Mobile to mobile calling, where you can make free calls to any phone from the same carrier, was the first push by the cell phone companies to tie large blocks of people to their network. I was working for Sprint when it was introduced. For the first time you could get a low cost plan and talk as much as you wanted as long as everyone was on the same network. This was brilliant. Even today no one in my family will consider leaving Sprint because they would no longer be able to call whenever they wanted (this may be a good reason for some of you to switch carriers). This also marked the first time that the consumer began to wrestle some control away from the telephone companies. Now, when they make one person angry they could lose 20.
The point of all of this is to show that you have to take the best of what is offered from your carrier and use it to win with your wireless bill. Eventually wireless will be unlimited, but until then I have come up with another solution. Three companies now offer an option to pick a few numbers to which you want to make and receive free calls (Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel). Since I have Sprint I will be using the terminology for that company. Here is the strategy:
Step 1: Get Pick 3 (the service where I get to pick the numbers) added to my plan
Step 2: Register for a phone number from GrandCentral.com
Step 3: Register my new GrandCentral.com number with my new Pick 3 service
Step 4: Give out my GrandCentral.com number to all business contacts and everyone that does not have a sprint phone.
Step 5: Wait two months and then adjust my plan to a lower number of minutes because I am no longer using minutes for business.
The question you are asking now is, “what the heck is GrandCentral.com.” GrandCentral is a free service, offered by Google, where you get a phone number that forwards call to whatever number you want. You can go into the settings and have that number show up as your caller id when the call is forwarded from that number. You do give up the convenience of caller id here but if you are using the number for specific reasons , like I am for business, you know that the call is important. The other advantage is you can use your cell phone number on order forms and things of that nature. So when you get a call from a number you do not recognize you know it is not something you want to answer. My expectation is to use about 500 less minutes per month as a result of this change. This may or may not be be enough to allow me to change plans but I can ensure that I do not go over as a result.
These kind of tactics are just the beginning. I believe a meteoric shift in mobile is on the horizon. I will be sitting on the front edge of that shift and will be here to tell you about it.
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