Cell Phones & Internet

Cell phones and their plans are one of the areas of US culture that absolutely do not miss. Having to sign a contract and buy data plans and decide on a phone was a hassle because I'm a phone dinosaur. I want a phone to perform two simple functions: texting and calling people. Beyond that I don't want to do a darn thing with it!

In Jordan there are three major phone/internet companies to choose from. We chose Zain because we heard that it had fairly reliable coverage in our neighborhood. No contract needed to be signed when we bought our basic phones (they cost us around $17) and anytime we need minutes added to our phone we go to any of the dozens of phone stores in our neighborhood and buy a 5 JD scratch card. It usually takes us 2-3 months to text and call enough to use up those 5 JD's. I love that a cell phone is not a major expense here. One feature of cell phones here that's a throwback to the 80s is the inability to leave a voicemail. When you call someone it will not connect if that person is using the phone and will automatically disconnect you after 7 or so rings if no one picks up. I'm not sure why these companies didn't include that function, but I love it because I hate leaving messages. 

We are paying around $30/mo for internet and a landline (it was a special deal Orange had at the time) which overall makes our technology costs really low. One caveat is that we're only allowed to use up to 40 GB/mo and if we go over the rate tacked on is quite high. I know that back in Colorado we would be spending at least 3 times as much for phone and internet, so I'll gladly limit my usage and keep our tech costs low for another year.