DH has been trying really hard to convince me that he needs a SmartPhone so he won't have to carry two phones... or a bulky laptop and a work phone... or something to that effect while he's in South America for 2-3 weeks in August.
Problem is... the phones he wants are $199 plus an increased data plan and all that on our monthly bill. We currently pay $38/mo and he got a new cell phone so he could have "music" on his phone like mine (Mine is free cause my Dad gave it to me when he bought a family plan... I will have had it for 2 years in August).
So instead of just saying "No, we can't do it." I tried something else... pretend to problem solve with him.
After all, he's an adult... he now knows our budget... so I went ahead and looked at international roaming calling plan details.
If he uses his phone as-is... it'll be $2.28/min to call me. If he buys a $6/mo plan it'll be $1.99/min... so after 20 minutes the plan would be worthwhile.
A SmartPhone is out of the question cause I explained to him that just opening up a 5MB email could cost $40 when roaming according to their website... AT&T has discounted traveling plans, but the country he is going to doesn't participate in that.
So... can't access email without it costing an arm and a leg... same with calling. Soooo he started thinking about a laptop to bring, but he doesn't want to bring a big bulky laptop.
Well, aren't all laptops big and bulky? Well except for the ones like mine that cost $2K but he's not taking mine cause all my work stuff is on there and I work from home.
We do have an OLD laptop, well old is relative, we bought it in Nov '04... so just over 3 years old... with the "D" key missing he could take, it has Wifi... its a Vaio and we could just replace the keyboard... but thats when he said he doesn't want to bring a big bulky laptop.
What he says he needs? The ability to check his work email and make calls from anywhere in the world... oh and if he can add music to the phone (like his Walkman or my SLVR) then that would be nice too.
Towards the end of the conversation he started to get upset cause the answer was obvious... I simply told him to talk to his work people and ask them how they do it. He says they buy little cards that they put into their phones & bring a laptop... that a bunch of them have a SmartPhone and a laptop.
Meanwhile... umm... he's supposed to be getting a FREE SmartPhone from work in November, and yeah we can take the work cell phone off our taxes and pay for it out of pocket but thats a PITA and takes out of our income versus getting something in ADDITION to our income that we don't have to claim on our taxes cause it is for work.
Anyhow I think the answer is obvious to him... which is why he got upset. But seriously this trip in August is his last one most likely for the rest of the year, I'm not going to fork over $200+ plus a higher monthly fee when we clearly can't afford it... but thats also why I'm glad now he knows the budget, he can't get mad at me like a child anymore with a parent saying no... he knows the budget, we can't afford it... end of story.
Learn to make No the logical answer instead of saying it
June 22nd, 2008 at 03:50 am
June 22nd, 2008 at 04:42 am 1214109742
Than a person from the US can call using a calling card (cheapest ones are bought in a community of that country's immigrants).
Comes out to few cents a minute. When I was in China, I would just text DH to call me, and we would talk as long as we wanted for 1c a minute. (plus 100Y - $12 for the sim card with good amount of minutes - I did not need much since all incoming calls were free)
If he is going on business they should reimburse him for internet access needed for business.
But 2-3 weeks does not seem a good reason to change phone plans or buy a new phone.
June 22nd, 2008 at 04:42 am 1214109757
June 22nd, 2008 at 05:01 am 1214110862
June 22nd, 2008 at 01:06 pm 1214139974
June 22nd, 2008 at 03:54 pm 1214150054
Creditcardfree, he's not going anywhere that he can be on base. They stay at a 5 star hotel where he is at and where he is going they have kidnappings soooo.... yeah I'm not sure how he's going to keep in contact with me. I want to keep in touch... but its 2-3 weeks and I don't want to go into debt for it. We resigned with our tenants but the A/C still needed to be fixed so next month's rent check will be $175 less than usual.