help me pick a data plan

[Kurby]

so dh and i want to upgrade our cells to iphones.

i have a blackberry but dh just has a reg phone

i'm getting confused with all the data plans.

with all the apps and full webpages you can access on the iphone (that you don't have on the blackberry) how do i figure out how much data we'll need.

we don't talk much - text more since we both work in positions where we can't talk on the phone but can text when we get the chance and i know there are some apps on the iphone that i'd want to have and play with but the usage is different to what we use on the computers at home.

should we share plans since we dont' talk much and get a higher data plan? should we get individual phones?

i'm really tired of paying over $150 per month for what we have but don't want to get hit with overages either because we pick the wrong data plan.

please help.

what do you have? how much data do you use and what do you do with it?

oh and we're canadian but the amount of data would still be the same just not the prices

 

[scrapquitler]

should we share plans since we dont' talk much and get a higher data plan? should we get individual phones?

i'm really tired of paying over $150 per month for what we have but don't want to get hit with overages either because we pick the wrong data plan.

please help.

what do you have? how much data do you use and what do you do with it?

oh and we're canadian but the amount of data would still be the same just not the prices

I don't know if it works differently in Canada than in the US, but it seems to me that 'most' families have a family plan and share the talk minutes among all the the phone lines on the plan.

Beyond that, generally each phone gets its own texting plan which is separate from the data plan. Personally, we find that it pays to have an unlimited texting plan (which costs like $10 for unlimited texts, while a 500 text plan might cost $5 per month. Last month between my Mom, my husband, my teen and myself we used over 20,000 texts).

As far as the data plan goes, I currently have the minimum data plan: I Pay $10 monthly for 25MB of data. I actually used 9, but I only checked facebook and a couple web pages a few times a week. My DH has an android phone which he uses a LOT. He has an unlimited data plan for $25 per month, and last month he used just about 300,000 Kilobytes (I honestly don't know how that compares to MB).

I know that with the minutes, if you go over you can pay the per minute overage, but at least with my carrier (Verizon) if you go over by a lot, you can call them and retroactively up your monthly contract minutes so that you don't get the overage...but then you are stuck with that new amount of minutes (and the subsequent bill) for the rest of your contract. We used to have 700 minutes per month, and something changed with DH work schedule, and he used 1000 one month. I paid the overage because we thought it was a one time thing, but then the next month he used almost 1200 minutes...so I called Verizon and they backdated a new minutes plan (1400) for that month so I didn't have to pay for the extra 500 minutes of overage...and now we feel confident that with the 1400 we won't go over the minutes. I think that possibly (and I'm not sure about this) they might allow the same thing with a data plan... perhaps you can start with the small data plan and if you find that you go over, you might be able to upgrade to a bigger data plan (here the choices currently are only 10mg $10 or unlimited for $25 on my carrier, but who knows ift hat is going to change). So that might be a way to try it out. And here in the US, some phones require a minimum data plan, others require the unlimited, Canada might work in a totally different way though.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

what do you have? how much data do you use and what do you do with it?

I use about 400MB/month, and that includes streaming Pandora every morning while working out, some web surfing, apps like Weather, Facebook, etc. and e-mail. My partner uses about 4GB/month because he streams Pandora pretty much all the time, uses a lot of apps, a lot of web surfing while in the car, etc. Neither of use are candidates for lower plans with Verizon.

I know that with the minutes, if you go over you can pay the per minute overage, but at least with my carrier (Verizon) if you go over by a lot, you can call them and retroactively up your monthly contract minutes so that you don't get the overage...but then you are stuck with that new amount of minutes (and the subsequent bill) for the rest of your contract. We used to have 700 minutes per month, and something changed with DH work schedule, and he used 1000 one month. I paid the overage because we thought it was a one time thing, but then the next month he used almost 1200 minutes...so I called Verizon and they backdated a new minutes plan (1400) for that month so I didn't have to pay for the extra 500 minutes of overage...and now we feel confident that with the 1400 we won't go over the minutes.

A little OT, but if you're on a family plan, have you selected 10 most commonly dial numbers? This DRASTICALLY dropped the number of minutes we used. We are the 1,400 minute plan and we use to average about 800 minutes and after analyzing our calling patterns we selected 10 of the most commonly dialed numbers and we dropped to about 150 minutes/month. If you're on the 700 minute plan, you only get to pick 5 otherwise we'd switch down, but then our minutes would be higher.

 

[scrapquitler]

I use about 400MB/month, and that includes streaming Pandora every morning while working out, some web surfing, apps like Weather, Facebook, etc. and e-mail. My partner uses about 4GB/month because he streams Pandora pretty much all the time, uses a lot of apps, a lot of web surfing while in the car, etc. Neither of use are candidates for lower plans with Verizon.



A little OT, but if you're on a family plan, have you selected 10 most commonly dial numbers? This DRASTICALLY dropped the number of minutes we used. We are the 1,400 minute plan and we use to average about 800 minutes and after analyzing our calling patterns we selected 10 of the most commonly dialed numbers and we dropped to about 150 minutes/month. If you're on the 700 minute plan, you only get to pick 5 otherwise we'd switch down, but then our minutes would be higher.

Actually, we haven't done that, and need to do so. The only minutes that ever really get called that aren't mobile to mobile or within our family plan are my husbands work clients. I guess it would be a help if we did that.

 

[golfgal]

With an Iphone I don't think you really have a choice for Data plans. Here is is the $29.99 plan (Verizon) or the $49.99 plan if you are using it for work and have to set up an exchange server deal (but even that you don't REALLY need the $49.99 plan for. The $10/month plan are for the non-smartphones with internet access.