I remember the first time that I got one of those exorbitant cell phone bills. I had been traveling and I didn’t yet know about the way that roaming charges worked. This was quite a few years ago, when mobile phones were still somewhat new and the average person hadn’t been exposed to the nuances of complicated billing yet. Wherever I had traveled wasn’t included in my cell phone plan and I was charged some huge fee for using my phone away from home. (Isn’t the point of using a cell phone being able to call others when away from home?!)

I learned my lesson then and things have gotten a bit better here now. They’re also getting better in Europe where legislators have just agreed to a plan for reduced calling and text messaging fees when roaming amongst the different countries there.

It’s shocking to me sometimes that we’re even still dealing with these issues. It seems obvious to me that we should have flat rate data and calling plans that include international roaming free of charge. We’re a global society. And those people who are tech savvy enough to understand their phone charges and the options for mobile VoIP can indeed keep cell phone costs down even while traveling. But it seems like this should be a more widespread thing for the average phone user instead of something that just the tech savvy know how to get.

Tags: cell phone, costs, fees, kathryn vercillo, laws, mobile phone, money, phone bill, Technology, Wireless

California has only recently changed its cell phone laws to make it so that you can’t text while driving. Prior to this change, you couldn’t talk on the phone while driving but you could text. How smart is that? After all, texting obviously requires more of your attention to be focused on your phone than on the road right?

The reason that I’m thinking about this is because I recently researched an article on 10 Tragic Accidents Caused by Cell Phones. These are primarily car accidents involving someone who was texting or talking on the cell phone whilr driving and hit and killed someone else. There was also the tragic case of the LA Commuter Train accident that was partially caused by the distraction of cell phones. And even one case in which a man merely went inside to go get a forgotten cell phone and ended up getting run over by his one car.

I’m not honestly sure how I feel about talking or texting while driving. I do think that it causes accidents. On the other hand, I don’t think that talking on a cell phone is particularly more distracting to drivers than talking to the three kids in the back seat or trying to navigate around an unfamiliar area by fiddling with the GPS system.

What do you think? Is it good that texting while driving has been banned in California? Should we ban other types of fiddling around in cars?

Tags: cell phone laws, cell phones, driving, issues, kathryn vercillo, laws, mobile phones, texting, transportation, Wireless