[Superminion]

Sort of a spin off on the money saving thread.

DH and I are always looking for ways to cut down on our bills. We both have smartphones and pay way too much monthly for them, but enjoy the luxury. The no-contract go phones seem attractive, but almost feel like it's a "you get what you pay for" type thing. Wal*Mart currently has a $35/month for unlimited talk/text/data on the same network as the big companies. Whats the catch?

[AirForceWife]

The catch is the data sucks on them...I had one when we were TDY-ing to Hawaii once a month with DS. It was doable but I couldn't deal with it and once we were home, I went right back to my smart phone. It's one thing I'm not willing to cut!

[MunchingonHay]

I would love to hear opinions on this too. My 2yr contact with Verizon was up in November and I am looking at the Virgin Mobile beyond talk plan, (unlimited everything for $55.00 a month) I currently have unlimited everything and pay an arm and a leg for service.

Sure you have to buy one of their phones and a decent smartphone is going to be (at the low end) $150.00-350.00 for an iPhone for example. I can upgrade for free at Verizon but again, higher monthly bill.





I watch my minutes that I use every month, even though I am unlimited just to see what my average is and I am well over 1000 mins a month. (I am in sales).

[Superminion]

I think I am going to swing in during my errands today and chat with them. Our contract isn't up until July, but I don't know how it would work with the same carrier. AT&T offers something similar, although we've had HORRIBLE customer service with them. Just awful. I wonder if the savings would make buying our plan out worth it?

How was the data bad? Just slow?

[GoForAGallop]

The catch is the data sucks on them...I had one when we were TDY-ing to Hawaii once a month with DS. It was doable but I couldn't deal with it and once we were home, I went right back to my smart phone. It's one thing I'm not willing to cut!

As with all carriers and types of plans, it just depends.

I am lucky in that I'm in an area with a ton of cell towers. My mother uses the Virgin Mobile no-contract iPhone, and has no issues with data speed. In addition, she gets BETTER service than me in most areas, and I pay $$$$$ for my iPhone data plan through AT&T. The second my contract is up, I'm swapping to Virgin Mobile.

[spotteddrafter]

I can upgrade for free at Verizon but again, higher monthly bill.

Just a heads up - when I upgraded in September of this year, I had to pay Verizon $30 to upgrade! The last time I upgraded, over 2 years prior, they were still giving a $50 credit...now you have to pay them!


I agree with the smart phone not being a luxury I am giving up. However, don't be scared off by the limited data plans! Most places have free wi-fi, and if you hook up to it, you'll really reduce your data usage. I have high speed internet at home and bought a decent wi-fi router ($60 at WalMart), so that I now use wi-fi for my iPhone and iPad at home.

[BuddyRoo]

How much data do you guys use?

Verizon has switched their plans (like many providers) to an unlimited text and minutes but limited data. My husband and I both have smart phones. He uses his quite a bit but we still don't go over the 1GB that we've got on our plan. With unlimited texts and minutes though, it's pretty economical as we have 4 phones on our plan (2 for kids).

ATT was problematic as far as coverage where we used to live, so coverage would be something worth looking into. When my company was looking to switch to ATT from Verizon, they sent us a few test phones to take to various places where we lived and about 1/2 of us didn't have a good signal at home if we were any distance off of the main interstate.

[Superminion]

I don't use a ton of Data, (not even 1G) but DH is on the road all the time, so he uses a ton (maybe 3G). They can't have wi-fi at work. It's more for him, than for me. He still has Unlimited data, since he was a customer back when they still offered it.

We're just paying way too much for two phones (I can't imagine 4!) but we don't really want to give up the smartphone thing. We've come to rely on it a lot, sadly.

[MunchingonHay]

Very true about using Wi-Fi when you can get it. Personally my biggest data eater is my navigation. I use it all the time, for as long as 2 hours a day.

I can use my Wi-Fi in my apt. but honestly, I dont play with my phone at home I have a laptop for that.

I got through about 2G a month, 3 if I am driving to new places.

[BuddyRoo]

True, munching. I have wifi at home so I don't use any data when I'm here.

[Thoroughbred in Color]

I think the value depends on where you are. My parents had Verizon for years and just switched to a pay as you go (not sure which one). They love it and pay less than half of what they used to pay for three phones with verizon. They live in town and get great service. I looked into it myself, since I pay a TON for one phone on ATT. Nothing. I live in a rural area and work in a very remote area. Verizon and ATT are the ONLY carriers that work for me.

[mommy peanut]

I switched to pay as you go, through verizon over a year ago. I had a Droid for 3 yrs before switching & was hesitant about the switch.
I got a cheap phone at first, to make sure I would like the service. I upgraded to a smartphone rather quickly...lol
I love it! I get the same service, data, etc as I did when I had a contract, but for 1/3 of the cost!!

[GoForAGallop]

I think the value depends on where you are. My parents had Verizon for years and just switched to a pay as you go (not sure which one). They love it and pay less than half of what they used to pay for three phones with verizon. They live in town and get great service. I looked into it myself, since I pay a TON for one phone on ATT. Nothing. I live in a rural area and work in a very remote area. Verizon and ATT are the ONLY carriers that work for me.

AT&T does have a pay-as-you-go option that offers just as good service as the regular plans. For my particular situation (with a smartphone) it was cheaper for one person to use the pay-as-you-go but once we were talking multiple people, the contract family plan became the better deal.

[Sansena]

Minion... don't buy that hype that "you get what you pay for". I very VERY reluctantly switched to Smarttalk after putting it off nearly 3 years and paying exorbitant overages about every 3rd month. It meant purchasing a new phone for me, but my last one was pretty near kaput anyway.

At $40/mo unlimited talk/ text/ data I'm kicking myself for putting it off. My bluetooth in the car works better, my geriatric dad can hear me more clearly, the 'dead neighborhood' where I had to quit calls before hand now is simply a bit staticky over one speed bump.

Oh, and I left a Verizon plan to -- get this -- the Smarttalk Verizon network. So that hype about not getting your money's worth is just that.

Yes, there was about 3 hours where the automatic phone activation didn't work and I was phoneless, but customer service was very VERY helpful and prompt, although, yes there was an accent.

Honestly, the amount I was paying in overages in the last 3 yrs would cover about 2 car payments. Please don't put it off any longer. You won't regret it.

[clanter]

Took $600 in five dollar bills and set that pile of cash on the table... looked at it for a few minutes took it back to the bank and did not renew any service

Been without a nanny for three years and amazingly have never been lost nor confronted with a problem I could not figure out

[Thoroughbred in Color]

AT&T does have a pay-as-you-go option that offers just as good service as the regular plans. For my particular situation (with a smartphone) it was cheaper for one person to use the pay-as-you-go but once we were talking multiple people, the contract family plan became the better deal.

If I didn't use a ton of data I would go with their pay as you go plan, but I have the "true" unlimited that they no longer offer. The smartphone plan only comes with 1G of data, and I use 3-4G per month on average. Unfortunately my regular plan that I am grandfathered into is still cheaper.

[clanter]

on average, consumers pay around $92 a year in cellphone taxes, or 16.3% of their total bill so that $49/mo plan actually is near to $72/mo

http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/tech...1310670564768/

[grandprixjump]

We have 2 smartphones on Ntelos and it's just over $100 a month with unlimited everything. We even use an APP and tether to a computer for our internet. You would want to check for coverage in your area. We are fringe for phone service, but frankly data works good.

P.S. DON'T get the free phones from them spend some and get the better ones, better signal/service, better data, etc...

[Mickey the Marcher]

on average, consumers pay around $92 a year in cellphone taxes, or 16.3% of their total bill so that $49/mo plan actually is near to $72/mo

$23 is 31% of $72
Where does the other 15% come in?

[clanter]

$23 is 31% of $72
Where does the other 15% come in?

other taxes on the taxes.... it would tax about $72 per tax dolllars to equal $57 post tax dollars to pay the monthly invoice