Chucking the cell phone plan?
Posted on March 5th, 2009 – 7:23 PMBy Kara McGuire
I’ve been hearing more and more talk about people considering switching from souped up cell phone plans to prepaid plans. The phones are nicer and have many the bells and whistles seen on the fancier model. You can text. Pre-paying nips any major overages in the bud.
Here’s a pretty comprehensive story about prepaid plans.
As someone who hasn’t had a home phone since 2001 and almost never goes over her minutes, making the switch to a prepaid plan isn’t in the plans.
But I’m curious. Has anyone out there made the switch? How is it working out for you?
Thinking about it? Share your concerns.
55 Responses to "Chucking the cell phone plan?"
We ditched our cell phone almost a year ago. The plan was to get a pre-paid phone where we’d pay $100, get a free phone, and have enough minutes to make one emergency call a month before upping the minutes, knowing that paying for more was an option. But now winter’s almost over and we didn’t get around to it. Without the fear of freezing on a highway waiting for help, we’ll probably consider it again in November.
I think it makes sense to drop either the cell or the home line, but circumstances would dictate which should go. We have DSL and no cable, so we need a home line with our current internet set up ($60/month for phone and internet).
Oh — that $100 was the annual cost of the prepaid phone.
My husband and I have been looking at it and will probably do it sometime this year. We currently share a phone because we don’t use many minutes and the $30 a month plan is more than we need, but it would be nice to have two phones. The only way to do this for the same or lower cost per month is to go to a prepaid. Also, once our kids begin using them, my intention is to provide a basic number of minutes for emergencies with them picking up the rest, which makes a prepaid plan a good choice.
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I dropped my cell phone plan in January and dropped my land line shortly after. I replaced them with a ‘Pay as you go’ phone and plan. The phone is devoid of extras, but it works fine as a basic phone. I buy $100 of minutes that is good for 365 days and expect it to last me about 4 - 5 months. This is quite a savings over the $80+ per month I was spending on the cell phone and land line.
$100 per year gives you 1000 minutes for the whole year with T-Mobile. No additional charges. Around $200 covers our 2 phones. Can’t complain at all.
We have virgin mobile and don’t talk alot. Other than, “I’m at the store, what do we need?” types of calls, the phone doesen’t get used. With a $20 top-up card, my cell phone costs just $6.66 a month.
we switched a year ago to Trumpet Mobile prepaid - we have 4 phone ($19.95 per phone) then buy the min.$20-30.00 per card and you then transfer (you can move the dollars around) dollars to the phone/s that need money/time. .50 once a day IF “used” and .10 per min./ text is .05 per “text” we are now spending around $8.00 per month TOTAL all 4 phone. 2 of the phones are used by teenagers who only text and understand the cost of cell phones.
My wife and I have done the T-Mobile prepaid plan for a couple years now. You pay for the phone, can be as low as $35. You can than pay $100 for 1000 minutes that last a year. You can refill the minutes as much as you want. It’s been a huge cost savings for us, $200 a year vs $60 a month, $720 a year.
My husband and I both had cell phones on contract.I wasn’t using mine enough to justify having it at all and dropped mine. Then, looking at his use we dropped the contract more than a year ago for pre-paid. We went from a contract rate $360 for a year down the $100 a year and this past year, it will come in at $75. We still have our land line at home. Qwest has a great deal, unlimited long distance for $20 month. With 85% of our calls outside of our area, this has really paid off. We pay $58 a month for the land line. We live in a rural area so we have to have that for the internet service.
I bought a pre-paid cell phone in 2005 when I visited my hometown New Orleans and it was the only way I could call people because the land lines were all down after Katrina. When I returned to Minnesota, I kept the phone (I had activated it for 612 since it wouldn’t activate for a New Orleans area code) and late last year I decided it didn’t make sense in this economy to maintain a cell phone and a land line. So I cut the cord and kept the cell.
I’m on my third phone now with the same service, and it has all the bells and whistles the big boys do: text messaging, web browsing and even a camera phone.
I own a transportation business and we are in the process of going to a prepaid plan. The plan offers unlimited minutes, text, two way, voice mail and web for $50.00 per month each line. This will save quite a bit over the year while the bill can be automatically deducted from our bank account so the service will be uninterrupted. By knowing the amount it helps us budget. Maybe the state should use this type of plan…
I purchased my 1st cell phone a couple of years ago and went with pre-paid from the beginning. It’s 10 cents a minute, with a 150 minutes a month minimum purchase - and you never lose your minutes. Since I don’t use my cell much, I’ve accumulated 2,200 minutes. There is no contract - just keep spending the $15 a month (plus taxes) to keep your phone #. All the traditional plans charge too much for features I wouldn’t use often.
I just went month to month with my providor and a family plan with 2 phones… I expect to use more than my typical 5 minutes - or less - in May as I retrieve a vehicle from CA. Once that is done I am either dropping the cell completely and sharing with my wife (who uses 45 minutes a month) or going with an individual plan and prepaid. A new providor too as mine was listed last in Consumer reports recently. Either way texting wil be blocked, paying 20 cents for spam really irks me.
After realizing that I never used up even the minimum minutes on my provider’s lowest-priced plan, I switched to a T-Mobile prepaid account. When I need a cell phone, I really need it, but I don’t need it most of the time, and it’s great to have an option that I can keep going for almost nothing.
I made the change a few years back and it’s been great! But for starters I don’t use my cell that much and I really don’t text so it’s been great for me. I went with T-mobile and for a start up cost of less then $100 I got a phone, activation and $25 in minutes. I add minutes as needed. Some months more then others. After you reach $100 in minutes you get bonus mintues when you buy minutes. Generally I spend $20 every 6 weeks. Also another savings is if you use directory assistance use these free services instead…1-800-GOOG-411, 1-800-FREE-411,texting to “466453″ (GOOGLE.)
Not even considering it, as my partner and I are currently paying $66 a month for two phones with 600 anytime minutes plus free calling when at home via the internet with T-Mobile.
I have been on several prepaid plans and really like my current one, T-Mobile. After spending a cumulative $100 in prepaid minutes, all minutes after that don’t expire for a year. That is more generous than other plans I have seen. The coverage is good too. But I also do not talk or text for lengthy stretches of time either.
I’ve only ever had a prepaid plan. I rarely use a cell phone, but my dad wanted me to get one when my mom was ill last year. I don’t text, although apparently I could. Verizon Wireless alerts me to low balances or newly-received payments by text messages, otherwise I never receive them. I would never give up my landline because I consider the cell phone too unreliable for emergency use (it’s a pain to keep track of, and it may or may not be charged, etc.) and I prefer to talk on a larger handset or on speaker phone. It costs me about $15 a month to keep my pre-pay cell charged up and ready for the few occasions when I’ve needed it. I’m very satisfied. The only thing I don’t like is that I can’t turn text messaging off altogether (since Verizon uses it to communicate with me; I’m sure that’s not accidental, it makes a perfect excuse for forcing people to keep a feature they don’t want.) One other thing is that on pre-pay plan you can’t block callers or texters based on their numbers, which I imagine you can with a cell package deal.
I’ve always had a prepaid phone. I keep it off most of the time and use it only in emergencies, when I MUST make a personal long distance call from work (once or twice a year), or while on vacation (and then only minimally). I can’t imagine paying $20 a month or more on something I did just fine without before 1998.
We did this a few years back and it is great. We have a plan that has no yearly charge, and we just have to up our minutes every 3 months. If we have left over minutes at the end of the three months they roll over and never expire.There are always coupon codes online so we end up getting double minutes every time we purchase minutes. We just bought 150 minutes for $25 dollars. $25 as opposed to the $250 I’d be spending on a standard 3 months of cell service. Perfect for us. I always felt ripped off by my standard cell plan and I have never felt that way with my pre-paid plan.
I’ve used the Virgin Mobile pre-paid plan for years. $20-$40 every three months. I probably talk on my cell phone 60 minutes a month and send 30 or so text messages. Always try to use office and home phone first….really easy to do and cheap!
I made the switch to a prepaid plan two years ago and it’s great. The phones are pretty basic (I use t-mobile prepaid) but it am able to add minutes as needed. $100 gets me 1000 minutes, and since I don’t talk a lot on my phone, I only need to refill about two times per year, much cheaper than most if not all the other fixed rate plans.
I did it years ago. I spend about $100 per year for 1000 minutes and never get through all of them. At the end of one year I just buy whatever I need for the next year. Less than $10/month sure beats any plan out there.
Convince me that I need a cell phone. Why do I need to have constant accessibility?
I made the switch two years ago after adding up all the minutes I’d used in a year and finding it under 500. I end up spending about $100 per year as opposed to the $400+ I was spending before. I highly recommend it.
The Block-
You don’t need constant accessibility. It’s obviously a personal choice.
TracFone. Excellent reception. No contract. No tricks. Initial purchase price $30. $10 month for 100 minutes. Unused minutes accumulate month to month. Available minutes clearly displayed. Automatic monthly recharge if you give your credit card number, otherwise just buy a recharge card in many places. There are no free minutes or family plan but I need my phone only for high priority calls so I don’t care. I love eliminating contracts and 8 million confusing plans from my life.
I hadn’t had a cell phone and was happy with just having a land line, but my sister was generous and gave me a prepaid cell phone for Christmas. I love it! They’ve added so many features since prepaid’s came on the market. It’s great to control how much you want to pay to add minutes, of course the more you spend the cheaper it is per minute. I got a deal too, the first 3 mths having minutes added by T-mobile. 25.00 is the amount I’ll add every 2-3 mths. Texting is the only way I keep in touch with some family members. I would recommend it, but it’s my 2nd phone, still have the land line-for now.
I kept telling my wife that the $30 plan was the most expensive call she made every month. So switched to a prepaid plan about a year ago from the $30 plan($45 in reality once you add tax and tip - I mean all the fees and taxes). We now have 4 family members on the plan, my wife and I are just about to run out of our $100 which we bought last April.
I have yet to find a cheaper plan, and the nice side effect is that it teaches the kids a little bit about budgeting and conspicuous consumption, although they are of course free to add minutes as they wish from their own money.
The message that you may have to babysit two weekends in a row just to message your friend in the back of the bus is pretty powerful.
For Amy F
Just FYI that ALL phones work with the 911 system. You don’t have to have a plan at all for this. Just any old phone lying in storage with work to call 911. That is why they have you donate old phones at banks and such becuase they give them to battered women in case they need help. So if you any reason for buying a prepaid phone is in case you have a winter emergency then just have an old clunker cell in the glove box.
“Convince me that I need a cell phone. Why do I need to have constant accessibility?”
That depends on your situation. I have more use for getting in touch with others while I am out on trails and other cities than when at home.
I also don’t spend a lot of time on the phone.
My intent is to drop the home phone and have the cell phone only.
I have been doing prepaid for a few years and it’s been working out well. I use Virgin Mobile so I can only speak to that. You do have to look at all of the prepaid options out there and figure out what works best for your voice/text use. I don’t make a ton of calls or send many texts/month so using their flat 20 cent/minute for voice and 15 cent rate per text works fine for me. I only spend about $20/month.
I hate cell phones, and their implied requirement of being able to reach me always everywhere. However, my family needs dictate that I have one, and on rare occasions, it’s convenient to have it. I wouldn’t have anything other than a prepaid plan. Since every minute costs something, I have a strong incentive to use it as little as possible, which is how I like it.
My research showed the break even at about 300 minutes a month. Less than that, you are better off with a cell phone plan. I use about 400 minutes a month, so for me the 600 minute plan from a regional provider was cheaper. My wife uses about 10 minutes a month, so a 12 month card with 400 minutes for $99 got her a phone she can keep in her purse for emergencies.
Besides droppin the cell if you have high speed internet you can drop your main phone as well. We use MagicJack.com and I have used it for 1 year and a half and it works just as well as the big companies. I will be paying $11.99 total for my phone bill this YEAR.
I’m sticking with the plan since I love the unlimited data and texting. I don’t use many minutes, but since I have the plan with the fewest minutes, that doesn’t bother me. I did drop the landline (finally!) since Qwest came out with the DSL Internet only plan that doesn’t require me to have phone service.
@TheBlock, very few people need to have “constant accessibility”. A cell phone, just like a home phone, is a convenience. Just because a phone rings, doesn’t mean you have to answer it. And every cell phone I’ve ever seen comes with an on/off switch. If you don’t feel the need for a cell phone, fine. Most of the rest of us, though, find it convenient enough to pay for.
About a year and a half ago I bought a prepaid phone from T-mobile for $40, and then bought 1000 minutes for $100. I got it to have my own personal number separate from my “work” cell phone.
When I ended up leaving my old job, I left my old phone and number with it, going exclusively with the prepaid phone. It worked just fine. I have since gone back to a monthly plan because my fiance got me a new phone for xmas, but I would have continued with prepaid.
If you do the math on the t-mobile plans, they’re actually more per minute than the prepaid plan when you buy 1000 minutes (you have to exclude their “my faves” deal).
I encourage people to give it a try. It’s a good way to live within your means.
As Randy Moss would say: “Straight cash, homey.”
About 18 months ago, at the end of my cell phone contract, I made the switch to prepaid cell service to Boost Mobile. I became a stay-at-home mom and I wasn’t using all the minutes from my contract each month. Also, I couldn’t find a contract with less than 250 minutes a month. I only use about 125 minutes a month.
I can buy minutes through my phone, buying a prepaid card or through the website.
But - I really do not like Boost’s advertising.
Hey! There’s an in-between option you haven’t noted: Month-to-Month.
I haven’t gone to a pre-paid, but I did ditch my contract, pay month to month, got a free phone, & typically use 0 - 15 minutes per month. I may flex my costs up & down each month, based on how much I’ve used it.
It’s $10/month for no included minutes,@ 25 cents/minute (I’m still way ahead of the old contract). If I think I’m going to use more than 40 minutes in the month, I can switch mid-month to the next level plan 200 minutes/$20. I can even make the switch after I’ve already talked for more than 40 minutes. Helps control my costs. (Levels go up to 1600 minutes/$60.)
You can buy the Consumer Cellular plan on your own (1-888-345-5509, or if you buy thru AAA, all your emergency Roadside Help calls to AAA are free. And the number comes pre-programmed 
I can add a family member for $10/month, & they share in my plan minutes. Someday, when I add my spouse & kid, it’ll be $30/month total (no minutes), or $40/month total for 200 minutes. We’re not big talkers.
And I have ZERO complaints with their customer service.
I am WAY ahead of my old contract!
I have had a prepaid for two years now, I do not use a lot of minutes every month. My cost is $100 a year for 1000 minutes and as long as you add minutes every year they do not expire. It works well for me, I have a GSM phone so I can use any unlocked phone.
I switched to a prepaid plan last year. $107 gets me 1000 minutes and lasts me about 9 months. I use my unlimited long distance home phone for my lenghty calls and the cell for safety and short communications. Think of all the taxes, access fees, and over use charges I avoid and yet have the convenience of the phone where ever I go. I highly recommend going this route for anyone who is budget minded.
I have used a prepaid .25 cents a minute (there are .10) plan. It costs me about 100 a year. For those who dont use but 40 minutes a month it is a steal. (me) I looked and wondered about emergency phones but I found out I liked talking to people. I drive out to the southwestern MN once a week. If you get a phone with a major company you are still connected out there. You need to buy your phone upfront (pain) but overall I have been doing it for 2 years and it makes sence.
I use a prepaid plan, purchasing 1000 minutes at a time, for $100. I end up spending about $300 per year, or $25 per month, over the course of a year. I mainly use the phone when I am not at home, and I do text a moderate amount.
Until the amount of money I spend is much more, the prepaid plan just makes sense
We dropped our land line, our “basic” bill ran $40 - $60/month plus long distance.
We still have basic cable for accessing the internet and we have our cell phones as well. We are also trying out the Magic Jack. It works pretty well, though it needs the Internet to work. But for $40/year and zero long distance fee’s it is worth it.
I’ve had a pre-paid before but it wasn’t flexible enough for my business.
LOVE my pre paid cell. I pay $100 and the minutes last me for approx 4 1/2 months. Sometimes longer! LOVE IT!
The prepaid phone functions just like cell phones on the monthly plan. We need to have one to keep in touch with our teenagers on the go. We typically don’t spend more than the $100 annual prepay amount. It beats the $30 per month or $360 annual cost. You can add minutes by phone with a credit card, just like taking the time to pay your monthly bill. It’s very simple and worth the savings.
The Block -
The whole point of the blog post was, “Don’t buy things you don’t need.” So, uh, don’t get a cell phone.
With two teenagers in the house, a prepaid plan isn’t practical for us. We pay about $200 monthly for four phones, with lots of talking and text minutes. We’ve drawn the line at internet access though.
The best prepaid deal out there now is the Boost Mobile $50 prepaid unlimited plan. All fees are included in the $50. Text messaging,walkie-talkie, and data are included. T-Mobile has a similar plan, but it does not include texting and data.
The best prepaid deal out there now is the Boost Mobile $50 prepaid unlimited plan. All fees are included in the $50. Unlimited minutes,text messaging,walkie-talkie, and data are included. T-Mobile has a similar plan, but it does not include texting and data.
I started using a Virgin Mobile prepaid phone after going a couple of months without a phone. My daycare lady needed to reach me as my child was having an asthma attack, and needed to go to the hospital. I didn’t have a phone. I bought one as soon as my son was out of the hospital. I started with just a few emergency minutes, but now I am up to the unlimited minutes/texting plan….and paying less than I did when I had a contract phone. The phone in and of itself is adequate. It has blue tooth, a decent camera, and QWERTY keyboard. However, you can spot it as a prepaid phone a mile away. I have been pretty happy with the service, no major issues. Customer service however….a whole different story. Their customer service goes to an out of country site…while their English is clearly spoken, they do not understand any different/unusual circumstances. They tried to screw me out of about 100 bucks, and it took 6 hours of calling to get it taken care of. My suggestion….there is a US number for them available on a google search that will get you a nice person on the East Coast that you can clearly communicate with.
We switched from a family plan that was running about $80 a month in November, and so far the total costs have been about equal. That said, we’ve now each got enough minutes prepaid that I expect we’ll make until about June, and maybe July without the need to purchase more. We’re on Tmobile - minutes can expire, but if you purchase $100 at a go, you get 1000 minutes and have a year to use them. So far, I like it - we were on AT&T before, and go the phones unlocked by them for free before cancelling, meaning no $ for new phones, and no phones in the recycling/waste stream.
Prepaid services are extremely helpful for people whose cell phone usage is not consistent. I have used pre-paid for going on 10 years (and boy have they increased the options avialable for you in that time - and more are coming).
If you have very heavy periods of usage, an observant person will realize that the months when they AREN’T using the cell as much are a complete ripoff because they are still paying as if it was heavy usage and just not getting the value for their dollar. I equate it to keeping your cabin temperature at 72 degrees even though you are only in it for 4 months of the year or stocking the refridgerator with groceries just before you leave on vacation for 2 weeks.
