Outrageous!

Verizon was charging you that outrageous cost for buying cell phones?? We have Verizon and have had for many years. We only had to pay for the phones and one month in advance. Most phones have everything on them now including a camera. But I hardly ever make a photo and I sure don't text (which I think costs you extra) nor do I do online. That is so stupid! I do use my phone in the car, at times,when calling my husband to let him know where I am or when I'll be home. Some people do get on them, though, and never know when to get off. My daughter's kids have phones, but they aren't little. The reason being,they travel a lot in sports and you never know when they need to get in touch with their parents.

Your story on cell phones sounds very similar to mine and my husbands..I don't care for people with cell phones. They are somewhat obnoxious. A lot of the people in my town that have them don't need them, I think they just have them for a fashion look. I don't understand why all these teens and young kids have them. And they will sit there and talk on them when a very great working land line is right beside them but they rather sit on those running up the bill or wasting the minutes when they could easily use the land line that you are already paying for. We just went a few months back and became one of those obnoxious people and bought a tracfone. We don't really need them, I mean we barely use the phone we have in our house now but a few times we have been in a position where we were like Gosh we could use a cell phone right now. So with the tracfone we are able to have it in emergencies but not be as much like those abnoxious ones that you see in the stores or driving down the roads with their phones attached to their ears. We are only going to use it for emergencies like it the car breaks down or something like that. We have found that a tracfone works really well for us because you don't have to worry about the monthly bill and with the cards that you have to purchase you can buy a small amount of minutes or a large amount and you can control whats be used. And for what we want it for that works perfect. With the phone we got it gives us about 90 days to use the minutes from the card and then you once you reach the 90 days you have to get a new card..if you don't you will have to get a new number and such but 3 months is a good amount of time for us because we only buy the cards with 30 minutes on them. I think you would save yourself in the long run with a tracfone if you won't be using it very much this way you don't have to worry about paying a deposit or a monthly bill and you can get your minutes on your time. Despite my hatred for rude cell phone talkers, I feel that they are very convenient.

There is something wrong here. $400 per line. We have two cell phones. One is my husbands and one is mine. Two separate phone numbers. All we pay a month is 89 dollars. When we got them it didn't cost near as much as what the guy quoted you. I can't believe that he told you it would cost that much. The only thing it cost us was what we paid for the phones and than to get it activated.

Today I saw an idiot yapping on his cell phone (holding it) even though that's illegal without a hands free device. Moron. I think cell phones are overrated. Who wants to be followed around and contacted all the time everywhere they go? Husband disagrees though, he loves the stupid thing. We didn't have to make a deposit for our phones, nope. We got a discount on them if we would make a 2 year contract, so that's what we did.

It my area we have a bunch of companies and we have one that offers no deposit and unlimited minutes for about $40 a month. You can make the bill higher if you want text and extra long distance. I have a prepaid phone since winter is very had on us because of my husband's job. I've heard that people sometimes have large deposits due when they buy a phone, it's really crappy for people who need a phone.

Hi Kats, I was always totally against cell phones too at one time and still am to a point. I figure if Im out grocery shopping that's what I want to be doing, not talking on my phone. If anybody wants me, they can leave a message at home. What I absolutely hate and think is so rude, is when I see people in line at a check out or the bank,talking on their phone while the cashier is trying to serve them. To me that is the height of rudeness. I saw a guy doing that at the bank the other day, the teller was asking him questions and he just gave quick yes or no answers between talking on his cell. I felt like ripping it out of his ear and telling him not to be so rude. I agree that young children do not need cell phones either. We did without them just fine and so can they now. You are right about what happened to common playing. It no longer exists with the advent of technology and its scarey really. Here in Canada they do credit checks before giving you a phone unless its pay as you go. The better your credit, the smaller the deposit and if its really good, then you dont pay any deposit. I have heard that some companies just charge a deposit to everyone anyways. I would not pay one, but I agree that pay as you go phones are way too expensive. It doesnt seem like you get the minutes you have paid for.

No way! That's a silly price for them to charge. Hope you all got a better deal. We went with AT&T prepaid and paid no deposit and our phone was free and just $30 per month per cell phone. We only use our phones to call each other cause regular per minute price is ten cents. Not bad considering we have unlimited hours talking to each other.

If I tried to get a cell phone now they would probably want a deposit. I have a line on my sisters plan though, so it is not an issue for me. I would not pay a deposit. I would get a prepaid phone before I did that even though the minutes cost a lot more.

You can buy a basic pay as you go mobile phone here for less than a decent meal out! If you sign up for a contract phone the network regularly gives you a free updated handset to keep your business. I bought a cheap pay as you go, but I replace the handsets with ones which friends and family replace when they upgrade. In my village, only one network works because of the mountains. As a result, everyone uses the same network. We all subscribe to a special offer the network runs which means we can call or text within the network free of charge providng we spend a minimum amount on other calls each period. It just goes to show the difference between mobile (cell) phones in the US compared to Europe!

I am not into cell phones that much either, even though my husband and I have one. My husband uses his all of the time, mine stays turned off all of the time. I only take it with me when I am going to away from home for a long period of time. I have never paid a deposit for a cell phone. We have always selected the FREE phones we wanted, and then select a plan. For the two of us, our plan is $79.99 per month, plus tax and fees. That seems strange that Verizon would charge a deposit. I know they do a credit check, I do not know what condition your credit is in, maybe that is why.

I have never heard of a deposit like that. My husband usually does all the cell phone business and we get the most basic line, no texting, just completely basic. The plan we have came with our phones free with the contract. It might be different if you don't sign a contract but I am not sure. Cell phones are not my favorite either, though they do come in handy on occasion. My husband practically insist that we have them just in case something were to happen when I am alone driving or something like that. And, since we live in FL, they are very helpful during hurricane season because usually the landline phone gets knocked out for a while. I completely agree with you when it comes to kids having them. My kids have not even asked for them, hopefully they won't anytime soon. My step daughter has one and she 11. This past weekend we had her and her brother for Easter afternoon and I swear she was on it for hours. I actually told my husband that there was no point of her even being here since she was being so anti-social with us. Unfortunately if we were to say anything about it would be a disaster between us and my husbands ex...it really is not worth it. Even my kids wanted to know why she was on the phone so much?

I didnt like when school bus drivers are using their cellphones. They have to be attentive when driving. Also, when people at work use their cellphones. I didnt pay any deposit when I got the plan and I got 2 cellphones for free only. So when i signed up, I didnt lay any cash on the table so they say. Maybe you wanted a high end cellphone so you have to pay that much..

I hate mobile phones too and I personally think they should be banned from beign used in public.. But I never had to pay any deposit when i got my phone. Basically they just did a credit check and when i passed it they sent me the phone in the post.. so I would suggest you shop around for deals before you just sign up to the nearest one..

About using a cell while driving, I was walking home one day and I saw a kid about 8 or 9 talking on a cell while riding a bike. ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! It's spreading!

I never had to buy a cellphones for my own. Mys sister give me one. Even if I had the money I wouldn't buy cellphones that price were high. I mean, I'm contented with a modest cp.

I don't think so. You should try elsewhere. My friend and I opened up at at&t and no deposit or activation fee. And phones were free. We even got the first months service free.