I got a prepaid cell about 2 weeks ago for my gf who keeps using my phone to call her mom in Florida. Anyway, I used up all of 5 minutes on that cheap phone and was supposed to have 100 minutes on the 20 dollar card that turd at the store sold me. Well when I was giving it to her yesterday with supposedly 95 or so minutes left, the phone says I have insufficient minutes to place the call. I was a bit red, but I told the gf that I'd check with that guy at the store today to see what's up. My question is, if I called Florida, which I did for 5 minutes, isn't it the same rate per minute as with any local cell phone call? This prepaid cell was specifically for my gf to call her mom in Florida and 100 minutes turning into 5 does me no good.
First of all, it should be incredibly obvious to everyone that cell phone 'technology' is far from perfected. It's just like the computer - people are ecstatic when it functions properly more than 70% of the time.
Why the majority fully accept this inefficiency with cell phones and computers is a mystery to me. People would never tolerate this kind of inefficiency from toasters, for instance.
In any case...
In the matter described above, more information is necessary before trying to figure out what the problem is.
You say that you're calling Florida - but you don't say the point of origin of your calls to Florida. In other words, where are you calling from?
If it's a long distance call, as it seems it is, it's obviously going to cost more per minute than a local call.
You say you bought a $20 card, and was told that it's good for 100 minutes. In all likelihood, this is 100 LOCAL minutes. That's .20 cents per minute.
But if you're calling long distance, they usually tack on an extra .20, .30, or .40 cents per minute - in addition to your .20 cents per minute.
Of course, even if that's the case, it doesn't come near to $20. But it's something to keep in mind.
Another possibility is that it is yet another error in the cellular system. Or even an error in telling you that you have 'insufficient funds'. Did you try several times, hours apart, and always get told that you have 'insufficient funds'? Or did you simply try once? If you tried only once, I suggest you try again.
I checked my prepaid balance once, and the automaton told me that my balance was $0. Twice within 2 minutes the automaton told me this. I called and checked again 30 minutes later, and this time the automaton got it right - my balance was $8.
Also, there are several types of prepaid plans. There is the straight .xx cents per minute rate, day, night, and weekends, there are lower rates for nights and weekends... there are an assortment of different plans, even for prepaid.
