Thumper
06-13-2016, 07:14 AM
I've had a GPS for what seems like forever ... since way back when I bought my first hand-held. I have no idea how long ago I bought a couple for the cars, but have had one in Lynn's car as well as my own for .. heck, it's been so long, I don't have a clue. Well, we bought Lynn's 2015 Avalon and it has a factory GPS, so I sold her portable unit. I bought my 2016 Tacoma and it also has GPS, so I sold my unit. I figured, if we ever need one and we're not in one of our personal vehicles, we have GPS on both of our iPhones. We use the feature from time to time ... in L.A. for example, when we visit Lynn's mom ... but we generally know the area and don't use it that often.
Ok, on the trip to Maine last week, I rented a car as we'd planned on doing quite a bit of exploring. The rental agent said we could rent a GPS for $10/day, but I figured naaaa, we'll just use our phones. Now, I've had the same cell phone plan for a bazillion years. We've NEVER ... never ONCE, gone over the limit of our plan. Even when I was driving my truck and practically lived on that phone while traveling all over the country, I never paid more than our normal monthly plan. Heck, I thought it was basically unlimited and never worried about it. We take tons of pics/videos and email or text them to each other or friends. We watch the occasional YouTube video and listen to a bit of music from time to time, but have never even thought twice about our cell phone bill. It's ALWAYS the same basic charge every month.
Well, I was messing around with the settings on my phone last night and noticed a section on "cell phone usage", so I glanced at it. WHOA!! It shows our cell phone minutes and messaging minutes usage for the month, but also shows "Allowance - Unlimited" for both. No problem. Under "Data - GB Used" it shows "Allowance - 3GB" .... "Used - 12.3 GB!" I just checked on-line and our monthly billing cycle doesn't even end until the 24th, so that may go higher! I then read up on what the charges are and found it runs $15/GB over our allotted amount! I then looked at some old bills and it seems we've never even hit ONE GB of usage as far back as I checked. ARRRGGGHHH! As far as I can tell, using the GPS on our phone cost us an extra $150.00!!! I "could" have rented one for $30 (we had the car 3-days) or could have bought a brand new one for less than $150! Dang it! Hell, I don't even have a clue what a GB is, much less what they do!
Lesson learned I guess .... an EXPENSIVE lesson learned! :(
Ok, on the trip to Maine last week, I rented a car as we'd planned on doing quite a bit of exploring. The rental agent said we could rent a GPS for $10/day, but I figured naaaa, we'll just use our phones. Now, I've had the same cell phone plan for a bazillion years. We've NEVER ... never ONCE, gone over the limit of our plan. Even when I was driving my truck and practically lived on that phone while traveling all over the country, I never paid more than our normal monthly plan. Heck, I thought it was basically unlimited and never worried about it. We take tons of pics/videos and email or text them to each other or friends. We watch the occasional YouTube video and listen to a bit of music from time to time, but have never even thought twice about our cell phone bill. It's ALWAYS the same basic charge every month.
Well, I was messing around with the settings on my phone last night and noticed a section on "cell phone usage", so I glanced at it. WHOA!! It shows our cell phone minutes and messaging minutes usage for the month, but also shows "Allowance - Unlimited" for both. No problem. Under "Data - GB Used" it shows "Allowance - 3GB" .... "Used - 12.3 GB!" I just checked on-line and our monthly billing cycle doesn't even end until the 24th, so that may go higher! I then read up on what the charges are and found it runs $15/GB over our allotted amount! I then looked at some old bills and it seems we've never even hit ONE GB of usage as far back as I checked. ARRRGGGHHH! As far as I can tell, using the GPS on our phone cost us an extra $150.00!!! I "could" have rented one for $30 (we had the car 3-days) or could have bought a brand new one for less than $150! Dang it! Hell, I don't even have a clue what a GB is, much less what they do!
Lesson learned I guess .... an EXPENSIVE lesson learned! :(