Author Topic: How cheap are you with your phone service?  (Read 4550 times)

swampwiz

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How cheap are you with your phone service?
« on: April 12, 2018, 02:47:56 PM »
I use the MagicJack internet & dongle-based system that costs me $20/year as my primary phone.  And being enrolled in the ObamaRomneyHeritageCare Medicaid expansion (thank you, tax-free Roth IRA conversion basis!), I now get a free mobile phone, but before then, I was using TracFone that cost me about $30 for 3 months & 120 minutes.  My internet is about $15/month.

I am always hearing of folks that pay like $100 per month per phone, which is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS.

hadabeardonce

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2018, 02:56:12 PM »
My phone bill was $141.15 this month (after a discount for being a gov't employee) for 7 lines. I get an $80 stipend from work for having a work cell #, so that reduces it $61.15 and I charge 3 family members $10/ea. for 3 lines. So last month my out of pocket cost for four lines was $31.15 and it's about the same month to month (+/-$1.)

You've got me beat on phone pricing, even with all my tricks... I need to do something about the price I pay for internet this summer.

Pigeon

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2018, 03:03:35 PM »
Not that cheap.  I was fairly cheap for a long time.  We used MVNOs of one kind or another over the years with cheap smart phones.  I have two kids and I wanted them to have phones.   The MVNOs weren't great for one reason or another.  Where I live, Verizon is the only carrier with good coverage.  With 4 lines the MVNOs got to be close to the same as going with Verizon and a shared data plan.  After some spectacularly horrible and irritating service from the MVNOs, I bit the bullet.  I get a discount through work.  It costs me $160/mo for 4 lines.

I have bought used Galaxy S5s on Swappa, which worked out OK.  A few are starting to have issues and one had to be replaced.  I replaced one with a new Moto G5 plus, which was a little under $200 on sale.  I'll probably do the same for the others as they die off.

I'm FI but still working and am OK with spending a little more on a few things.

robartsd

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2018, 03:14:35 PM »
I use the MagicJack internet & dongle-based system that costs me $20/year as my primary phone.  And being enrolled in the ObamaRomneyHeritageCare Medicaid expansion (thank you, tax-free Roth IRA conversion basis!), I now get a free mobile phone, but before then, I was using TracFone that cost me about $30 for 3 months & 120 minutes.  My internet is about $15/month.
I use Google Voice and an Obi200 for free calls over internet at home (does not cover e911, so mobile is emergency phone). Obi200 is a stand alone network device, does not require a computer running. My current mobile pay as you go plan costs $10 every 120 days (I use it very little). My overall costs are higher though because I don't have access to internet as cheap as yours (was about $25/mo for first 12 months, now $35/mo).

Khaetra

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2018, 03:24:23 PM »
Not.  I pay $60/month for AT&T.  I tried using cheaper services but I could never get good reception to make/receive calls from home.

DreamFIRE

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2018, 03:29:02 PM »
We just had a thread about this, so I will link to that instead of repeating the same thing here.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/cost-of-phone-ownership/

Milizard

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #6 on: April 12, 2018, 03:38:22 PM »
I also rock a tracfone for cell service.  My current phone cost $90 & included 1 year of service and 1500 minutes.  Home phone/internet is a different story. About $90/month. There are not good,  cheap options for internet where I live.

facepalm

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #7 on: April 12, 2018, 07:06:18 PM »
About $25 a month for Google Fi.

I'm going to be off-grid for about a month, and if Fi doesn't cut it I'll switch over to Verizon. For now Fi works.

SwitchActiveDWG

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #8 on: April 12, 2018, 08:11:14 PM »
I’m on the Sprint 1 year free promotion, phone bill is $7 / month for unlimited everything, 2 lines.


CoffeeR

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #9 on: April 12, 2018, 08:20:03 PM »
Horrible my MMM standards... $110/month plus tax ($121.28) for 4 lines using AT&T prepaid. Quality of service (in my area) matters to me, got burned a while back with an ill-advised switch. Kids have 6GB of data, adults have 1GB.

I also use OOMA for land line @ $7+ per month. Would not use OOMA again, but have the [old version] hardware (since 2010) so that is a sunk cost for me. Still, I am eyeing the land line as a place to cut. My wife still wants it, so maybe an OBI??? Not sure yet.

Tom Bri

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2018, 02:57:24 AM »
Cell phone $10/mo.
Internet $14.99/mo, with home phone adds up to $45/mo.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2018, 06:03:36 AM »
Not that cheap, I use too much data.

Currently on a 12 month prepaid deal through Kogan Mobile, $254.30 for 365 days, unlimited national calls/texts and 16GB of data per each 30 day period. It's kinda pointless to have so much data as I would have been quite comfortable with the next tier down, but it was barely any cheaper so whatever. Honestly below $30 per month I'm not too fussed about getting it too much cheaper.

Internet is $59.99 per month. I could save a bit by changing providers, but I'd need to sign a new contract (and I'm not keen on that). I have considered ditching the ADSL and going for mobile broadband only (at a similar price or slightly lower), but mobile data speeds aren't that great where I live.

Penn42

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2018, 06:34:27 AM »
Moto E4 - $144.44 shipping included

Republic wireless with no data - $17.35.

Haven't missed the days at all.  I've got WiFi 90 percent of the time anyway. 

SwitchActiveDWG

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2018, 06:43:04 AM »
Cell phone $10/mo.
Internet $14.99/mo, with home phone adds up to $45/mo.

Who is your ISP?

Rcc

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #14 on: April 13, 2018, 08:23:46 AM »
Home: OOMA, $5/mo
Wife's cell: 10$/mo
My cell: 0$/work paid
Sons Cell: 0$ (he pays for his own now)

dude

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2018, 08:33:48 AM »
T-Mobile prepaid. It's $28/month for 100 talk minutes, unlimited text, unlimited data (but only 4G speed up to first 5GB of data, then it slows down).  On the rare occasion I need more phone minutes, it costs me $10.63 for another 100 minutes. The plan is more than I need and has saved me more than $60/month since I dropped Verizon like 2-3 years ago.

Hirondelle

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #16 on: April 13, 2018, 08:58:30 AM »
€2.50/month for 250 MB internet, 125 minutes and 1000 texts (whole EU).

Switched providers this month from 100 mins/texts and no data (€4.50) or €7 when adding 200 MB of data.

protostache

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #17 on: April 13, 2018, 09:27:28 AM »
Not. We don't have a home phone, so there's that. However, we pay $102 per month for two lines through AT&T with 6 GB of shared data and rollover. We usually use about half of that, so it's nice to be able to "burst" when we travel.

SpareChange

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #18 on: April 13, 2018, 09:35:32 AM »
$8.25/mon through Red Pocket. No complaints. Use a Moto G5 Plus that I bought new on sale from Newegg. No landline.

TheContinentalOp

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #19 on: April 13, 2018, 09:45:11 AM »
$0.00/mo. on the FreedomPop plan:

1 GB of Data
250 texts
250 minutes

No, VM. That's the trick they use to try and get you to upgrade to a paying plan. Callers can leave a VM and then you'll get a text urging you to sign up for VM. I got a Google Voice number to get around that.

JLee

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #20 on: April 13, 2018, 09:49:38 AM »
-$35/mo.

I'm reimbursed $70/mo from work and have a $35/mo plan.

bfiguero

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #21 on: April 13, 2018, 02:15:29 PM »
Red Pocket Mobile's pre-paid 1000 minutes for $100 per year plan. No data.

Tom Bri

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #22 on: April 15, 2018, 07:38:17 PM »
Cell phone $10/mo.
Internet $14.99/mo, with home phone adds up to $45/mo.

Who is your ISP?

Frontier. Many years ago we got an introductory deal. At the end of that year I called and asked to 'keep the same plan' and they agreed. After several more years of this, and many calls to customer service, a manager called me and told me they would give me that price for life. I guess they got tired of me calling every time they jacked the rate up.

JimLahey

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #23 on: April 15, 2018, 11:49:57 PM »
$70/month flat rate on Cricket for my wife and I. We buy our phones outright.

N

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2018, 12:53:38 AM »
We use airvoice for our cell phones. We have 3 people and its about 16$/mo. I have the 10/mo plan and my husband and teen have the 10/every 90 days plan.

We have voip.ms for home phone, its about 25/year.

For internet we have Comcast cable with basic cable and its a ridiculous 96/mo.
I havent found a better deal, but I guess I ought to look around again. Its more than doubled in the last 4 years.

Davids

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #25 on: April 19, 2018, 11:33:22 AM »
$0. I use my corporate iPhone as my personal phone. I use Google voice number for personal calls on it.

OtherJen

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #26 on: April 19, 2018, 11:47:37 AM »
Husband and I paid cash for our Nexus 5x phones a couple of years ago and use Google Fi ($20 for talk/text, $10 per GB of data). I only ever use 1 GB or more if we're traveling somewhere without Wi-Fi and the weather is weird (e.g., camping), so my monthly bill is usually about $25 after tax. Husband's bill is usually $30-35.

deek

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Re: How cheap are you with your phone service?
« Reply #27 on: April 19, 2018, 06:53:21 PM »
I pay $40 a month for 5 gigs on 1 phone on Verizon. Keep in mind, I'm way past due for an upgrade so they lowered my monthly price a little with a promo or two over the last few years. I'm also still on a corporate discount from a company I left in early 2016 (awesome I know). But once they catch wind that I don't work for them anymore I'm going to figure something else out. Because $40 is a good price for me, I don't want to go any higher per month.

Promos got me more gigs at a better cost somehow... I use like half of it.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2018, 06:58:27 PM by dj »