Does your cell phone seem too expensive?

$600!

You sure you didn't slip an extra '0' in there?

(But what do I know... Mrs. SealPoet and I caved so recently that we haven't gotten our first real bill!)

No, I wonder if they are billing me the same amount that I paid. I have cashed savings bonds to pay the bloody bill. I like having my phone with me, especially when I do something like send out 25 letters to public schools, trying to determine if anyone needs a permanent sub for the remainder of the school year. Every month the amount billed seems to never decrease. Yet, all the calls listed on the novel disguised as a statement indicate the calls made are free.

No, I think you're being screwed...

And it may be cheaper to pay the penlty to break the cellph contract and get another service.

But... what exactly are you getting for your $600?

I agree with Seal.

Something sounds very wrong.
My cell phone itself was free - one of those sign-up for two years and get a rebate on the phone things.
The monthly connection fee is about $20 Canajun. Local weekend and evening calls are free. 100 free local daytime minutes a month. A few cents a minute per local call after that. My plan is really only expensive if I make calls to, or in the U.S. - since I didn't buy the U.S. access plan. My biggest bill in, hmmmmm, about 12 years has been about $50/month. $600 would more than cover a year of cellphone use for me.

$600! Holy smokes. Mine hasn't been that high since I left my last job but it was only that high then because I was making calls to Seoul, Singapore, Madrid, London etc.. all day long. Once I left that job the cell bill dropped to about $60/month.

I think something is wrong as well. My landline service, also Verizon, is about $60 per month and the first cell line is $45 and the second is $20. That means I should be paying $125/month. We make few if any long distance calls, perhaps only one per month to NY, although my son does sometimes call his dad in NH.

Dare we ask who carries your cell?

Verizon.

Does your plan have special rates for calling within particular regions, POM? I pay about $2/minute for calls in the U.S. hmmmmmm, even then, $600 is a lot of minutes on top of $125 base rate.

My son has been talking for nearly 200 to 300 minutes over our monthly allotment of 500 minutes. Yikes!

I hope he has a nice part-time job to pay for those charges.

Seems, your son should make up the overage... and you have a heart to heart with him to decide just how much he needs to talk. If he balks, take his phone away. If he's reasonable, then the two of you need to decide on how much time you're going to buy.

When Mrs. SealPoet and I signed up with Verizon (January 2 this year) we were told that we could change our contract (upwards) at any time... 20$ more a month will get you another couple hundred minutes...

My son is very angry with me at this time. He suffers from bi-polar disease and he thinks I failed to discipline him sufficiently. I see things differently: as I went to Catholic school, where discipline was harsh and constant, I feel that too much external discipline prevents one from forming good habits of interior, or self-motivated, discipline.

After last year's vandalism, my son went into a slump and hasn't emerged yet. At the present time, he is not working. He and his father will go to his social worker tonight to work on their relationship. I know that he is more angry at his father than he is at me.

Anyway, despite the phone being his idea, and despite his promise to pay, he paid the first two months then never again. In some ways, I am happier with him not working because then he has an excuse not to pay.

Have you taken possession of the phone?
Seems like you need to take some sort of action. How old is this son?

ehBeth,
My son is 19 and a senior in high school. Both of my sons suffer from extreme passivity although he did open the clean out on the drain leading away from the washer today.

He's an adult, plainoldme, so I hope you've taken the phone back, and found out from him how he'll be paying you for those overages.

Let him make the arrangements for getting his own phone - he can take responsibility for his calls.