Clark Howard Article - "Struggling to Pay Your Cell Phone Bill?"

[JB2K]

By Clark Howard

If you're like many Americans, what you've been paying for cell phone service has been going up. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way.

The Wall Street Journal reports new data from the Labor Department finds that household spending on telephone services rose 10% from 2007 to 2011 at the same time that it shrunk by 5% on entertainment and nearly 20% on vehicle purchases.

A lot of the run-up in what people are paying can be attributed to having your iPhone through AT&T and Verizon. I hear all the time from people who say they can't leave their cell phone carrier because they're "under contract" or "have a family plan."

The reality is you have to start planning your exit strategy now, regardless of where you are in your contract. If you have a fancy smart phone, especially an iPhone, you can sell it on eBay and probably get enough money to cover your early termination fees.

Leave AT&T and Verizon to the big fat cats in corporate America! If you need to watch your wallet, you need to migrate away from them. (Sprint and T-Mobile are in their own orbit and can in fact offer some deals for families.)

In general, you'll get a better deal from any of the Big 5 discounters: Straight Talk, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Cricket, and Metro PCS. They offer smartphone service that's effectively less than half the cost per line than AT&T or Verizon.

If you're still using AT&T or Verizon, you are throwing away maybe $1,000 a year. Check out these other companies and you'll have a great shot of saving big dough.

http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/cla...americans-struggle-pay-cell-phone-bill/nP2Qp/

 

[QueenElinor]

Well, you're preaching to the choir as far as I'm concerned.
That was part of my complaint in that other thread- Verizon (and ATT) are launching these new data sharing plans that are just terrible for families. I think a lot of people don't quite realize what's going to happen to them the next time they upgrade or add a line, even if it's not a smartphone. Tripling the cost of a dumb phone line is just really galling to me.

I can't even find my current (cheap) plan on Verizon. I'm no longer under contract, though and so hopefully will have a little time to for an exit strategy before they notice they're not fleecing me....

The experts predicted that the smartphone industry would tank during the recession, but it grew-especially Apple. I think the companies know that we're addicted and will pay what it costs for our next "fix". But I dumped pay TV and figured out how to stream what I wanted when they got too greedy years ago. Hopefully, I will also figure out a way to do an end-run around Verizon.

Smoke signals, maybe?

 

[letsgoreds]

I'm surprised Clark left off Tmobile. I love their $30 unlimited data/texting plan. The talk minutes are minimal, but that works for me : )

 

[SuzanneSLO]

By Clark Howard

If you're like many Americans, what you've been paying for cell phone service has been going up. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way.

The Wall Street Journal reports new data from the Labor Department finds that household spending on telephone services rose 10% from 2007 to 2011 at the same time that it shrunk by 5% on entertainment and nearly 20% on vehicle purchases.

A lot of the run-up in what people are paying can be attributed to having your iPhone through AT&T and Verizon. I hear all the time from people who say they can't leave their cell phone carrier because they're "under contract" or "have a family plan."

The reality is you have to start planning your exit strategy now, regardless of where you are in your contract. If you have a fancy smart phone, especially an iPhone, you can sell it on eBay and probably get enough money to cover your early termination fees.

Leave AT&T and Verizon to the big fat cats in corporate America! If you need to watch your wallet, you need to migrate away from them. (Sprint and T-Mobile are in their own orbit and can in fact offer some deals for families.)

In general, you'll get a better deal from any of the Big 5 discounters: Straight Talk, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Cricket, and Metro PCS. They offer smartphone service that's effectively less than half the cost per line than AT&T or Verizon.

If you're still using AT&T or Verizon, you are throwing away maybe $1,000 a year. Check out these other companies and you'll have a great shot of saving big dough.

http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/cla...americans-struggle-pay-cell-phone-bill/nP2Qp/

While I sometimes like Clark Howard, I found this article to be pretty odd. Sort of like giving advice to ditch your car and just ride a bike. Just like for some people owning a car may be worth what it costs, so to for some people owning an iPhone may be worth what it costs.

For me personally, my current bill with ATT for 2 iPhones with unlimited data is less than what I paid T-mobile for a Palm smartphone and a dumb phone. -- Suzanne

 

[QueenElinor]

While I sometimes like Clark Howard, I found this article to be pretty odd. Sort of like giving advice to ditch your car and just ride a bike. Just like for some people owning a car may be worth what it costs, so to for some people owning an iPhone may be worth what it costs.

For me personally, my current bill with ATT for 2 iPhones with unlimited data is less than what I paid T-mobile for a Palm smartphone and a dumb phone. -- Suzanne

As long as you don't want to upgrade or add a line, you will be probably be fine, but it's hard to know what they will do when you are no longer under your current contract. I was so shocked by the cost of the new ATT plan, I started a whole thread about it.

 

[iuki]

By Clark Howard

If you're like many Americans, what you've been paying for cell phone service has been going up. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way.

The Wall Street Journal reports new data from the Labor Department finds that household spending on telephone services rose 10% from 2007 to 2011 at the same time that it shrunk by 5% on entertainment and nearly 20% on vehicle purchases.

A lot of the run-up in what people are paying can be attributed to having your iPhone through AT&T and Verizon. I hear all the time from people who say they can't leave their cell phone carrier because they're "under contract" or "have a family plan."

The reality is you have to start planning your exit strategy now, regardless of where you are in your contract. If you have a fancy smart phone, especially an iPhone, you can sell it on eBay and probably get enough money to cover your early termination fees.

Leave AT&T and Verizon to the big fat cats in corporate America! If you need to watch your wallet, you need to migrate away from them. (Sprint and T-Mobile are in their own orbit and can in fact offer some deals for families.)

In general, you'll get a better deal from any of the Big 5 discounters: Straight Talk, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Cricket, and Metro PCS. They offer smartphone service that's effectively less than half the cost per line than AT&T or Verizon.

If you're still using AT&T or Verizon, you are throwing away maybe $1,000 a year. Check out these other companies and you'll have a great shot of saving big dough.

http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/cla...americans-struggle-pay-cell-phone-bill/nP2Qp/

I saw the same episode. Although I like Clark Howard, what he didn't take into consideration is the service provided by the the Big 5 discounters. I have heard from people who have used these services, and they said that it is difficult to find coverage areas and they have many dropped calls. Also, that the quality of the calls was bad.

 

[imsayin]

I saw the same episode. Although I like Clark Howard, what he didn't take into consideration is the service provided by the the Big 5 discounters. I have heard from people who have used these services, and they said that it is difficult to find coverage areas and they have many dropped calls. Also, that the quality of the calls was bad.

I have Sprint, and my services has been awful since June. Their customer service is even worse. I have constant dropped calls and delayed texts, sometimes they go through the next day. I don' t live in the boonies. Their excuse is that they are upgrading the towers.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

We switched to Straight Talk almost a year ago and have never been happier. Our service is actually better than Verizon.

 

[NYCDiane]

I saw the same episode. Although I like Clark Howard, what he didn't take into consideration is the service provided by the the Big 5 discounters. I have heard from people who have used these services, and they said that it is difficult to find coverage areas and they have many dropped calls. Also, that the quality of the calls was bad.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Sure, I can pay $40/mo but will I be able to actually make a full phone call in one try?? No. I used to have Sprint and they were horrible. I was literally counting the days until my contract ended and, on that day (6 years ago), I dropped them and went to Verizon and have NEVER had a dropped call!

For now, I'm sticking with verizon. Once this contract is up, I'm going to look into AT&T and see if I can get a deal on an unlimited data plan (since verizon charges too much for it)

 

[NYCDiane]

I have Sprint, and my services has been awful since June. Their customer service is even worse. I have constant dropped calls and delayed texts, sometimes they go through the next day. I don' t live in the boonies. Their excuse is that they are upgrading the towers.

LOL!!! Sprint told me the same thing 6 years ago.... or that, if you're on a call and someone on another cell phone decides to make a call, you get bumped off the tower Are you kidding me??!??! So if I'm on 65th St making a call and some guy on 43rd St decides to make a call, I'm going to get bumped??? I asked the rep if she was listening to what she was saying? She got VERY rude and said that's how it works. RIDICULOUS!

 

[RitaE]

Funny you should post this today because we've really been having this conversation lately with our iPhone contracts coming up.

I only have the iPhone 4 (No Siri) but to be honest I'm not sure I'd ever use Siri. My phone works perfectly. The kids both need either new batteries for their iPhones or new iPhones because they aren't holding charges very well and they aren't under warranty anymore. I might just go with something other than the iPhone 5 and move us all to Straight Talk.

It isn't that much more expensive when you consider just voice and data but the $30 a month Family texting plan sends it over the top.

But mostly I just don't want to put my son under another two year contract on our plan because I want him moving to his own plan by the end of 2013.

 

[SaraJayne]

Most people don't use discount cell providers because they stink. Coverage is terrible, dropped calls, texts don't go through, etc. so how good a deal is that phone when you can't use it?

 

[Tiger926]

Most people don't use discount cell providers because they stink. Coverage is terrible, dropped calls, texts don't go through, etc. so how good a deal is that phone when you can't use it?

We are Canadian and purchased MetroPCS in July - did research and for the areas we are in (Michigan, Ohio, travel down i75 and Florida) it seemed good.

Once we got the phone, it was another story. Between the phone, accessories, tax and 2 months service @ 60.00/month (unlimited talk US/Canada, text & data) we are out over $235.00 for a phone that we have cancelled the service on.

Cheaper phones and plans just don't seem to work, so in actuality, you may be spending more money in the long run. It's a great racket for the phone companies though - we won't ever be activating this phone again, so they just made a couple of hundred dollars from us. I'm sure this happens daily, so it's all extra profit for them.

Tiger

 

[momof1princess]

unfortunately, none of those are available in my little, rural community. even AT&T barely gets decent service out here. sure, you can buy their phones and minutes cards at wal-mart, but there's no signal for any of them out here.

a couple years ago, DD15 had a kajeet prepaid phone, which is on the sprint network, and she could NEVER find a signal to make a call or send a text. it was horrible.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

This is exactly what I was thinking. Sure, I can pay $40/mo but will I be able to actually make a full phone call in one try?? No. I used to have Sprint and they were horrible. I was literally counting the days until my contract ended and, on that day (6 years ago), I dropped them and went to Verizon and have NEVER had a dropped call!

For now, I'm sticking with verizon. Once this contract is up, I'm going to look into AT&T and see if I can get a deal on an unlimited data plan (since verizon charges too much for it)

Or you can stick with Verizon - use the prepaid provider Page Plus. This provider uses Verizon's prepaid network. And I pay about $40 per month - however, that is for service for 4 phones. Three are low usage so I just use a $10 refill card every four months, the other is on a $30 plan that provides 1200 minutes, 3000 texts, and 100 MB of data. Also, three of the four phones used are smartphones.

 

[ellone]

We switched to Straight Talk almost a year ago and have never been happier. Our service is actually better than Verizon.

My husband was on Straight Talk and while voice and text service was fine, data was another story. Trying to look up anything on the internet while we were out was horrible. When I finally got a smartphone and tried going on the internet while out, there was just no comparison. It was lightening fast compared to what he was getting on Straight Talk.

 

[DawnM]

I switched to Straight Talk two months ago. So far I am very happy with their service. I haven't had ANY dropped calls. I talk about 2,500 min. per month.

 

[luvmy3]

Most people don't use discount cell providers because they stink. Coverage is terrible, dropped calls, texts don't go through, etc. so how good a deal is that phone when you can't use it?

I use PagePlus, they use the Verizon network. My coverage is the same as it was when I used Verizon. However I could never use Straight Talk, or Virgin or any other small carrier, since I'd get horrible coverage. You need to shop around to make sure its worth it.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I have Sprint, and my services has been awful since June. Their customer service is even worse. I have constant dropped calls and delayed texts, sometimes they go through the next day. I don' t live in the boonies. Their excuse is that they are upgrading the towers.

And my experience was just the opposite!! Verizon's customer service SUCKED!! They were rude and nasty!! Sprint has been very reasonable and pleasant to deal with for the most part. And when I was having issues with my Blackberry they even gave me a brand new battery for FREE!!! and my phone was close to two years old. They were doing everything they could to help me out because I just couldn't afford to upgrade my phone right then because of our financial circumstances due to medical stuff and I explained since we didn't have a home phone how important our cell phones were to staying connected. They have fixed our phones for free even though we don't have 'contracts' on them. Yeah we ocassionally have that delayed text but not very often. And we don't get any more dropped called than my DH gets with his verizon work phone. And we get a WAY BETTER DEAL with Sprint! I'll take sprint any day over Verizon or AT&T. Price is better, service is better, and we have unlimited data & free cell to any cell. But to each his/her own. Sprint works great for us!

 

[disney55]

Thanks for the good info and ....GO AIR FORCE!!!!