I still hate cell phone companies

O.k. I said I wasn't going to bitch, but I am. So I do expect a few slaps. Be gentle, o.k.?

I went to cingular today to investigate getting a new cell phone as I am eligible for an upgrade and look into adding Josh to my plan. From what I understood (incorrectly, of course) you could add someone to your plan for $9.99 a month. I thought that might be a good deal as Josh and I could easily share minutes since I hardly use any. Well, no, that's not exactly true. You first have to upgrade to the family share plan. Then it's an additional $9.99 for phones over two. But the cheapest plan they have starts at $69.99. Right now I'm paying $39.99 for the lowest plan when I don't even use all the minutes on it. So to add Josh it would cost me $30 more a month. This is just for the convenience of when he needs to call for a ride after band trips and rehersals and all of that. It was for my peace of mind really. I'm wondering if I need that kind of peace at that price.

You know, it wouldn't be such a big deal if I had the money. I'd pay it. Problem is that I'm trying to figure out how to pay the bills I have. I really wish I was getting child support regularly. I submitted a request online regarding child support to see if anything could be done now that he's almost 4 months behind. But it will probably take a year to look into it. That's what happened when I requested my case to be reviewed about two years ago.

So now my options are to consider going with a pay as you go phone, which could easily end up costing $30 a month anyways. Or I can give him my phone to take when he needs it... but that puts me stuck at home to get the call... not that I have anywhere to go.

What did we do in the days before cell phones? I guess parents just waited at the school based on the estimate of when students are supposed to get back from trips. But I know how band and speech trips are and there's never a guarantee to be even remotely close to on time. What to do? What to do?