Uggg Shopping For New Cell Phone Family Plan

[Lilo&Stitch]

Talk about frustrating our contract with Verizon is up in 2 weeks and i'm sooo glad ! but wow I just don't know which company to go with ! I want something that has decent phones without having to buy the data plan, I just don't think my kids need all that, they usually just text anyway ! does anyone have any recommendations for me ?

 

[starry_solo]

How many people are on your cell phone plan?

Sprint and T-Mobile have cell phones which don't require data plans (but have QWERTY keyboards). You can possibly also qualify for a discount if you have AAA, work for a government agency, work for a hospital, etc. Just ask!

With AT&T, there is no option to have all the phones on an unlimited texting plan for a price. Each phone has its own separate texting plan (very weird).

There is a website, Bill shrink, I think it's called, that can help you determine an appropriate plan.

One good thing about Sprint is that the weeknight minutes start at 7 pm (versus 9 pm for the other carriers).

 

[mrsmav]

You can think about moving from "family plan" to prepaid. We use net10 and tracfone.

DH has a tracfone - he doesn't text and pays less than $100 a year for his minutes.

DS and I both have net10 phones - QWERTY - I mostly use it for calls but do occasionally text. DS - mostly texts. We each pay $30 every 60 days - so $15/month each.

 

[DawnM]

Do you really dislike Verizon?

We have had Sprint for over 10 years now, probably close to 15 years. We won't switch anytime soon because they gave us a huge discount to stay with them. If they take that away we will look around.

Honestly, I think cell plans are getting outrageously expensive. I have friends paying upwards of $200/mo for their family plans. We will go to prepaid before we do that.

In searching around, I haven't found too many plans that are significantly cheaper than the other.

Sprint now seems to be going towards all inclusive plans with data. We were told we can no longer get data on only one phone with a family plan, it is all or nothing and they want to get rid of the nothing (talk only) plans. We have also just been told that we can no longer receive a discount on phones unless we upgrade our plan to one of their new plans. So far, all of our phones work and we are good.....but I don't know what will happen if we need new phones. I DO NOT want their expensive plans, I want to keep the plan I have!

Dawn

 

[mjmartin01]

I'm looking to cancel my contract with Verizon (paying 100 a month now) and going to cricket.

Mrsmav- with the net10 do you have unlimited texting? I was just looking on their website...How is the phone service? Do you have a lot of dropped calls?

TIA

 

[mnrose]

I was going to recommend the prepaid plans as well. You will have to pay for the phone, instead of getting it "free", but in the long run you will save a lot of money on monthly fees. Virgin Mobile is who I have (after reading about it here) and am glad I switched.

Boost Mobile is another one.

Both Boost and Virgin resell Sprint...same network.

 

[mrsmav]

I'm looking to cancel my contract with Verizon (paying 100 a month now) and going to cricket.

Mrsmav- with the net10 do you have unlimited texting? I was just looking on their website...How is the phone service? Do you have a lot of dropped calls?

TIA

You can get unlimited texting for $50/month. We don't need that though. With our "plan" the texts are $0.25 each. The $30 we pay every two months gives us 300 minutes. My son never uses that much and rolls over his minutes into the next 2 month period. I sometimes use that much b/c I make more calls.

I rarely have dropped calls or find areas where the phones don't work. In my son's school he doesn't get service, but that is okay - he shouldn't be using it in school anyway. Outside of the building in front of the school it works fine. So if he needs to call me AFTER school for a ride home it works.

 

[mrsmav]

I was going to recommend the prepaid plans as well. You will have to pay for the phone, instead of getting it "free", but in the long run you will save a lot of money on monthly fees. Virgin Mobile is who I have (after reading about it here) and am glad I switched.

Boost Mobile is another one.

Both Boost and Virgin resell Sprint...same network.

Yes - I did have to pay for the phones. My sons was about $75 but it came with something like 750 minutes at the time. I got a nicer phone for $30 - only came with 10 minutes though. This is the phone I got and was happy with:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...p=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

I did not get it online - I went to best buy. I bought the $30 card so for around $60 I was able to get started.

 

[momto2inKC]

How many people are on your cell phone plan?

Sprint and T-Mobile have cell phones which don't require data plans (but have QWERTY keyboards). You can possibly also qualify for a discount if you have AAA, work for a government agency, work for a hospital, etc. Just ask!

With AT&T, there is no option to have all the phones on an unlimited texting plan for a price. Each phone has its own separate texting plan (very weird).

There is a website, Bill shrink, I think it's called, that can help you determine an appropriate plan.

One good thing about Sprint is that the weeknight minutes start at 7 pm (versus 9 pm for the other carriers).

We have a family plan through AT&T and have unlimited family plan texting for $30 a month. We also get free calls to ANY cell phone, not just AT&T with our family plan.

 

[Lisa_M]

I was with Verizon and then switched to Sprint for less than a month. I'm so glad I was able to get out of that contract because I joined straight talk (prepaid) through walmart and my bill is cheaper and I get more minutes. Straight Talk is on Verizon's network, so I get the same service that I had with Verizon (I had trouble with sprints service in this area). On Straight Talk's website, I was able to get a free refurbished phone and for $30 per month, I can get 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and 30mb data. For $45/month you can get unlimited everything. I figured with no contract, it couldn't hurt to give it a try.

 

[nordkin]

How many people are on your cell phone plan?

Sprint and T-Mobile have cell phones which don't require data plans (but have QWERTY keyboards). You can possibly also qualify for a discount if you have AAA, work for a government agency, work for a hospital, etc. Just ask!

With AT&T, there is no option to have all the phones on an unlimited texting plan for a price. Each phone has its own separate texting plan (very weird). If they are on the family plan there is an option for unlimited text for all the phones for one cost. They have recently also gone to if you have this plan all calls to any cell phone regardless of carrier is free.

There is a website, Bill shrink, I think it's called, that can help you determine an appropriate plan.

One good thing about Sprint is that the weeknight minutes start at 7 pm (versus 9 pm for the other carriers).

Comments in red above

 

[cvrapclark]

We are with Verizon, and my daughter has a phone with keyboard and does not have data plan. She is up for renewal in April. Do they not have phones now with keyboard and no data? We have a family plan with five phones and only two have data.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

If I had to pay $.025 a text... I'd have spent about $87 already this morning just from my kids' usage

You can get unlimited texting for $50/month. We don't need that though. With our "plan" the texts are $0.25 each. The $30 we pay every two months gives us 300 minutes. My son never uses that much and rolls over his minutes into the next 2 month period. I sometimes use that much b/c I make more calls.

I rarely have dropped calls or find areas where the phones don't work. In my son's school he doesn't get service, but that is okay - he shouldn't be using it in school anyway. Outside of the building in front of the school it works fine. So if he needs to call me AFTER school for a ride home it works.

 

[mrsmav]

If I had to pay $.025 a text... I'd have spent about $87 already this morning just from my kids' usage

That is one of the things I like about my plan. It really limits the texting. My kids know that if they use up there minutes they are out of luck. I won't replenish until the 60 days is up. If they need more before them, they have to pay. Never once has this happened. And since the minutes roll over - they build up there minutes and have several thousand by the time we go on vacation in the summer. Last summer my son was able to text his friends from Disney w/o worrying about using all his minutes.

For some - the unlimited plans work. I am not a huge fan of texting. I know it is how kids communicate these days. The prepaid plans strike a nice balance for us. It really is a personal choice.

 

[mrsmav]

Just realized - my texts are not 0.25. They are .25 of a minute. So I can send four texts for 10 cents.

I realize this can still add up for those that text a lot . . .but just wanted to clarify.

 

[Judique]

Talk about frustrating our contract with Verizon is up in 2 weeks and i'm sooo glad ! but wow I just don't know which company to go with ! I want something that has decent phones without having to buy the data plan, I just don't think my kids need all that, they usually just text anyway ! does anyone have any recommendations for me ?

We escaped from Verizon a few weeks ago after many, many years. We went with Virgin Mobile and the $25 and $40 plans which give unlimited texting and data with 300 minutes for the $25 plan and 1200 minutes for the $40 plan. With tax, both plans are $69 per month, which saves me a basic $20 a month over Verizon, plus the enhancement of having data. We also are saving on the extra charges for minutes when I talked too much!

There is also an unlimited $60 plan, but I didn't need unlimited minutes. You can keep track of how many are gone on the website, and if you are going over, either top off or start your next month early.

Service is great so far everywhere I've called from.

 

[Lilo&Stitch]

We escaped from Verizon a few weeks ago after many, many years. We went with Virgin Mobile and the $25 and $40 plans which give unlimited texting and data with 300 minutes for the $25 plan and 1200 minutes for the $40 plan. With tax, both plans are $69 per month, which saves me a basic $20 a month over Verizon, plus the enhancement of having data. We also are saving on the extra charges for minutes when I talked too much!

There is also an unlimited $60 plan, but I didn't need unlimited minutes. You can keep track of how many are gone on the website, and if you are going over, either top off or start your next month early.

Service is great so far everywhere I've called from.

Wow i'm going to have to check them out !!

Verizon has so far been the most expensive plan i've had and the service or their phones aren't that great

Thanks everyone for your input !!

 

[kileybeth]

I have to say, we are very happy with AT&T and have been for most of the past 10 years. We had one billing issue that took a rather long time to resolve (and yes, our bill kept getting higher as we refused to pay the wrong amount) BUT they did right by us and refunded every cent (over $800 and also contacted the credit score board people to make it right as we have always had near perfect credit), just took some persistance. That has been our one and only problem ever.

We have amazing coverage. We never drop calls and I mean never (I do realize it could be where we live).

We have unlimited texting on all 5 of our phones ($30 month). Does anyone actually talk anymore?

We talk to any other cell phone (no matter what company) for free ~ no minutes. We have roll over minutes out to wazoo and never even use what our plan provides.

We gave up our land line a couple years ago and now save even more money.

Over all? I think our cell phones are pretty cheap. My kids have data enabled phones BUT we do not have them on a plan and therefore do not pay data for them. I do pay for data (now just $15 a month for more then I have ever used) and I use my IPhone extensively everday.


We have compared family plans with verizon and other companies and none come close cost/service wise.

We pay $165 a month. Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

 

[Lilo&Stitch]

I was just coming to post here that I think I am going with AT&T, they seem to be the cheapest for our family of 5 for what we need and I like that not all the phones HAVE to have the data plan

 

[JB2K]

Talk about frustrating our contract with Verizon is up in 2 weeks and i'm sooo glad ! but wow I just don't know which company to go with ! I want something that has decent phones without having to buy the data plan, I just don't think my kids need all that, they usually just text anyway ! does anyone have any recommendations for me ?

Walmart Family Mobile - it operates on T-Mobile's national network, plus it has the rates you crave (and if you ever feel the need to use data, you can buy your megabytes as a prepaid thing).