Yikes!? Are smart phone plans REALLY this expensive?

[DawnM]

One note about pay as you go plans......

Double check which cell towers each uses. For us, we no longer get Sprint service at or around our home, so Virgin MObile is out as they use Sprint towers.

Straight Talk uses ATT.

PagePlus uses Verizon.

Some cell plans use two different ones and it will depend on the type of phone you have as to which you will use. I admit I am not the expert so maybe someone else can answer the differences between cdma and gsm and what towers each uses.

I just know I spent a considerable amount of time researching before getting Straight Talk.

Dawn

 

[lovesmurfs]

I had a Blackberry for a couple of years ($30/month plus $15 to "push" my work email) that wasn't reimbursed. I loved it, particularly because it synced with my Outlook calendar and I received reminders via my cell.

With DH being let go at the end of the school year, we rebudgeted and I got just a plain cell. While part of me likes the simplicity, I don't like feeling so disconnected.

The four of us are on AT&T, and I just looked at that Mobile Data Share that a PP listed -- good grief! It's more expensive than if all four of us just paid the $30 per month for the data plan, because it's an additional monthly charge overall AND per phone.

DS18 has a data package for his smartphone, but he pays us for the data package monthly. DD13 wants a smartphone, but we've told her she would need to pay for the data plan, so we're safe for a bit!

The cost really is outrageous.

 

[momof3ds]

We have 2 iphones and just switched to at&t mobile share plan.

It saved us about 30 a month to switch to mobile share.

Our gps died about a year ago and we had a sirius receiver in our car that died a few months ago.

I have a bluetooth fm transmitter in my car. So, my phone is now my gps and my radio (I stream pandora and Iheartradio instead of regular radip).

Our kids have ipod touches and they can facetime my spouse when she is working on the road or text her without using my phone.

We also haven't had a home phone in several years now.

 

[delmar411]

I was against smartphones for a long while. Until I got one.

As for college students, we are allowed to use the smartphone to look up information in some classes during tests/quizzes if we have electronics so that could help. The smartphone allows students to get online and do work without have to drag around a laptop. You can email and check the online university system for messages and assignments (and grades ).

We also use it as our everyday digital camera and video camera.

My DD14 got the i-phone 4s for Christmas last year and she is able to face-time with her cousin and far away family members which is an added bonus for her.

I rarely see anyone at my university w/o a smartphone. It's noticeable when someone has a regular flip phone.

Obviously people can live w/o any cell phones (my mom refuses to get one for herself) but for the younger generation it is more of a lifeline and social extension of themselves.


ETA~ we have 3 smartphones on a Verizon plan with 750mins(?), unlimited texting and unlimited data. Including taxes and reg fees we pay $235/mth.

 

[jakoky]

We are in Canada and have 4 smart phones on our plan(my husband has a dumb one paid by his work). Ours runs about 230 a month, but my kids have paid their own bill since they got their phones ( minus $10 that I pay towards their plan til they graduated). My two oldest now pay their full bill so I am only paying 65 a month out of my pocket for my bill and my daughters $10 (she pays 45). I honestly don't think I could have afforded paying the full amount each month, that would have been our Disney trip money ...is there a way your kids could contribute each month? For us, it has been greatest to teach my kids about budgeting and bill paying, they always knew when they had to pay their bill by and made sure to give me the money ...good luck, I love my smartphone and would hate to live without it.

Sharon

 

[apnep]

We are a family of five...
Are we behind the times? Are we going to stunt our children's growth and impede their social well-being if we don't jump on the smartphone bandwagon? Does everyone have one of these things?

The short answer to all your questions is NO.

Just because everyone else has something doesn't mean you have to and not having the latest and greatest builds character. They will learn that "keeping up with the Joneses is not important. My son was the only kid who didn't have a cell phone through 7th grade. OMG, it was such a tragedy and we even heard from the parents of his friends that the kids thought we were SO mean. Haha! He got a cell phone when HE could pay for it. He got a job and bought and paid for his own phone. And you know what? He doesn't even USE it now!! I'm not paying an extra $40/month either so he can have internet on his phone. No thanks. He bought his own IPOD touch too. I'm not paying for that either!

Parents make all kinds of excuses for buying phones for their kids, but the truth is, many of them don't truly need them.

My two cents for what it's worth and right there with ya!

 

[RitaE]

Yeah they really are that expensive.

When my older kids went from the cheapie phones to the iPhones with data plans they because big presents for birthdays or Christmas. I'm going to be happy when my oldest finally ages out of having Mom pay for his cell phone. I'm pretty sure I'm getting him the iPhone 5 for Christmas and I think after that he's going to be gently nudged into moving to his own grown-up cell phone plan and off of ours.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I always said I wouldn't use a smartphone, but I almost can't live without it. We travel quite a bit and it has come in really handy. I don't like paying $140 a month, and that's with a 23% company discount, but I can't see giving it up. All of DH's family lives a long distance from us, so not having to pay long distance is great and we don't have landlines at home.

I think when our contract is up, we are going to switch to Virgin Mobile, the upfront cost is high, but it would cut our monthly bill in half and most of the time, we use our phones well beyond the end of the contract, so it's a toss up.

 

[pixiewings71]

I was never particularly into smart phones, until I got one. LOL Now I love my phone, I can do so much with it! I want to get DBF one but he doesn't want to pay for it. DD16 has an iTouch and DD12 has a netbook that they can use around the house for doing things online. DBF also has an iTouch that he uses at home. When we are out and things need to be looked up I do it on my phone. We have 4 lines, unlimited text and data (for me only) and we pay $185 a month on Verizon.

 

[Nayan]

The short answer to all your questions is NO.

Just because everyone else has something doesn't mean you have to and not having the latest and greatest builds character. They will learn that "keeping up with the Joneses is not important. My son was the only kid who didn't have a cell phone through 7th grade. OMG, it was such a tragedy and we even heard from the parents of his friends that the kids thought we were SO mean. Haha! He got a cell phone when HE could pay for it. He got a job and bought and paid for his own phone. And you know what? He doesn't even USE it now!! I'm not paying an extra $40/month either so he can have internet on his phone. No thanks. He bought his own IPOD touch too. I'm not paying for that either!

Parents make all kinds of excuses for buying phones for their kids, but the truth is, many of them don't truly need them.

My two cents for what it's worth and right there with ya!

I do not have a smartphone, neither does my husband or son. We have truly no need for them and I will not pay more than my cable bill for one. If my son wants one he can buy and pay for it himself. I'll gladly keep my cheap dumbphone.

 

[erin1715]

I can't think of any convenience big enough and important enough to pay a car payment amount for cell phones. Sure it would be cool to be able to look something up while at the store (recently wanted to look up something for the car while in the automotive section of Walmart) but it certainly isn't worth that kind of money just for the occasional convenience.

That is why we have AT&T GoPhones. We don't use them to talk because a - the sound quality on any cell phone isn't close to a regular phone, b - the reception isn't anywhere close to a regular phone judging on the amount of people who I talk to while they are on a cell and breaking up, c - We simply just don't need to be gabbing on phones. My wife talks to her mother constantly, but that is when she is home. When driving, we are both driving and do not gab on the phone. When we are out we are doing what we are out for and not gabbing on the phone. When we are eating dinner, we are eating dinner and not gabbing on the phone, etc.

We got cheap cell phones so we can keep in touch with each other when at work. We work different times and rarely even see each other. We first had Tracfones and upgraded last Christmas to the GoPhone with Android phones. We only communicate with texts as there is nothing we need to be gabbing on the phone for except for emergencies.

We pay $5/month for each phone for texts. On the rare occasion we talk, which is maybe 3 times a year, we pay $0.10 per minute. We don't have data, as I said, it isn't worth $200+ per month for the occasional "what kind of filter does the car need" data search while at the parts store. We use the phones at home on WIFI for general time wasting surfing that we normally would use the computer for. The phone wouldn't come close to replacing the computer though, I'm a photographer and play around with photos, I play the guitar and play around with guitar stuff on the computer, I play around with various simulation "games" and can only do that on the computer. I fly RC and use a simulator in the winter when I can't fly outside. I work our budget in Excel and pay the bills which would be a PITA on a tiny phone screen. So, the internet usage on the phones is just time waste while watching TV in the evenings.

My daughter wants a phone for her 12th birthday. For $15/month, we will have 3 Android phones being used for texting. I looked up Verizon and AT&T (only 2 that gets decent service, though still not perfect) and it would be over $200 for 3 phones. That's a pretty large difference at $185 just to be able to get quick communication while apart from each other. Our yearly cost for 3 cell phones is just a hair more than what everyone else pays per month.

Every time smart phone discussions come up, people jump in to justify with the "I need it for work". That has no bearing in any of these discussions as that is a business expense and not a personal household budget expense. Aside from those trying to justify it through the "I need it for work" excuse, I just can't see how everyone justifies the need to be on the internet while out and about. Why do people have to be banking constantly? That is one excuse I see a lot of for justification of expensive cell phone service. What other things do you folks do that is a "necessity" that you all justify the expense?

Don't get me wrong here, folks want smart phones and if you can afford the want, that's great. I just see so many people justifying it as more than a want and I can't figure out why you need to do all that stuff while you are away from home.

 

[ethanash1]

I think it must be 98% of people in 98% of America because we don't live in the boonies and our Sprint service was AWFUL. We dropped them about a year early on our contract because we just couldn't justify paying each month for service we couldn't even use.

This! We were originally with AT&T and when the contract was up, I justified switching because I could save about $50 a month. ( more money for my Disney habits). The service is AWFUL!
AND.... When we first switched, we turned in our AT&T iPhones for credit toward our Sprint iPhone . Well..... The employee thought it would be good idea to steal my phone out of the recycle bin in the store and sell it to someone across the Mexican border! (I live in So San Diego, so it's literally 8 miles away)
I didn't plan ahead and shut off my AT&T service a few days after turning it in. When I got my final bill, I almost vomited! $1275 in international roaming charges! I reported it to the Sprint store and they could have cared less. The Mgr never called me to apologize after following up or to update me on what happened. She "promised to look into it" and that was about the extent of her concern. I'm about ready to switch back..... Had to vent.

 

[QueenElinor]

......
My daughter wants a phone for her 12th birthday. For $15/month, we will have 3 Android phones being used for texting. I looked up Verizon and AT&T (only 2 that gets decent service, though still not perfect) and it would be over $200 for 3 phones. That's a pretty large difference at $185 just to be able to get quick communication while apart from each other. Our yearly cost for 3 cell phones is just a hair more than what everyone else pays per month.

Well, it's Verizon's switching over to the Family Share Plan that is really ticking me off about the whole thing. I don't need a Smartphone, it's just a toy to me (and honestly, it is for my husband, too, but he just flat out wants one). To switch even one of our phones to a smartphone would triple the cost of our "dumb" phones now- to $30 a month, each.

It's not a matter of being able to afford it. I just don't think it's worth it, ad I really don't like the feeling of being ripped off, which is what is happening.

But it's also true that it's this monthly spending here, there, and everywhere that adds up, and I am re-examining everything from the pest control man, to Genealogy.com, to the National Geographic subscription. It's kind of out of control around here, IMHO. A person can spend a small fortune without even realizing it, in monthly fees alone. My DH never even looks at the budget, only the checking account (sound familiar to anyone?) so it's up to me to obsess about these things. He is the grasshopper and I am the ant!

Yup smart phones aren't cheap. My DH and I both have iPhones with Verizon and our monthly bill is $145 per month - BUT my DH's work reimburses him for the data plan, so technically our plan is $115 a month. It is most definitely a want and not a need - BUT it has certainly come in handy in more than one occasion. Could I go back to a "dumb" phone if I needed to, sure, but for now I love my iPhone.

With that said, when the time comes for DD11 to get a phone (which she desperately wants but isn't getting just yet) we'll just add a "dumb" phone to our plan for $10 a month.

I don't know about that. I also have a child who is also waiting in the wings, but Verizon is switching to the Family Share Plan. (See my complaint, above). An extra line on my current plan is $9.99, but you can't add one for that any longer. In the future, they will be $30 a month, and you will get hammered on the upgrade. Like me!

yes, unfortunately.

DD15 and i each have a smartphone with 2Gb of data per month each. DH has a flip phone. our bill is $237.+ each month. of course, that is bundled with home phone and DSL, so it's not as bad as most people i know; but, for us, it's a LOT of money. we got scammed by a salesperson at the AT&T store (LONG story), and i'll NEVER go in there again. i'll get everything online from now on.

Yeah, I spent (wasted) time yesterday in a Verizon & ATT store. That was two hours of my life I'll never get back. I think they think people will put up with anything for an iphone.

There are SO MANY pay as you go plans out there now! Pageplus, ATT GoPhone, T-mobile PAYG, Straight Talk, and there are more!

I have Straight Talk for my iphone. $45/mo. for unlimited everything. DH has a phone through work, so he doesn't need a plan we have to pay for.

Could you tell your older kids they have to pay some of the bill? Maybe get the $45/mo. Straight Talk plan and they pay half???? You will need to purchase your phone outright, but if they are willing to get an iphone 4 instead of the latest and greatest, you can find them for $200 or so used.

Dawn

Um- not in Montana. That's part of my problem. I did check out STraight Talk and I'm really interested in that, but there are some coverage gaps that I'm concerned about. We don't have T-mobile, or Virgin, or any of a half-dozen mobile phone companies I've seen mentioned in this thread.

What I might do is get my sister to put my daughter on her plan, and pay her back for it. Then DD can get her iphone. SHe's going to school in the Bay Area, and honestly, every kid there DOES have an iphone and I don't want to ignore the fact that technology is a really, really big deal there and her future may be dependent on how proficient she is with that kind of thing.

For me, DH, DS 20, and DS 14, not so much. DH loves him some Apple, though- we have more computers than people in this house . So I told him if he can make the media/communications costs net neutral after all the changes, I won't complain. (I'm lookin' at YOU Optimum!)

 

[bas71873]

That group plan (family share plan) is the one I'm looking at for $240, with below-average data usage. For most people it would be closer to $260
I've got their old plan, it's $145 for four regular phones. If I tried to get that very same plan now, it would be at least $170. I feel like staying on the old plan it until they kick me off!

Divided by 5 people that's only about $52/month? Can your college kids pay for their share or some portion of it? I have an iPhone 4S with Sprint and pay $73/month totatl for unlimited everything. When I looked into upgrading to the 5 (although I just got the 4S in April), I could get the phone for almost nothing, but for whatever reason my monthly bill shot up to $109/month . No thanks. I just did the IOS6 upgrade and went on my way.

 

[tar heel]

We pay $275 month for three smart phones and two dumb phones on a Verizon familiy plan. Two of the smart phones have insurance on them and everyone has unlimited texting.

In our family, kids get smartphones when they start paying for them, which one has. He saves almost half by staying on our plan and reimbursing us. His money -- he can do what he wants with it.

DH and I don't *need* smart phones, but we do find them convenient. We both use them some for work, but neither of us are reimbursed, so I look at that as a *want* instead of a *need* on behalf of work. I use the GPS quite a bit. I am also doing Weight Watchers, and the phone has been a big help with tracking.

I'm sure most college students do have smartphones, but mine doesn't and I'm sure he'll survive.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I think I'm the only person in the world who does not have a smart phone.

I use a pre-paid cell phone with no data. I paid $100 for minutes the first year, so that I could get gold status and then have minutes roll over year after year.

I think this year I only paid for $20 worth of minutes so far. I pretty much only use it for emergencies or to call DH and let him know I'm somewhere.

DH gets his iphone/smart phone service through work. Our kids are 8, 4 and almost 2 so no phones for them.

 

[IUTBAM]

One note about pay as you go plans......

Double check which cell towers each uses. For us, we no longer get Sprint service at or around our home, so Virgin MObile is out as they use Sprint towers.

Straight Talk uses ATT.

PagePlus uses Verizon.

Some cell plans use two different ones and it will depend on the type of phone you have as to which you will use. I admit I am not the expert so maybe someone else can answer the differences between cdma and gsm and what towers each uses.

I just know I spent a considerable amount of time researching before getting Straight Talk.

Dawn

Did you buy an unlocked iPhone and then get the sim card from Straight Talk? If so, where did you buy your phone? And is getting the sim card (only) from ST pretty straightforward? That's what I've been thinking about doing. Thanks.

 

[ilovemk76]

Divided by 5 people that's only about $52/month? Can your college kids pay for their share or some portion of it? I have an iPhone 4S with Sprint and pay $73/month totatl for unlimited everything. When I looked into upgrading to the 5 (although I just got the 4S in April), I could get the phone for almost nothing, but for whatever reason my monthly bill shot up to $109/month . No thanks. I just did the IOS6 upgrade and went on my way.

The cost differential is only $20 or $25/person/month. That is a starbucks coffee each per week.

 

[QueenElinor]

Divided by 5 people that's only about $52/month? Can your college kids pay for their share or some portion of it? I have an iPhone 4S with Sprint and pay $73/month totatl for unlimited everything. When I looked into upgrading to the 5 (although I just got the 4S in April), I could get the phone for almost nothing, but for whatever reason my monthly bill shot up to $109/month . No thanks. I just did the IOS6 upgrade and went on my way.

Yep, same as Verizon. Seems the major carriers are jacking up the rates when you upgrade. I think a lot of people who are happy smartphone campers right now are going to be in for a shock when they upgrade or change their plans. Right now, I can't even find my current plan on Verizon. It is no longer an option, I'm just grandfathered into it. Kind of like my old Delta Skypoints card.

No, my college kids don't pay for very much. A long time ago I made a deal with them to excel academically. That is their "job", and they've done well. Their scholarships are worth more than they could ever save up working. So it's all on Mom & Dad, but it's okay, I'm just trying to get the best deal for everyone.

 

[threeboysmom]

I'm not getting the hype with smart phones either.

Why do people feel the need to be online when at restaurants or at the mall or a sporting event, etc??? I don't get it.

If you want to be on a computer that badly, go home! lol