How Many Minutes Is A Cell Phone Minute?
Jul 12, 2009 in
Cell Phones
I was wondering, in a cell phone minute how much of it would be a real clock minute? For example, 400 cell phone minutes won’t be like 400 minutes that we see on a watch or a clock. I can’t really explain myself. What I’m trying to say is how are minutes used on cellphones because if they are not like real time minutes, what is the value of one cell phone minute in real time value? Thanks.
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15 comments
Neil on July 12, 2009 at 11:25 am
A cell phone minute is the same length of time as a real minute. However, all major cell phone providers “round up”, usually per call.
So let’s say you have a month with three phone calls that looks like this:
Call 1: 16 minutes, 31 seconds
Call 2: 8 minutes 1 second
Your total bill for that month will be 17 + 9 = 26 minutes used.
The rounding is different per cell phone provider, though – I’d call your individual company to find out. Some companies round to the nearest 15 seconds or 30 seconds per call, rather than whole minute. I’m not aware of any plans that don’t round at all.
Also, at least with my plan, “free nights and weekends” start when you BEGIN your call. So if your free nights start at 9pm, and you start a three hour phone call at 8:30, you’ll be charged a full 180 minutes – instead, if you hang up at nine and call back, you’ll only be charged 30 minutes. Weird, but it works for me on T-Mobile.
The other side works too, btw. If I make a 5-hour call at 4 in the morning, the whole thing counts as nighttime minutes, and is free.
Hope this helps!
muskokas on July 12, 2009 at 11:36 am
If your in a cell time drags on, so one second is like a minute. The solution is not to be in a cell. Therefor don’t break the law and you won’t be in a cell.
bookworm on July 12, 2009 at 12:20 pm
anything from 1 second to 1 actual minute is a “cell phone minute”
leftygir on July 12, 2009 at 12:39 pm
do what??? a minute is a minute
Gypsy on July 12, 2009 at 1:26 pm
well try breaking it down like this… 400 minutes equals 6.66667 hours of talk time…
take your minutes total, divide by 60 (minutes per hour) and you will have your total talk time… it is a sucky way to have to do it, but it works.
Me.=) on July 12, 2009 at 2:04 pm
one cell phone minute counts as anything on a regular clock that is one minute or below, because they don’t round to seconds.
tsopolly on July 12, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Technically, one cell phone minute equals 60 seonds, however, if you make a phone call and either talk less than a minue or not exactly to the end of a minute, the time is rounded up. So, actually, you can be charged one minute for a 32 second call.
-+-|oNe| on July 12, 2009 at 3:03 pm
one call is one cell phone minute they round it up to the nearest minute. So if you make 2 calls and they arent both 1 minute long but less than they will round it to 1 minute. so if u make 400 calls than your minutes would all be used up.
kcracer1 on July 12, 2009 at 3:23 pm
they are real time minutes.
josh_mcc on July 12, 2009 at 3:52 pm
a minute on a cell phone starts the second you hear ringing on the other end of the line. If you only talk for 10 seconds, it counts as a minute. If you talk for 50 seconds, it counts a minute. As soon as you hear the ringing, it counts. I’ve worked for cell phone companies for years and had to answer that question many times. It was my pleasure. Have a good day.
winifred on July 12, 2009 at 3:54 pm
they are the same. like really.
D Hayes on July 12, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Cell phone minutes are like most calling card minutes. They all round UP regardless of how long you are actually on the phone.
We all know 60 seconds = one minute. It does in Cell Phone Land too – HOWEVER – for BILLING purposes -
If you are on the phone 61 seconds – in Cell Phone Land you are on the phone 2 minutes.
If you are on the phone 59 seconds – you are on the phone 1 minute.
If you are on the phone 1 second – you are on the phone 1 minute.
If you are on the phone 3 seconds – you are on the phone 1 minute.
If you are on the phone 60 seconds and 5 nanoseconds – if the computer can compute those nanoseconds – you are on the phone 2 minutes in Cell Phone Land.
Blame the Billing Fairy.
Max2 on July 12, 2009 at 4:17 pm
The cellular phone system is just like a computer with an internal clock. A minute is a minute – 60 seconds, no less no more. All TELCO’s round up.
Nessa* on July 12, 2009 at 5:08 pm
One minute…
john on September 18, 2009 at 7:05 am
YOU ARE ALL WRONG ACCORDING TO AT&T.
The real deal: a minute is not a minute. I was concerned when monitoring my minute usage (on line) and noticed that several of my calls were over billed by one minute each. I just made the calls and knew that the calls were all under one minute. I called AT&T and the rep informed me that the call does not terminate when you hangup, it terminates after the phone network terminates the call and that that could take from fifteen seconds to thirty seconds or more. I began to think OK sounds plausible but then i remembered that it took only three to five seconds to initiate the call, What’s the deal?