S/O: Making the jump to a smart phone

[JenInVirginia]

Definitely look into Virgin Mobile. We have the Beyond Talk plan that is $35/month and love it! Check Best Buy for sales on the phones. We got the LG Optimus on sale at Best Buy for $65.

 

[Brer Shay]

Why not go with a pre-paid smart phone? My wife is a big DR follower (actually coordinates Financial Peace at her church) and we just jumped to smart phones this past Saturday through Virgin Mobile. $35 a month for unlimited data and messaging, plus 300 min talk. No activation, no commitment and the phones were only $80 at Best Buy with first month free in the form of a $35 top up card.

We've used Virgin Mobile for probably 7+ years and seriously have never had 1 single issue with them.

Me too. Very happy with the service. Also, if you're cutting your home phone at $70/month, that's $840/year which more than offseys your $600 cost for the phones/service.

 

[KristiKat]

We follow the DR budget plan in our home and we have smartphones. We don't have a home phone. Really no need for one so we cut that from the budget. As far as the actual cost of the phone I would use that allowance you get every month. Save it instead of spending it on whatever and get the phones. As far as the higher bill, well you did cut your phone bill by $70 so that's some and I guess you could consider it partly entertainment. Smartphones do keep you entertained, lol. I love mine. Shop around for a good family rate plan.

 

[Tiger926]

Some of you are lucky to be paying such cheap rates for Smartphones, not in Canada.

Our Corporate Plan is at least 20% cheaper off the rate, plus all kinds of free add-ons, and we pay $69/month x 2 for our Blackberries (this includes all taxes and fees).

For this, we get all kinds of free add ons (voice mail, caller id, free nights, weekends, etc.), plus we can use our data in the US at no additional charge! This is huge for us as we are in Michigan at least 1-2 month, as well as several weeks in Disney. Plus, we drive, so we can use our phone for our drive.

We are so much more connected now to each other, and family/friends, and so making plans, sharing photos and keeping in touch on vacation is so easy. We do not do Facebook or Twitter, so that is not an issue for us. We also love using it while shopping, out for appointments, etc. We use them for calendars/scheduling, Internet, emails, texting, etc.

We love our Smartphones, and can't imagine life without them, as we are working professionals who do our work on our phones too (email and BBM). Our home phone is only 25.00/month, but we won't cancel, as there can be 911 issues with relying totally on cell phones.

Life is much more efficient (and I'm already the most efficient person you can meet), easier and stress free with our Smartphones as we use them to simplify our lives.

Good luck in your decision, Tiger

 

[HM]

I still have a pay-as-you-go cellphone. Costs me about $20 a month.
My kids both have smart phones from Virgin Mobile and it costs us $25 for DS (grandfathered in on old fees) and $35 for DD. I haven't seen a reason for changing over to a smartphone for myself at this point and DH doesn't even carry a cellphone...

I don't think you can justify it OP. It's just a want, not a need.

 

[Kies99]

Not crazy! What is it that he says, 'live like no one else so that you can live like no one else' or something like that.
I'm not a DR follower, he gets on my nerves after a few minutes. I am a fan of Clark Howard.
Either way, the point is that the money you don't spend on an expensive cell plan can be saved or used for something more useful.



I looked at that deal. Seemed like a good one. How do you like the phone?

Right now I have Straight Talk for $30 a month but I never use the minutes.

I don't think $5 extra a month for all those goodies is a bad deal!

So far so good. Lot to get used to as this phone does a lot more than the old one. I like the feel and size of the phone.

 

[poutytink]

Another vote here for Virgin Mobile. I switched to them last year and I would never go back to a contract phone! I have the LG Opimus V and it works great. I pay 48.55 a month for 1200 min, unlimited text and data and insurance. Cannot beat that deal!

 

[beaucoup]

$600 for something you can use 365 days a year VS $600 for 1 extra day at WDW. I would pick something I could use all year instead of just 1 day.

I "wanted" the phone because DH was deploying to Afghanistan for a year and I wanted to be able to keep in touch with him any method, any time of day, that he may try to contact me. Skype (face to face) most often. He did not have a cell phone there. Just his computer & iPod Touch (using wifi). So I could skype (face to face) even from my iPhone even if I wasn't home. PRICELESS to me during that year.

It doesn't have to be a phone. I would just rather get more use out of the $600 instead of using it all up in 1 day. Or I might even get more pleasure from adding it to my savings account. I'm weird like that.

BTW, I finally switched to iPhone a little over a year ago. I always thought people paid $100 a month. When I found out if was only $60 a month, it was easier to make the decision. We too are debt-free, mortgage free and have a fully funded emergency fund. And now down to just 1 income, but that recently received a 25% pay cut - no change in jobs or employers.

 

[DawnM]

That is not quite a clear picture. $10 per phone for a smartphone but then each additional phone is $20 on top of the base price of about $110 for the family plan.

I had to change my entire plan to get the data added and it went up almost $100.

Dawn

What carrier do you have? You can usually get smartphones for free if you are renewing your contract. We have sprint and our phone bill it is only $20 for 2 phones data plan a month.

 

[icicle]

I agree that you should check out prepaid plans.

I have platinumtel which uses the sprint network and it averages to around $10 per month for me. I mostly use my phone for texting and it's only $.02 per text. The nice thing is that if I need to use the internet I have access to it but I'm not paying for it unless I need it.

There are a lot of other companies out there that are reputable and cheap. They use the lines of the major carriers so you just need to pick one that gives you the best coverage.

 

[icicle]

I agree that you should check out prepaid plans.

I have platinumtel which uses the sprint network and it averages to around $10 per month for me. I mostly use my phone for texting and it's only $.02 per text. The nice thing is that if I need to use the internet I have access to it but I'm not paying for it unless I need it.

There are a lot of other companies out there that are reputable and cheap. They use the lines of the major carriers so you just need to pick one that gives you the best coverage.