<p>My kid will be using her cell phone for voice communications and will forego a landline. She will be staying on our existing family plan. Her dorm room comes equipped with a college 4-digit extension and can be called from any on-campus phone (another dorm room, faculty office, admin office, library, etc). We get free calls to her cell from ours, regardless of her phone number.</p>
<p>We are trying to decide whether it is worth the hassle of getting her cell phone number changed to the college's local area code. The advantage I see is that an off-campus landline would not incur long distance charges to call her cell. The disadvantage is that she's got a "good" number and it is not likely that her new number would be as easily remembered. My husband thinks that a local area code is not necessary since most of the people trying to call her who are off-campus would be other kids who probably have free long-distance on their cell phones. Again, she can be reached by any on-campus phone for free.</p>
<p>Any strong pros/cons for changing her wireless number to the college area code?</p>
<p>I'm going off to college next year and I'm going to keep my current cell phone number in my hometown. Like your husband suggested, I've heard that most college students keep their local numbers and have nation-wide long distance. That way, you can call her from your land line at home for free (since its a local call) and she won't have to bother giving her new number to all her HS friends. At the college I'm going to, I can receive any incoming calls (local and long distance) and make calls to any on-campus number and I think that will be good enough.</p>
<p>Keep the number she has presently - it really won't make any big difference - most kids have plans that allow them to call just any other number anyways - and if they don't - they can call her on her dorm number - alot less hassle. You will find that most students keep their 'old' number when they leave school.</p>
<p>If you do have to call her from a non-cell phone - at least you can call a local number also. I would just leave it be.</p>
<p>Yes, as a student, I can vouch for JeepMOM's statement that most (in fact, the vast majority from my experiences) students keep their local numbers - it avoids the hassles associating with switching numbers, informing old contacts, etc. Just make sure she has a national plan so that she doesn't incur long-distance charges for calling the local numbers of other students she meets.</p>
<p>I kept my local number. It would have been a huge hassle to tell everyone I was changing my number. Plus I ended up transferring to another college (which has yet another area code, lol) anyway. I think it was about half and half at my first college, between kids who had local numbers and college area code numbers. And I think it really just depended on who already had a cellphone and who got one when they arrived on campus. Just get a plan with enough minutes that if you have to make any calls to, I don't know, the pizza delivery or whatever, from your cell then it won't put you over your monthly minutes.</p>
<p>I say keep the local number; most students have cell phones with free nationwide calling.When my son was in college I signed him up for a cell plan different from our home plan, with a number local to the east coast college - figuring it would be easier for his friends to call him. It was wise to get him his own plan, for various reasons, but a mistake to get the east coast area code. He has now been living on the west coast, near home, for 2 years; he has changed cell phone plans/companies two or three times; and he has continually migrated the number with the outside area code to the new plans -- big hassle, but he doesn't want to give up the number that all his friends know. Since he has been living on his own, he has never had a land line.</p>
<p>So the net effect is that my son currently lives in the same area code I do, but if I call him on a land line, I pay long distance rates - so of course I always use my cell phone to call, which is a minor annoyance. What I have learned is the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>In the 21st century, everyone has a cell phone.</li>
<li>Phone numbers go with the person, not the place. </li>
<li>Young people prefer to keep the same phone number forever, even if it is a pain in the rear to arrange when switching from one company to another.</li>
<li>Nobody bothers to get a land line installed in a new home or apartment unless it is needed for high speed internet access, but most young people will find cable access to be a better deal, since TV is more important to them than talking to their parents by phone -- and the only people who ever call a land line are parents and telemarketers.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>My mistake in arranging my son's cell phone plan was that I still had a 20th century mindset. I won't make the mistake again again with my daughter. I'm pretty sure that in 20 years I'll probably still be dialing the same east coast area code to reach my son. The one advantage of this system is that even though my son moved at least 6 times in the past 2 years in connection with his job, I have never had to ask him for a new phone number, and I always know how to reach him.</p>
<p>D started as a freshman with our home area code. After her sophomore year, she moved into an apartment and switched to a local area code. This was for the benefit of her employer, her customers, local businesses who needed to reach her (repairmen, cable guy, etc.) She also has a landline as a back-up just in case she loses her cell phone, and for the reasons mentioned above.</p>
<p>I don't see why a kid should switch to the college area code unless there are specific reasons. S is going to college 3000 miles away with our home area code.</p>
<p>If you actually move the family, they will tell say you have to move to new area code plan, if you tell them. If you are on family plan, all have to be from same area code. This is the word from Verizon.</p>
<p>We also put DD on her own plan - Verizon National plan/no roaming - vs a family plan - my needs for cell phone service are different than hers - thus seperate accounts - all with our local area code - even tho she is at school 800 miles away - guess we figured KISS - and it is much less hassle for everyone involved. We also have Verizon for our home land line phone - which also has a nationwide NO-long distance plan - no extra charge for long distance within the US. So we always know what our phone charges will be monthly - no surprises on any of our Verizon phone bills - cell or land line - ever.</p>
<p>Lorelei is right -- Verizon (and also T-Mobile) does not allow a mix of area codes for the phones assigned to a family plan. (I know because we just talked to both companies about this very topic, since my son is going out-of-state to school next month.) So if you want your daughter to stay on your family plan, she may not have a choice of switching her number. Check with your specific cell phone provider.</p>