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Just some of the features crammed into that phone that I don't want, and don't want to have to deal with in a complex menu structure:

If all you ever want to do is make phone calls, why would you ever even enter the menu?

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I probably use my cell phone five or six times a year

Assuming that's not an exaggeration, let's compare costs. Assuming each call is five minutes long, my plan could charge as little as $0 for the phone and $20 every three months for the minimum service. So $80 per year with, worst case, almost 300 minutes left over* that never expire. Jitterbug would charge you $147 for the phone, a $35 "set-up fee", $10 per month for service (plus an additional $3 per month if you want voicemail), and $0.35 per minute. That is $310.75 to $346.75 for the first year and $128.75 to $164.75 for each additional year. That doesn't count "surcharges, government taxes and assessments". Jitterbug passes those costs directly to you whereas my plan includes them. That is, I pay for minutes and that's it. Well, I do pay sales tax. From my standpoint, it looks like Jitterbug provides less service for twice the money.

In addition, when you order your Jitterbug phone, they'll program five numbers into it for you. If you want more numbers, you have to get an operator to do it for you. And, apparently, that service is not available everywhere. Which, I guess, means that if you're outside the service area, you cannot change your phone's contacts.

I totally understand the desire to simplify. It's just that I think Jitterbug's plan sucks, and I don't think it's simpler.

Oh, and let's not forget this probable deal killer:

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Alaska coverage still pending


* My plan keeps track of money in my account, not minutes. I get charged $0.25 per minute for the first ten minutes a day and $0.10 for each minute after that. Assuming each five minute phone call is on a different day, each minute paid for is $0.25. That's a total of $6.25 removed from a total of $80 put in over the year, leaving $73.75, which, again, assuming the worst case of $0.25 for each minute, is 295 minutes. The best possible case would be if all the minutes were used on the same day. That would be $0.25 for the first ten minutes, or $2.50, which would leave 775 minutes at $0.10 a minute. Of course, that means you'd be talking over 13 hours that day.


Edited by wfaulk (26/07/2007 13:06)
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Bitt Faulk