I am so frustrated with my brother

[La Lioness Priyanka]

i love him to death but i feel used. I have been paying his cell phone bill for years now. every month he goes over, by $60-70. Every month we go through the same lectures and we are back at square one.

its not like our plan is crappy, 1000 shared minutes (30 of which i use). free weekend and nights.

I really dont know what to do.

(please dont ask me to cut him off, i cant and i cant explain why i cant. he has to have a phone, and i have to pay for it. if you have any other solutions that dont involve cutting him off, please let me know)

sigh!

[Madrone]

1. Not sure who your provider is -

BUT - you may be able to put a limit on his phone only. I know people do it on their teenager's phones....

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. tmobile doesnt do that but my contract has expired. so i might look into that

[yellowdogintexas]

8. is he overusing minutes, or is he texting all over the place?

Once you identify what he is really doing that causes the problem then you can hunt down a plan that meets your needs.

Find out if the person(s) he talks to the most have a certain plan, and look into that so you can take advantage of mobile to mobile features on that plan.

My daughter moved two time zones away and we converted our AT&T regional plan to a nationwide to avoid roaming charges and added mobile to mobile so when she calls me in the middle of the day it is free. Her SO also has AT&T so their minutes are free, and one of my sisters also has it so IF she is in a calling zone (lives in a black hole) and she calls me, it is free for both of us.

You can add a texting package to one line only on many plans, which my daughter did with ours and now the texting charges are gone. That can really rack up some charges too.

Maybe you just need to up the # of anytime minutes...

there are lots of ways to use the contracts to your advantage.

What a lot of people do is use the cell when a land line or an email will do and waste minutes that way.

Somewhere, out there, there is a plan that will help you out!
Good Luck

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. both. he is overusing both

[IndianaJones]

3. punch him. nt.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. tried. massive fail nt

[IndianaJones]

7. I am normally a man of peace, but sometimes physical violence is the only recourse. nt.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. Madrone said what I was going to suggest.

I have ATandT and WannaB's use is restricted. I also shut off texting ability on her phone.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. thank you mrs grumpy. thats awesome. i have been deciding to move to at&t

anyway cos i want an iphone (i know its extravagant but i almost never get myself anything besides earrings)

[yellowdogintexas]

9. Hi Mrs G! See, it always comes back to the Moms..doesn't it? Both of us found

solutions to our problem in the same phone company. But the MOMS will find the good deal 90 % of the time!

:yourock:
My daughter earns her own money so she pays me for her part of the cell bill, therefore letting her add a texting package worked perfectly, and adding mobile to mobile cut down on potential minute use amazingly.

We had just been tooling along with the regional plan we began with because we seldom left our region to make outbound calls. Now that she is in AZ we had to fix our plan so she doesn't get roaming charges; smart move all around because I avoided roaming charges on two trips I took this year as well.

I will admit (with a little maternal pride) that when the bill spiked at the time she started seeing her current SO, I told her how much it added to the bill and showed her the bill so she could see it was all her stuff, and of course held my hand out! She looked at the times, and how much was texting and cleaned up her act. Next month all was well. She has this one friend she had to lay down the law on calls before 9 pm but said friend was also accomodating. She paid me back too, although it took two installments.

:toast: :toast:

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. I know some here complain, but we have been really happy with them.

The one time that they didn't turn off the texting and "somebody" was texting away our bill went up to $400. They wiped it as their mistake. Plus, most of my extended family, in CA and TX are free to talk to. The iphone looks really neat. My brother has one and likes it.

[SacredCow]

10. Prepaid might be an option....

but then again, it's WAY more economical to have a family share plan. I guess the option of limiting that has already been proposed would be the best overall solution.

And if he won't curb his calling, you're MOST welcome to pay for MY phone!!! :evilgrin:

[NewJeffCT]

12. Some ideas

1) Can you buy him a calling card instead?

2) How about those disposable cellphones that only have a certain amount of minutes on them?

3) Set up Skype or similar on a computer for him and have him use that wherever possible. Look into Vonage or something like that(We have italkbb at home and we can call China directly any time for free - we just have a set monthly charge. Well, my wife can call China for free, I should say... I don't really have a reason to call China unless my wife is there on business)

[RadiationTherapy]

13. Get him a really BIG UGLY phone; one he would hesitate to use in public. nt

[Blue-Jay]

15. Pri, you're a good sister.

It looks like your best choice is to upgrade your cell plan to include more monthly minutes. That'll save you money, in lieu of paying for the overages. Oh, and don't tell him that you upgraded.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

17. thanks blue jay. i think i will do a combo of things

1. switch to at&T to be able to put in restrictions

2. tell him we are 700 shared minutes but secretly be at 1400

sigh :(

[Blue-Jay]

22. Be prepared.

If you are able to limit his minutes, he'll probably get mad at you for a couple of months. Just let him be mad for a while. He'll get over it.

I wish my own sister was as nice as you are. I don't need anyone to pay for my cell, but she's kind of an asshole.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

23. sorry your sis is an asshole. that sucks

[Blue-Jay]

28. No worries. I've had 40 years to get used to it.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

16. Tell him to get a job.

Or at least a better-paying one.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

18. not likely . nt

[Starbucks Anarchist]

19. What's stopping him?

If you don't mind me asking.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

20. many things. most of which i cant reveal....

hey, are you coming to the meet up on sunday?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

21. Maybe.

[Midlodemocrat]

24. If you can, look into upgrading your minutes amounts.

Also, maybe change providers? We're locked into Sprint, but we have a pretty good deal so far. $500 for six phones, unlimited minutes, texting. Otherwise, I'd be in the poor house with the kids and their texting.

Another option might be to go to a pay as you go phone? Then you could have a better handle on the bill.

Good luck. It's good of you to do this.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. My dear pri...

You've got lots of good suggestions here...

And that's a good thing, since I don't have any!

All I have: :hug: :hug:

I sure hope you find a way out of this mess, sweetie...

[La Lioness Priyanka]

26. thanks. i need them hugs

[Fran Kubelik]

27. You're a very good sister.

I like Blue Jay's advice.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. ..

:hi: