Use As Needed

I have a new cell phone...that I haven't used to call anybody yet. I did use it to see what time it was when I spent the night at my daughter's house this week. [I was the first to sleep in the new guest bedroom, which isn't yet equipped with a clock.]

Five years ago my family decided it was a good idea for me to have a phone to use in case of emergencies on the road. My son P had added his brother to his plan when T started college in Boston, so it was easy to add me, too. On Mother's Day I was given a Razr flip phone, which I learned to use and found I liked having with me when I was away from home.

I figured out how to make the best use of that phone. Numbers for many friends and family members are in the "phonebook," which was especially useful when I needed to contact people when Ken was hospitalized in 2009. Our trips to Boston were much easier once we all had a way to stay in touch.

Now both my sons are on the west coast, so I rarely use my cell phone. It is almost five years old, which I am told is a good run. It's in my nature to use things as long as they still work.

For some time my daughter has been talking about getting a new cell phone. She has researched companies, their service areas as well as how they spend their profits. My daughter and I feel strongly that it matters that we pay attention to the causes that companies support. For that reason we each have our long distance service with CREDO, and we have been waiting for their service area to include our locations in Maine.

In December we learned that that time is now. I received an email for an excellent limited-time offer with CREDO mobile. As is my inclination I picked up the phone, called the 800 number, and talked to a pleasant young man named Jason, who was extremely helpful and able to sweeten the deal I was originally offered. I emailed my daughter and she did further research online. Long story short, after three days of emails and phone calls between my daughter and me, and phone conversations with Jason over that period of time, we signed up for a thirty-day trial period with CREDO mobile.

It has been twenty-seven days and the plan has been everything it was purported to be. My daughter likes the new Samsung smart phone and has found that coverage has been as good as it was with her old provider. Neither one of us had contracts to consider so we kept our old phones until we were certain that the new arrangement would work out.

I think that was confirmed today. My daughter and I had time to carefully review the first bill this week. Everything checked out, except that we were not credited for the activation fees as promised. Once my daughter added my name to her contract, one more of those details in doing business these days, I was able to talk to a customer representative about the itemized bill. No problem. As of noon today we had received the $70 credit.

I opted for another flip phone, which was all the more attractive because it was free. This weekend I need to dedicate some time to learning how it works and saving people's phone numbers. [All communication with CREDO is online or over the phone, so there is no convenient way to copy phone numbers from one phone to another.] That will call for a trip to Starbucks, which really isn't a chore for me, because we don't get cell service in our house.

While this transition isn't a big deal in the scheme of things, it is one more indicator of how life is changing. I am sure I will learn what I need to know and adapt to a different phone. I will share my new phone number with a few friends and family members...

to use as needed.