Long Distance for Cell Phones – How My Father Taught Me to Save Money

For a long time, I was the kind of guy that spent a lot of money on long distance cell phone rates. Like many people, my family is spread out all over the continent (and even farther). Sisters that live on the east coast, bothers (oops! I meant brothers) living on the west coast, and a host of assorted aunts, uncles, cousins, and relations to fill in the gaps. That doesn’t include my aunt Agnes, who loves to talk about the rain in Scotland where she’s lived since she was a little girl.

In spite of the spaces between us, we’ve all made a commitment to stay in touch as a family, and while my uncles and aunts across the ocean don’t hear from me as much as they should, my brothers and sisters all parents all keep in constant contact.

That means I have long distance bills like you wouldn’t believe. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on long distance cell phone charges in the past, and fairly expected to continue to do so for a long time to come. I always figured it was just the price you had to pay to keep in touch with your friends and family in this day and age.

That is, until a call from my father changed all that.

We were talking about his upcoming birthday, and as usual I was keeping one eye on the clock and doing a running tally in my head. Finally, sensing my distraction (I’m terrible at math) my father asked what the matter was.

I told him nothing at all, although I was keeping an eye on the clock because it was a rather expensive call.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t switched over to those CellularLD fellows,” he said. “Have I taught you nothing about keeping a respectable bottom line?”

Sheepishly, I admitted that I’d never used them. Indeed, I’d never heard of them until exactly that moment. I did promise to try them on my next call, and also promised to call him again before his birthday.

A few days later I was on the internet when I remembered about the long distance advice my father had given me. I quickly typed in www.cellularld.com and checked out their site. To my amazement, they were listing long distance cell phone rates that were far lower than the national company I’d been using!

In addition, there were no lengthy contract hassles, no confusing pin number combinations, and no monthly fees! They set a single low rate (for example, to Canada or the United States for $0.05 a minute) and that’s all I had to pay. Not only that, but I could send a text message to anywhere in the world for only $0.75 per message. They listed complete rates on their website for dozens of countries, as their service is in use world wide. I also found it interesting that Cellularld is the cell phone provider of choice for many universities across the United States, where being cash strapped is a way of life for many students. Places like Harvard University, and MIT.

Armed with my new long distance rates, I couldn’t wait to call my father on his birthday. When the day came, I was the first one of the kids to do it.

“So,” he asked, after pleasantries had been exchanged. “Did you decide to try out www.cellularld.com?”

I told him I did, and I heard him laugh. “Good for you,” he said. “I’m glad I was able to give you a little mobile phone advice.”

“You’ve given me more than that,” I said. “You’ve given me the opportunity to get re-acquainted with some old friends.”

We talked for a long time, and then when we finally said goodbye to each other I reached for my phone book. Looking up a number I hadn’t called in a long time, I smiled when the other line picked up.

“Hello?” a sleepy voice said.

“Hello, Aunt Agnes,” I said. “It’s your nephew Bill from America. I just wanted to see how the weather was in Scotland.”

For more information, visit www.cellularld.com.

Also see; cell phone long distance.

Author Notes:

Bill Schnarr contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.cell-phones-n-plans.com. A wireless industry resource featuring service plan comparisons, cell phone reviews and informative articles.