Cell phones are definitely all the rage, but those who choose to go pager-only couldn't be happier. Mona Mansour, voiceover artist and stage actor, previously used a phone but now finds her numeric pager perfectly sufficient. One of the biggest advantages is cost.
"I can't have a cell phone. I just couldn't stay under my minutes," she said. "I would get lonely and make calls while I was driving. You have to be disciplined." For a basic numeric pager, you can spend as little as $20 on the unit and $6 a month for service. It is hard to argue with those numbers. You also won't run the risk of "going over your minutes" and getting hit with an outrageous bill.
Pager plans become more expensive, however, if you want to get coverage for a larger area. A regional plan (for "The West") costs around $14 a month; a national plan will set you back $17. For a few dollars extra, you can get a voicemail message service.
Pagers are smaller and more discreet than cell phones and less of a nuisance to carry around. Because they have a silent or vibrating mode, you won't have to worry about a ringer that goes off at inopportune moments. Also, as Mansour points out, with a pager you return calls on your own time. "You don't have to take every call. "
Pagers these days are getting very sophisticated. You can send and receive e-mail messages (the custom pager comes with a mini QWERTY key pad), get sports, news, and weather reports. But these are generally expensive. SkyTel's e-link pager, for example, costs $395 to purchase and $60/month for the service. If you are going to spend that kind of money, why not get a cell phone instead? Then again, you can join those who have both.
BOTH?
Angela Strange, a commercial agent for the Osbrink Talent agency, explains the division of labor between her cell phone and her pager. Who gets the cell number? "Clients don't have it!" she says unequivocally. "I use the cell phone to return calls. I screen calls through my pager, and I instruct people to use [the pager number] with discretion."
In a business where you can't afford to miss an important call, the pager can also function as a backup: "Cell phones going out of range may become unreliable," she noted. The pager never needs to be turned off, and it doesn't need to charge. It is also more convenient to carry. "I can take a nap with my pager on my hip, and it'll wake me up," Strange said.
But there are drawbacks to this kind of technology.
"Casting directors expect us to work a miracle because they know electronically it is possible [to find someone quickly]." Also, "most people have a tendency to abuse it when they know they can reach you 24 hours a day. If it can't wait until the next business day-if they gotta call me on the weekend-it better be good."