Do you have a home phone? We don't. I haven't had a home phone since I graduated from college (which was 6 years ago! Wow, I feel old....). My parents still have one, but their home phone number is forwarded to their cell phones, which means their home phone never rings. So really, they don't have a "home phone", but my dad doesn't want to cancel it "just in case of an emergency"...you know, in case the world like we know ends & cell phone carriers don't exist anymore (sorry, Dad)...
Anyway, Cooper & I went into our cellphone carrier's store the other day to discuss upgrading one of our phones. I ended up using the upgrade to get a tablet rather than another phone, but after discussing what a new phone or gadget would do to our phone bill, it made me think about how crazy expensive having access to a phone/internet at any time can be! With our cell phones plus 3GB of internet access, plus unlimited text messaging, our grand total each month is almost $230!!
That.is.expensive.
So of course, I wanted to do a little research and see what other options are out there (not like we can switch carriers right now without paying an early termination fee, but maybe it will help someone who isn't tied down with a contract right now).
Here is an option for those looking for a more budget friendly cell phone option:
Use a Prepaid Cell Phone:
- Buy a prepaid phone and only the number of minutes you plan on using & pay cash for it all.
- This eliminates contracts, early termination fees, service fees & high phone bills you haven't budgeted for.
- 6 Prepaid Phone Options:
- Sold at Walmart.
- Owned by TracFone
- Plans start at $30/month for 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts & 30megabytes of internet
- Owned by TracFone
- Two Plans Offered: $15 for 200 minutes/month or $30 for 500 minutes/month
- Pay-as-you-go plan: $25 for 750 minutes and 1 month of service
- No contract required
- Automatically debits your bank account/credit card each month
- $35/month for unlimited talk & text
- $45/month for unlimited talk, text & web
- Out of network roaming charges= 25 cents/minute
- $30/month for 1500 minutes of combined talk/text & 30 megabytes of Web
- $25/month for 300 minutes of talk & unlimited text, email, data & Web
- $40/month for 1200 minutes of talk & unlimited text, email, data & Web
- Pay-as-you plan: $30/month for 1 month of service, 1500 minutes of talk, 500 texts & 10 megabytes of Web
- $20 for a basic flip phone & 90 days of service, which includes 60 minutes of talk/text time.
- Buy more minutes as you need it
- Minutes can be rolled over & are available until you use them
- Each purchase of minutes extends the service date
- $125 for 1 year of service, 800 minutes of talk time (with a text msg counting as half of minute)
Most of these prepaid options claim to offer solid networks with good coverage. If your cell phone bill is higher than you'd like it to be & you can get out of your current plan without paying a high early termination fee, it may be worth you looking into.
Good luck!
Good work
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