A greener cell phone

If your cellular phone contract is about to expire, you might let the company’s 30-minute support call hold times exhaust you into renewing. No wonder we trust our cell phone companies as much as used car dealers. Yet instead of rehashing how we love to hate the phone provider, let's talk about another option. Earth Tones buys minutes in bulk from Cingular and resells them in month-to-month, no-strings plans. A guy at their Green Festival booth last weekend said that they’re not as eco-pure as they’d like to be since they piggyback on existing infrastructure, but all profits go to green groups.

Earth Tones give you a free recycled phone or a new SIM card for your compatible model. Service includes paperless billing and an eco-newsletter, with free voicemail and long distance. The six plans include a $40 package for 800 anytime minutes. Run over your time for a quarter per minute. Working Assets has a similar package, with one percent of proceeds going to a variety of progressive groups.

These prices aren't a steal, but they'd be decent if you're not addicted to your mobile. Both alternative companies offer landline long distance, and Earth Tones also provides dial-up Internet service. Here are other similarly-priced national mobile phone plans in the 94110 zip code (click to enlarge):

Groups that get all the cash from your Earth Tones bill include the National Environmental Law Center, Campaign to Save the Environment, ecopledge, Free the Planet, The Green Life, PIRGs, and the Toxics Action Center. Too bad there's no free pint of Ben & Jerry's involved; that alone made me migrate to Working Assets in college.

Comments

[Shannon]

There is no harm on trying. right? I might try that for some time, but for now i just have my phone from affordable family cellular phone plans. But the earth phone nice too!

[miguel]

this earthphone plan is not so green, neither is it a good bargain.