I was one of those guys who didn’t see why I needed a cell phone. I can even remember asking my brother why he needed one. He said, “Just in case I break down on the road.”
People have always gotten along without a cell phone in the past,” I said. “If you break down you knock on someone’s door and have them call for help. That’s the way it’s been done for years.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to do that,” my brother said.
“If it’s worth the cost of the phone to you,” I said. “But personally I don’t see it. You rarely break down, nor are you ever very far away from home.”
It didn’t matter, he wanted a cell phone. So he got one. About nine months later he lost his job and the phone was an unwanted expense. I asked him why he didn’t just stop the service. He said he couldn’t because he signed a year’s contract.
That certainly sealed it for me. No way was I going to sign a year’s contract (or any contract that contained anything to do with a required amount of time). That was too scary. If I lost my job I would be in the same boat as my brother.
It wasn’t long until I found it was a good idea to have a cell phone. I searched and found Cricket had one without a contract and had a set amount to pay each month. I bought their service. The only drawback at the time was their limited coverage area. So, after a couple of years, I decided to look into Costumer Cellular.
Costumer Cellular offers a free Motorola phone, although it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. I don’t need all that fancy stuff anyway, so I signed up for the free phone. They will even send you an addressed envelope to mail your old cell phone and battery to a recycle center.
One thing that impressed me was its coverage area. It’s almost everywhere in the United States. That was what I was looking for. My best friend lives about twenty-five miles north of Spokane and with Cricket I lost coverage about fifteen miles north of Spokane. Costumer Cellular covers that area. Shortly after I switched, Cricket increased their coverage area, although I don’t know if it has as good of coverage as Costumer Cellular.
Another thing I like about Costumer Cellular is their ability to be flexible with the billing. If you notice you are going to use more, or less, minutes than the plan you have chosen, you can change plans as long as you do it before you are billed. That way you can pay less if you overextend your minutes. They will also send you an alert if you sign up for that free service.
I don’t know since I never paid by the minute, or plan, but I’m told Costumer Cellular prices are very good. It’s twenty-five cent a minute if you go over the amount allowed. The plans, if the phone is used in the United States, are:
$10 with zero minutes
$20 with 250 minutes
$30 with 500 minutes
$40 with 1,000 minutes
$50 with 1,500 minutes
$60 with 2,000 minutes and with this plan extra minutes are ten cents a minute.
There is no contract to sign and there is a thirty minute or thirty day (whichever comes first) guarantee in which you can stop the service without paying anything. If you are an AARP member, then you get a five percent discount off monthly plans and pay twenty-three and three-fourths cents for extra minutes except for the 2,000 minute plan. Then it is nine and one-half cents per minute over the plan’s minutes. Of course, taxes are extra. And the guarantee is extended to forty-five days or forty-five minutes. You can keep your old cell phone number as well. If you refer someone to Costumer Cellular and they sign up then you and that person will get a ten dollar discount. When my brother signed up he forgot to mention I had referred him. It was about three weeks later when he called and told them about it. They said it was no problem and we both got the ten dollar discount. He also told them he was unable to pay on the date they set up for his billing date. They gladly moved it to a more convenient day for him.
The costumer service center is right here in the United States. You don’t have to strain your ears to hear and understand what some foreigner is trying to tell you.
I’m not a heavy cell phone user but I am quite happy with Costumer Cellular and even though I have to pay by a plan or by the minute, I still pay less than I did with Cricket. I give Costumer Cellular five stars out of five.
Sources:
http://www.consumercellular.com/
Personal experience
