If you have a cell phone, you know that you may get eaten alive in overage charges if you go over your minutes one month. With Cingular, the minutes you don’t use are “rolled over” to the next month. So, if you go over one month, you can use those “roll over” minutes against the balance. Now, Sprint is offering a deal that allows you to buy a flat number of minutes per month. If you go beyond that, you pay an overage fee of 10 cents per minute. Granted, no one likes to pay overage fees, but it’s less than what you would normally pay with typical plans. They are usually 40 to 50 cents per minute that you go over. You end up paying more for your base minutes with this plan, but it works very well for people who clock very few minutes one month and a lot the next. The name of the plan is “Fair & Flexible,” and you can always switch plans if something doesn’t work for you. Usually, these plans only apply to non-customers, which Clark thinks is ridiculous. Companies create loyalty when they make efforts to keep existing customers. Sprint is catching on to this idea apparently and has started a new program for old customers. Customers can get a new phone every 1.5 years and can earn $150 credit toward that phone by sticking with the company. It’s about time.

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In other cell phone news, two teenagers have come up with an idea to help soldiers overseas. It’s called “Cell Phones for Soldiers,” and it’s geared toward soldiers who have run up huge long distance charges calling their families back in the States. The idea is that people can donate old phone cell phones, which are then either turned into usable phones or sold for money. The money is used to buy pre-paid phone cards that soldiers can use to make phone calls back to the U.S. Check it out!