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As we are getting ready to full time April 1. (YEH) Do you guys out there use 1 cell phone between you or do you each have one. We have been checking on rates, etc, and wonder if cheaper just to have one??? Thans for answers, love this forum!
We have not begun to fulltime as of yet, however I believe we will keep two cell phones. There are a lot of times when my wife is on the phone, that I want to make a call. Also if she is ever somewhere I am not, then we are still in contact.
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www.rvdaydreams.blogspot.com 2002 29' Prowler TT pushing a 2002 GMC 2500HD "BIG RED" Counting the days until we fulltime but not forgetting to enjoy everyday as a gift from God.
I think like most couples, we got into this with both of us having cell phones from our prior life. Because of contractual obligations we still have 2, but I for one would get rid of mine in a heartbeat, and just have one phone. The few phone calls we make and take are easily handled with one phone, we're with each other 24/7 anyway.
I think my significant other has a different opinion, as she just went to get her computer.
I know my DH just replied that the only reason we have two is because we are still under contract, but I respectfully disagree. I think it's important to have two because you are not always together. There are many times one of us is off running errands, shopping and such, and I wouldn't be out without one. And the person at "home" should have one too, in case of emergency if nothing else.
Besides, it's convenient to be able to communicate with each other in those instances as well.
Also, we are with Verizon, and the second line as an appendage to the first only costs $9.99 per month. That's a small price to pay for the safety and convenience of two phones. Minutes per plan are shared between the two.
We have identical phones, so we can share all the accessories like chargers and the booster antenna.
Just my opinion
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Jo Wishnie
http://www.mytripjournal.com/wanderingwishnies
If you're not getting older...........you're dead!
DITTO! Dreamjosie Except we have Cingular, and will not be fulltiming for another few months. I purchased our first cell phones just for emergencies and that purpose still stands, even though they are used for much more these days.
I also agree with 2 phones. We also are sometimes apart and it is nice to be able to get in touch. Both our phones are with the same carrier (Cingular) which is nice because we can talk to each other without using minutes, but we have found in our travels that there are places where Cingular has no coverage but other carriers do. I have thought that it might be nice to have one phone with one carrier and the other with another carrier, say Verizon. That way if one carrier doesn't have coverage, maybe the other one will. But I haven't thought it important enough of an advantage to change carriers on one of them yet. We still might do that in the future when current contracts run out. Also some of my ideas aren't so good when you dig a little deeper. The verdict is still out on this one.
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Full timing since 1/1/2005 American Tradition & Jeep Wrangler www.howethsjournal.blogspot.com
Howard and I have two. He really didn't want two but I insisted. We aren't apart much but when we are, I want to be able to communicate. He saw the importance of this last summer when we were in Louisville for awhile helping his parents move. We were apart quite a bit and needed to communicate. The problem we had then was our camping location was not in cell range. It drove him crazy. So not only do we have two cell phones, we also now how have a cell phone amplifier on the rig.
We have two phones. For a long time we had two Verizon phones but when the older phone started dying we decided it was time to have a Cingular phone also and transferred the number in May. The amount of time we call each other is small enough we can handle the minutes. It does cost more money per month to have two plans but we have already have had instances where we had service with one phone and not the other. When we give out our cell numbers to RVers we tell them which carrier each number is on, that way they can call for "free".
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Bill Joyce, 40' 2004 Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid Journal at http://www.sacnoth.com Full-timing since July 2003
I may be like luvn2rv, wasn't sure if we needed 2 cell phones, but I'm in a worse case scenario....I've never even had one cell phone. Know we will need one on our upcoming 8 month adventure (probably two). I think Verizon may get better coverage with things I've read, not sure about this. So how many minutes do you all use per month??? I can't see where we would use more than 300, but I understand the extra minutes are very expensive. And do those of you who don't have satellite have a 2 year contract with air cards for laptop use?? Sounds like WiFi service isn't always the best at campgrounds.
Gotta agree 2 is better than one!! Expecially when one of us is shopping and cant find the other. Would NEVER be on the road without 2. southwestjudy & Bob & 2blackdogs
P.S. we use Verizon and have more than 300 minutes between the 2 of us. LOVE the air card and its the best in the mountains of the west. The air card is a monthly fee for us when we bought the laptop...no contract. southwestjudy and Bob & 2blackdogs
I'm with Fred, just as soon dump my phone. Judy is with Jo, she can keep track of me especially while we are shopping. She can call me and send me on another errand before I get back from the first one - I hate the darned thing, feel like a dawg on a lease. But the emergency thing does have its merit - I guess we are stuck with two. Actually I have learned to call her before she calls me - thar ya go!!!
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Wandering America 2006 38' Cedar Creek Custom 2500 HD GMC Sierra Duramax Diesel
If you want to hear something even funnier, we have been shopping together, say at Walmart. We each go off to look at something and lose each other, so we've had to call each other to find out where we are.
Re: the minutes used, we have gone up and down on the minutes plan. In the beginning we used to use a lot more. But that has tapered off quite a bit. Still, every time I have a problem with Direct TV or our Satellite, or some other nonsense where I sit on hold forever, or we troubleshoot for 60 minutes that really eats up the minutes. With our two line plan, our choices were 700 minutes or 1400. Nothing in between. The difference in cost between the two is only about $20 a month. If you go over your minutes, they usually really shaft you on the cost per minute over. It costs you way more than the difference if you use, say 750 minutes on a 700 minute plan than it would to be on the 1400 plan. So we're back to the 1400 minute plan and I don't have to worry about how many minutes we are using.
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Jo Wishnie
http://www.mytripjournal.com/wanderingwishnies
If you're not getting older...........you're dead!
We have the Verizon North American plan since we're from Canada. We also have two phones. My husband is a photographer and is out at all hours so in case he would be late coming back, he could call me so I wouldn't worry that he was at the bottom of a cliff somewhere. However, lots of the places where he takes photos doesn't have cell service but I think you can still dial 911. We too have used the cell phone to find each other or I'll go shopping and he'll go photographing and then I can call him when I'm ready to leave. We've found the two phones to be very handy.
We started out with 1400 shared minutes with Cingular, which has rollover minutes (unused minutes roll to the nex month). After 6 months, we had over 6000 rollover minutes, in addition to the current available minutes. We switched our plan to 700 about a year ago, and still have never used ANY! of the rollover minutes. You have to realize that nearly all of your calls will be long distance, so we went with the national plan, which gives us free long distance calling from anyplace in the United States.
I would not be without the second cell. I want to have my wife to be able to get ahold of me at anytime for any reason. That's how I use my cell, very seldom call out on it. Let my better half use up the minutes calling love one. It's worth the small price of the second cell.
[spoiler] I know that it is an old topic. We also have two cell phones from Verizon. Used them in big box store when we wonder away from each other, etc. Just a reminder when using cell phones that they are not secure. With a scanner your calls can be heard up to twenty miles away. Do not give out Credit card No's. or other personal information over a cell phone (Land line only).
Soon is the time a lot of us will be moving, so please be careful on the road South.
jdensie wrote: Just a reminder when using cell phones that they are not secure. With a scanner your calls can be heard up to twenty miles away. Do not give out Credit card No's. or other personal information over a cell phone (Land line only).
Soon is the time a lot of us will be moving, so please be careful on the road South.
Not true with digital cell phones which is what we have -
http://www.advancedspecialties.net/radio-scanner-faq.htm . If a criminal could scan cell phones for information to scam money they would set up in Wall Street and could make millions or even billions from the information being passed out. Haven't heard of that happening, so I don't lose sleep giving out my credit card number over my cell phone. Land lines are easier to tap.
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Bill Joyce, 40' 2004 Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid Journal at http://www.sacnoth.com Full-timing since July 2003