cell phone, wwyd??

[MommyDOK]

My contract w/ Sprint is almost up and I need some advice as to what to do. I have an ancient plan w/ them (12 years old) and it is very bare bones.

$20 month--no free day minutes and 200 night minutes. Calls during day are 22 cents/minute. I rarely use my phone bc I'm a sahm and have a landline. Bill is usually around $30/month bc of extremely high taxes on cell phones(has anyone else noticed how high cell taxes are??).

I could renew that contract.

OR, get a talk all the time plan for $50/month plus taxes. Of course, I would love that so I could return calls while I'm at the park or surf the internet while the kids play outside (how much extra per month do you pay to surf the internet?).


Or, I could try to go even cheaper and get one of those phones that you pay for every call and do the card thing from Walgreens or wherever.

OH, my niece gave me her old blackberry w/ AT/T so I have a phone if I want to sign up w/ AT/T.

I don't really care about saving my phone number as I hardly ever use my cell phone now and nobody knows the number.
What do you think??

[onlyboys]

My husband signed up with Att&T recently and his bill is around $100 with taxes and the data plan so he can go online and check email. If you have a blackberry, it does require the data plan, so it's more expensive.

It's nice being free to talk when you want to, and not have to worry about paying 20 cents a minute. What is your budget for cell phone?

[BJewels79]

We use prepaid with Virgin Mobile. Before this we used Alltel prepaid (until Verizon bought them out). But so far the VM plans for prepaid are great. The only thing that could hold you back is if you want a smartphone. I have the Rumor 2, only have to pay $20 every 90 days, 20 cents per minute, 15 cent texts and currently I use the data plan where I pay $1.50 per day used and get 1mb of data for 24 hours (I've never used the 1mb! I generally check Facebook, email, etc). There are better plans available with them also, but for me and my occasional use as a SAHM this works. My mom is using their unlimited plan...$50/month for as much as you want to talk....that doesn't include texts or data, but those can also be added for just a little. I like not having a contract and being able to change my plan month to month if needed.

[Bmorefarmgirl]

we have a data plan with sprint so that we can use the internet and also have gps on our phones. my husband has a blackberry. i have a rant. we pay about $140 a month total for both phones. it is worth it to me because we text all the time and it is unlimited text. we have both used the gps function a lot, and we love to be able to look up one thing or another on the internet on a whim. he uses the news feeds and apps on his blackberry a lot. that being said, it is a lot of money per month. i love not having to worry about "overages" for too much texting or calls or paying by the minute to go online which racks up the cost quickly!

if it is in your budget, i would say go for it. you are not getting off too cheap with the plan you have now, and you could get a lot more features for not that much more money. however, if you do not want to spend much more money, i would go with the prepaid phone. i think they are the best bang for the buck if you just want a cell phone for emergency purposes. you can actually get a pretty decent plan with some of the prepaid ones.

[Leta]

You don't need a contract plan. You don't need a contract plan. You don't need a contract plan.

Contract plans are grossly overpriced. Cell companies charge through the nose whenever you go over your alloted minutes so that you will buy more minutes than you think you need. Plus, contract phones all come with taxes and junk fees, so your bill is *always* more than the listed price.

If you want to use the Blackberry, check out Boost. All DH's bosses have prepaid BoostBerries, and they love them. I know Blackberries can be converted to run on Boost, but I'm not quite sure how. It's something to investigate, though, b/c all DH's bosses pay is $50/mo (well, they don't pay it, their employer pays it, but you get the idea).

But, keep in mind that data plans thru cell phone carriers tend to suck the root. If you're looking at something like MiFi, that's one thing, but mobile data plans are very expensive. I've heard of several so-called "unlimited" cell data plans being capped at 5GB, which would be hilarious if it weren't so ridiculous.

What is your income level? If your family is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Level, or your State's Poverty Level (whichever is higher) OR if your family gets gov't benefits (SNAP, SSI, Medicaid, etc.), you can get a SafeLink phone for free. They come with 68 minutes per month, and if you need more minutes, you can buy more with TracFone cards. (The best way to do this is to buy a one time $25 Double Minutes for Life Card and put it on your SafeLink phone before you buy any additional minutes. It won't double the 68 minutes, but it will double any purchased minutes.)

[Leta]

Oh, BTW, SafeLink is available in these states:

Alabama
Connecticut
DC
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

[annethcz]

When my contact with Sprint is up, I'm going to switch to prepaid. I'm pretty sure I'm going with PlatinumTel's Dot10 plan, because it would work perfectly with the way I use my phone. Cell phone reception where I live can be spotty, but PlatinumTel uses the Sprint network, so I'm good to go.
http://www.platinumtel.com/

I'd strongly recommend researching prepaid cell phone plans, they're SO much more flexible (and in many cases cheaper) than contract plans.

[Drummer's Wife]

Data plan's seem to run about $30 extra per month, but for me, it's def worth it. (well, and required, b/c I have an iphone.) That said, if you just want cheap, I would do prepaid or what Leta is talking about. My DD's prepaid phone is less than $10 per month (the actual phone was $15) - if you have a landline, and are home a lot, there's probably less reasons to get an unlimited or high min plan.

It seems to me that you can either get really cheap cell phone service ($20 or less, even $5 per month) or it's $50 or more ($80+ for smart phones/data/internet). Not much in between, b/c of taxes and other fees. The other thing is to have a family plan (with a DP or another person) and the costs come down a little (but the total bill would still be high).

[BJewels79]

Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint now also and uses the same networks.

[Leta]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

It seems to me that you can either get really cheap cell phone service ($20 or less, even $5 per month) or it's $50 or more ($80+ for smart phones/data/internet). Not much in between, b/c of taxes and other fees.

IME, this is totally true. The only thing I can think of "inbetweeny" is the Straight Talk 1000 minutes/1000 texts for $30/mo (plus your state's sales tax).

[MommyDOK]

[QUOTE=onlyboys;14885787] What is your budget for cell phone?[/QUOTE

We've always budgeted the $30.

[MommyDOK]

thanks everyone for all your responses. You've definitely given me a lot to think about. I think I will look into prepaid plans where I can pay a daily fee to use the internet (so maybe one or two days a week).


I feel really OLD! I know nothing about all this stuff. I've never even sent a text, but I know what they are.

happy new year y'all!

[MommyDOK]

[QUOTE=Leta;14886081]

But, keep in mind that data plans thru cell phone carriers tend to suck the root. If you're looking at something like MiFi, that's one thing, but mobile data plans are very expensive. I've heard of several so-called "unlimited" cell data plans being capped at 5GB, which would be hilarious if it weren't so ridiculous.

.)[/QUOTE

some questions:

what's mifi?? I just want to check email and surf the web a little. I don't watch tv shows, listen to music or anything like that.....

[Leta]

MiFi is a little USB dongle from Verizon. You plug it in to your laptop or phone or whatever and have mobile internet. I think it's $40/mo. I haven't used it, and the reviews I've read are mixed, but supposedly it's better than smartphone data plans because you can move it from one device to another, and you aren't killing your battery to leave your iPhone on so you can receive email.