Course Topic: Telephone Communications (6/97)
Instructors: Joe & Vicki Kieva
Based on problems they both experienced on the road RVing, they concluded they needed to learn more about options for "staying in touch".
Pay phones are usually the most readily available source. Most folks have concluded that the calling card is the best solution.
Prepaid Calling Cards are purchased in various dollar amounts. Example: a $5 calling card will give you 20 minutes of calling anyplace in the U.S. at any time of the day. This $.25 per day rate can, during business hours, be very competitive -- better than a calling card in some cases. One uses them exactly the way calling cards are used. One thing to be careful about -- they have expiration dates. So be sure to understand the time limitations.
Answering Machines: Tell people to call your home number; then call in every day or so. The "toll saver" feature is a wonderful device. Make sure your machine has it. When it's turned on, the machine will answer on the first ring IF there are messages waiting; otherwise it will not answer until after the fourth ring. So if you're checking for messages and the phone doesn't answer promptly when you check for messages, simply hang up -- it will cost you nothing.
Voice Mail systems work just like an answering machine, except the telephone company is maintaining the system. The downside of the voice mail system is that there is no "toll saver" type feature -- so it costs to check for messages each time.
There are also club voice mail systems offered by Good Sam and FMCA, which are based on 800 number calls for both persons calling you, and for you checking your voice mail.
Paging Services: Nationwide paging services are pricey -- in the range of $85 per month. However, there are areas of the country where these costs are significantly lower.
Cellular phones are an excellent new option for RVers. But there are significant limitations to be aware of. The bottom line is that cellular service is available in all of the populated areas of the U.S, and along most of the major highways. The bad news is that it costs a bundle of money to use a cellular phone when you are away from your home service area. However, you DO have the ability to make a call in case of emergency; or receive emergency calls from persons who do not know where you are. There are various rate plans. RVers will usually find the lowest "budget" rate will work best for them.
RVers are often not in their "home service area". When they are not, they are "roaming". Using the phone will cost a daily "roaming fee", plus a per-minute "roaming charge" for the air time. In addition to that, you'll be paying a long distance charge from where you are back to your home service areas. Likewise, when someone calls you at your cell number, you'll be paying a long distance charge from your home area to where you are for the minutes you're talking to them. The teaching point here is be VERY cautious about the persons to whom you give your cellular number! Give it instead to one or two persons you trust, and then direct your callers to those persons when they have an emergency need to contact you.
TIP: If you're going to make calls from outside your home service area, "batch"' them if at all possible. Make them all on the same day, so you'll only be paying the daily roaming service fee once. Similarly, make them from the same foreign service area: if you were driving from mid-Oregon to northern California during the day, you could easily pass through at least three different cell service areas, and end up paying three different "daily roaming" fees on the same day.
The small flip phones have .5 watt, and are usually okay. But the "bag phones" are 3 watts, and have a bit better range. Tip: Don't rely on the little antenna on the cell phone. The range can be significantly extended by adding an antenna on the roof of your RV.
There will be blank spots where the cell phone won't work, but they are getting fewer and fewer. All in all, cell phones are dynamite. Rates are likely to drop significantly on cell phone usage down the line.
NOTE: The primary "update" for 1998 involves the emerging satellite technology which may in due course replace cell phone coverage. At present, the most significant development for 1998 may be the introduction of AT&T's "One Rate" cell phone service, which offers 600 minutes of long distance calling monthly, with no roaming charges anywhere in the U.S., for $89. But we caution reader to check out precisely where they intend to travel, to ensure AT&T's wireless network will provide coverage in the areas of primary interest to them.
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