Seven years ago I was driving a terrible old Honda.

In 1990, TuneUp Clinic did an unneeded repair on my car while changing the oil and set my beloved Dodge Omni on fire. I needed another car in a hurry due to my commute and a friend found what he thought was a well-maintained Honda for me. It turned out to be a turkey that broke down every six months to the tune of between $500 and $700. At Christmas of that final year I had it, James and I got cellphones. He told me afterwards he was so glad we'd decided to do so: he was afraid of me breaking down and not being near somewhere I could call for help.

We only bought the phones for emergencies and rarely had them on. I rarely kept mine on anyway because three days after I got it I dropped it and it barely held a charge for about an hour.

The cell phone mania passed us by. I still don't understand the reason for wanting to be yapping on the phone most of the time. But I figured it was time for us to upgrade, so we did. We got the lowest price plan Verizon had (I considered Cingular, too, but Verizon had the same plan and a bigger calling area). Even with that, we still get free long distance, no roaming, free nights and weekends, and we can talk to each other (and other Verizon customers) without charge.

When it came to pick out the phones, we got a flip because one or the other of us were always pressing one of the phone buttons and turning it on, then when we needed to use it the power would be drained. (During vacation James' phone woke us up beeping because of low power. He had accidentally turned the phone on during the drive up to DC.) And since we were getting all the bells and whistles anyway, we got a camera phone. It was only $20 more. I can't remember how many times I've seen a beautiful sunset or a cute dog or bird and said to myself "I wish I had a camera." Now I do.

The free long distance will be a godsend. Now I can call my mom any time I like and not have to worry about how much it's going to cost as long as I don't go over my minutes. It will be nice to cheer her up during the day.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:44:00 PM

Comments:

Yep, the free long distance is a godsend - I talk to my folks in Albuquerque on the drive home for about 20 minutes a day. Free roaming's great too - I got burned by about $250 in roaming charges when I used my phone in Albuquerque when Father had his heart attack about two years back. didn't get charged for the minutes, but whoo those roaming charges were stiff!

J.

# posted by  Jerry : 5:38:00 PM

 

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