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

I occasionally get the opportunity to combine my interest in different topics through research and writing of one article. For example, I recently wrote about mobile coupons. This allowed me to research the topic of mobile phones as well as to write about the topic of personal finance, both of which are topics that I write on regularly and find myself interested by.

Mobile coupons are interested because they take something that’s been around for a really long time (coupons) and change it in order to adapt to modern technology. Mobile phones are now capable of advanced web searches and mutli-media message receipt which allows for coupons to be accessed and redeemed using only the phone.

Come to think of it, this allows me to touch on another topic that interests me which is green living. After all, if you’re not printing up a bunch of coupons then you are saving a lot of trees. Of course, there’s a balance to be struck because mobile phones do use energy which is a different type of waste but generally mobile coupons seem greener than traditional coupons as far as I can tell. Smart stuff!

Tags: discount, kathryn vercillo, mobile coupons, mobile phone, Personal Finance, save money, Wireless, writing

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

Last week I asked the question: how long should you keep your cell phone? As part of a life of frugal living, people should probably try to make their phones last as long as possible so that they aren’t spending more than necessary on new phones and increased phone bills.

Another important question to ask is how much should you pay for your cell phone? What do you think is a reasonable price to pay for a device? And is your decision impacted by the monthly cost of services on that phone?

I did a Nokia N97 review recently which highlighted all of the reasons that a lot of people are really interested in this new phone which is set to come out in the summer. But there are rumors going around that the phone is going to have an outrageous price of $1000. Even if those rumors are incorrect, the price is likely to be at least half that. Is $500 too much to pay for a cell phone?

I come from the school of frugal living as far as phones go. I try to keep both the cost of the phone itself down and also try to limit my monthly spending. However, I do think that it’s sometimes wortwhile to pay for added convenience which is probably why so many people are footing the bill for the advanced smartphones that can do so much more than a basic cell phone can. So it’s a balancing act, I guess.

What is the most that you would pay for a cell phone?

Tags: cell phones, cost of phones, Frugal Living, mobile phones, phones, price of phones, shopping, spending, what to pay for phone, Wireless

The Nokia N97 is a new mobile phone that Nokia is coming out with in June of this year. It is a new phone in the N Series that Nokia is known for. However, it’s more than that because it’s also a flagship phone designed to be the start of a new line of phones that are advanced enough to really be considered mobile computers.

Advances in wireless technology have grown so much that we can now basically have a laptop computing experience right on our mobile phones. With advanced memory storage, multi-media features and new organizational tools, the Nokia N97 is a clear example of this trend in mobile phones.

Like most mobile phones coming out today, this is a touchscreen phone. However, it has a really unique design which allows for both touchscreen keyboard functions and full QWERTY keyboard functions. It’s a phone that looks to be worth keeping an eye on. You can read my complete review by following this Nokia N97 link.

Tags: cell phone, mobile phone, n97 review, nokia, nokia n97, phone review, phones, Technology, Wireless