Remember the days before cell phones? Barely!

You’ve gotta love technology that saves lives!

There are so many stories of lifesaving phone calls made with cell phones! These little devices are the “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” for us of the older generation and come in mighty handy even for the kids who get lost or run out of gas. It’s hard to imagine the world before portable phones brought us all closer and able to feel much more secure. Of course this has nearly driven pay phones out of existence but that’s the way of modern technology. Like the postage stamp that has grown less popular since internet banking and bill paying became so popular (not to mention much cheaper!), some things get left behind in the rush for improvement and modernization.

Now cell phones race to see which technology is fastest

There are new generations of cellular technology coming out every few years and just like everything else, faster is better! The current 3G (third generation) is about to be over run by the latest 4G or forth generation. Each succeeding generation is faster and has more to offer. As these capabilities leapfrog and continue to move along competitively we, the users of this excellent technology, benefit by all that improvement. Generally the cost is not increased with these improvements either, matter of fact cost usually goes down with each succeeding generation. The manufacturers, mostly based in China, keep costs down as the demand increases and they make more and more of them.

Coverage and usage determines cost

Cell phone plan cost can range from $100 per year to over $100 per month depending on the service provider and what you expect from your cell phone. Services like TracFone charge for set amounts of minutes on their “pay as you go” plan. You can buy anywhere from 30 minutes for about $10 to maybe 1500 minutes for around $200. You just purchase minutes and when they’re used up just buy more and you can even purchase a plan to double your minutes forever! Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and other major cell phone providers each have plans that range from $20 or $30 per month and go up according to how many extras like text messaging you make. If you do use a service like Verizon, don’t forget to apply Verizon promotion codes to lower costs.  These promotions can make your shopping experience more frugal. If texting and sending or receiving photos plus downloading movies or music files are of interest to you, they will cost more but can be justified because they’re a great form of entertainment! It’s all about what you use your cell phone for.