Cell Phone Savings – Helping a Friend

November 6, 2012 Business & Work, Dollars & Sense, Family & Friends, Web & Technology Comments Off on Cell Phone Savings – Helping a Friend

I have long been thinking about going prepaid on my family plan cell phone bill. Under my contract, I have to share minutes (chose to keep my grandfathered plan because of the savings) among 3 phones, save calls for nights and weekends, make google voice one of my favorite five numbers and forward those numbers blindly to my cell, and watch my data fees go up and down.

I have been looking at new plans on different carriers, investigating the prepaid options, researching unlocking my phone and flashing it, and gone from wanna be phone geek to practical phone user while weighing the pros and cons of all of the plans and waiting for my contract to end so I can enjoy the freedom and savings of going prepaid. Well, my contract has expired and I’ve made my decisions.

A few facts first:

  • I am a tech guy in a wannabe tech family
  • Cost is huge factor but so is ease of use
  • The cost of phones makes my blood pressure go up
  • The fees added to cell phone bills makes my blood pressure go up even more
  • I have read everything there is to know about CDMA and GSM phones and it reminds me of VHS vs. BetaMax – bottom line – if the service is available, cheap, and the phone works when I need it, who cares
  • Shared minutes are terrible – I don’t like being the cell phone police
  • I use google voice and Skype so I sometimes tinker with my call routing

So, after some soul searching, some budget analysis (I’m like that), hundreds of plan comparisons, and having a soft spot for those making an effort to help themselves (more on that in a bit), I settled on a 2 part plan that I am extremely happy with.

Here’s what I get for each of 2 phones that I switched:

  • Unlimited cell, data, and text for $49 / month (compare that to the unlimited plans out there)
  • No contract and no new phone to buy (unless I wanted to)
  • The opportunity to save more $ by referring the service (which I guess is what I’m doing here but I’m referring you to my friend so he gets the referral – check out his site or go straight to the sign-up page)

So why did I refer you to my friend? Well, because he’s a hard worker and he’s been struggling in this economy. You can enjoy this service with NO COMMITMENT to anything other than a prepaid fee for the unlimited plan.  Again, $49 per month for unlimited cell, text, and data (note: data is throttled a bit after 4GB per month).

Why am I so excited about this $49 per month unlimited service? Other than the price I mean…

  • It works and it works well – I have NOW have full bars at home – before I actually had to use my carrier’s call over wifi feature
  • It’s backed by a national 4G network
  • I called my cell phone provided for a free unlock code (GSM phones need to be unlocked to work with their sim card) which they emailed me for FREE (don’t pay for unlocking unless you are still under contract – which I’d still call for first)
  • Set-up was EASY – especially since I didn’t have to go through the unlocking process on my Samsung Galaxy S 4G – this could be in part due to the fact that I traded my national carrier to a partner of my national carrier
  • I got my first month free and the sim card was free with the current promo
  • I like the opportunity to earn referrals if I choose
What have I done with the 3rd phone on my plan?
Funny you should ask.  I’ve actually gone with a two-step plan.
  • I switched to the $30/month T-Mobile prepaid for my pre-teen daughter – there are 2 options to this WEB only exclusive plan so choose carefully – and I use GV and Skype to offset the minutes with data usage
  • As soon as the dual-band phone is ready, I’m switching her to the $19 a month plan on Republic Wireless which uses WiFi as the first option to help control costs

Final thoughts… I would have put all 3 lines on Republic Wireless but you have to buy a phone upfront to work with their technology. I’m okay with that but I wasn’t willing to go to a lesser phone for the costs. In fact, I couldn’t have if I wanted to due to my day-job phone usage requirements. But for my daughter, a smartphone for $19/month with unlimited everything is amazing. However, I am waiting for the dual-band Motorola XT Defy since we live a rural area.

If my friend starts making money on his referrals to the unlimited 4G plan, I like that I have the option to switch my links to my own referrals… and anyone else that signs up can choose to do the same.

Bottom line: This service works wonders for me.  I save about $40 per month by ditching my old plan and I’ll save another $10 per month on service when I get my daughter on Republic Wireless. Better service with savings equals a win for me.

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