot of people did seem to be able to get through . . .
At about 9:45 am I had no trouble receiving a call as I was standing at 7th Avenue South and Greenwhich Ave - my friend was calling me to tell me the Pentagon had been hit and warn that there might still be planes in the air.
And remember that 9/11 in fact knocked out several hundred thousand people’s home and business land lines, so it’s far from clear that one is superior to the other. (For example, much of the New York City government was out for about a month thereafter.)
I remember I couldn’t use land-line phones for several days—long-distance, okay, but I couldn’t reach NJ, Brooklyn or NYC till the end of the week. Hmmm. Hopefully the next attack won’t knock out wherever they’ve put the new antennae . . .