But what about for those of us that can’t go with Straight Talk or Tracfone or one of the other no contract cell phone companies? How are we suppose to save money?
This is something I have been trying to find out for about a year. We’ve been on a grandfathered in plan at US Cellular that came with 1000 minutes and 500 text messages to share and 2GB data just for me (Matt doesn’t have a smartphone). Every month I would check to see if there were any new plans. They had come out with new plans since I got mine years ago but none of them saved us any money.
Finally, this month, I noticed a change in the family plans. You have to have a shared data plan but all plans come with unlimited talk and messages, pictures included! On our previous plan, we had to pay $1 per picture message. With the new plan you just have to decide on how much data you want, everything else is unlimited. No more trying to figure out how many minutes you need, etc. So much easier!
The best part is, I get the same amount of data I have now and we get unlimited everything else, for roughly $30 cheaper per month. We are getting a better plan for less money while still getting to stay with the company that has the best reception for our area.
US Cellular is pretty much our only option for good reception where we live so we were very, very limited in our options. Hence, we couldn’t do one of the prepaid companies. We were this empty hole on their coverage maps. I might be showing a bit of my “money nerd” side here but to find out we can finally save a bit more each month made me do a little happy dance. 🙂
I think persistence paid off. I just kept checking every month to see if our company had a better plan or if one of the prepaid companies finally was offering service in our area. I think things are starting to change often enough in the cell phone/technology world that if you are in the same situation I was, you should just keep checking until a better plan is offered.
Update 5.14.14: I was quoted a wrong price and was being charged $20 more a month instead of $30 less. I went in and am now paying a whole lot less because it was their mistake. I’m actually getting an even better deal but I am very surprised it worked out that way. So while I do still suggest checking your plan periodically, any changes should be done at the store to be sure it is accurate.
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