I've got a cell phone. I don't really use it much, so I have the cheapest plan T-Mobile will give me, but it comes in handy when I forget why I'm at the grocery store. Plus, I like knowing that I'll be able to call AAA when my truck finally breaks down for good on my way to Bellingham.

In any case, one danger of owning a cell phone around here is getting too close to Canada. I don't pay roaming or long distance as long as I'm in the States, but all bets are off in Canada. Unfortunately, when you go any farther north than Lynden, the Canadian provider takes over, even though you're still in the States. I was in that predicament a few weeks ago when I was up in the Blaine area on business. (That sounds important, doesn't it? Fortunately for my family, I do very little business travel. This was a mini-retreat for long-range company planning that a dozen or so employees attended.)

Anyway, as we approached the hotel, my cell phone announced that we had arrived in Canada, and, not wanting to incur any charges, I turned it off. The next day, on the return trip, I turned it on and watched it switch back to my local service. It was almost as good as actually being in Canada.

So, this past weekend I was doing our finances, and I checked my cell phone bill. To my shock, surprise, and utter dismay, there was about $9 of charges from Vancouver, Canada! Julie had called my cell phone a few times while I was gone, but since I didn't answer – nay, since the phone wasn't even on – I didn't expect to be charged anything.

Perhaps foolishly, I decided not to absorb the hit and gave T-Mobile a call, hoping that they'd quickly credit my account. Unfortunately, this was not going to be easy. To make a long story “short,” after talking to two different customer service reps and finally a supervisor, after insisting repeatedly that I didn't receive any calls, didn't make any calls, didn't let anyone use my phone, didn't even have the cell phone on, didn't know what that phone number was, didn't know why it was marked as “forwarded” – after all of that, along with some unfortunate raising-of-voice on my part, the proverbial lightbulb appeared above the supervisor's head, and he figured out that my cell phone was forwarding the unanswered calls to my voice mail – through Canada. Something about it being an older phone, though I still can't understand how the phone could do this feat when it wasn't even on. I'm sure I'll never know, because I won't be bringing it that close to Canada ever again.

He did credit my account in the end, so I'm a semi-satisfied, but certainly better educated, customer. Maybe it's time for a new cell phone...