What's Your Cell Phone Minute Usage?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I was wondering how much people here use their cell phones, but especially how much of their allotted minutes are burned up each month.



If you'd like, please post how many minutes are in your plan, and whether or not you even have a "home" phone.



My parents and I all have a family plan and end up using just less than the minutes in our plan. It helps that we get free mobile to mobile and weekends or else we'd go over each month. Right now we share 800 minutes for two phones, but we're about to upgrade that to 1200 minutes for three phones.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    I think I have 600 minutes per month (w/ "unlimited nights and weekends") on my plan from AT&T. My girlfriend has the same plan. She used 830 minutes last month, which we know all about because AT&T decided to charge her $100 for the overage (even though more than 500 of the minutes were from offpeak calls...long story to do with AT&T gouging customers who are no longer under contract in an attempt to get them to re-up. Suffice it to say that they will have at least two less customers come November 24th). I checked my bill and I had used - in total - less than 150 minutes.
  • Reply 2 of 25
    By the way - I'm sure most of you are already aware of this, but if you are unhappy with your wireless service provider you will be able to take your number with you come November 24th of this year. Somewhere between 9 and 12 million people are expected to change providers, so there are likely to be a lot of deals on phones and plans...it already costs the providers a couple of hundred dollars to get one new contract, and this is expected to go up. Make sure that the majority of this money is used on discounts to your phone and service plan.
  • Reply 3 of 25
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    this is for US-AI:ers only.



    europe: you get a) contracts. those include ONLY keeping your number and being able to use the service (ie. all calls are charged, none incoming thoug), or b) prepaid cards. you prepay traffic you intend to use (e.g. 10 e, up to 50 pounds (where is the pound on US keyboard???) and can use those for e.g. 6 or next 12 months. incoming calls never are chanrged in european mobiles.



    so, i guess the poll should have as well "i'm in europe (or elsewhere) and have contract with no minutes included" and "i have a prepaid service".
  • Reply 4 of 25
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Giaguara

    this is for US-AI:ers only.



    europe: you get a) contracts. those include ONLY keeping your number and being able to use the service (ie. all calls are charged, none incoming thoug), or b) prepaid cards. you prepay traffic you intend to use (e.g. 10 e, up to 50 pounds (where is the pound on US keyboard???) and can use those for e.g. 6 or next 12 months. incoming calls never are chanrged in european mobiles.



    so, i guess the poll should have as well "i'm in europe (or elsewhere) and have contract with no minutes included" and "i have a prepaid service".




    Some actually have included minutes (3G companies like this solution very much). But its not as widespread as in US.



    Prepaid (where you only pay for outgoing calls) prices have dropped extremely much the last year here. From about 33 eurocent/minute to 10 eurocent.
  • Reply 5 of 25
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    i must have problems with cell phones : except while i am on holidays, i just use from 2 to 3 minutes per month of my 120 minutes.

    I don't even know by heart my cell phone number.
  • Reply 6 of 25
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kneelBeforeZod

    By the way - I'm sure most of you are already aware of this, but if you are unhappy with your wireless service provider you will be able to take your number with you come November 24th of this year. Somewhere between 9 and 12 million people are expected to change providers, so there are likely to be a lot of deals on phones and plans...it already costs the providers a couple of hundred dollars to get one new contract, and this is expected to go up. Make sure that the majority of this money is used on discounts to your phone and service plan.



    i was completely unaware. this is for US residents? or atleast, us ny'rs i assume? across all cell service providers? i haven' considered changing plans, largely cuz i figure'd i'd be too much trouble with a new number. this is interesting.
  • Reply 7 of 25
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Giaguara

    europe: you get a) contracts. those include ONLY keeping your number and being able to use the service



    When I lived in Belgium I had a contract which included free minutes (for outgoing calls). It wasn't that many by the standards of current US plans, maybe 100 or so, but it meant that my monthly connection fee plus calls was rarely more than 1000 BF (as was). I think the provider was Proximus?



    But I have to admit that I did go a bit US-centric above...





    Quote:

    Originally posted by thuh Freak

    I was completely unaware. this is for US residents?




    Yeah, number portability just came in here. I thought that in Europe you could already take your number between carriers as long as you were in the same country?
  • Reply 8 of 25
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I don't think you can just skip your contract and go somewhere else without penalties. The rule will allow you to take your number with you when your contract is up and you want to switch providers without paying out the ass for leaving early.
  • Reply 9 of 25
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Giaguara

    this is for US-AI:ers only.



    europe: you get a) contracts. those include ONLY keeping your number . . . .




    Yeah, but in Europe you're bound to a shitty communication standard, namely GSM. The American and Asian CDMA (And soon OFDM) based standards are worth paying extra for.



    (anders. . . I wasn't aware that there were any 3G providers in Europe? I am familiar with GPRS systems in place, but that's hardly 3G.)



    I have the 400 minutes per month and unlimited nights and weekends plan from verizon, $40 per month. I don't come close to using it all. But, as I said, for people who use cell phones to talk on, Verizon is worth every penny.
  • Reply 10 of 25
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kneelbeforezod

    I think I have 600 minutes per month (w/ "unlimited nights and weekends") on my plan from AT&T. My girlfriend has the same plan. She used 830 minutes last month, which we know all about because AT&T decided to charge her $100 for the overage (even though more than 500 of the minutes were from offpeak calls...long story to do with AT&T gouging customers who are no longer under contract in an attempt to get them to re-up. ....





    Is that what happened to me? I made a bunch of calls from San Diego and got nailed for $70.
  • Reply 11 of 25
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kneelbeforezod

    By the way - I'm sure most of you are already aware of this, but if you are unhappy with your wireless service provider you will be able to take your number with you come November 24th of this year. ...





    Ditching my old number would be the best reason to get a new phone.
  • Reply 12 of 25
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    Is that what happened to me? I made a bunch of calls from San Diego and got nailed for $70.



    You might have just gotten hit with roaming charges...the thing I was talking about was AT&T discontinuing the free nights and weekends on a contract that had just expired without warning my girlfriend. Then, when she called to ask why her bill was almost $200 they said that they'd knock off some of the charges if she extended the contract (and was tied to AT&T for another year). She got a Sprint contract last week and I'm going with T-mobile as soon as number portability comes in...
  • Reply 13 of 25
    I average around 3000 minutes a month. Of course I am in the industry and use my phone all day everyday.
  • Reply 14 of 25
    We probably use about 700 minutes total per month. Of that, about 300 is peak time, the rest off peak. We've got a T-Mobile phone with 600 anytime and unlimited nights and weekends. $39.99. We don't have a home phone. It's worked out well.
  • Reply 15 of 25
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Powerdoc

    i must have problems with cell phones : except while i am on holidays, i just use from 2 to 3 minutes per month of my 120 minutes.

    I don't even know by heart my cell phone number.




    i'm the same
  • Reply 16 of 25
    Is there an app out there that can check your cell phone minutes and tell you when you used them up? That way i wont ever go over.
  • Reply 17 of 25
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    I pay as I go.
  • Reply 18 of 25
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Wow! Is this thread a blast from the past!



    To answer your question, I know that T-Mobile doesn't have anything like that. What you can do, however, is "call" #MIN# and it will tell you how many have been used.
  • Reply 19 of 25
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    900 peak minutes a month (Verizon) and I use them all. I have family back in Alabama and it's how I stay in touch. Plus I take a lot of calls while out and about from clients. Looking at ditching my land line, I barely ever use it.
  • Reply 20 of 25
    wow, my plan is terrible i have shared 200 minutes. it terrible.
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