I have the cheapest cell phone plan that I know of using a basic Nokia 1661 cell phone on T-Mobile. About every 8 months, I buy 1000 minutes for $100. My cell phone stays in my car and I almost never do SMS text messages. That works out to $12/month for cell service for me. If I were to use text messaging, my current plan would soon be out the window since it costs a dime for every inbound or outbound message. The Nokia phones have cost from $0 to $25.
As a part of my making indirect financial amends (to the deceased, etc), I have bought a few of these phones for friends in early recovery. Cell phones with voice-mail are an incredibly convenient aid in modern living for setting appointments with social service providers, potential employers and family for those in transitional living situations. They are vital to economic development in the third world where there is no land-line phone system.
Yesterday when attempting to use my cell phone, I discovered to my dismay that it would not work due to an problem with the cell phone. The phone kept prompting for a security code that I had never set in the first place. That is the first time I had a problem like this since I started using cell phones 12 years ago. I was bummed and immediately went into a false belief that a particular person had switched phones with me without my knowledge. Stolen was the term that I used in describing this situation to others. I was angry and resentful. A few minutes of testing with a land-line quickly proved that misconception wrong. Oops.
It is appalling how quickly I can still get in the mode of being a victim and feeling threatened by others. Fortunately I am a lot better able to change that stinking thinking and get back to an even keel today.
I went to the T-Mobile store today. They could not get the phone to work using the default Nokia Admin password of 00000. Doing a hard reboot by pulling the battery twice in short order while the phone was on & waiting five minutes then using a security code of 12345 fixed the problem. YAY! Since that was the most trouble-shooting that T-Mobile staff could do with the phone, I left the store with my phone before knowing if the problem was fixed or not. The next step would have been to call Nokia directly.
While I was at the T-Mobile store, I put some money on accounts for two of my friends whose phones had stopped working due to nonpayment. It felt good to be able to help them. Their cell phones are a much more integral part of their social networking/communication than mine is to me. For $80, I got make three cell phones go from no calls to working today.
It used to cost $65 to get a landline turned back on 35 years ago. Back then, I was not always so good at paying my bills in a timely fashion. I quickly learned to pay the phone bill on time! That god (and Judge Greene) for the breakup of Ma Bell monopoly.
Someday soon, in the next year or so, I will upgrade my basic phone plan into an Android smart phone setup so I can surf the web from anywhere on a 5-inch monitor on a 4G phone network instead of being forced to use my giant monitor at home with 40 Mbps DSL. It is nice having a new toy to look forward to.
I am incredibly grateful for 21st century cell phone reliability, prices and convenience. It is a blessing in my life to be able to help others. Fear of economic insecurity has left me. I will never be rich, but I will always have enough to get by thanks to the miracle of the 12-step programs.
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