the fact i hate cell phones makes me lose geek points

Yesterday I switched my phone plan to a bare-ass minimum deal, that being 50 anytime minutes and 250 weekend/night minutes per month.

Some would read this and shudder in horror. There's no WAY I could live with a plan that crappy! Well, I certainly can, and I'll tell you why:

$20 a month.

Does it sound crappy to you now? 🙂

To those who wonder why I don't switch to pre-paid, I would if I didn't have to incur the stupid early termination charge. Fortunately there's legislation in effect going on right now that will hopefully cure that ill. But until that happens I have to stay on the post-paid because there's no effing WAY I'm paying $155 just to switch to pre-paid.

I basically almost never use my cell phone ever since I got digital land-line. At best I may use 20 minutes a month, and that's being generous. Not only do I barely talk on the thing but I never send text messages either. I have always hated them and purposely have my phone set to BLOCK any that come in (save for the bill notices).

The reason I hate cell phones is because I remember people complaining about Ma Bell.

Prior to 1984, the phone company was tyrannical in all senses of the word. One company ruled it all. Then the government stepped in and broke them up. But prior to the demonopolization the phone company was just absolute crap. I remember speaking with BBS Sysops about it that lived thru it all. Not one of them has anything nice to say about the phone company. And by the way, they call it "the phone company" because Bell was literally the only one. And it was bad. People were spending 50 bucks a month - IN THE EARLY 80s - just to make calls ACROSS TOWN.

Cell phone plans are almost EXACTLY as bad as Ma Bell was in the early 80s. In reality they're worse. Not only are you paying for a cheap plastic toy (and they're all toys no matter what anyone says) to make your calls with that breaks in 2 years, you're locked into a contract and have to deal with spotty connectivity.

What's worse is that people think 40 bucks a month for a cell phone plan is cheap. CHEAP?! You pay 40 bucks for the privilege of using a toy that has no guarantee of completing a call. That's not cheap. That's called getting ripped off.

Seriously, think about it. You probably don't know a single person without a cell phone, right?

Wouldn't you think with all the new customers all the wireless carriers get on an almost daily basis that the plan prices would go down? Of course they don't. Instead you're going to pay the same rate for the life of your plan and never will you get a break - and that's exactly how the carriers want it to be. They'll keep signing up customers left and right and getting more and more cash, but you'll never see any savings from their increased revenues.

Maybe I could understand if cell phones were only for a limited market - but they're not. Kids use cell phones now and have for several years. Everyone has one and there are more and more people getting them every day.

That being the case, all post-paid cell phone plans are nothing short of highway robbery.

I'm still getting ripped off even though I'll only be paying $20 a month. I know this. But I have to have that phone in case I need to call someone on the road so I'm forced to keep it. Otherwise I'd be more than happy to toss the phone in the nearest river.