Cellphones

There are plenty of ways to spend a lot of money having a portable form of communication, and a few ways to make it very cheap.

First, you need to figure out how much time you spend near a wireless network; second, how much hassle you are prepared to put up with; and finally, how much you actually use in three categories: airtime, text messages, and data - when NOT on wifi.

There are plenty of programs (I hate 'app' as a word) that will allow you to send and receive texts for free in Canada, and at least one that will allow you to make and receive phonecalls for free. You get a real number for these services, but they need internet access (either cellular or wifi) in order to communicate. This is where the hassle comes in - to save $40 a month, are you willing to manage your data connection?

Here's what I do. I use Wind Mobile http://windmobile.ca/ on 'Pay Your Way'. I top up for $40 + tax every 180 days (or when my balance reaches $0, but usually the $40 will last me).

I am *not* in a 'Wind Zone' so I am always 'roaming' on to the Rogers network, but it doesn't matter - the price is the same, $0.20 a minute to make and receive calls, and $0.15 to send a text (incoming is free). Data, however, is *very* expensive at $1 a megabyte - so I don't ever use it.

Now - I work from home, so I am almost always on wifi. I use the following three programs on the phone:

Fongo/Dell Voice - you get a free number that can make and receive free calls to all Canadian numbers (except premium rate, of course!)

Text+ - again a free number, but this time it is free to make and receive texts. Calling is 2c a minute or so. Calling doesn't seem to work correctly on my phone, unfortunately.

Skype - I use this for free video and skype calling, as well as free calling 1-800 numbers - this is great as it works on free call numbers the world over. Calls are very cheap as well, so I do pay to use the service. I go through about $30 a year.

I have just upgraded my phone, at a cost of about $50 - in the Boxing Day sales I got a lower-end Android phone, which I am very happy with.

Actually, cell phone 'plans' are all pretty much a joke. The whole system is digital so there is no good reason a 'phonecall' is billed differently from browsing the internet - it should all just be on the amount of data used. Pricing for text messages is ridiculous - bear in mind each one is 160 characters, which is 140 bytes - even with all the overhead, probably less than 1/4 of a kilobyte! Even the $1 megabyte would be enough to send 4,000 texts - but you get charged $0.15 each - $600?! Madness.

One slightly illicit option is to get a 'tablet plan' SIM card and an unlocked phone. Then you JUST use data - never give out the SIM card's phone number - and have Fongo and Text+ on all the time (but use wifi where possible). It is no doubt against the phone companies' terms of use, but that's simply because you're circumventing their horrible prices. There is no technological distinction between a tablet with 3g/cellular connectivity and a cell phone, nor indeed a computer with a 3g card - they are all 'computers', they all have an operating system, and programs.

Note: don't do this with a phone and SIM from the same company: The company will have a record of what device the phone in question is (by the IMEI, or phone's unique serial number), and be very unsympathetic... either cancelling the plan, or forcing you onto a phone plan.

Does my heart bleed for the cell phone companies? Hardly. I'm even a stock holder, so it is in my interest for people to keep paying the ridiculous prices the 'big three' charge! But really I'd rather have reasonable prices for all, without the 'long distance' charges (hello, I can stream videos from all over the planet, my ISP doesn't charge me extra!), overage fees, etc, etc, etc.

Now, if you talk a lot during the business week, and aren't near wifi, you're stuck. But in all other cases, if you are paying > $50 a month, there are probably smarter solutions - if you choose to use them.

How much do you earn an hour? Is it worth your time to deal with all this? If you're earning a lot, and you use a good portion of your monthly minutes, texts, and data then no, you're probably fine the way you are. For everyone else, it's probably worth at least a cursory glance.