Cell Phone?!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>My parents recently have started telling me what a waste of money it would be to get a cell phone for next year.</p>

<p>Yeah, I understand that cell phone plans are expensive, but I think they’re a necessity because:</p>

<li><p>It’s the only way you’ll be able to get in contact with anyone during the day without hiking back to North Campus to use your dorm phone.</p></li>
<li><p>You don’t have to worry about resphone charges, pin numbers, and long distance calls home and to cell phones with different area codes.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>So, I’m assuming most students at Cornell have cell phones, right?</p>

<p>Can anyone think of any other argument I can use?</p>

<p>I just turned 18 a few days ago, so I suppose I could just go out and get a cell phone plan, but I’ll see if I can convince my parents first.</p>

2

<p>Cells phones are variable in the Ithaca area. Some work and some do not. Verizon seems to have the best coverage in the area. Our son will take a cell phone especially since so many cover long distance charges and it's probably cheaper than land lines and long distance charges. We were in Ithaca this week and our Verizon cells worked fine. My Dad tried to call us and his Cingular service wasn't good. You may want to wait until you get on campus to pick up a cell phone and talk to others about reception in the area. We live several hours away from Ithaca and there is difficulty with reception in some areas especially around the gorges etc. Best of luck!</p>

<p>PS We really want to hear from our son and how college life is going. Having a cell phone will make that easier. (Hopefully he will call us!) He can also text us from his phone and he has voice mail on the plan. The Cornell plan adds up if you add all these services in!</p>

3

<p>Thanks, juniormom.</p>

<p>Yeah, I'm looking at Verizon because apparently they have great coverage on campus. They also have the best coverage at home, matched only by cingular. . .</p>

<p>I forgot about voicemail, and I Cornell charges for the service, so that is also a good point. Thanks!</p>

4

<p>Yeah, tell your parents they can call you at any time to keep tabs on you. Then when you're drunk at a Sig Pi kegger on a Friday night and they call, let it go to voicemail.</p>

5

<p>Now, now shizz, we both know that there's no such thing as a kegger at Cornell anymore....</p>

<p>Seriously though, there's no way that you can go to college and not have a cell phone. I mean, my god, I don't see how anyone could function. When you're between classes and you want to meet someone for lunch, when you're in the library and some friends want to meet for a study session, when it's friday night and SAE just got busted and you need to know where to go for after hours...what would you do without a cell phone? Having a cell phone is an essential part of the fast-paced lifestyle of a modern college student.</p>

6

<p>Here's a parent's point of view (hopefully it'll help you persuade your parents--my S has a cell phone mostly for my sake, altho he has become very fond indeed of it since he got it)...</p>

<ol>
<li><p>It lets him call ME easily (and sometimes unobstrusively) when I want/"need" to know he got somewhere safely--while still a bit of a "leash" it's so much less of a restraint than having to use a landline is!</p></li>
<li><p>It gives me the peace of mind of knowing I can reach him just about any time. Of course he can (and should) turn the phone off during class, while in a movie, while driving, etc. But its "missed call" feature lets him know when he has to get back to me (to keep me off his back!)</p></li>
<li><p>THe biggest issue from a parent's point of view: the risk of overusing minutes (voice and text message)...we hear many horror stories about multiple-hundred (or multiple-thousand) dollar bills from not paying attention to minutes-usage...(and some of those horror stories are real friends who had real bills to pay, not just "anecdotes")...so S and I have this deal...he pays for every minute "over" except for mintues attributable to calls to & from me...he has never once gone over, ever. It helps a lot that most cell services now are "free air time" between their own cell phones...given that Verizon seems to have the best coverage at Cornell, that's a good reason to look into Verizon...a lot of those "meet me for lunch/to study/between classes" phone calls won't use up your minutes (and thus won't risk the manageability of the expense) if they're Verizon-to-VErizon calls...obviously, you can't control the cell service your friends have...but it does seem that the odds go up a lot of getting this if you use Verizon at Cornell.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Bottom line: emphasize how much easier it will be for you and your parents to be in contact with each other (and go easy on the "how easy to contact friends to plan fun" aspect)...and focus hard on how you're going to assume responsibility for overage charges (and/or exercise extreme responsibility in avoiding such charges)...</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

7

<p>yeah with the minutes thing: the only time i went over was when i was on a ski vacation in the middle of the week and i'd call various people for an hour or so after i got off the slopes in the afternoon before free nights started, for a whole week, so yeah, that dug heavily into my 400 minutes that i share with mom, and i had to pay for extra minutes.</p>

<p>verizon has unlimited minutes to other verizon cell phones. Since so many students have verizon phones at cornell, many of your calls will be free.</p>

<p>Also, there are free night and weekend minutes. So chatting with a friend late at night (not late, just after nine) or on weekends won't cut into your minutes either.</p>

<p>Lastly there is no extra charge for long-distance, in that any call in the US is the same--it costs 1 minute--and calls to other verizon wireless people or on nights and weekends are still free.</p>

<p>Get a phone with your home area code. If you get an ithaca area code, everyone will have their home area code for their cells anyway, so it won't be saving anyone money (and remember those mobile to mobile calls are free). If you get your home area code, calls from your mom's home phone won't have the long distance charge of calling to ithaca, or wherever else you might be (road trip to NYC, boston, vacation in vegas, whatever).</p>

<p>text messaging is where you risk going over. You have to understand that texting is so much less intrusive than calling someone. it's like a 160 character, incredibly informal email. if you feel awkward about calling someone, or if you're afraid someone is in class, a text is usually appropriate. you have two solutions--
1. cut your texting to a minimum, keep it under the 100 or whatever that is included with your plan. this can be difficult depending on your personality heheh.
2. put down the $5 to add an extra text messaging thing to your plan (you can do this mid-contract, so you can start with the 100), and you'll get something rediculous like 750 a month...i've never gone over since i did that, haha, and i never have to worry about restricting myself, so i send as many, and as lengthy (you can split a text into multiple messages if its too long, either manually, or automatically like on my kyocera KX2) as i want. no worries.</p>

<p>you need to explain to your parents why you need a phone, how it will benefit both you and them, and why theres very little risk of going over your minutes unless you are a phone addict. sign up for a 1 year contract with verizon (the best at cornell, especially on north campus i hear) which is the shortest term they offer (in case your parents are sketched by committing for 2 years, though you will get a better deal...), and work out a deal where you will pay your overages.</p>

<p>might i recommend the motorola v265. its a small, sleek, sexy phone, doesn't cost too much (come on, you'd pay $100 extra for a sexy phone, with a camera, speakerphone, and other goodies, wouldn't you?) my mom has it and it works great and is well designed. not too many bells and whistles, just a great phone. buy your plan online and you will get more discounts on the phone.</p>

8

<p>You work for verizon, don't you?? (well, you'd make a good salesman, anyway)</p>

<p>lol, j/k, sparticus. . . .thanks a lot for the info! That was a big help.</p>

9

<p>PS...If you our your parents text from a pc there is no charge to send...I use that for work and when I need to text my son...he usually texts back in one or two word messages and doesn't use it for email. It is a great way to stay in contact with out bugging him. Best of Luck!</p>

10

<p>yeah and on AIM you can im "+12225556789" (1 222 555-6789 being the phone number) and it sends it as a text.</p>

<p>I don't work for verizon heheh, but I could. I'm one of those people who actually reads the manuals that come with the new phone or oven or microwave or whatever it is. heheh.</p>

11

<p>Reading these posts reminded me of something slightly related to the topic. I don't know how many of y'all are from new york state, but if you are bringing a car or plan on driving at all, please remember that NY has that absurd law where talking on the cell while driving is illegal. I say this because I am taking my car up this year and I know with certainty that I am going to get my ass busted for this. This is one of the few laws (for some reason) that CUPD/IPD/Cayuga Heights PD actually enforce, and I've known at least a dozen people who have gotten ticketed for this last year, most of which were from out of state and didn't even have a clue that the law existed. I mean, in every other state, talking while driving is pretty much a part of everyday life, so a lot of people don't even consider it. So that's that, just a heads up for anyone who didn't know.</p>

12

<p>so it's a primary offense? Because it's illegal in NJ, but it's a "secondary offense," meaning you have to do something else wrong to get pulled over. Like if you swerve or speed or don't signal they can pull you over, and double bust you for driving with a phone. I play it safe and just say "h/o" whenever i see a cop and put my phone in my lap. Or I put it on speaker and rest it in front of the speedometer. <-very safe great idea lol.</p>

<p>Perro, are handsfree kits allowed? Like either a headset or a speakerphone unit that you'd plug into your cig. lighter? I'm not sure how they could enforce the latter though.</p>

13

<p>Sparticus, I'm a NYS resident. . . .hands free headsets are ok!</p>

<p>A lot of people in NYS state still talk on their cell phones anyway, but not a good idea, because cops can pull you over even if your driving is totally fine.</p>