CELL PHONES ON THE RUN - Part II in a Series

In the never-ending saga of cell phone necessity, I submit the following short burst.

Now that I've got a comfortable plan and a pretty good phone, Spouse One has decided to throw in a wrench. Since it's "Shopping Season," he suggested that I get him a cell phone for a Christmas gift. That means that I have to visit the dreaded-cell-phone-store, and once again wade through the plans, most of which are designed simply to confuse you into buying more than you need!

Up until a few months ago, Spouse One had a cell through his work, which he used for his work when he was on the road. The phone and the service were incredibly lousy, and POE (place of employment), is clueless. So, it's up to me to get Spouse One reconnected.

There are about a dozen models of phones, not one of which you can actually try out--listen and speak on to make sure they actually have the volume and tone you need. Each of the phones works on one or more of the plans. Then there are a dozen or so plans. Some are digital, some are a newer wireless technology (I think the signals bounce off passing birds, or something. Since their bones are hollow, this seems to work well. It's why you see so many wild and frantic birds in flight.)

Each of the two technologies also has a variety of calling plans and, of course, vary wildly in the cost.

The digital plan that gets you an $80 phone for, well $80, plus 400 minutes, which can be used anywhere in the U.S., will run about $50 a month. Last month I used 398 minutes, so if Spouse One is going to share my minutes, I'll need to up the ante. This plan, with its digital technology, works fairly well, except at my home. So when I want to call Daughter One in a far off state, I have to pay the long distance charges and use my landline.

The new technology gets you a sweet little flip-phone, plus a bunch more minutes, on the revered national plan, plus, for a limited time, I can get two or three free phones. Plus, my Spouse One account will be an additional ten bucks a month. Not really a bad deal. But there are so many other offers and plans and freebies, and none of them is compatible with any other offer or plan or freebie. So I'm still confused. And Spouse One still doesn't have a cell phone, and depending on how I feel by the end of this week, my own may be at the bottom of a frozen pond.