Turns out my wife made an unusual number of calls during the previous billing cycle helping some friends with a problem, and we went over our 1,400-minute allotment by 637 minutes. At the usual plan rate of 6.4 cents per minute, that would have cost us a reasonable $41 more. But at the 40-cents-per-minute overage rate, the extra time cost us an outrageous $255. (I subsequently complained, and my carrier knocked $175, or 68 percent, off that amount.)

Luckily, help is on the way for folks who overspend on minutes.

As we reported, the Federal Communications Commission is now asking for public input as to whether anything prevents cellular carriers from implementing a technological no-brainer: Automatically sending e-mail or text alerts to consumers to warn them that they’re approaching their monthly minute limit. Such alerts would enable a consumer to temporarily switch to a higher-minute plan to economically meet their unusual increased needs without suffering a crushing financial blow in these hard times.

“Of course it’s technologically possible to warn cell phone users of impending overages, because we do it,” says Jim Scheinman, chief operating officer of Pageonce, a company that helps consumers manage their personal finance and information with smart phone applications. The Pageonce Mobile Minute Tracker is available as a standalone app for Blackberries and iPhones in a free and premium, $2.99 version. The tracker is included in the Pageonce Personal Assistant app for smart phones using the Android and Windows Mobile operating platforms in a free version, or in premium versions costing $6.99 and $9.99 respectively.

The app, which has been available since 2008, alerts you when you’re within 20 and 5 percent of your voice minute, text message, and data limits, and when you go over. To download it, use your smart phone to search for Pageonce, then launch the app from your handset.

Competition is helping too. Although the big four national cellular service providers typically don’t send impending overage alerts, number five U.S. Cellular launched free overage protection service last November, and about a third of its customers have signed up. (U.S. Cellular hasn’t made it into our annual service ratings because of insufficient survey sample data.)

When customers use 75 percent of their plan’s allotted voice minutes or text messages, U.S. Cellular sends them a text message alert. A second alert goes out when customers use 100 percent of their package. Customers can then moderate their usage, or call in and switch to a higher-minute plan with no penalty or contract extension. After that, they can switch back to a lower-minute plan anytime.

The big four cell carriers make plenty of real-time balance and usage information available to consumers on their phones or via the Internet. But in most cases, the customer first has to think to worry about going over his allotment, then manually hunt for the information.

Alerts about your childrens’ phone use are often a feature of cell carriers’ parental control services, which cost extra. Verizon mobile broadband users get e-mail and text alerts when they hit the 50-, 75-, 90-, and 100-percent data use thresholds.

The big four cellular should follow the lead of U.S. Cellular and protect their customers by sending email and text alerts when they use 75 percent of their minutes, messages, and data.  Until that happens, check back here tomorrow to learn how you can protect yourself.—Jeff Blyskal

Tomorrow: 7 protections from cel-phone overage "gotchas"