We touched upon some of
these fees and charges in our discussion of how to choose
a cellular phone provider. In this section, we are going
to cover these in a little more detail and provide
information on additional fees and charges that can be
assessed to the cellular phone users.
We will define On Peak
Minutes, Off Peak Minutes, Roaming Charges, Long Distance
Fees, and Network Access Fees.
On Peak Minutes:
Peak airtime means that you are conducting a call during
the day time. Cellular Service is set up to mimic old
fashioned long distance company rate plans when we had
the Big 3 long distance companies. You pay higher rates
during the day and lower rates on the evenings and
weekends. On peak means that you are calling during
daytime hours. The average hours that will be considered
peak time is 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Monday through Friday.
Cellular phone time is billed in full minute increments
rounding up to the next full minute.
Airtime billing:
Whenever you are using a wireless network, you will be
billed for the airtime used. This includes incoming calls
and toll free calls. Calling a toll free number only
eliminates the long distance fee that would be charged to
you.
Off Peak Minutes:
Refers to the hours of 6:01 PM to 6:59 AM (evenings and
nights) and all day on weekends and defined holidays as
set forth by the carrier.
Roaming Charges:
When you purchase a package with a block of minutes, the
roaming charges will still be accessed anytime you leave
the designated calling area. The block of minutes you
have in your package does not include roaming outside
your service calling area. In general roaming fees can
range from $1.95 per minute to as high as $2.95 per
minute depending on your carrier. These are also billed
in full minute increments. So if you only talk for 30
seconds, the billing is rounded up the next full minute.
Long Distance Fees:
This fee is charged anytime you make a long distance
call, including when you are roaming. This fee may be in
addition to your roaming fee. You will need to check with
your carrier to determine the exact billing methods they
use to charge roaming and long distance fees.
Network Access Fees:
In some cases, when you are roaming into another
carrier's network coverage area, you will be charged an
access fee. These can be charged for each instance of
access to a one time per day access fee. These fees can
be anywhere from $3.95 to $9.95 for access to the network
in which you are roaming.
And we must not forget
those wonderful taxes on your cellular phone bill. When
you are quoted a rate plan, you will need to add another
$10 to $20 for taxes. So if the plan is $19.95 per month,
you will probably pay $30 a month when taxes are added in
to the final billing. Be sure to ask the sales person
about the taxes that will be assessed for your area.
Federal, state, and city taxes will vary.
