Anytime Minutes

Who can assess their cellular minutes usage before it has ever happened? If you're now looking for your first cell calling plan, then it's probably confusing, trying to figure out which plan suits your particular telephone habits. Of the three major considerations--where you most frequently call, how often you'll be making phone calls while traveling (moving through different cellular areas), and at what times of the day you make the bulk of your calls, perhaps the last is the most important to figure out before you make your final decision.

Keeping an Eye on the Clock

Why do some cellular users always have to fret about what time it is when they make their calls? This is due to the fact that most wireless providers split up the hours of the day into two different categories. There are evening and weekend hours, which are usually cheaper, and there are "peak hours," which are usually close to weekday business hours.

If you know your mobile communication basics, you know that concentrating the bulk of your calls, and especially your long calls, during the evening and weekend hours will save you money. Most people have to keep a careful eye on their peak hours usage. Of course, there are some plans, though rare, that offer unlimited anytime minutes which you can use at any time of the day.

Any perks, such as unlimited peak minutes, usually come with setbacks in other parts of one's plan, so a user has to carefully consider his or her own habits. It is a good idea to buy just enough anytime minutes to cover your needs. Often, when a customer buys more minutes than are necessary, the unused minutes simply disappear at the end of the monthly billing cycle. Some companies, most notably Cingular, have announced a way around this, by rolling over unused minutes to the next billing cycle.