Is a cellphone necessary?

I am currently at home with my son on my maternity leave. My contract with my wireless provider ended before I had Miles, and I decided not to renew, as my income would diminish, and my expenses would increase.

So, I currently don't have a cell. I don't miss it to be honest, but I'm curious to hear other experienced shoppers' opinions on this. Have you found it necessary? Do you get calls on your cell when doing assignments from schedulers trying to assign shops? Or, do editors call you asking for clarification? I would think that editors and schedulers would email you, since it's free and more convenient. But, I'm trying to figure out if not having a cellphone will be detrimental to me as a shopper or in my career as shopper. So, I pose my questions to the experienced, or even full time shoppers on this amazing forum! Thanks in advance.

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More About Phone Shops

I've gotten calls on my cell from schedulers trying to assign shops. I've had editors call me asking for clarification. I've also had editors and schedulers email me. So you might miss some opportunities, but probably not many, if you don't have a cell phone with you. It would depend on how far from home you shop. I go 100 miles and would love to have someone contact me about a shop while I was out to tell me about another shop in the area so I could add it to my route. But that's never actually happened. On the other hand, I was doing a merchandising gig once and had a problem and was glad to be able to call the scheduler right away to find out what to do. But I could have used a pay phone for that too. (If I could find one.)

I wouldn't say a cell phone is a necessity, but you can also get prepaid phones that will cost $15 or 20 a month or less with no contract. So you don't need a $80 plan to be able to have a cell phone. One extra shop a month would pay for that.

(Wouldn't you want to have a phone with you for the sitter to reach you while you're on a shop?)

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

I always had a cell phone and could not think of being without one. In all honesty, it was the smart phone that caused my income to increase by leaps and bounds. Just yesterday I may have missed two lucrative gigs, one here in town and a two day, expenses paid trip.

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If you're going to get a prepaid phone card, get it at Costco or Sam's if you have one of their memberships, the cost can be as low as 2 cents per minute.

I've dropped my landline phone and am now cell phone only. I'm using Straight Talk from Walmart, $50 per month. My phone isn't a smartphone, but it does let me stay in touch when I'm on the road.

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Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
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There was a recent discussion of this topic. Can't remember the subject name. Check out other threads with "phone" in them.

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Did they go up? I pay $45 a month for my Straight Talk unlimited everything plan (you have to buy your own phone).

I had a phone card I got from Costco for years. It was 3 cents a minute with no per-call fee. The last time I used it they told me I couldn't refill it any more but shortly after I got an online fax service so I didn't need a line for my fax machine number any more so I dropped my landline and just use the cell phone now.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

No, it's $45. Here, with the sales tax, it comes to $49 and change...call it $50.

Hmm. Wonder if I'm getting charged tax. I pay 3 months at a time for a discount and I've never done the math to see what it comes out to. Maybe i'm paying $50 too and don't know it, LOL.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

It's still $45. Hubby is on Straight Talk, too. At least for now - he's jealous I got a new cell phone and plan on assignment. Ha!

I don't really give my cell phone number out to too many of the companies I work for, as some of them are known to call at inopportune times, so that isn't my reasoning in needing a cell phone. As much driving as I do, I couldn't imagine not having a cell phone in case I had a flat tire or something else wrong with my vehicle. It would be awful to be somewhere on the side of the road and not be able to contact someone to come help me. That and not knowing if an emergency were to arise at home. The cell phone also comes in handy to text notes into my phone. Most cell phones have voice recording capabilities so you could talk into it outside or in the restroom to remember details such as names. Of course, being able to call a scheduler or contact a person at a mystery shopping company when not at home is helpful if you have a question about a shop or a problem arises that you don't know how to handle. Those with Smartphones have an additional advantage of being able to check email in between shops that are popular and get scheduled quickly (especially self-assign shops). In this profession, often if you snooze, you lose. Can't say how many times I was out working doing shops and got home to find out that some of my favorite shops were posted and snapped up while I was out working!

Thanks for all the replies. Currently, my mother comes over and stays with my son if I need a sitter. On weekends, my husband stays with him. When I go out for shops, my mother or husband loan me their phones respectively, so that they can reach me if they need to. Obviously, I cannot give these numbers to MSCs. But, I'm hesitant to get a phone and give my number out for the same reason as JASFLALMT. What if the companies call at all hours of the day (given that some are in different time zones)? But, I can also see that many of you have found it very helpful in your MS career. Not just for contact, but even note taking. I also was considering buying prepaid cards from Costco, so thanks for also explaining how it works in greater detail. I guess a cheap prepaid phone is the way to go after all.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2013 01:47AM by MilessMum.

I'm actually thinking of getting a second straight talk phone, an android, mainly so I can have email access on the road.

Do you mean to have two phones? Just get the android and port the number from the existing phone. The plan for the smart phone costs the same. Just realize that the droids suck batteries like you wouldn't believe. Get a battery pack to carry with you in case the phone goes dead while you're out and keep a charging cord in the car at all times. I was used to being able to go several days without charging and got the droid and it couldn't go 12 hours. Keep the GPS turned off unless you're using it; that really pulls the battery down.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

We've been cell-phone-only for a long time. I can't be without it and check e-mail regularly. I've accepted assignments using it and feel it's a necessary business tool just like a computer. I've also used it during assignments if I needed to create a believable scenario. The android apps are there as a stopwatch, camera, calculator, checking weather, navigation, etc. to a point where I feel it's well worth it. I turn it off at night or whenever I don't want to be disturbed. Whoever's calling can always leave a voice mail.

Congratulations on Miles. =)

My two cents:

If you have access to a land line (or land lines), a cell phone is not absolutely necessary. However, having a cell phone, and especially a smartphone, is very helpful.

I only give out my Google Voice number. I don't remember my actual cell phone number. I've only had it for several months and I didn't bother to memorize it.

If you only give out your GV number to MSCs, you can temporarily program whichever phone you're borrowing to ring when someone calls your GV number.

As for cell phones and cell phone plans, I currently pay $19 + tax per month for unlimited talk/text/data. I paid about $285 (including tax and shipping) for my Android smartphone. If I had paid only $99 + tax for the phone, I would be paying $29/month instead of $19/month for service. This is a no-contract plan.

I have started getting spam calls on my cell. Do the same laws apply if I tell someone to put me on the "do not call" list? I am talking about groups wanting to know if I have ever had transvaginal mesh or taken certain drugs for inclusion in lawsuits. I wonder if that is considered public service?

I don't need GPS because I have a regular GPS unit. It was such a pain to port my number to this phone. Took over a week and I finally had to go to a friend's house and use his landline for almost an hour.

itsasecret Wrote:
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> Do you mean to have two phones? Just get the
> android and port the number from the existing
> phone. The plan for the smart phone costs the
> same. Just realize that the droids suck batteries
> like you wouldn't believe. Get a battery pack to
> carry with you in case the phone goes dead while
> you're out and keep a charging cord in the car at
> all times. I was used to being able to go several
> days without charging and got the droid and it
> couldn't go 12 hours. Keep the GPS turned off
> unless you're using it; that really pulls the
> battery down.

Thanks for the feedback regarding the apps. Before, I had a BlackBerry, and I also have a PlayBook that I had tethered with the phone. So, for my stopwatch, camera, calculator, GPS, I use my tablet. I should clarify I live in Montreal, Canada. After some research, the cheapest prepaid plan for myself would be $40/month, unlimited talk/text/data and voice mail, plus I would need to purchase the phone. To me, that seems like a lot, because essentially, I can sit in a cafe with free wifi and check my email on my tablet. Whereas a plain phone with voice mail will run me just over $20. I guess the real question is is an Android/Smartphone with a data plan necessary, or can you manage with a plain phone and check your email a few times using the free wifi practically everyone offers these days.

Ah, you U.S. Shoppers are so lucky to have Google Voice!! I am jealous

Sorry to hear about the calls you receive rezteach...hopefully someone will reply to your inquiry.

rezteach,

Yes, you can request they put your cell phone number on the "do not call" list. Those types of calls are not public service announcements - they're fishing expeditions for ambulance-chasing lawyers. If they are automated calls, they might have an option for you to press a certain number to stop future calls. You don't have to put up with that form of harassment on your cell phone.

Porting from landline to cell is time consuming but from cell phone to cell phone is nearly instantaneous.

Using a tablet and someone else's wifi is fine, unless you need that access while in your car on a shop and don't happen to be near a hotspot. I carry a mifi unit (portable internet hotspot) that I can use with my laptop and my cell phone if I lose 3G service.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

Porting a cell number to another cell phone is not always quick. I helped my mom port her old cell number to her new cell (from AT&T to Republic Wireless). It took two to three days.

Do Not Call List:

[www.fcc.gov]

Why can't a Canadian use Google Voice? I thought GV became available to Canadians in 2012. Now I'm not sure.

I just learned in one of my shops the other day that if I want to shut down my landline and go to cell phone only, I can have my landline number (which I've had for 25 years) used for the cell phone.

I was porting from one cell phone to another, took almost a week and an hour on a friend's landline. I was without a phone for 3 of those days. That's why I'm thinking about a second phone number.

Wow. I've never had it take that long. When I switched my cell phone from any carrier to any other carrier (I've done this several times) it's never taken more than an hour to port the number, and switching my Straight Talk service from one phone to another took mere minutes.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

As for calls coming in at inopportune times; you can always turn the ringer to the "off" position. It's just not a problem worth considering.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Google Voice is currently only available for U.S. Numbers. I have another question though: Do you answer it while on a shop? Or, do you let go to voice mail and call back when you have a chance?

I haven't used it myself, but have you looked into Ting.com? I've heard good things about it.

I do not answer phone calls during a shop.

I thought there was a work-around for Canada with GV if you used a 403 area code to register (and then change the number to your own or set up forwarding), and another work-around if you had access to an American phone number (perhaps a friend's) for registration. Sorry about that.

Cell phone is very important to me for this business, just this morning, when I was doing a shop, have a very important question to a scheduler, but didn't had his phone number, I opened INTERNET from my smartphone, get the page of the MSC and just click and call automatically the company who gives me the scheduler in the phone

second thing, it's good to find your address/direction with the option of MAP

Some shop instructions specifically state that you cannot use your phone on a shop. It's the same as not shopping with anyone else - it's a distraction, especially if it's one where timings are required.

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