Cell phone costs?

[Alexle2007]

It really depends on the plan. Our former BoostMobile plan was “unlimited” but that x amount and then it throttled down and, boy, was it noticeable. Our new plan with BoostMobile is “unlimited” with no throttling. So much better!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Check your coverage before you change. Around here, AT&T has the best coverage out in the woods, Verizon is second best and the others don't have anything. The companies that use AT&T and Verizon towers technically have coverage on those rural towers, but in practice it is much slower than having AT&T and Verizon, to the point you might as well not have any coverage. That's why we don't switch. (Husband hunts in the middle of nowhere, and I hike in the middle of nowhere. And yes, I know exactly where I can get signal and what I have to climb up to get it!)

ETA: I just checked T-Mobile's map. They swear they have 4G coverage in at least one place where I'm reliably informed by a friend who just moved there that no one - she's tried every single carrier - has signal. You have a landline or you don't have phone service. . .of course, just checked Verizon's map. They say I have coverage in a place where, yeah, I have coverage. . .If I climb straight up 60 feet to the top of a ridge and go to the one spot on that ridge where I can see open sky. I guess they think us country bumpkins can't spot cell phone towers and don't talk to one another. . .

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

You don't want to know what I'm paying for Verizon right now. Unlimited data because 3 of us go through data like water (yeah I'm one of the 3). Plus the payments on 3 phones (bought at different times within 2017). And my Samsung Tablet data access.

I'm thinking of Sprint or even Straight Talk when this contract is up but we must have good cell phone reception pretty much everywhere since we travel back roads and areas where there aren't many houses quite often.

Can't use AT&T because we discovered our street has no AT&T cell phone coverage. My husband switched his to AT&T and found that out. So he ditched that and went back to Verizon.
Interestly enough, whistleout shows I'm on the best plan for us. The only other plan that would save me 15.00 a month was on some company I never heard of and I won't switch to an unknown for that little bit of money.

Good luck on finding a new cell phone company OP!

 

[MKCP5]

This really speaks to me. I hate how dependent we have become on our phones but it is what it is. We have Verizon, and get very little coverage in our home And other carriers get none at all. We don't live in a rural area, just a crummy spot for coverage within our town. I pay about $200/mo for 4 phones, 3 of which have data and one does not. We are finishing paying for one of the phones. I'd like to bring this down to about $160 if I can. My only consolation is that next spring both my kids will graduate from college and I told them they need to start paying for their own phones! Lol

 

[Hikergirl]

This really speaks to me. I hate how dependent we have become on our phones but it is what it is. We have Verizon, and get very little coverage in our home And other carriers get none at all. We don't live in a rural area, just a crummy spot for coverage within our town. I pay about $200/mo for 4 phones, 3 of which have data and one does not. We are finishing paying for one of the phones. I'd like to bring this down to about $160 if I can. My only consolation is that next spring both my kids will graduate from college and I told them they need to start paying for their own phones! Lol

This is us except we do not have Verizon we use MVNOs that use Verizon towers. Right now for 4 for 4 of us I pay $130, and for my one ds I pay $18 every 3 months.

 

[MKCP5]

This is us except we do not have Verizon we use MVNOs that use Verizon towers. Right now for 4 for 4 of us I pay $130, and for my one ds I pay $18 every 3 months.

I don't know what an mvno is. Can you explain?

 

[Hikergirl]

I don't know what an mvno is. Can you explain?

It is a non-major carrier that uses one of the major carrier's network. Straight Talk, Tracfone, Total Wireless, Cricket, etc.
I only have experience with those that use Verizon's network, they are cheaper than Verizon. In most cases you have to purchase a phone outright, so if you want the latest and greatest you will pay retail up front. I think there may be some that let you pay in installments like the major carriers but I don't do that so I don't know how it works.
You don't have to purchase phones through them so you can shop around and find the best price.

 

[smiths02]

We have Verizon, but we switched plans recently (in June).
Our phones are paid for and we are not on a contract.
DH and I have smartphones with insurance. DS has a flip phone. We get 8GB of data to share between DH and myself (and apparently it carryovers now)-we never go over anymore, when we had 6 GB, we would come close sometimes because DH would use it to navigate for work. We pay $149.27 with taxes and all (DH gets us a discount for being a government worker-$10.50/month, the insurance is $16.15 on our phones)

 

[daughtersrus]

. My son and daughter have insurance on the phones and my dh and I do not.

Check for perks for your credit cards. Wells Fargo offers free cell phone insurance if you use it to pay your bill

 

[abcboys]

4 phones Total Wireless
$100/month. Actually we get a small discount for auto pay so it may be slightly less
30G shared data
Verizon Towers
We brought our owns phones over.

 

[DLgal]

We have AT&T Family Share Plan. 3 phones (all owned outright), 15GB shared data with rollover, unlimited talk and text. $140 per month. This includes a 15% military discount.

 

[Hikergirl]

4 phones Total Wireless
$100/month. Actually we get a small discount for auto pay so it may be slightly less
30G shared data
Verizon Towers
We brought our owns phones over.

How do you get 30GB of data, did you sign up during a promo?
Right now me and my youngest ds are sharing on Total Wireless. I just ordered my other ds an iphone for Christmas and was thinking of adding dh so that the 4 of us can share. I'm seeing 25GB online though. 30 would be better

 

[MEM]

4 phones Total Wireless
$100/month. Actually we get a small discount for auto pay so it may be slightly less
30G shared data
Verizon Towers
We brought our owns phones over.

Just checked my iPhone...not compatible. We have three iphones and three ipad minis and pay $216 a month for 32 GB with Verizon. Its obscene. As someone else said earlier, once my daughter graduates from college in 2018 she starts paying off her (third in three years!) iphone and also starts paying her share of the phone bill.

 

[robinb]

Just checked my iPhone...not compatible. We have three iphones and three ipad minis and pay $216 a month for 32 GB with Verizon. Its obscene. As someone else said earlier, once my daughter graduates from college in 2018 she starts paying off her (third in three years!) iphone and also starts paying her share of the phone bill.

Hmmm ... are your phones all paid up? A phone that works on Verizon should work on Total Wireless. I was with them for about 8 months with my Verizon purchased (and paid for) iPhone. Verizon is terrible where I live so Total Wireless is terrible too so we switched.

 

[hedg12]

Might look at Cricket - they're owned by AT&T & use their network. They have progressive discounts on additional lines on an account. 2nd line gets a $10 discount, 3rd gets $20, 4th gets $30. You do have to buy the phones up front, but they usually have deals for new customers.

 

[flateacher]

Metro PCS - family plan

DD has 6 gb data = $30 a month (got a free phone when we switched over - really free no $$)
I have 3 gb data = $25 a month (Paid $100 for a 32 gb android phone)
DH has 2 gb data? he pays $30 a month separately since it is for his company. (also got a free smart phone when we switched over - although his isn't as nice as DD)

 

[samandryanmom]

I've been researching Total Wireless and I think it may work well for our family. Does anyone know if you can see how much data has been used throughout the month and cutoff a phone if someone's being a data hog. Also, if you're paying on one of the phones, does the old carrier bill you for the balance?

 

[dhardawa]

We just switched to Boost Mobile from Sprint. I’m saving about $100 a month and Boost is owned by Sprint. We have unlimited everything (including high speed data) on three phones for $100 a month after taxes and fees.

 

[Hikergirl]

I've been researching Total Wireless and I think it may work well for our family. Does anyone know if you can see how much data has been used throughout the month and cutoff a phone if someone's being a data hog. Also, if you're paying on one of the phones, does the old carrier bill you for the balance?

I have total wireless and love it. You cannot cut-off data. When you do a share plan, you each get equal data on your phone. Right now it is just ds and I sharing so we have the $60 15GB plan, we each have 7.5GB to use, we do not share from the same "pool". If ds uses his 7.5 before the month is up he does not have access to my 7.5.
I plan on getting my other ds and my dh on TW so the 4 of us will share, and it will be equal data per user. I think that will be 25 GBs total so the 4 of us will have equal amounts of that. If that isn't enough for us, I will just do 2 separate share plans where each group of 2 share 15GBs.

If you are still paying on an old phone from another carrier then your phone will not be eligible for activation on TW. You will need to pay it off with that carrier and they will have to release you from your "contract" before it can be activated.
TW uses Verizon cell network so it has to be a Verizon phone, you cannot use a GSM phone.

 

[hsmamato2]

Ok that site is great! I just saw some options I wasn't aware of..... we're Pageplus all the way here due to the lower cost/need for verizon here..... but it's pretty limited,and Red Pocket looks to be much cheaper..... I'm looking for reviews of it though...anyone? I'm a fan of the 3rd party low cost carriers (but we need verizon towers here)