Wireless prepaid plunge
A bout of lousy customer service this morning with my wireless carrier finally pushed me to do what I’ve been threatening to do for a while – go to a prepaid cell service.
I ordered a prepaid phone online and, if satisfied, will get one for my wife and cancel our traditional service.
Savings: $700 a year.
We use our phones regularly but not for many minutes. I typically use 50 to 75 minutes per month, and she uses 100 to 150, so our shared bucket of 700 minutes – the least you can buy on a shared plan — was total overkill.
Our current plan costs $85 per month, including taxes and junk fees, or $1,020 per year.
Two prepaids, whose minutes include taxes and fees, will cost about $300 per year. And that includes the cost of two $50 phones.
The $700 first-year savings is diminished by whatever cancellation fee I have to pay to my current carrier, but it could be well worth it.
Going prepaid might not be for you, but it is worth checking out. I’ll report back about my experience, using company names, and whether this move turned out to be brilliant or dumb.
Greg:
Going prepaid is a smart choice. I doubt you will regret it.
I did the same thing about two years ago. My circumnstances were similar, except on a smaller scale. I was paying about $36 a month with fees for service including, at my best relection, 100 anytime minutes plus free weekends and nights. While that might sound like a respectable deal, I wasn’t using minutes anywhere near that. Total yearly bill: About $432.
Through Cingular, I swithced to prepaid after learning that for $100 a year (or $25 every three months) I could buy 400 minutes. That’s at a rate of 4 minutes per $1.
The total averages to 33 minutes a month. As you can see, I’m not a heavy cell phone user. I treat it as a utility and little else. Sure I had to buy a new phone and switch to a new number. But my phone needed an upgrade anyway.
Bottom line: I save $332 a year. That more than compensates for the $50 upfront cost of buying a new phone.
When you know your mintues are not limitless, you use them judiciously. Simple as that. So if you don’t care to yak, but love to save, go for it.
Regards.
Tom Zanki
Please excuse the typo:
“relection” should have been “recollection.”
I dropped mine and my wife’s service 2 years ago with Sprint, 29.99 + tax and fees for a total of $70 per month. We used about a 1/4 of the minutes for that. We switched to STI mobile, which provides service though Sprint. I got 2 flip phones from Staples, $100 each, they included $50 each in prepay. I also got $50 promotional rebate for more prepay when I activated my wifes card. To get the rebate you had to use 100 minutes in the first month, I ended up calling my own phone and letting the phone sit for over an hour the last night of the first month to get the 90 minutes (OK I don’t talk on the phone much.) Now we spend about $3-5$ a month on mine, $10-$15 on my wife’s. We came out ahead after the 2nd month, and save $50 a month or better. And got newer/better phones, to boot.
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Well I suppose that by now you have discovered that prepaid is a far better way to go than contract, they are just cheaper and you are always in control of your spending- no surprises. I switched to a Tracfone about two years ago and haven’t looked back since, I was also able to keep my phone number which was great. I also gave up my land line because I hardly ever use it and I can make long distance and international calls for the same price as a local call. The texts are also really cheap at 5 cents each which means that I can text to my hearts content and I’m not worried about overspending and if I don’t my minutes carry over as long as I top up.
What company did you choose for your prepaid wireless? Cricket Wireless has some great prepaid options. That’s the great thing about prepaid - no contracts - so even after you find a good deal you can still keep looking for the best deal.