New phone + New plan = Lower Bill!

[disneysteve]

My wife has been bugging me about this for a few months and I must admit she's absolutely right. She had stopped into an AT&T store a while ago and was talking to them and learned that we could actually get a new cell phone plan that would give us more data and cost us less money per month. For whatever reason, I've procrastinated getting over there but we finally went today because she's been having issues with her phone and needed to replace it.

She got a new iPhone SE to replace her iPhone 5. That'll be $400 minus the trade in credit they gave us. But the main change is we ditched the old family plan we've had forever. We went to the new plan which will give us a lot more data (15GB/month) and the bill will be about $40/month less than what we've been paying. So essentially in less than 9 months, we'll have saved what her new phone cost us and we'll continue to save $40/month going forward.

[Nutria]

We're on the 15GB plan, too.

[disneysteve]

We're on the 15GB plan, too.

I was still grandfathered in with unlimited data and was reluctant to give that up, but I had never actually sat down and figured out how much data I really used. Turns out I almost never go over 3.5GB and the other 3 people on the plan were stuck with 200 or 300MB which is nothing today. So now the 4 of us can share 15GB which is 3.75GB each if we split it evenly. I might use more than that on occasion, especially if we're traveling, but I doubt the 4 of us combined will ever go over that 15GB limit now.

[Nutria]

I was still grandfathered in with unlimited data and was reluctant to give that up, but I had never actually sat down and figured out how much data I really used. Turns out I almost never go over 3.5GB and the other 3 people on the plan were stuck with 200 or 300MB which is nothing today. So now the 4 of us can share 15GB which is 3.75GB each if we split it evenly. I might use more than that on occasion, especially if we're traveling, but I doubt the 4 of us combined will ever go over that 15GB limit now.

Interesting, since we were on the 10GB family plan, and automatically upgraded with no change in cost.

[corn18]

Same on Verizon. I do like the new Verizon plan that doesn't do the free upgrade every 2 years. That will save me $80 a month once all the 2 year plans expire. At that point, we can buy new phones only if we need them vs paying for a new one all the time.

[disneysteve]

I do like the new Verizon plan that doesn't do the free upgrade every 2 years. That will save me $80 a month once all the 2 year plans expire. At that point, we can buy new phones only if we need them vs paying for a new one all the time.

Your plan requires you to upgrade? That's awful. We keep our phones until they die, which is typically a lot more than 2 years.

The problem is we're the weird ones. So many people want to upgrade every time a new model comes out. I'm sure that's what led to the demise of 2-year contracts.

[GoodSteward]

I use Page Plus Cellular. They are an MVNO for Verizon, and have recently been bought out by MOVIL, the people who own NET10, Tracfone, Straight talk, and many more! lol They used to be American owned, but no more.

I Currently use the 40$ plan, but I have signed up for the monthly subscription so it breaks down to around 36$ a month. I get unlimited Calls, Texts, and 3GB LTE data, then unlimited slow net after that. The next step up is 55(minus a discount on subscription to 50$ I think) and gives you 5GB of LTE data, then unlimited. Straight talk has the best plan at the moment, but I still like the flexibility of Page plus. If I decide to back my plan down, they have a 30$ plan with 1500 min, 3000 text, and 1.5 GB LTE. I actually am fine with that plan, but I decided to up it to use my phone for internet with my tablet when I happen to be away from wifi.

I also like page plus because I can just pick any Verizon phone I want, and pop a sim in. Their online chat can do whatever you need to, and are very helpful. I don't have to go a store or pay for services.

I am glad for people who use the major carriers on contract paying more per month than prepaid. Someone has to fund the network for prepaid to exist. The two benefits I see with using postpaid is you get access to updates automatically(I have to manually download and update), and you have more options to keep upping data if you need to.

[disneysteve]

I Currently use the 40$ plan

I am glad for people who use the major carriers on contract paying more per month than prepaid. Someone has to fund the network for prepaid to exist.

Is that $40 for one person?

We're on a family plan with 5 phones (4 smartphones and 1 not). I don't have the exact figure but our bill will be somewhere around $180, so about $36/person/month which is right in line with what you are paying (assuming that is for one phone).

[GoodSteward]

Is that $40 for one person?

We're on a family plan with 5 phones (4 smartphones and 1 not). I don't have the exact figure but our bill will be somewhere around $180, so about $36/person/month which is right in line with what you are paying (assuming that is for one phone).

You are right, and for a larger account it can average out to be about the same or better sometimes (yearly specials). Most people don't have that many lines, and the big discounts don't kick in unless you add lines. How much would that be for just two lines? The bulk of a postpaid plan is in the data, and starting line. Adding phones/lines are usually cheap. It takes about 4 lines to make it start to be on par with prepaid from the comparison I've done.

ATT, T Mobile, and Sprint do not get good service around here, so Verzion is what I compare to. THe last time I checked it would be twice as much a month to get the cheaper option. If you have a lot of lines, it can come out good, but I would venture to say most people don't. I have a friend who has two Sprint phones on a contract and it is 180 a month. Sure they get unlimited LTE, but it is NOT worth double the money. I don't need facebook that much!

[GoodSteward]

As a side note, I met a Verizon agent that actually sells his lines to family and friends. He charges 100$ a line, and they get unlimited calls, text, and 10 GB LTE Data. On their own, it would cost more than that to get the same. He actually makes money on the deal. I think several hundred dollars a month extra. He said they pay his car payment. lol

If you can trust people to pay, I guess why not?

[disneysteve]

How much would that be for just two lines?

If we only had 2 lines, we would take a cheaper plan. I'm not positive but I think the 5GB plan is $50/month plus $15 for an additional line so $65 total. But we also get a corporate discount of 24% off the base price so the $50 would drop to $38 making the total $53 (plus all of the stupid taxes, of course).

[disneysteve]

As a side note, I met a Verizon agent that actually sells his lines to family and friends.

I think most people don't realize that to be on a "family" plan you don't all have to live under the same roof. Your "family" is basically anybody you want to put on your plan. At one point, the 5 of us lived in 3 different states. It's just way cheaper to all be together than to have 4 or 5 separate plans.