Cell phone help pls and tyty ( Be Gentle )

[Nayan]

Wow, I can't believe these cell phone bills. I don't have a smart phone neither does my husband and our son has a prepaid phone. I don't understand why everyone feels the need for them and why in the world kids would need one. What am I missing here?

I don't understand the smart phone thing either, but to each their own. My DH and I have prepaid Go phones from AT&T and pay only $200/year ($100 on each phone good for one year). I used to pay over $150/month for Verizon but I said never again since we only use our phones for talking. Some of these cells cost more than I pay for cable! I'll keep my dumb phones .

 

[JB2K]

You are missing that prepaid phones don't always have good reception...

Nothing that a little research can't fix...

It's a given that the AT&T GoPhone, along with T-Mobile and Verizon's prepaid products will work in the same neighboroods their contract phones work.

Same thing goes for Virgin Mobile/Sprint and corporate cousins Boost Mobile/Nextel

Where determining coverage might get a little tricky is with the Tracfone family of phones (Tracfone/Net10/Straight Talk) -- With TF and Net10, you need to go to their respective websites and enter the zip code where you plan to use the phone most (as they use a variety of carriers around the country, meaning YMMV). As for Straight Talk (sold exclusively at Walmart), it is understood they use Verizon's network for traditional talk/text cell phones while they rely on Sprint's towers to provide coverage for their Android phones.

I cut the contract a couple of years ago, and quite honestly, I'm not missing being handcuffed to it...

 

[eliza61]

Wow, I can't believe these cell phone bills. I don't have a smart phone neither does my husband and our son has a prepaid phone. I don't understand why everyone feels the need for them and why in the world kids would need one. What am I missing here?

Nothing. they are toys just like Ipads, kindles and any other toy.
It's simple a matter of personal choices.

No way no how am I giving a phone company 200-$250 a month to talk, so for me I'll probably never own an Iphone. I wouldn't use the features, have no desire to play angry bird or watch a movie on my cell. Don't check my email on it and after tracking my phone calls for the past 45 days I've found that most of the calls and simply routine "catch up on life" calls.

I'm sticking with sprint primarily because I get a great company discount. This year my youngest will be in college and since we have reminded him that he is very blessed to be getting college tuition without loans, if he wants a smart phone simply for the joy of web surfing, he better find a way to pay for it.

I know sprint still offers "regular" phones that you don't need a data package with so there are less expensive choices.

250/ month is more than his college books.

 

[bunny]

Nothing that a little research can't fix...

It's a given that the AT&T GoPhone, along with T-Mobile and Verizon's prepaid products will work in the same neighboroods their contract phones work.

Same thing goes for Virgin Mobile/Sprint and corporate cousins Boost Mobile/Nextel

My son, who is 13, has a Pageplus phone (Verizon's prepaid). He gets the same coverage as my normal Verizon phone gets. I pay per minute for phone talking but it is really low. He doesn't talk much but he texts alot. For $10.95 I buy him 2,000 texts. So overall I spend less than $20 per month on this phone without a contract. My phone and my husband's phone are free through work, so I didn't have a plan to add him on to. I bought him a refurbished phone with a Qwerty keyboard on E-bay for $40. He is so happy to have a phone and I don't have a contract to contend with.

 

[reginaastralis]

One of the ways you could drop your bill is to make your kids pay their part. I'm almost 28, and I'll be honest I just got my own phone. My parent's rule was that you could only have the cheapest plan to be on their bill, which with att was $10 month. I had to share 500 minutes with my parents and siblings, but I had unlimited text, and no web service. I seriously had to weigh the pros and cons because I really wanted an iphone, but it is nearly $100/month for me to have that phone. I had to make the decision that that's what I wanted, and it was.

Heck, I was even due for an upgrade about seven months before I got my own phone, but I had to figure out if it was worth being stuck on my parent's contract for another two years. I dealt with a really old phone after I broke mine because I just didn't want to spend the money.

Personally, I think I appreciate my iphone a lot more than if my parents had let me get one right when I wanted it. I waited three years before taking the plunge.

 

[hambirg]

We went pre-paid (Virgin Mobile) last spring and I will never go back to contract! I bought my daughter a smart phone on black friday for $50 at Target (LG Optimus) and it works great for her. Her plan is $35 (unlimited data and text with 300 minutes) and I pay $30(and don't really come close to using all of mine. . .1500 minutes, 1500 texts and 30 MB data).HTH

 

[Sagginit]

i would go over your bill and check everything out. i have had them make changes i did not want each time i upgraded my phone and had to call and flip on them to have it reversed. the last time they doubled my minutes. in like four years i have never gone over. the rep. when i called even admitted it made no sense for me to upgrade and apologized they did that so just make sure you don't have any more unwanted extras. i also found out that i qualified for an employee discount. i had been with the company for over two years before i found it out. its not a discount my company gets for an agreement, its this courtesy thing b/c they are a big client of the cell phone carrier. i wanted a lower data plan but with my phone i had no choice. as verizon gets the best service i wont switch, but do not have a land line.