Posted on 10/16/2013 6:24:05 AM PDT by kyperman
I’ve read the posts here, and since you have already heard of Consumer Cellular, I thought I’d tell you my story.
The only reason the wife and I got cell phones was because the kids and grandkids had them. And we needed a way to get in touch with them when we were away from home. So, we originally went with AT&T since that was the plan the kids were with. We got the minimum number of calls per month with unlimited texting plan and our monthly bill was still in excess of $135. Not only that, but since most of our calls were “within the network” the 250 minutes per month minimum were not being used.
After 2 years of this, we switched to Consumer Cellular. There has been no change in who we call or text or for how long we talk, and my monthly phone bill has been averaging $45.
Yes, we did have to purchase our new phones up front (my phone was $60 and the wife’s was $150), but we could have just as easily kept our old phones and Consumer Cellular will send you a new sim card at NO COST.
What I really like about this plan, is they will send you an alert if you get close to going “over” your minutes, so you can go online and switch to another plan without incurring “overage” charges
I’ve been with Sprint for many years but am looking for a change. Can you keep your phone number with Consumer Cellular? We don’t talk all that much on our phones so it looks like a good deal for us.
I don't need, or want, all the bells and whistles, just a reliable phone.
Yes you can keep your phone number. The Consumer Cellular website explains their plans. When you call them to activate your phone (or the sim card if you go that route) they will step you through the process.
Whats more, when you do call, you will actually get a live human being, who lives in this country, and who speaks English.
And such is the price of being at the tip top of the tech curve. Anyhow, the helpful point I wanted to bring up if we can honestly take a look at our situation and conclude that we are not duty bound to BE at that tip top, then a broader look at what’s available could find some good bargains. With highest tech also comes some sly dangers, as headlines have been showing us (e.g. Androids that end up leaking your information to the internet, including sometimes your home WiFi base station’s password IIRC, and please research before quoting me).
Sort of. It's like paying the loan forever. The phone is more than paid for by the end of the first 2 years, If it was like a car, the monthly bill after 2 years should drop to only cover service, not the phone.
There's some advantage if you want the latest and greatest phone every 2 years. Then it's like throwing away your car and getting a new one every time the loan on the latest car is paid off.
Prepaid is the way to go if you plan to keep the current phone for a long time, and aren't the type to keep losing or breaking your phone. Today's cheap phone + few features have a lot more features than last years, and probably way more than most folks will use.
What a country. People can pay $75,000 for a new BMW with one of the best radios available, and then use their cell phone for listening to music while driving.
After 2 years, you get a new phone. If you are still paying the same rate in the third year, and did not get a new phone, then you are a sucker.
Bumping —needing info for later
You really need to, objectively, review what you use your phone for. If you text, or just call...then a contract phone might be for you.
If you use the internet, apps that require data, email, etc. then you should examine the costs.
Without knowing YOUR specific situation, it is impossible to give you advice. Every person and plan can be configured differently.
Wife and I have Consumer Cellular.
I have a smartphone, hers is semi-smart.
We share 500min., 1000 texts, 50megs data.
$42/mo, tax,tags,etc. included.
My phone cost $100. Hers was less.
CC uses ATT network. If you have an ATT phone(or any GSM phone I think) CC will send you a sim card free to get you started.
Great company to do business with, rated # 1 in Cust. svc.
Yes!!
That alone gives them a gold star w/ oak leaf clusters. :^)
“It would be cool to have a smart phone but not smart enough to pay what it costs. I have enough connectivity in my life.”
I’m “connected” to the Internet 24 hours a day at home. When I was a wage slave, I was connected at work too. I don’t find the need to be connected otherwise.
A cell phone is handy sometimes, though. I’ve NEVER used a “plan”. They suck WAY too much financial juice out of the cupboard. In my part of the country, Verizon gives as good a coverage as any, and has the best pre-pay plan. I bought a phone for $30.00, and paid $100.00 (1000 minutes) up front on the account to become an instant “gold” customer, which means all my money rolls each years as long as I put at least $10.00 in the account each year.
“...People can pay $75,000 for a new BMW with one of the best radios available, and then use their cell phone for listening to music while driving.”
$75,000 BMW’s have SOUND SYSTEMS - With iTunes match, I have access to my entire music library (more than 6,000 songs) all on my 16 GB iPhone. While I drive.
Makes perfect sense to me.
If I want to listen to the radio (Rush, let’s say), I’ll stream from TuneIn Radio Pro (record, rewind, pause and fast forward for commercials), or listen to commercial free music from iTunes Radio (commercial free with iTunes match - $24.99 per year).
If you long to drive without a radio and listen to the mechanical sounds of a sports car, find one here:
Yes, “What a country...” to quote you.
I hope you pull to the curb before doing all of that. At my age I need to just to change a station.
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