My username should be "MissGullible". I'm pretty new to this whole Mustachian thing, and WOW I wish I'd discovered it sooner! I've got lots of places to whittle down and cut, and one of those places is our cell phone bill.
We are spending too much on cell service. We know that. I recently dropped the number of shared Anytime minutes to 550 to save $10/month, but I'd like to do more than that. Problem is... my husband has 17 months to go on his iPhone 5S contract, and I just learned today that although the AT&T local store where I got my daughter's $10/month flip phone last fall assured me it wouldn't be on a two-year contract... it is. Dang it!
Obviously, I should have read the fine print. Of course I should have. I am trusting by nature. I just TRUST that when someone says, "Oh, no, ma'am, this phone won't be under contract," it, you know, WON'T BE. Grr.
So it would cost $118 to get her phone out of contract. It would cost $265 to get my husband's out of contract. Total potential moolah outlay to switch providers now: $383.
I am considering changing to Consumer Cellular (because, again with the TRUST thing, it's connected to AARP, so I figure at a minimum they must have decent customer service). It looks like I could take the 5S and my 4S over there with free SIM exchange. We'd probably have to buy our daughter a phone. I would hope we could all keep our numbers, but I'd have to call them and see.
I ran the Wireless Calculator that the amazing (and patient, OMG, he's so patient)
I.P. Daley links in his superduperstupdendousjustreaditwhydon'tyou tech guide:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/communications-tech-son-of-the-superguide!/It looks like it would take us anywhere from 6 months to a year to recoup those costs, depending on where we land next, then from that point on, we'd be saving money every month.
I think on the Consumer Cellular plan, we'd pay about $80/month (before tax/fees) for three phones. That would be for 1200 minutes, 15,000 texts, and 2.5 GB data. My mister gets $45/month reimbursement, so that would be pretty good overall.
I do make liberal use of the "free nights and weekends" I get with AT&T, so though my "Anytime" use is under 550, my overall use, including mobile-to-mobile and night/weekends, is considerably higher. Like, hundreds of minutes higher each month. And I generally use more than 2.5 GB data, but you know what? I'd just have to do less of that. My husband is paying $30 a month for a 3 GB plan and averaging about 350 MB (just too much for their 200 MB plan... OF COURSE).
So my question, this being the Ask A Mustachian thread... anybody out there using Consumer Cellular? Good stories? Horror stories?I have unlimited data on my 4S (and no high-speed internet at home - that's a whole other issue...) so it has been precious to me. But now I'm asking myself if it's worth what it's costing us each month.
I am generally pretty tech timid, so the thought of having to do this - pay to get out of contract, sign up with non-retail-store provider, deal with SIM cards, port over numbers - is all really daunting. It's absolutely playing a part in why I haven't done anything about it yet. But they really chapped my hide by putting my daughter's phone in a contract when they said they wouldn't so... learning curve ahead!