Don't just get a phone.... Get a voice!

This is the tagline of CREDO Mobile, a "green" cell phone company that calls themselves "more than a network. A movement." They offer the service of any regular cell phone company, but they have a social mission behind everything they do. For example, CREDO Mobile offsets its corporate carbon emissions and pays to offset the estimated electricity use and shipping of every mobile phone that goes to their customers. They also offer solar-powered chargers and other eco-accessories to their environmentally and socially conscious customers.

Beyond that, the green cell phone company has donated more than $10 million to environmental groups and more than $60 million total to various progressive nonprofits. The nonprofit organizations selected each year are nominated by members (customers) and then a ballot is sent out with a billing statement to determine which and how much to fund each organization. The company donates 1% of charges to these causes, and calls its billing statement a "progressive newsletter" with action alerts and two Citizen Letters each month that members may choose have sent in on their behalf by CREDO Mobile and its parent company Working Assets.

As if that wasn't enough, they also help members recycle their old cell phones, cover their paper use through the planting of trees (over 2.5 million so far!) and print their bills on 100% post-consumer recycled paper with soy-based non-toxic inks. They also have a sister site for their activism.

So, if they have all of these extra expenses not faced by "traditional" cell phone companies, plans from such a green cell phone service provider must be outrageously expensive, right? Well, I can't speak for all plans because I don't know the going rates. I compared to my current plan (700-shared-minute family plan with 2 phones). I pay $59.99 for the plan plus $9.99 for the second phone. To get a 700-shared-minute family plan with CREDO, I would pay $69.99 for a plan that includes two phones. $9.99 additional per phone begins with the third and higher phones. So in what may be a rare occurrence, there is no "premium" to pay for a greener and more socially responsible cell phone company, as there often is with "green" goods and services.

They also have unlimited nights and weekends and In-calling (with CREDO members, which admittedly there aren't many of in my circle right now...but this would be a good reason to get more of my friends and family members to switch to a socially responsible cell phone plan). If that's a hard sell, or your friends and family are stuck in a contract (or you are, for that matter), don't worry. They'll buy you out of your current contract for up to $200 to pay your termination fees!

The only reason I'm not switching to CREDO's socially responsible cell phone plan is because I can't get myself into a long-term contract right now (chance of leaving the country before the contract term would be complete, forcing myself to break the contract). Also, their website says they cannot determine the coverage in my area and I would have to have a customer service rep check coverage changes. Assuming coverage is available when I am return from overseas, CREDO Mobile will be my next cell phone provider. For sure.