Gimme a few minutes behind the wheel and I'm sure I can find an idiot driving down the highway that can volunteer their phone for you.

All it takes is just a few minutes of their *worse than drunk driving distraction while yakkin' on the phone* to get 'em in a wreck and potentially turn them into an organ (and cell phone) donor.


Meanwhile, hopefully you'll find some nice ways to pinch a few more pennies and get the type of phone service you are looking for.

I'd offer a tip and say if you are using broadband internet at home you might want to seriously check out Vonage, but then again you are already paying the same price Vonage would charge you for unlimited service in the home. None of which would get you a mobile phone to use.

Aren't cell phones overrated though? I haven't had a cell phone for..let's see...5 years now, and I haven't missed a thing. In extreme emergencies you can always borrow someone else's phone (everyone's got one--it's a huge, expensive fad). I did that once...in a traffic jam, I asked the person in the car behind me if I could use his phone real quick. No problem. It was free and I made a friend!

Most often I witness people on cell phones just playing with them in waiting rooms or making like they're busy talking to someone about non-consequential things. Is this really necessary?

Then again, some people really do have busy lives and need to be reachable at every moment of every day. Yeah, those people need cell phones. Maybe that's you.

everyone's got one--it's a huge, expensive fad

Expensive? Depends on where you are and your situation, Angela. Because I am on the bad side of the SBC monopoly (which offers several different phone "companies" in our area, most of which are SBC under a different name), I would have to pay a $50 deposit and $50 a month for landline "prepaid" phone service. I am VERY grateful for my $40 a month cell phone, with its advantages of portability (I drive about 100 miles a day) and convenience (believe me...break down on a back road once and after a 2 mile hike to a farm house, you'll never want to be without a cell phone again). Better still, I'll soon be getting a satellite phone with 300 minutes for $14.95 a month. So, expense is highly relative!

Expensive? Depends on where you are and your situation, Angela.

I guess my situation is that even when I had a cell phone I never used it. There are a thousand little gadgets I could buy, and for each one I DON'T buy, I've got that much more money in my pocket. Can't live without the internet though

One big problem I can't even afford Broadband Intent that is $39.95. Compare that to $9.95 and there is a huge difference in bills. The cheapest DSL I can't afford and that is $17.95 then you have to add taxes and another fee. Like I said the cheapest thing I could find for a little speed is $14.95 and even that is excellerated and I don't even have enough to afford that. I don't even got cable anymore since standard went up to over $50 a month. It sucks to be poor!!!!

Cell phones are overrated until you actually have situations in which you actually can use one. I had a family emergency and had to go searching for a working pay phone it took trying 6 different pay phones. Then when I moved I had no working phone and had to go 6 blocks just to be able to make a phone call. What is really bad is I do have a pay phone right across the street from the building I'm in and it doesn't work. I actually had to go 6 blocks to my friends place just to be able to make a call. It took the phone company coming here 3 times before my phone worked.

Well my situation is simple I'm poor. I've been making the vane attempt of living well far below the poverty level and what a lot of agencies consider an exteremely low income. The major reason I'm so poor is I'm disabled an disability is a fixed rate every month for a year. Sometimes it goes up a few dollars, but at the rate I'm going I'll never catch up to the rate of expenses and inflation. As it is the agency only alloted me a total of $34 for my gas and electric bill, because I'm fortunate to have an appartment that includes heat and hot water. However that does me no favors when my lowest utility bill ever was $40 and the last one was $51 and some odd change. I'll bite the bullet on the some odd change but when your income is limited even $7 seems a lot.