Long Distance Service
Long distance service
Until about a year ago, my phone bills were entirely too high. I’m lucky enough to have a large group of friends, but unfortunately, as the years moved forward we’ve all ended up in different areas of the country. These distances have helped to rack up some major phone bills. My long distance service was costing me at least an extra $50 a month - and that’s a good month. I had some friends who had eliminated their long distance service by getting cell phones and plans that included nationwide calling. This sounded entirely too good to be true to me. When I looked into it, I discovered that most cell phone plans can easily help you to say good-bye to your long distance service but if you go over your minutes, you could end up paying more than you were before. I wasn’t sure if getting rid of my long distance service was a good or bad idea.
I visited a few different cell phone companies to see what would be the ideal calling plan for me. Most likely, my monthly phone bills would be $35 and up. Of course, add at least $10 in taxes and fees to each monthly bill and I’d probably average $50. My long distance service was always at least $50. It made some sense to kiss my long distance service good-bye, but yet, not in all ways. If I got rid of my long distance service, it would mean I’d have to get local long distance service. As it was set up now, if I cancelled it, I would not even be able to pick up my phone to call my office because it wasn’t considered a local call. My office is only 20 minutes from my house. Local long distance service would be cheaper than regular long distance, but it would still be another fee. I was trying to avoid any additional confusion or fees each month. My other option was to try to find a new long distance service provider that wasn’t quite as expensive. That ended up being easier said than done. Most of them were
almost identical in costs. That left me back to my original decision of whether or not to keep my long distance service and continue as normal or to get a cell phone and pay for only local long distance. My husband thought I should have a cell phone for emergencies and such, so he was obviously voting to get rid of the long distance service. I wasn’t so sure.
The very next day, I headed for the mall. I came home with a cell phone and plan and cancelled my long distance service. My fingers are crossed that I made the right choice. I suppose that only time will tell.
chief @ December 12, 2006