Cellular South Phones

County's phone bill drops, but not near predicted level

NATCHEZ — Adams County only trimmed $207 off its annual cell phone bill in the last year despite decreasing the average number of county phones by 14.

During the 12-month period from May 2010 to May 2011 the majority of the county’s average of 60 phones were on Cellular South plans. Four phones — those of Supervisors S.E. “Spanky” Felter, Henry Watts, Thomas “Boo” Campbell and Road Manager Clarence Jones — are on AT&T plans.

The average monthly phone bill across the 12-month period was $3,351.77.

The total cell phone bill for the 12-month period was $40,221.28.

The county canceled its AT&T group contract in May 2010, citing cheaper plans and better billing practices with Cellular South. At the time, the county said it expected to save $13,000 in a two-year period.

Three of the four phones still on AT&T lead the county in annual phone bills. Their bills in the 12-month period were:

• Felter — $1,856.23

• Campbell — $1,170.30

• Watts — $1,132.20

In September, after The Democrat published a story about last year’s cell phone bill, Felter announced he would begin paying his own cell phone bill and reimbursed the county $550 for the previous year’s worth of cell phone bills.

Since then, accounting department chair Patsy Bryant said payroll deducts $88.33 each month from Felter’s paycheck to reimburse his phone bill.

Felter’s average monthly bill from May 2010 to May 2011 was $154.69.

Felter said he asked Chancery Clerk Tommy O’Beirne months ago to deduct a monthly rate from his paycheck, but that he does not monitor the bills.

Felter said his bill might have cost more than other supervisors because he uses it a lot.

“Everybody that calls me I answer. That’s what a phone is for,” Felter said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time (his conversations) are county business.”

Supervisor Mike Lazarus pays his own bill each month by writing a check each month, Bryant said.

A May 6 invoice provided by bookkeeping shows Lazarus paid $62 to the county for a recent cell phone bill of $61.90.

Lazarus said he’s pleased to see the overall county bill down a bit, but doesn’t think the job is done.

“We’ve still got work to do (cutting cell phone costs), but that’s better (than last year),” he said.

Most county employees with cell phones have unlimited plans, Bryant said, which charges a flat rate for any number of minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S II Page Has T-Mobile, Cellular South, US Celluar ...

All of the rumors coming out about the Samsung Galaxy S II have featured Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless. It’s been reported that either T-Mobile wouldn’t get the Samsung Galaxy S II at the time of launch, or T-Mobile would get it’s own totally different variant, possibly the Hercules.

There are a couple of reasons that this was believed to be the case for T-Mobile. Theory one is that T-Mobile was being left out of the initial release because they received the Samsung Galaxy S 4G midway through the original Samsung Galaxy S cycle.  The other theory was that T-Mobile was being “punished” for jumping the gun and releasing the Vibrant a few days before the AT&T Captivate.

more after the break

Samsung and the US carriers had devised a release strategy last year that included AT&T’s Captivate releasing first, T-Mobile was to release the Vibrant second however at the last minute T-Mobile announced an earlier release and used computer printed signage at their stores to announce the launch. The launch didn’t look very well and it was also the same day Motorola and Verizon had released the original Droid X.

Release dates aside, the Samsung Galaxy S II information page includes AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Metro PCS, US Cellular, Cellular South, and T-Mobile .   This could be based on the carriers of the original Galaxy S, or these are all the carriers that will receive the Samsung Galaxy S II at some point after launch.

Wireless cellular

Cellular South, Inc, past, present and future : doing whatever it takes

Popular Mechanics

Travel Seoul, South Korea: Illustrated Guide, Korean Phrasebook and Maps (Mobi Travel)

Plunkett's Wireless, Wi-Fi, RFID and Cellular Industry Almanac (E-Book), The Only Complete Guide to the Wireless Access and Cellular Telecommunications Industry