I know just about every cell phone out there now has some sort of call timer built into it. Most phones calculate the number of minutes used during a call, the total used over the phone's lifetime, and they usually have another timer that you can reset whenever you please.

What I want to know is if there are any phones out there that let you key in when your off-peak time begins and ends. Then when you make the call the phone increases an off-peak or on-peak timer depending on when you are making the call. It's not easy to remember when you made your calls when thinking about your off-peak minutes vs. on-peak.

Anyone seen a phone like that?

Verizon Wireless has a neat feature :

dial *MIN and it tells you how many peak/offpeak minutes you've used in the current billing cycle.
The call is completely free so call all you want.

I also called Customer service and changed my billing cycle date to the 1st of the month.
that way there I can *MIN and find out how many minutes I've used, and figure out how many minute I have until the end of the month.

dial *MIN

Doesn't work for me.
I'm with Verizon. My home calling area is New York metro.

Oops, sorry, it's #MIN, my fault.

It asks me for my zip code, then I have to "press 1" if I entered the right zipcode.
so I programmed my cell phone to do the dialing for me :

#MIN
then a pause
then 018441 (zip with a "1"to confirm)

Additionally, my phone has vioce recognition :
so I press a button on the side of it and say "How many Minutes?"
Then it dials the above sequence.

It works. Cool.

You can also do #BAL, and get your curret balance,
and in boston http://smarttraveller.com offers a free traffic report service by dial ing *1.

In reply to:

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free traffic report service by dial ing *1.

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Tellme will do this for wherver you are for free on any cell phone. (1800555TELL or #121 on at&t). It also does lots of other things, but mainly use it for traffic and playing blackjack with Sean Connery when I'm really bored and driving. You'll feel dumb talking to the computer, but you get over it. I love making someone who's never used it call as they get very embarressed when they have to talk to it.

Matthew

Bummer, I have AT&T. I would love to have that feature with my service...

Dude, that rocks... I especially like the directions service. Could definitely come in handy when you get lost. Just find an address somewhere, call it up, get new directions. I like it.

AT&T has a number to call that does the same thing. I don't know it offhand, but it might be on their website. Otherwise, contact them and they should be able to give it to you.