Wednesday, July 15, 2009

4 Minutes? That's it???


I went online to pay my cell phone bill, and when looking at my stats I realized that I had only used 4 minutes of calltime last month.

4 Minutes? That's it???

Then I looked at my stats from last month to see if a trend was occurring, and for all of that month I only used 23 minutes.

What the heck?

Now, i usually keep my blackberry with me all day long, as I use it for email and texts. I knew that I wasn't actually "talking" on the phone as much, but I had no idea that it was THAT low!

Well...that's it! Since I haven't been coming anywhere CLOSE to my allotted 500 out-of-network monthly minutes, I am going to change my Cellphone plan then.

Problem: I can't.

Because of the type of phone I have, I am required to at least hold the monthly calling plan that I currently have.

WHAT THE....That's BULLLLLSHIT!

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to pay for only internet, and then purchase an unlimited texting plan for your phone? Ok...and maybe a very basic number of calling minutes, because apparently that's all I need...
Hey Verizon...I am not an obnoxious TRIXIE, chat-chat-chatting away all day long!

Oh well...I guess I have no choice but to keep my current calling plan, but it would really be great to be able to pay for only the services I choose.

Case in point #2: Cable Television Companies

My current cable plan gives me a PLETHORA of channels...way more than I have ever clicked on.

I think I might watch 10 of them on a regular basis, yet I pay a substantial price in order to have a bunch of channels that I never watch at all.

I mean...the Jewelry TV channel? Really?

But here's where they get you: In order to watch something like the BBC America channel,(which I don't currently have AND which I would really enjoy watching) or the ALL DAY 'Real Housewives of Wherever!' channel, I am not able to purchase just those channels; I have to upgrade to the next package with a ton of other channels and pay even MORE $$ monthly.

Ugh...

Once again...BULLLLLLLSHIT!

Wouldn't it be great to have an 'a la carte' way of ordering, where you can pick and choose which stations you want, and then pay for a certain amount monthly?

For example: I would choose 10 stations I want to purchase, because up to 10 stations would be a set price... And then 10-15 stations would be a slightly higher price, 15-20 etc....

But no...they like to make things difficult for us, don't they.

Like Gym memberships... Most gyms make you sign a contract for a set amount of time, like a 2 year membership. That's where they get you... You may move 6 months into the contract, but because you signed up you are stuck paying monthly membership fees for a gym you no longer go to!

Really, I don't understand why you just can't pay monthly...I'm sure there's a reason behind this, but i have no idea what it is; but i will heavily bet that it is to benefit the corporation, and not the customer...

Gotta love Corporate America!

Now if you will excuse me, I need to text someone, to tell them to watch the Bravo cable channel tonight after they get home from the gym... :)

10 comments:

  1. Or how about this? Pay for cable in the winter because you are home to watch it, but don't have to pay for it in the summer when you are never home. Thoughts?

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  2. BEST POST EVER PAUL! And yes, the caps were necessary. I usually use less than 100 minutes of my 450 available, and had a bit of a confrontation with LVAC about canceling my membership...even after my one year contract was up! My favorite part of all this is that when the satellite finds a signal again after it goes out, I will get channels like Discovery, and Bravo for a short period of time, but which are allegedly "unavailable" normally according to the provider down here.

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  3. Adam, I'm glad that I'm not the ONLY one who thinks this way. I can't begin to tell you how frustrating it can get. Lord!

    Anonymous...I guess that's an idea. Although, I still would rather pay for only what I choose.

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  4. I agree with you 100% Paul. I never go over my minutes and I always get "rollover" minutes. I called them to see if I can put my account on "hold" and just used my rollover minutes but was told they could not do that. I mean if the minutes are mine to use why can't they do that?

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  5. Like I said, It's all BULLLLLLSHIT!
    HAHA!

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  6. Shit Paul, you should have told them you could save the world in 4 minutes..u dont need 500!!

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  7. OMG - a la carte cable is my dream! So true Paul!!

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  8. I'm telling you...It would be amazing!

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  9. I just finished a Multimedia Business class this semester and learned the most frustrating things about cable.

    Each channel gets a certain amount of money from the cable company. So your bill of say, 40 dollars, is divided into different amounts based on the channels. So even though you watch it the most, Bravo would only be .35 of your bill, but other channels that you dont watch still cost you more- and there is nothing you can do about it. The most expensive channel is actually ESPN (I think its about $2.73), and then Fox News in second.

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  10. When all people could use their phones for was to talk, it made sense to have a plan that gave you a lot of minutes. And when you went over, they charged you prices so high that prison rape would have been more palatable.

    Now, I almost always have to think for a second if my phone actually rings because I almost never use it for phone.. text/internet/apps only. I'd bet that changes to the structure of calling plans will change but the 'innovators' that are our cell providers will, as always, be 3 years behind the times in terms of what people are actually using vs. what we're being charged for.

    As for cable, it's just evil and always will be. Think of the poor bastards who didn't even have a digital television! (even though every TV made in the last 20 years has been digital)

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