But they also take your money, especially if you're trying to call long distance.
Which is where Mobilemiser.com comes in.
The website promises to cut your cell phone bill in half. It was designed by a man who didn't have a landline and did all his business over his cell. When he saw the invoices, he decided there had to be a better way.
And when he couldn't find it, he invented one for himself.
"If you use Mobilemiser you can call anywhere [in North America] from 4.9 cents a minute," explains creator Rasool Verjee. "Mexico City is 6.9 cents a minute. London is 6.9 cents a minute."
How does it work?
You sign up for the service, which asks for your cell phone number and provider, your email address and the long distance numbers you call most often, assigned on your keypad by the numbers 1-8.
You then dial
1-647-476-7070. You get a busy signal, so you don't pay for the call.
You hang up.
The service reads your caller ID and calls you back.
When you answer, you pick one of the pre-determined numbers you entered (1-8) on your keypad and it dials the call. Or you can enter "0" to get a new number.
Mobilemiser isn't free, of course, but it will allow you to try the service gratis. After the initial ten minutes, you have to keep money in your account to keep it working. They'll supply you with a PIN so you can keep it topped up. And you must have call display and can't have it blocked.
Those behind the idea claim you'll pay a lot less using their system than the other providers charge.
That's music to the ears of consumers like Mark Anthony Clennon. "I just moved from Florida ... three months ago," he points out. "So I call everyone back home, my family, my friends. It's very expensive
. I paid $110 on my bill last month."
He can try it and so can you, by
clicking here.