Not to be that guy, but I until a few years back I vehemently avoided having a cell phone. When I went on a trip to a place where phone service would be a 15 minute drive I finally decided to get my toes wet — but only a little. I ended up buying a Pre-Pay phone. The phone was anything but fancy, but it still works even after a trip through the wash. I’m still pre-pay, mostly since my $50/500 minute plan lasts all year and I don’t think I’m close to getting that much use.
One of the big reasons I don’t have a bigger phone plan is that I simply don’t want another bill to pay. Reading though the ads for phones reminds me why: I hate all of the gimmicks that go along with cell phones — it’s a music player! It’s a camera! It’s a mini-web browser! It’s a PDA! It reminds me a lot of the 200 channels one can get on cable — all you want is the locals, a news channel, and maybe something like Discovery or ESPN. Still, you’re stuck paying for QVC, 5 channels of Nickelodeon, and a music station that plays smooth jazz.
Worse, I know full well that the advertised price is not what I’ll end up paying, as evidenced by the little legend key each of the phones has next to it: activation fees, termination fees, monthy access charges, roaming, and on and on. Plus, there’s the hoops to jump through to get to the actual advertised price, including rebates.
Thankfully Dilbert gets how inane these things are.
As someone who has blown a rebate before, and is still waiting 3 years later for another one that never made it, I don’t want to make that mistake again.
The secret is that you need an advocate. We just got a rebate rejection for a phone purchased in December, so we went back into the place we got it (a cell phone booth at costco) and they called in to T-Mobile and rectified the situation. A good conclusion.
In regards to cable, you should move to where I live. For a little over $10 a month, we get the locals, Discovery, some local access, Golf, VS., WE (not so sure about that one), plus a couple others and now that we have a digital tuner, digital versions of all those as well. If we had a working antenna, we’d probably get rid of it, but once you have Discovery with Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs, it’s hard to get rid of it. Especially during the summer when there’ s nothing on.