Actually many do help; it just didn't work out for this one NOLA person relocated to Peoria. Oh well :-(

What some call cross posting; is just posting to the one "US Major cell
phone users." My intended audience. It is not like, I'm getting $ from
this, gee. I'm a big boy, I can handle the tough replies.

I'm done with my thought on this particular good deed, but will be happy to
put my name on the line, should an opportunity to help present itself again.
PS: The lady at the shelter called twice, asking if we could help more, or
what the response is. If I had unlimited finances, I'd help more, but I
don't. We (meaning anyone who cares) hears the call for help, and
sometimes we can help, and sometimes not. It is just the way it goes. dr

---

› See More: Actually many do help; it just didn't work out for this one NOLA person relocated to Peoria. Oh well :-(

"dr.news" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> PS: The lady at the shelter called twice, asking if we could help more, or
> what the response is. If I had unlimited finances, I'd help more, but I
> don't. We (meaning anyone who cares) hears the call for help, and
> sometimes we can help, and sometimes not. It is just the way it goes.
> dr
>

I would be leery to donate to someone that requires a $400 deposit. In this
time of emergency I would think there are more practical methods of
communication available. I notice in the DFW area, when the TV cameras pan
the audience of evacuees, several hide their faces from the camera. Not to
cast dispersions, but you know the predators have come from miles around to
participate in the 'great Katrina give away'.

As a young boy, I sat with my mother waiting for relief after the flood of
'49 in Ft Worth. You didn't have to be very old to sense some people that
never had anything were claiming loses of all new appliances, furniture and
cars. I prefer to donate to experienced organizations that have a process to
weed out the dis-honest.

It would seem to be more practical to solicit a donated phone and initial
pre-paid card.

All is in process, but it looks like everything has worked out.

Closing the thread, the Red Cross gave her an emergency credit card, and
authorized her to use it to pay the downpayment for a cellular line of
service. Before you get excited, hear this out:
- Red Cross disaster fund paid for her deposit (which refunds to her,
Carrier has this money now)
- Plan came with a free phone (Carrier provides the free phone with a 2 yr
commitment)
- Someone paid for or donated her a belt clip, because the phone didn't come
with it
- And with the completed application, and the Red Cross's support, we have
requested a 100% discount on the monthly service. (Carrier requested, but
not yet approved)
- She has elected to put insurance on her phone... and I don't know how to
get that money back to her.

That is the current status... didn't say who paid for what; I guess things
just work out. The carrier you ask? In this instance: Nextel Partners, but
that was her choice., partly because of the deposit amount.

PS: there is no commission on "$0" monthly plan <duh>. dr

dr.news Better Price? (not better than you deserve, just MORE than you are
used to) If I can help: ? [email protected]te-the-obvious or
thru this notes forum. Home of the better priced phone and service
http://free.better-price.biz
"Thurman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "dr.news" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> PS: The lady at the shelter called twice, asking if we could help more,
>> or what the response is. If I had unlimited finances, I'd help more, but
>> I don't. We (meaning anyone who cares) hears the call for help, and
>> sometimes we can help, and sometimes not. It is just the way it goes.
>> dr
>>
>
> I would be leery to donate to someone that requires a $400 deposit. In
> this time of emergency I would think there are more practical methods of
> communication available. I notice in the DFW area, when the TV cameras pan
> the audience of evacuees, several hide their faces from the camera. Not to
> cast dispersions, but you know the predators have come from miles around
> to participate in the 'great Katrina give away'.
>
> As a young boy, I sat with my mother waiting for relief after the flood of
> '49 in Ft Worth. You didn't have to be very old to sense some people that
> never had anything were claiming loses of all new appliances, furniture
> and cars. I prefer to donate to experienced organizations that have a
> process to weed out the dis-honest.
>
> It would seem to be more practical to solicit a donated phone and initial
> pre-paid card.
>

"dr.news" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> All is in process, but it looks like everything has worked out.
>
> Closing the thread, the Red Cross gave her an emergency credit card, and
> authorized her to use it to pay the downpayment for a cellular line of
> service. Before you get excited, hear this out:
> - Red Cross disaster fund paid for her deposit (which refunds to her,
> Carrier has this money now)
> - Plan came with a free phone (Carrier provides the free phone with a 2 yr
> commitment)
> - Someone paid for or donated her a belt clip, because the phone didn't
come
> with it
> - And with the completed application, and the Red Cross's support, we
have
> requested a 100% discount on the monthly service. (Carrier requested, but
> not yet approved)
> - She has elected to put insurance on her phone... and I don't know how to
> get that money back to her.
>
> That is the current status... didn't say who paid for what; I guess things
> just work out. The carrier you ask? In this instance: Nextel Partners,
but
> that was her choice., partly because of the deposit amount.
>
> PS: there is no commission on "$0" monthly plan <duh>. dr
>
> dr.news Better Price? (not better than you deserve, just MORE than you are
> used to) If I can help: ? [email protected]te-the-obvious or
> thru this notes forum. Home of the better priced phone and service
> http://free.better-price.biz
> "Thurman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > "dr.news" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >> PS: The lady at the shelter called twice, asking if we could help more,
> >> or what the response is. If I had unlimited finances, I'd help more,
but
> >> I don't. We (meaning anyone who cares) hears the call for help, and
> >> sometimes we can help, and sometimes not. It is just the way it goes.
> >> dr
> >>
> >
> > I would be leery to donate to someone that requires a $400 deposit. In
> > this time of emergency I would think there are more practical methods of
> > communication available. I notice in the DFW area, when the TV cameras
pan
> > the audience of evacuees, several hide their faces from the camera. Not
to
> > cast dispersions, but you know the predators have come from miles around
> > to participate in the 'great Katrina give away'.
> >
> > As a young boy, I sat with my mother waiting for relief after the flood
of
> > '49 in Ft Worth. You didn't have to be very old to sense some people
that
> > never had anything were claiming loses of all new appliances, furniture
> > and cars. I prefer to donate to experienced organizations that have a
> > process to weed out the dis-honest.
> >
> > It would seem to be more practical to solicit a donated phone and
initial
> > pre-paid card.

PLONK!

Bob

Well I, for one, am finally going to be able to sleep tonite. We can't have
people running around without a cellphone, can we? Food, clothing, and
shelter are all well and good, but no phone?!?! How barbaric.

--

"dr.news" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> All is in process, but it looks like everything has worked out.
>
> Closing the thread, the Red Cross gave her an emergency credit card, and
> authorized her to use it to pay the downpayment for a cellular line of
> service. Before you get excited, hear this out:

Herb Kauhry wrote:
>
> Well I, for one, am finally going to be able to sleep tonite. We can't have
> people running around without a cellphone, can we? Food, clothing, and
> shelter are all well and good, but no phone?!?! How barbaric.

Imagine being moved to a different city/state where you knew no one,
didn't know if the home, you left, with all your worldly possessions,
was still standing, didn't know if the friends/family, you left, were
still alive...

I think a phone might be pretty important.

Notan

On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 07:42:19 -0600, Notan <[email protected]> wrote:

>Imagine being moved to a different city/state where you knew no one,
>didn't know if the home, you left, with all your worldly possessions,
>was still standing, didn't know if the friends/family, you left, were
>still alive...
>
>I think a phone might be pretty important.
>
>Notan


That's what calling cards are for.

Diamond Dave wrote:
>
> On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 07:42:19 -0600, Notan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Imagine being moved to a different city/state where you knew no one,
> >didn't know if the home, you left, with all your worldly possessions,
> >was still standing, didn't know if the friends/family, you left, were
> >still alive...
> >
> >I think a phone might be pretty important.
> >
> >Notan
>
> That's what calling cards are for.

But first, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PHONE!

Notan

That's what pre-paid phones are for.

I think it's absurd people 'need' a fully paid 'regular' cellphone contract
just to squeek by in a disaster. 2 or 3 calls to announce 'we are fine' is
reasonable. A pre-paid or pay-per-call phone to use only in the case of
emergency is reasonable. I get the feeling we are talking about people that
just want a phone so they can yak it up because their is nothing else to do.

--

"Notan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Diamond Dave wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 07:42:19 -0600, Notan <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > >Imagine being moved to a different city/state where you knew no one,
> > >didn't know if the home, you left, with all your worldly possessions,
> > >was still standing, didn't know if the friends/family, you left, were
> > >still alive...
> > >
> > >I think a phone might be pretty important.
> > >
> > >Notan
> >
> > That's what calling cards are for.
>
> But first, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PHONE!
>
> Notan

Herb Kauhry wrote:
>
> That's what pre-paid phones are for.
>
> I think it's absurd people 'need' a fully paid 'regular' cellphone contract
> just to squeek by in a disaster. 2 or 3 calls to announce 'we are fine' is
> reasonable. A pre-paid or pay-per-call phone to use only in the case of
> emergency is reasonable. I get the feeling we are talking about people that
> just want a phone so they can yak it up because their is nothing else to do.

Actually, we are on the same page, now. I got lost! <g>

In another thread, one of my suggestions was for the cell carriers to do just
that. Give away, or provide at a deep discount, pre-paid phones, loaded with
a certain amount of time. Not only would it help those without phones, after
those people get back on their feet, what carrier do you think they're gonna
support? Also, great PR for the carrier, and a HUGE tax write-off.

It seems as though I mixed the threads, and here we are.

Sorry.

Notan

Notan wrote:
> Herb Kauhry wrote:
>>
>> That's what pre-paid phones are for.
>>
>> I think it's absurd people 'need' a fully paid 'regular'
>> cellphone contract just to squeek by in a disaster. 2
>> or 3 calls to announce 'we are fine' is reasonable. A
>> pre-paid or pay-per-call phone to use only in the case
>> of emergency is reasonable. I get the feeling we are
>> talking about people that just want a phone so they can
>> yak it up because their is nothing else to do.
>
> Actually, we are on the same page, now. I got lost! <g>
>
> In another thread, one of my suggestions was for the cell
> carriers to do just that. Give away, or provide at a deep
> discount, pre-paid phones, loaded with a certain amount
> of time. Not only would it help those without phones,
> after those people get back on their feet, what carrier
> do you think they're gonna support? Also, great PR for
> the carrier, and a HUGE tax write-off.

The material costs of the phones would be very innefficient.
Better to supply calling cards or wireless "phone booths".
I don't completely agree with the OP in that I can imagine
there are a *huge* amount of arrangements that displaced
people have to make. Simply arranging the next temporary
place to stay could take a dozen calls over a few days. I
also agree that a full regular plan is unnecessary (unless
you make commission or volume incentives on selling such
things).

A phone is the equivalent of a lot of air time.
A common phone (as in wireless phone booth) can
be in use 24x7.

-Quick

Joseph wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 08:55:46 -0600, Notan
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> In another thread, one of my suggestions was for the
>> cell carriers to do just that. Give away, or provide at
>> a deep discount, pre-paid phones, loaded with a certain
>> amount of time.
>
> T-Mobile provided all its New Orleans and gulf coast
> subscribers with $50 minimum of prepaid credit so their
> phones would work even if they had not bought enough
> credit.

That's great if you already had service.

-Quick

While I might agree with you; it wouldn't be my first choice on what to do
with my money. But it was her choice, and we wanted to help her in her
plight. Easy enough. dr

"Herb Kauhry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Well I, for one, am finally going to be able to sleep tonite. We can't
> have
> people running around without a cellphone, can we? Food, clothing, and
> shelter are all well and good, but no phone?!?! How barbaric.

Joseph wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 23:48:18 GMT, "Quick"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Joseph wrote:
>>> On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 08:55:46 -0600, Notan
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> In another thread, one of my suggestions was for the
>>>> cell carriers to do just that. Give away, or provide at
>>>> a deep discount, pre-paid phones, loaded with a certain
>>>> amount of time.
>>>
>>> T-Mobile provided all its New Orleans and gulf coast
>>> subscribers with $50 minimum of prepaid credit so their
>>> phones would work even if they had not bought enough
>>> credit.
>>
>> That's great if you already had service.
>
> Do you know of any other companies that *even* did that?

O... I thought you were making suggestions for what companies
might do... That's great that T-mobile brought their customers
up to $50. VZW fixed it so that the billing system didn't cut off
unpaid accounts so I guess they sort of made it unlimited didn't
they?

I was kind of thinking along the lines of providing relief/service
to disaster victims and not differentiating whether they are your
customer or not or if you had service before or not.

How did T-mobile do along those lines? Was the objective to
tout T-mobile or non-VZW in general?

-Quick

Joseph wrote:
>
> On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:35:15 GMT, "Quick"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >I was kind of thinking along the lines of providing relief/service
> >to disaster victims and not differentiating whether they are your
> >customer or not or if you had service before or not.
>
> T-Mobile opened their network to all whether they were customers or
> not.
>
> >How did T-mobile do along those lines? Was the objective to
> >tout T-mobile or non-VZW in general?
>
> Ha! You're talking about tooting their own horn! Name any company
> that doesn't take advantage of a situation to make themselves look
> better!

If it helps those in need, who cares!

Notan