NBR CP: What type of cell phone plan do you have?

xanadu94

As I sit here reviewing my monthly budget, I just marvel at the amount of money we are spending on cell service with Verizon contract phones. There are three phones on our plan and we have unlimited texting, 700 shared minutes (which we barely use), and data plans for two SMART phones. I am seriously considering ending the contract when it ends in the spring and going with a different option. I don't NEED a SMART phone. I would be willing to go a different route. I text a fair amount; maybe 500 messages a month, rarely call (we have a home phone too), and use apps but nothing that I couldn't access on my laptop anyway.

Sorry that got so long... I was just wondering what everyone else uses for cell service and if anyone has any suggestions that would be cheaper?

jcwinsto

We also have verizon.  We have one smart phone and one regular flip phone.  We get 200 texts apiece and 700 shared minutes.  I'm grandfathered into an unlimited data plan so we aren't under contract anymore and I buy new phones OOP because in the end it saves us money vs. upgrading and have to get a limited data plan.  We also get 20% off my (smart) phones portion of the bill through our employer discount program.  It ends up being about $105 to $110 a month.  If it wasn't for the unlimited data and 20% off ( and the fact that we live in t\eh middle of nowhere and only Verizon gets service) I would totally go to a prepaid or T-Mobile maybe.

painttheair14

We have an AWESOME plan!

It is Republic Wireless and we pay $12 a month for unlimited text talk and data.

You read that right. $12. The only catch is you have to buy their phone (when we bought it there was only one choice but I think there are two now.)

ETA: no contract either. The phone uses wireless where available instead of cell towers.

wifetomrb101

We are on a contract, but have an awesome plan.  We use Koodo (Canada).  DH has a Blackberry Q5 and I have the new Motorola one that just came out. I pay $37/month for 300MB of data, 400 minutes, unlimited texting and free long distance across Canada.  I do have to watch my data a bit, but when I'm home I'm connected to our wifi, so that doesn't count.  DH pays $45 for a very similar plan. 

sehudson821

tarajeannette said:

We have a family plan for two iphones through ATT, it's a new plan – there's all sorts of commercials about it. We went from paying $175  a month and paying per text to $120 or so a month with unlimited talk and text with 10GB of shared data. We've never gone over 5GB of data a month between us, so it's pretty good in my book. 

This.

jhjocelyn

We both have refurbished iphones (4 I think?) on prepaid plans, dh is with StraightTalk $45 a month unlimited everything. Mine is through Verizon $50 a month unlimited everything. Both work just fine for us!

km_md

We are on a contract with Telus (Canadian). I have an iPhone and DH has a Samsung. We each get 200 talk minutes, unlimited text messaging, and 1gb of data for $50 a month each phone. So with taxes and caller Id our bill is about $130 a month. Plus DH doesn't understand money and goes over his data and uses long distance a fair bit. I wouldn't be such a stickler but I'm on maternity leave so we have to watch. Also, our contract is up in the new year and plans have currently gone from $50 a phone to $70 a phone per month for the cheapest plan. I'm not too happy about that.

CopperT0p

SS

I am very lucky that my work provides me with a cell phone, which is an iPhone 5s with a full data package. My manager told me to get rid of my personal cell if I wanted to and just use my work phone when I was hired so that's what we did.  DH's work provides his cell, but he has no data, can only text and call on it. We don't have a home phone now, since we were paying $30/mth and I reviewed 6 months worth of invoices and we only dialed out 10 times in those 6 months.  We were getting several telemarketing calls a day on the home phone and always when the kids were sleeping it seemed so I cancelled our home phone a couple months ago. It's nice not to be paying that anymore!

Pinknights

We have a family plan through ATT. Both are iPhones. We pay an arm and a leg. believe it's about $200! DH works on his phone a lot so he routine goes over our GB rate. We want to get something better and were considering Verizon. Everything we see sucks.

Tylynngrace

We have a family plan with AT&T. We pay $120 a month for 2GB of data, unlimited talk and text. We also both have iPhones. We get a discount because of DH's job which lowers our bill.

amt0312

We have a Verizon plan as well, 700 minutes, 10gb of data shared (I used to have unlimited but it would not have saved us any $$ to pay out of pocket for an $800 phone, so I gave it up), 1000 texts per person- I think we pay somewhere around $160/mo + 20% discount through my work. It's a lot of money so we are thinking about switching to Straight Talk with Wal Mart next time around. 

TheGreatBeyond

We also have verizon, 2 smart phones and 1 regular phone. 700 minutes, unlimited texts, and 2gb for each smart phone. I pay a little over $200 a month and hate that it is so much. I called them a couple months ago and reviewed plan options and nothing was cheaper.

My neighbors just got straight talk and have been very happy with it so far. My contract is up shortly so I'm going to start looking into other options.

Does anyone know if I can take my verizon Iphone 4s and use it with straight talk or another prepaid option? I really don't want to have to buy new phones when these work just fine.

SandFHasse

We have the same plan as you and we are thinking about cancelling when the contract is up. We will either do the pay as you go or find a new company altogether, but I feel like we waste so much money on our smart phones. Not to mention the time. I would be happy with an old flip phone

MiaMyPuggle

Family plan with my mom for the past 15 yrs. $78 for both of us. No smart phones bc I have an iPad and iPod touch. I'm not a fan of talking. I also have a home phone. H has an iPhone thru work, so we are lucky there!

ETA: AT&T clients. 

Babychuu

Aw, man...am I the only one who doesn't do cell phones?

wifetomrb101

@km_md - have you ever looked into Koodo?  I find they are much better then Telus.  And works completely differently.  You get a tab with your new phone and every bill takes off some of your tab.  So the more your bill is, the quicker your tab is paid off, vs Telus/Bell or anyone else where you are stuck in a contract for however many years no matter how much your bill it. Plus, they have no long distance within Canada. 

For example, I started with a $150 tab, and my phone bill totals $41/month, so every month $6.25 comes off my tab.  Once that tab is down to $0 your "contract" is up.  

My phone has a data limit - can your DH do that?  I have it set so that when I'm at 300MB (what included in my plan) it automatically turns off and won't allow me to use more.  

km_md

@wifetomrb101 - I will have to look into Koodo for when our contract runs out, thanks! We also run on a tab sort of thing. Every month, a certain amount of our device balance (as they call it) is taken off, and we could break our contract before the 3 years, we would just have to pay whatever is left of that balance. But I think that amount is pretty standard each month, not based on how much we use them. I've been meaning to call and see if they will shut off the data as soon as it hits our max, but I just haven't done it. Good to know that Koodo has this option!

teacher0708

I am with bell ( canada). I have a blackberry and so does my husband, although his work pays for his. I pay about 70 dollars a month. I have unlimited text and calling to other bell customers through canada. I barely make phone calls, we have a house phone as well. So I guess I am SS. 

blue_elle

T-Mobile, non contract, 4 lines unlimited everything (2 lines have speed throttled after 2 or 5 g), military discount 134/ month

xanadu94

Well, I definitely will be switching when our contract expires.  Almost $200 a month is just ridiculous.  There are WAY cheaper options!

@PaintTheAir: $12 a month sounds amazing!  Is this a regional thing or is this something anyone can get?

painttheair14

@xanadu94‌ Anyone can get it! Check out the republic wireless website for more info. I usually dislike companies and don't like to promote their product, so it means a lot that I like them so much.

$12 is much less than $200 and all you really lose is having whatever brand of phone you want. I think this is called the motox or something.

xanadu94

PaintTheAir said:

@xanadu94‌ Anyone can get it! Check out the republic wireless website for more info. I usually dislike companies and don't like to promote their product, so it means a lot that I like them so much. $12 is much less than $200 and all you really lose is having whatever brand of phone you want. I think this is called the motox or something.

Fantastic!  I am looking into it!  I could care less what brand of phone I have if I can still do unlimited texting and talk.  I think I could recoup all of our costs for buying the phones up front in three months!  Are there any hidden fees/taxes on top of the $12 you pay?  Do you get service pretty much everywhere?

RedSaffron

@Arya808 I love tit'd you because I feel the same way.

If you want fast and reliable coverage, you have to go with Verizon on this damn island.

painttheair14

xanadu94 said:

PaintTheAir said:

@xanadu94‌ Anyone can get it! Check out the republic wireless website for more info. I usually dislike companies and don't like to promote their product, so it means a lot that I like them so much.

$12 is much less than $200 and all you really lose is having whatever brand of phone you want. I think this is called the motox or something.

Fantastic!  I am looking into it!  I could care less what brand of phone I have if I can still do unlimited texting and talk.  I think I could recoup all of our costs for buying the phones up front in three months!  Are there any hidden fees/taxes on top of the $12 you pay?  Do you get service pretty much everywhere?


No hidden costs. We have the $10 plan and with taxes it comes to about $12.

You always get unlimited talk and text wherever there is wireless internet. Since we didn't want to rely on internet, we chose the plan that will let you use cell towers for talk/text when needed. We only get data with internet connection, but there is a plan to get that on cell towers too. (You can switch plans monthly).


We've only been to one place where there were no cell towers (visiting mil in the thumb of Michigan where they don't get anything) but our phone still worked with their wireless internet.


They check your area code before you buy just to make sure.

KEfam5

Net10 $94 a month with two smart phones and unlimited talk, text, and data.

bensmommy518

Net 10 for $25 per month but I do not have a smart phone

wifetomrb101

km_md said:

@wifetomrb101 - I will have to look into Koodo for when our contract runs out, thanks! We also run on a tab sort of thing. Every month, a certain amount of our device balance (as they call it) is taken off, and we could break our contract before the 3 years, we would just have to pay whatever is left of that balance. But I think that amount is pretty standard each month, not based on how much we use them. I've been meaning to call and see if they will shut off the data as soon as it hits our max, but I just haven't done it. Good to know that Koodo has this option!

Well, my phone has the option of the data limit, so I'm not sure if it's a Koodo thing or not.  If you find your data usage on the phone, there should be an option to "set mobile data limit".  I just set that to the amount I get each month.  HTH!

ETA: to tag @km_md

km_md

wifetomrb101 said:

km_md said:

@wifetomrb101 - I will have to look into Koodo for when our contract runs out, thanks! We also run on a tab sort of thing. Every month, a certain amount of our device balance (as they call it) is taken off, and we could break our contract before the 3 years, we would just have to pay whatever is left of that balance. But I think that amount is pretty standard each month, not based on how much we use them. I've been meaning to call and see if they will shut off the data as soon as it hits our max, but I just haven't done it. Good to know that Koodo has this option!

Well, my phone has the option of the data limit, so I'm not sure if it's a Koodo thing or not.  If you find your data usage on the phone, there should be an option to "set mobile data limit".  I just set that to the amount I get each month.  HTH!

ETA: to tag @km_md

I've never seen that on my phone but I'll check it out later. Thanks for the info!

AnnikaD20

I'd like to add a vote for Republic. We have Republic Wireless and love it. We have the $25/month plan, which also includes 3G data. The cheaper plan has wifi data only, which is fine for many people, but we're nerds and like our apps and things. The plan prices include all fees and things, so no surprises on your bill. They run off the Sprint network, so you can use that to determine what coverage in your area will be like. We have the MotoX phones, which are very nice. Not quite bleeding edge anymore, but they'll hold up against most of the best smartphones on the market. They've just started offering the MotoG for half the price. The main difference is that the X has a nicer camera and a faster processor. I can't describe enough how much we like it. My parents are going to switch to Republic in a few months when their contracts are up.

xanadu94

@AnnikaD20 and @PaintTheAir:

I ordered my Republic Wireless phone a few days ago and it arrived in the mail today.  I just started the process of porting my old number over from Verizon.  The amount we are saving will make up the termination fees in a few months and then we will save $125/month!  Thank you so much for the advice @PaintTheAir!  I can't believe I was paying so much for cell service before when I can get everything I want for TWO smartphones for $25/month.  I am thrilled!!!