Thoughts on Cell Phones

I am still holding out on getting a smart phone. I know I want one, but I also know that I can get by without one.

However, I am starting to get into the swing of things with texting. Last month I got a new phone with a little keyboard that looks like a Blackberry, so now I can text without being frustrated. In fact, I have been known to text more than once a week now! I can see the appeal of sending quick notes to people, mostly my family.

On Friday, while walking home, I dropped my phone on the ground and promptly broke it. I think it still calls and works, but the screen is blank, so it is basically useless. Not a big deal in terms of money - I just went online and ordered an identical phone for just $17 including shipping.

The bad news is that I have to recreate my entire contact list since I can't read the screen.

So, do I feel at a loss without my phone? Nope. I've spent the past 3 days without it and feel no twinge.  I will be glad to get my new phone up and running, though, when it does manage to appear.

On a side note, my cell phone carrier is Virgin Mobile, pay-as-you-go, and I am mostly happy with it. I have an old plan which charges $5/month as long as I top up every 90 days. I do that, especially since it  is automatic. (For this rate, phone calls are 18 cents a minute and texts are 15 cents. I am running a $50+ balance which shows how little I do use the phone.)

However, when I when online to see if I had any texts since my phone died, I noticed that I had some charges for "xtras" which came to 15 cents a day going back to January, when I got this new phone. After 15 minutes on the phone (still like my landline!) with Virgin Mobile, they said that it was a feature by which I could access games, etc. Huh? I never asked for that. She said she would take it off my account and credit me with $5. I think I got the short end of that stick, but it was not worth my time to add up all the little charges, so I let it go.

I might not have noticed that if not for my broken phone, so that is another reason that my glass is half-full.