Aloha all,
I've been recently ranting and raving about technology and the cost of things, so this time this particular blog will combine both.
Most people have heard of cell phone companies such as: ATT, Verizon, Sprint and T-mobile.
Though these companies offer great service and value (not to mention the newest and flashiest phones) if your monthly bill is the most important thing, you may want to look at a pre-paid cell phone company.
Pre-paid cell phone companies get a bad reputation as most associate these plans with phone with lesser capacities, bad service, plans that are not conducive to most people, but it's 2010, and there are many options depending on your needs.
If you're a Blackberry user and you use it a lot, your bill might look like this:
With ATT, your cell phone will be free and for unlimited text, mobile phone calls and emails (max 2GB), you are looking at a monthly bill of $114.99.
Since this is a 2 year contract, we'll use a 2 year total cost (note that the bill doesn't include taxes!!)
Monthly = $69.99 + $25.00 + $20.00 = $114.99
2 year total cost = $2759.76 + $36.00 (Activation fee) = $2795.76
A great option for you is
Boost Mobile.
There maybe more upfront costs: $199.99 for the phone, but your monthly bill is $60.00 (unlimited phone calls, SMS, emails).
Your upfront costs for the phone: $199.99
Your monthly bill: $60
Your 2 year total costs: $199.99 + $1440 = $1639
Your savings: $1156.76
This may sound like someone paid me off to endorse Boost Mobile, but in a way, its just time to WAKE UP! Don't get stuck! There are many more options out there now. Note that I don't have Blackberry. I actually have a Sanyo Juno, so my monthly bill is $50/monthly.
One cool feature for those with friends overseas is their
International Connect program. For an additional $10/month, you can make unlimited phone calls to: Mexico, Dominican Republic, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Canada (just check the website as some are for unlimited mobile calling, or unlimited landline calling or BOTH!). In addition to these awesome perks, this includes unlimited SMS to overseas numbers. This is just an awesome feature as most cell phone companies charge $.25 to $.50 per text message (incoming and outgoing!) so if you have family overseas or a friend traveling with a local SIM card, you can keep in touch without paying out the WAZOO!
The most important thing is do your research, just review your last couple of bills and see how many minutes you actually use and how many SMS you actually send! You maybe paying more than you currently are with your cell phone company.
While I was writing this blog, researching, comparing cell phone companies, plans and mobile devices, I think I ran into a plan that may be the best fit for most people. It's affordable and the phones are decent.
Check out
Virgin Mobile "Beyond Talk Plans"
Looking at this, this maybe one of the best cell phone plans around. They are based on the Sprint Network (Boost Mobile is as well) so you will have great reception!
For me, if I were to switch, the $40 plan would be more than plenty! Which would be $960 for 2 years (wowsers).
Check out these options too for pre-paid cell phones:
MobiPCS
VirginMobileUSA
We'll hopefully you can find the best deal for you!!
Mahalo for reading.
Until next time.
