Aviation

The Best Cell Phone Plan For You

In my line of work, having the right cell phone can mean the difference between making and breaking a huge business deal. Fittingly, one must constantly review their cell phone plans, because having the best cell phone plan you possibly can will put you in the best position to have success. This was a lesson a colleague of mine learned the hard way.

For some reason, he had it in his mind that the best cell phone plan for him was a pay-as-you-go plan. He had convinced himself that he did not use his cell phone that often and that even if he did, adding $20 at a time would be more than enough for anything he needed. At that time, $20 translated to about 200 minutes for him, and he was sure that would be fine regardless of what happened.

Then came the day that we were delayed at an airport and he needed to reach his wife. He called her, and they talked for about an hour. It was no big deal, because he still had 140 minutes left, since it was a local call, and all of us were sure that the plane would be taking off soon. Well, that didn't happen, and two and a half hours later, we were still on the ground.

We were on our way to a business meeting where we were trying to convince a buyer that one of our products was the best option in which they could invest. As we soon began to realize that we were not going to make it to our destination, he called ahead to let the buyer know we were not going to be there. They were very understanding, but asked if he could call back in about one hour so that all the associates could be gathered and have the presentation done by phone.

I think it was then that he realized that he did not have the best cell phone plan and began to get nervous. Then his wife called again and they spoke for a long while. By the time he was supposed to call the buyer back, he had just over 80 minutes left to give a two-hour presentation. I offered him my phone, but I guess out of pride he refused, certain that he would be able to make the presentation in an hour and 20 minutes.

Needless to say, it all went very badly. It was long distance, so he was getting charged double or triple, and then the phone kept disconnecting. When we got back to our office he asked me to drive him to a local electronics store so he could buy the best cell phone plan that he could find. It was funny, but kind of sad at the same time. I'm glad he saw the error of his ways, I just wish it would have come before he made such a big mistake.