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Here's my tale which I am posting as a caution to people who share a cell phone account. I'm really sorry this is long and I'll do my best to keep it as short as possible.
My (now-ex) husband and I have shared a cell phone account for a number of years. He would always open the account in his name after promising to put me on the account, and we would get two phone numbers and two phones, one for each of us. After a while I would find out that my name was not on the account, and no matter how many times I asked him to put it on, it just wouldn't get done. (I found out later that he had a good reason to "forget" to add me to the account, but that's another thread!)
So now that we are divorced, the trouble really begins. The first problem arose when I wanted to continue an account with my phone number in order to not lose contact with friends, family and businesses. I found out that since the account was in HIS name I would have to get HIS PERMISSION to port MY phone number to a new account. After begging him several times he finally relented and I now own my own phone number.
Problem number two came about when I needed some past statements as evidence of phone calls I had made to a certain business in order to solve a problem. Lo and behold, I needed the man's PERMISSION once again to get my own phone records! Needless to say my soon-to-be ex did not want to help me in any way and would cause trouble for me if he had the opportunity.
You can imagine how frustrating, humiliating and infuriating that kind of experience is and it was all because the communications laws are written in such a way that two people who share an account cannot be given information about that account unless both of them are on the account.
Yes, I know that makes sense in general, but we were a married couple sharing an account, and the one phone number was exclusively mine.
So the moral of the story is that even if you can't imagine having to get a divorce, make sure all your ducks are in a row and you have access to your own phone information!
Seems exactly as I would think it should be, the name on the account "owns" the numbers. The provider doesn't know you from Mary, they'd get into trouble handing out account info or giving away numbers to person that on paper isn't related to the account.
Thanks for the reply. You have made the point I tried to make: The communications laws do not allow me to have access to my own phone number. I was "related" the account from the beginning.
If I call the power company or the cable company, speaking from past experience, I have access to those services for my home, no matter who opened the account.
The cell phone company I deal with makes it very attractive for families to have accounts together because of the price structure. If my then-husband and I had separate accounts, we would pay a lot more.
I just think the laws should be changed, but the big problem was that the situation was such a surprise to me, that I had used that phone and that phone number for a number of years and suddenly discovered I had no rights. Having to beg my ex for "permission" to have my own info didn't help, either.
The tale is cautionary. I learned too late.
My fiance does not have acces to the cable or electric account as it's in my name only, unless I give them aproval for her, I wouldn't expect them to give her access to the account, seems perfectly reasonable to me, I wouldn't want it differently.
My fiance does not have acces to the cable or electric account as it's in my name only, unless I give them aproval for her, I wouldn't expect them to give her access to the account, seems perfectly reasonable to me, I wouldn't want it differently.
I'm sure you are aware that there is a huge difference between a fiance' and a spouse! I don't blame you on that one.
True, but even after the wedding she still won't have access.
That's the kind of problem I ran into with my ex. I don't know your situation, but it was all wrong for me. My post was to warn partners, just in case.
If I had had access to our phone account, as I was supposed to, I would have found out that my DH was cheating on me.
Been there done that. We have separate cell accounts, we each have some utilities in our own name, and we reimburse the other for our portion of the monthly bill.
Been there done that. We have separate cell accounts, we each have some utilities in our own name, and we reimburse the other for our portion of the monthly bill.
I don't know what you mean by "been there done that" but I'm not sure I want to!
It seems to me that your plan is more popular these days. Call me old fashioned. We had almost everything else in both of our names. It's a new world.
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