Have you ever gotten a gift that turned out being a big money suck? Well I think I've gotten one of those: my cell phone! When we arrived on campus back in August, the university was kind enough to have Mobiliy SIM cards ready and waiting for us. They were even preloaded with 100 SAR ($27) worth of credit; all we needed to do was go out and purchase a phone.
This has been a really good solution as we don't make many calls here and our apartment also has a land line phone which is free for local calls. Fast forward three months and now we're running into problems. It turns out that credit purchased for pre-paid phones has an expiration date. This alone doesn't make sense, as it's not something that can physically spoil or go bad, it's simply a tool used by Mobiliy and other cell phone providers to increase profits for low end users.
Initially we thought purchasing more credit would be a good solution, but the amount of time the new credits will extend phone service is lack luster. To get an additional two months of service, we would need to add 60 SAR ($16) of credit. While this seems like an inconsequential amount of money, especially when compared to the $100+ monthly cellphone plans that aren't uncommon in the US, it is still spending money that we know won't be used.
It took me 3 months to use 40 SAR worth of credit, so why would I spend an additional 60 SAR for only two months of service? When it comes down to it, I'm just not willing to send money to a company that won't offer the level of service I need. And I certainly won't pay extra for what I know I won't use.
So, it looks like I'll be abandoning my cell phone in favor of the land line. Don't worry, if it doesn't work out, the phone has two months of inactive status where the it can be reactivated for free.
Anyone else have terrible cell phone stories to share?
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