How To Find An Affordable Cell Phone Plan That Fits Your Needs (And A Way To Even Pay $0 A Month)
Our cell phones have become almost as essential as oxygen or water. While the cynic would say it is because of our unhealthy obsession with social media, there is a much more practical reason. Think of how much more our phones can do today than they could 15, 10 or even five years ago. Moore’s Law states that computer power doubles every two years. Decades have passed since that proclamation was made and held up. Our phones are so sophisticated and can do so much they truly are essential to our lives. As a real estate agent, I literally cannot perform my job without my cell phone. I use it for directions, to open the lockboxes to gain access to the homes I show and much more. With the coming 5G rollout in the next few years, they will become even more necessary for us to function in this world. As our phones have advanced so has the trajectory of our cell phone bills. I should mention that I was on Sprint’s network for about 10 years. I tried to do everything I could to get the bill down and no matter what I did I could not get it to what I felt was an acceptable price. In addition to that, I live in Arizona and Sprint’s coverage is my area is AWFUL! I don’t live in some rural area but a major city with millions of people. They were slow to roll out 3G and later 4G when it came about. In 2012 I signed my last contract and decided I would research ways to get a great cell phone plan without spending what I felt was an excess amount of money. Part of the way the phone companies enticed you for years was by subsidizing the cost of the phones in exchange for locking into a sky-high monthly bill. While the carriers have moved away from this the replacement is something even more vile. The “Leased” phone. At least with the former mentioned you owned the phone at the end of your two-year contact. Now you don’t even get that! I have had so many conversations with people that believe they own their phones at the end of their two year “Leased” phone contract which comes with a monthly cost of $10 for the phone payment. This is not true! You either owe the balance of what the retail price of the phone at the time of purchase or at the very least a percentage of the retail price of the phone which may be $150-$200. Since most people only keep their phones for a couple of years then are ready to upgrade and poof the phone company has a great offer on a new phone for you! All you have to do is sign a new contract! As a result, you are trapped in a seemingly endless blackhole that you cannot get out of. According to a recent report from JD Power, the average cell phone bill is now $73. That same report says that the average Verizon customer pays an astounding $148 a month! I was inspired to write this blog post after talking to my mom and finding out she pays over $200 a month for just two phone lines that share 4 gigs of data! To some, that may seem reasonable but to the Cheap O Dad, it is unacceptable! I pay just under $33 a month for my cell phone plan which includes unlimited talk, text and data……Oh and I should mention it is on Verizon’s network. How is this possible you ask? Read on and all shall be revealed.
First We Have To Do Some Homework
We have all seen the advertisements where every cell phone carrier claims they have the best network with the tiny fine print you need a microscope to read. In truth, the networks have various levels of network strength depending on the area of the country you live in. For example, where I live Verizon is generally the strongest network while Sprint is among the worst. This could be flip-flopped for you depending on the area of the country you live in. So, the first thing you should do is find out which carrier has the best coverage in your area. You can do that by going to RootMetric’s website and looking at their coverage map here http://webcoveragemap.rootmetrics.com/en-US and selecting the networking you may be interested in and comparing them. They provide unbiased scientific data, so you don’t have to worry about being swayed or misled. In addition to comparing coverage, you can also compare who has the best 4G and technology in your area. This is something you want to take strongly into consideration as the majority of us primarily use our cell phones for everything but talking on the phone.
Once you have decided which network you want to go with the next is to take a look at your usage. The majority of providers now offer unlimited talk and text. It is often the data plan offered that makes the difference. That being said, if you are a light user and prefers even lower-priced plans you will want to look at how many minutes you use as well as text you send on average as well as your data used. Three months of history is generally enough to get a good gauge of what your average usage is. You can usually find this in your phone’s settings or from your cell phone provider.
Let The Savings Begin!
Once you have done all your homework you are ready to start shopping for your new cell phone plan. First a quick overview. Many people are only aware of the big four (Soon to be three with the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile) but there are literally hundreds of cell phone providers out there. Many of these are what is referred to as Mobile Virtual Network Operators. In a nutshell, they lease towers from the other cell phone carriers and are able to offer lower-priced services. Others are actually owned by the big carriers. You can think of it as the “Generic” option to a name brand. The bottom line is you get the advantage of the fancy big network coverage without the expensive price tag. If you look at the screen on my phone it says Verizon Wireless even though I don’t have Verizon as my provider. Your phone does not know the difference! While there are hundreds out there I’ll provide a some I have personally researched and which network they work off of.
Striaght Talk Wireless-All 4 networks https://www.straighttalk.com/wps/portal/home/shop/serviceplans/
Total Wireless (I have included a referral link which will get both of us a bonus)- Verizon https://www.totalwireless.com/keep-your-own-phone to switch and enroll in Rewards with referral code (SDEH-38EC) so we can both bank our FREE bonus.
Mint Mobile-T-Mobile https://www.mintmobile.com/plans/
Cricket-AT&Thttps://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans
Boost Mobile-Sprint https://www.boostmobile.com/plans?INTNAV=TopNav:Plans:PhonePlans#
Google Pixel 2 that I personally have https://amzn.to/2T0pMGl
All these options offer Bring Your Own Phone which is the option I recommend. They also offer phones you can buy from the website. I can already hear those out there saying “But I like to have a new fancy phone every couple years!” let’s do some basic math, shall we? Compare the average Verizon customer paying $148 a month to my $33 a month for my unlimited plan. That is a difference of $115 a month. Over two years that makes a savings of $2760! That is enough to pay outright for a fancy top of the line phone and still pocket thousands of dollars! If you can’t see the value in that……well, you have come to the wrong place, my friend.
Bonus Option
For those of you who want to pay $0 a month for phone service, there is an option for that! Keep in mind this is for someone who uses a cell phone sparingly. Freedompop offers a $0 a month cell phone plan that gives you 200 minutes 500 texts and 200MB of data every month https://www.freedompop.com/. They are on Sprints network and their customer service is abhorrent, but beggars can’t be choosers. I personally got it for my daughter when she was 13. It was a great way to ease her into having a cell phone without paying anything for it! If you take anything away from this article it is that you should never sign another cell phone contract! The companies are not loyal to existing customers so you should not be loyal to them. You do not need to give up quality for price. There are too many good options out there. Cheap O Dad says if you are paying more than $50 a month for your cell phone plan, well you’re paying too much.
***You can watch a video on this blog post if you prefer not to read***