Understanding Cell Phone Minutes

When you look at cellular plans you have different types of minutes being offered, and it�s important to understand how minutes are defined, used and calculated, to prevent you from having any surprise overage charges when you get your bill.

Peak or Daytime Minutes

Peak or daytime minutes simply put are minutes that are used when the cellular provider�s network is busiest, usually during the day. This time will vary from one cellular service provider to the next. For example it may run from 6am in the morning until 9pm at night on one provider, and 8am to 8pm for another.

Night or Off Peak Minutes

Night or off peak minutes are the exact opposite of peak minutes. It�s during this time period that the cellular provider has determined its network has its lowest utilization or calling volume.

Weekend Minutes

A few providers consider weekend minutes different from night or off-peak minutes. They do this for two reasons, the first they consider the whole day peak and the weekends off peak, or they consider the entire weekend, both day and night off peak. Again knowing how your provider defines calling times is the key to avoiding overage charges.

Anytime Minutes

Anytime minutes are exactly what the name implies, they are minutes used at any time of the day, peak, off-peak, or weekend. Your plan will have a fixed number of these per month.

Mobile to Mobile or In-Plan Minutes

The difference in defining mobile to mobile or in-plan minutes varies from one cellular provider to the next. For example one carrier will define it as calls made only to those people who are on a family or shared plan. Another provider will define it as only those mobile numbers you specify. Yet another will define it as calls to anyone else on the same cellular provider. For example in this last case, a call from anyone on the Verizon network to anyone else on the Verizon network would be considered free.

Rollover or Carryover Minutes

Cellular providers such as Cingular allow you to carry unused minutes from one billing cycle to the next. In essence this allows you to �bank� unused minutes for later usage.