Switching cell phone companies made me think about some improvements that could be made.

1. Bill by the second. Since we are live in the digital age, why can’t we be billed by the second instead of the minute? The provider can charge for the extra time it takes to connect and disconnect the call.
I’ll make some assumptions, 100 calls a month and 20 of those calls end between the first and twentieth second of the last minute. That would produce a savings (assuming an average distribution within that group) of 1,010 seconds or 16.8 minutes. Now if your provider is charging $0.45/60 seconds for going over your allocated time the savings could be significant.

2. Include a phone card. Cell phone plans should include a phone card that uses minutes/seconds from of your plan’s allotment. It would be useful if visiting a place that doesn’t have or allow cell phone reception, or if the reception is too poor to have a good conversation. You could then call the 1-800 number from a land line and be all set!

3. Straight forward pricing structure. Have you noticed that it seems that your cell phone sweet spot doesn’t exists with your carrier? Either it is too few minutes at the right price, or it is a big jump in minutes at too high of a price. Would a fairly linear curve of minutes to price be that bad to implement? I’m with a certain carrier that has two text message plans. The first plan is 200 messages for $4.99 and the second and only other plan is 3,000 messages for $19.99/month. It would be like going to a fast food joint and them only having small or extra-large drinks on the menu.

4. Incoming texts should be free. Speaking of text messages, you shouldn’t be charged for receiving a message. The sender is already paying to send the message and there isn’t a way to block a message if I don’t want it. It is like charging me a dime every time someone mails me a letter.

p.s.

check out the entry for the ampersand, you will never think of it the same way again.