What do you all do for Cell Phones

[TomTea31]

So I had a sprint account and was paying $167 a month for 2 android and 1 regular phone. when I did the chap 7 I decided to get rid of the contract. So I then switched the phones to Cricket after they told me our bill would be around 145 for 3 Andriods. Now I am seeing that's not the case at all and I have to pay $168. So long story short. I don't feel my 13 year old needs nor deserves a $55/month abdriod phone. My husband doesn't really use his but I use mine everyday and will need to keep mine.

The 13 yr old needs a phone but I'm not sure she needs a smart phone considering she has a tablet from xmas and we just got her a ipod for her birthday. so anyway I'm thinking about getting her a prepaid phone but I worry about the cost since she'd need unlimited text?

Ideas?

[hmsmith]

We have verizon, and we are keeping our plan because i didn't think we would save much trying to switch. My husband and I both had smartphones w/ data plans and got tired of paying over $150 a month, so i got out my OLD envy and he was due for an upgrade and he bought the most basic flip phone possible. We both have text, and my 11 year old daughter has her grandma's old phone which is also an envy. She also gets texting, but NONE of us have data. Our bill for 3 phones is now $100, it was worth saving the $50 to me. Yes it's great to have a data plan, but in my opinion, so not worth it. I understand why some people need it for their jobs and email, however, I'm just glad I do not! If i were you i would ask friends/family if they have any old phones around for your daughter.

[keepsmiling]

I've gotten a few phones on Freecycle and you can pick them up cheap on ebay too.
A lot of folks here who are on tight budgets do pay as u go.

[HRx]

Getting a middle school or high school student a smartphone that cannot afford to pay for his/her own monthly bill isn't wise, unless you have extra money to throw away each month. $150+ per month for a smartphone plan gets old really fast. lol A basic phone or a feature phone that doesn't require a data plan is ideal for teenager. Folks that work at Verizon, etc, actually think it's absurd when parents buy their teenagers smartphones.

[DYLAN150]

I have a i-phone 4S, (i think) and being a combat vet, My AT&T plan is about $71 per month. I do very little talking on it mostly text messages which I like because I can answer when I want to, but I like reading the news and weather on the phone. Plus you can talk your text message into the phone. I also like getting my e-mail on the phone. I would say my favorite is the navigation app.

[TomTea31]

The smart phone was kind of pushed on me because it was free after rebate. She needed a new phone since we were switching to cricket and the old phone needed upgraded. I do admit I really did not think it through long. I wish I never bought the damned thing! It's not a good phone for one thing. The rule was if I call you answer. Well the stupid thing dies after 1 hour. It will just shut off without warning and go through reboot but never load up. so then I need to set it back to factory.

Anyway. I need ideas on prepaid that have a decent text plan.

[GoingDown]

I use net10 pay as you go for my cell phone and I use Google Voice to route all my incoming calls to where I want them to go.

If you are very frugal you can get by for as little as $15 per month on net10 (by buying a $30 card once every two months to add 60 days of service). If you use your phone a lot, you can get an unlimited net10 card for 50 dollars a month. Still cheaper than most other unlimited plans. And it works everywhere I have been that has any cell phone reception. If there's a cell phone tower within range, net10 will work. It just jumps onto other carriers' towers.

As for data, I use my desktop computer for that, not my phone. I just use my phone for talking to people.

[ksgirl38]

I'm thinking of changing my phone out soon, my contract ends at the end of this month. I've heard that some of those pay as you go and Cricket plans don't get as good reception. Is this true?

[AngelinaCat]

We have two Boost Mobile pay-as-you-go cell phones. We pay about $20.00 a month for each, when the 'Boost' runs out. If we don't have the money when the 'Boost' runs out--oh well. We wait until the next payday.

We also have a Verizon 'House phone' cell phone that 'Hub's brother has on his phone plan. Once that runs out, I don't know what we will do. Probably go back to the days when there were not these 'luxuries'. We cannot add any kind of additional bill or 'plan' to what we already pay out each month. The income is not there, and groceries and fuel bills keep rising.

We have not looked into Google voice, but our reception here for cells and everything else is marginal. We did have MagicJack for a while, but as I said, reception was marginal, and we finally gave up on it.

[ksgirl38]

I don't have a phone in my apartment so cell is all I have. $20 a month isn't bad. I'll have to look into those. Thanks.

[AngelinaCat]

I don't have a phone in my apartment so cell is all I have. $20 a month isn't bad. I'll have to look into those. Thanks.

I should add that Boost Mobile likes to sign you up for a $50.00 a month re-boost plan. We put 'Hub's phone on that, and mine on the $20.00 a month plan. The problems with these was that the re-boost 'hit' at the wrong time of the month. We finally nixed both of those, and are strictly on a pay-as-you-go. We also do NOT text or anything else at all fancy. Nor do we talk for long periods of time.

You can purchase $20.00 (and higher amounts) Boost cards almost anywhere, but you are charged a tax. Wal*Mart, at one time, sold them for the flat $20.00, incorporating the taxes into that amount. You can also register a credit or debit card with them, and after going through the automated menu, you can get to a menu where choosing an option other than $20.00 to re-boost is allowed, if that amount is not in your budget just then. I have re-boosted for as little as $10.00.

So far it has worked out well. Good wishes to you.

[bcohen]

What I did for my cell phone was quit paying it back in 2008 and let it charge off. I got a home phone for a fraction of the cost, unlimited talk time, no dropped calls, no contract, no hassles. It even includes voice mail, which never becomes full, even if I don't delete my messages.

[Bell30656]

I guess I am a horrible example. We're on AT&T. I have an iPhone 4s and my DD9 has an iPhone 4. Our bill is $136.10 each month. Luckily, I'm still grandfathered on the "unlimited" plan. Do I need the latest and greatest technology? Probably not. Do I want it? You bet.

My home phone has been Vonage since 2005. It is just under $20 per month.

[TheBajan]

We have Verizon. Last month I cancelled the unlimited talk and text. Our teenage son wasn't happy about it but... oh well. He doesn't pay the bill and we can't afford it. It moves our bill from $128 a month down to $79 for the same 3 lines we've had forever. We don't have any smart phones (much to my son's disgust) but we are doing fine without them. I find myself already trying to limit the amount of time he/we spend on electronics already. With so many access points to then internet, I don't think we really need the expense/convenience of having it on our phones also.

[bcohen]

We have Verizon. Last month I cancelled the unlimited talk and text. Our teenage son wasn't happy about it but... oh well. He doesn't pay the bill and we can't afford it. It moves our bill from $128 a month down to $79 for the same 3 lines we've had forever. We don't have any smart phones (much to my son's disgust) but we are doing fine without them. I find myself already trying to limit the amount of time he/we spend on electronics already. With so many access points to then internet, I don't think we really need the expense/convenience of having it on our phones also.

I don't really understand why children under the age of 18 need cellphones at all, and you can be sure that my kids will not have them. I remember when I was in school, which was not too long ago, cell phones and pagers were strictly prohibited, and if you needed to call your parents for a ride, you either used a pay phone or asked to use the phone in the principal's office. I got by just fine without the distraction and expense of a cell phone, and frankly life was better without the endless texting, Facebook, and other distractions that today's kids waste their time on.

In fact, I am now going to college, and it amazes me how today's 18 to 20-something's are so mesmerized by their cell phones and Facebook. Every day, when I am walking to class, I see people walking around like zombies focusing on sending text messages while they try not to run into someone else. Even late at night I see people walking around so focused on their smartphone that someone could easily sneak up behind them and assault them or steal their stuff, and they wouldn't even see it coming.

And then when I am in class, there's always the inevitable cell phone that rings during lecture, or the noise of someone playing a video game on their laptop rather than paying attention to the professor. Even in difficult classes such as chemistry and physics, I see many students playing with their cell phone, or sitting there with their laptop open on Facebook.

I am very happy that I have made the choice to be cell phone-free and Facebook-free. I don't have to deal with the financial cost, risk of poor academic performance, or safety risks from walking and texting. The only drawback is that when I need to work on a group project for one of my classes, and explain to the other student(s) that they cannot text me because I only have a home phone, they look at me like I'm from outer space.