Geezer Wireless

tbbs-land is Powered by Verizon. From the FiOS interweb pipes, to the landline phone, to the Verizon Wireless cell phones, we are Verizon customers. I’ve cussed Verizon up one side and down the other on occasion; a justified cussing, in my opinion, ususally related to their customer service recalcitrance. Cussings aside, I’ll admit that 99.9% of the time, Verizon Just Works. We still have DirecTV for the one-eyed monster, and have been delighted with their products and service.

My quarrel with Verizon is centered on their wireless phone plans. When MLB and I first got cell phones, in 1990-something, we had a base plan, consisting of about 20 minutes per month apiece, for the modest sum of $15 or $20 per month. We never came close to using those minutes. The phones were clunky, with an interface that would have baffled Houdini. Even in those days, the Verizon network was awesome; we could plunk our phones down on my mom’s kitchen table in remote Northwest Kansas, call the cell number from her phone, and the damned things would ring. We made calls from the hills of Southwest Nebraska, and the damn things just worked. Amazing.

As electronic devices are wont to do, our phones laid down, and we upgraded. But our old plan was no more. We now have the “Half a gazillion minutes, with free calls in network” plan at about $80/month. And it works. But we use probably 20 minutes per month, and that’s heavy traffic. Rollover minutes aren’t an option with Verizon; I’m cool with that; I don’t want rollover minutes, I want a lifeline plan. At about $20/month. No soap.

So, today, I hit the Verizon website, all agog with the possibilities of bundling landline phone/wireless/internet/teevee¹ into one super savings bundle of joy. And it was a partial success. The Verizon live chat person actually seemed interested, and directed me to several bundled items that would save around $100/month or so. The stickler came from the wireless piece; it’s still too much plan for us. I then looked at the potential savings without Verizon Wireless, and man, I hit the jackpot. I’ll let Verizon wireless run out later in the year, switch wireless carriers, bump DirecTV out, and save some big bucks.

And, this lengthy and rambling post concludes with my signing up with Jitterbug. Had to buy a phone, but the plan is $19/month, for 30 free minutes, including protection for the “I broke my phone” coverage. This should be here in time to make the upcoming Search for America tour, and if it has coverage where we need it, it’s Adios, Verizon. Then, I can bundle the remaining services, and save mega-mega-bucks. Either that, or I’ll have pissed away the Jitterbug money for nothing.

I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

-k-