Found Not Lost

I had a phone call the other day from an old friend in the Philippines. It was so out of the norm it shocked me that I was even talking to this person after so many years. We fell into the old banter after only a few minutes as if we just spoke last week. After getting caught up in the gossip and all that, I suddenly realized how long we’ve been on the phone! I told him we’d better get off or he’d have more than hell to pay on his phone bills. I remember on the one or two lapses I had with international phone calls in the past, I ended up tripling my normal monthly bill! He laughed and calmly explain that they used voip gateways to make all their long distance calls now, especially international calls. He said voice-over-internet-protocol is the thing now. For the same cost as a local phone call, they can make long distance calls for pennies!

That just goes to show how much I stay on the phone. I had never even heard of VOIP before. He even gave a U.S. number to call him at even though he’s in the Philippines. When I call via VOIP, I only get billed what it costs to call that area code, not the triple digit rate for international calling. Sweet!

Actually, “should you get your kid a cell phone?” is not the right question anymore, it is now almost a necessity that kids should have their own cell phones. Now the more pertinent question is probably “what kind of cell phone should you get them?”

When the girls were smaller, I swore I would not raise them to be reliant on cell phones and other gadgets. But as they got old and our lives got busier, the more I realized how important it was that we are able to get in touch with each other when we need to. I investigated several cell phone providers, a variety of calling plans, and they were all exorbitant! At least for my little budget, it is. It would have taken a chunk into my monthly budget for me to sign up the whole family for one of those plans.

We found solution with Tracfones. I think they are a perfect plan when you don’t intend to use your phones a lot. And we didn’t these phones are only meant for emergencies and quick checks. They are not supposed to stay on them for hours gossiping with their friends. I don’t have a monthly bill to maintain, we replenish their time as needed, and on the times when they have lapses in judgment (it has happened) and used up their alloted minutes too soon, they go on a wait mode until mom is ready to buy them more time, or they can buy it themselves with their own money. This way, they learn really fast to budget their calling time.