| [Need Info] Looking for better family plan My husband and I have been talking about looking into getting a cheaper cellphone plan/provider. We are currently with Sprint and have the Everything Data plan with two phones. I have a smartphone, my husband does not. We have to pay 10$ extra for "premium data" although we are not in a 4g network area, not even close to one and have never been able to access one.
We average .55gbs of data a month or less. Yet we pay 172$ a month.
We recently saw a commercial showing Straight Talk phone service where you could get talk, text and data for just 45$ a month (per phone) which for two phones would be almost half of what we pay now. We are just tired of paying more a month on cellphone service than what we pay for our cable, house and land line bill combined.
So, what do you think of Straight Talk? Or can you recommend a better provider who has a better family plan?
Thank you. |
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1 edit | Pay close attention to what you get with the really low-cost providers. It's always been my experience that one rarely gets something for nothing. For example: I've never looked into them, but, from reading on the 'net, I believe there's no roaming with most, if not all, of the cut-rate providers.
But... wow... $172/mo.  Our voice-only plan w/Sprint costs us less than $60/mo. after taxes and surcharges. Not a chance in hell we'd ever pay even double that, much less nearly triple, just to have data.
Jim |
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SpensergigThreadkiller SupremePremium,MVM
join:2000-03-26
Bradenton, FL | reply to thesimonsens
If you're really upset with Sprint, I don't have anything for you.
If you're ok with the service, but want a better price, you can check out the offer that Russ McGuire, VP of Strategy for Sprint has made available.
He has a link to a Sprint page that lists referral plans with somewhat better features and prices. One catch is that you'll have to drop the old plan and take new lines (numbers). |
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| reply to thesimonsens
The straight talk android phones are on sprint's network without roaming. If you roam with your phones now it won't be good for you but otherwise around here I know people that really like them |
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| reply to Spensergig
No, I am not upset with them at all, just cant understand why our monthly bill is so high since the plan is supposed to be 129.99 but after taxes and everything else, we have been paying around 172 each month. We only use about 200 mins of our 1500 min plan, never go over data, not even close to ever going over. Don't buy ring tones or anything else. It is just getting ridiculous with the high bill each month |
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 BlitzenZeusBurnt Out CynicPremium
join:2000-01-13
kudos:2 | Change to a smaller family plan? I however think you have the any mobile anytime plan so you might need to evaluate how many total minutes you use there that don't count before you switch. |
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| reply to thesimonsens
Re: [Need Info] Looking for better family plan said by thesimonsens:No, I am not upset with them at all, just cant understand why our monthly bill is so high since the plan is supposed to be 129.99 but after taxes and everything else, we have been paying around 172 each month. What you're experiencing is one of the four reasons I don't have a not-so-smart phone and data plan. Even if the other three reasons did not exist or could somehow be overcome, there's no way I could possibly justify even a $120/mo. wireless bill, much less $172/mo.
I'm sorry, but I have no answer for you. I just recently tried finagling things every which-way to try to come up with a way to get a "smart" phone with an affordable data plan and was not able to do it. All I needed to do was get it down under $100/mo. Couldn't make it happen.
In a way that was a Good Thing, because the other three reasons I don't have a "smart" phone & data plan would've left me with buyer's remorse, anyway.
Good luck.
Jim |
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| I concur. I think we may just get rid of the data altogether. We are already on the smallest family plan they offer. 172$ for one month for two phones is way too expensive, especially considering we arent even using data on both phones and the one that is barely using HALF of a GB.
Has anyone gone from a family plan down to individual ones? Would we have to wait to end of contract for one phone to break up our plan? I really need to look at costs altogether and see if it even saves much money if anything at all since we still will be making one payment to them |
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 stev32kPremium
join:2000-04-27
Mobile, AL
kudos:1
 ·DIRECTV
 ·AT&T Southeast
 ·Mediacom
| reply to thesimonsens
I would look into T-Mobile family plans. My wife and I have 1,000 min/mo, unlimited free WiFi, I have 2 Gb of 4g data, my wife has 200 Mb (and rarely uses that much) and we pay $85/month after taxes. The real advantage is the free unlimited WiFi. There have been many months where we used a combined total of over 3,000 minutes with no increased cost because of the free WiFi. We don't get charged for data over WiFi either. |
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pandoraPremium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·ooma
·Google Voice
·Future Nine Corp..
·Comcast
| reply to thesimonsens
I moved from Sprint everything mobile data to Virgin Mobile. The service is similar, and my cost per phone is $25 plus sales tax. No other fees.
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"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." |
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BlitzenZeusBurnt Out CynicPremium
join:2000-01-13
kudos:2 Reviews:
 ·Frontier FiOS
| reply to thesimonsens
You may want to ask if you can use your phones on Virgin Mobile, they have unlimited** plans for much less per month per line, but don't include things like mobile to mobile to my knowledge.
»www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-pho···lans.jsp
Most data plans are outrageous, and are a big reason I don't have a carrier with an expensive data plan. Back when they were only $10 to $20 for a large amount of data it was acceptable, now they want double the bill for a 2GB cap. My internet at home is around $40, yet mobile broadband is heavily capped, and just as if not more expensive.
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I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G. |
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