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Monster Cell Phone Change |
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thewh00sel  United States. Oct 12 2012 17:10. Posts 2734 | | |
I just paid $440 ($220 per phone) to cancel my family's Verizon Wireless contracts. These early termination fees are obviously brutal, but with a contract that doesn't expire until September 2013 and a monthly bill averaging $167, $83.50 per phone, I couldn't think of a better way to stick it to them than by switching services.
The first thing that I did when analyzing my change was to do a cost-benefit analysis of canceling my service, and changing to something more in line with the amount of usage that actually fits our needs. So I hopped on VerizonWireless.com and looked up the usage of my phone and my wife's phone for the past 6 months.
Results:
As you can see from the chart, my wife averaged 343 minutes of voice, 2,811 text messages, and 805MBs of data per month for the past six months. The high and low range of these averages are also listed.
My averages were much lower in voice and messaging, but my data usage was twice as high at 1.5GB per month, on average.
So with this new information at my disposal, I went on a hunt for something acceptable. Our plan with Verizon allocated 700 minutes of voice per month split between both phones, unlimited messaging, and unlimited data*. We both have iphone 4's, so that narrowed my search to providers that offer service for Verizon's version of the iphone 4. I found the holy grail in Page Plus Cellular.
Page Plus Cellular is a prepaid phone service. They run on Verizon's network, but "officially" Page Plus does not support the iphone. So if Big Red ever decides to tell page plus to run through and cancel all service to Verizon iphones then there is an issue that will have to be dealt with. Page plus offers a basic assortment of prepaid plans. The one that jumped out at me right away is "The 55." This plan has unlimited texting, unlimited voice, and 2GB of data for $55 per month. If I just snap-called and switched both of our phones to that plan, I would automatically go from $167 per month to $110 per month. And having never exceeded 2GB of data on my plan on either line, that would be a savings of $50 per month, or a one-year savings of $684 ($264 after termination fees).
But I wasn't satisfied with just that plan. After looking further down the list of options I found a gem of a plan that meets my wife's needs fairly well. It's called the "Talk n Text 1200." This plan offers 1200 minutes of voice, 3,000 text messages and 100MB of data per month. A problem obviously arises in the data category, but a simple setting on the iphone to turn off all cellular data when not near wifi solves this issue. This plan costs $29.95 per month. No taxes, no fees, that's it.
So now we have one phone taken care of, and it's time to address my phone. Now my initial thought, again, was to go to the $55 plan with 2GB of data, but then I did some thinking and some researching. How much data do I really need to use? How often when a wifi pop-up comes up do I just click close and continue using my 3G speeds instead? So I looked around on the internet and found something amazing.
It's called the Freedom Spot - Photon. It's made by a startup company called FreedomPop. It is a hotspot device that you lease from the company for a one-time REFUNDABLE fee of $99. This device is FREE. And what they offer with the device is 500MB of FREE DATA PER MONTH. When I saw it I didn't believe it. You could essentially order 10 of these things and pay 1k and have 5GB of free data and when you return them in a year you get your 1k back. The risk obviously is that the company goes bankrupt and you lose your $99 investment, but I am willing to take the risk on one of these. You just slip it into your pocket and turn it on if you need to use data service but are not near wifi. With this device I believe that I can use a much lower prepaid plan than I have now. I ordered the 29.95 plan for myself to match my wife's, but after this puppy comes in and I get a feel for how my prepaid plan works, I may experiment with lower plans like "The 12".
The 12 plan has a $12 monthly cost which includes 250 minutes of voice, 250 text messages, and 10MB of data. If the Photon is as reliable as I hope it will be, then I can switch everything over to using Google Voice around wifi to make calls. I'm kind of new to google voice, so I am trying to figure out how to send and receive text messages as well through that. If I can get everything working properly then I can lower my monthly cell bill to around $20 per month. But if I prefer to live without worry/hassle then I will just keep the 29.95 plan and still save $100 per month over my Verizon plan.
Conclusion
After switching both phones to Page Plus and selecting the "Talk n Text 1200" plan (and paying $420 in termination fees) it will take about 4 months to break even** on the switch. From that point on, we will be saving $1,285 per year on telephone service, and that's assuming we can't get more efficient from that point.
Here's my analysis on the breakeven point of each plan with the one I chose highlighted in green:
Now go say F U to Verizon and make the switch! Options are also available for T-Mobile, ATT customers, you just have to do some research. Thanks for reading!
*We were grandfathered into the unlimited data plan. I found out that you can actually sell these plans and transfer them to new users for $300+ but that it was/is a grey area where some people after purchasing are forced to lower their data plans. I didn't want to risk anything so I just canceled and ate the termination fee.
** I didn't include the cost of the freedompop device as it is a refundable $99.
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| A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. - Ayn Rand | |
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2c0ntent Egypt. Oct 12 2012 17:16. Posts 1387 | | |
neat
what are the penalties if you lose or damage the device?
how does it work if you hit the 500mb cap?
how's it going going to be for you to go from having the freedom to use things that require data at your disposal vs not? I don't have a smart phone so I'm not sure how much use 800 megabytes indicates |
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| +- | Last edit: 12/10/2012 17:23 |
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thewh00sel United States. Oct 12 2012 17:41. Posts 2734 | | |
| | On October 12 2012 16:16 2c0ntent wrote:
neat
what are the penalties if you lose or damage the device?
how does it work if you hit the 500mb cap?
how's it going going to be for you to go from having the freedom to use things that require data at your disposal vs not? I don't have a smart phone so I'm not sure how much use 800 megabytes indicates |
My understanding is that the $99 security deposit covers the cost of the device if you lose it or damage it.
You can set it up to where you can top up an extra $10 of data if you get to the limit, or you can just run out of data.
The data change might be a little annoying but everywhere that I go has wifi that I can connect to so I don't think it'll be an issue for me except on rare occasions where I can find something better to do than grind twitter on my phone. Hopefully the whole switch increases my overall efficiency. |
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| A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. - Ayn Rand | |
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Maynard! United States. Oct 12 2012 18:13. Posts 4453 | | |
A good data plan for a cell phone is essential if you're a live poker pro Imo. It is a high priority luxury item. |
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| Now I really am a busto. Thanks FTP. | |
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thewh00sel United States. Oct 12 2012 18:19. Posts 2734 | | |
| | On October 12 2012 17:13 Maynard! wrote:
A good data plan for a cell phone is essential if you're a live poker pro Imo. It is a high priority luxury item. |
All casinos have free wifi now if you want to get online while you're grinding. Even Bellagio which was in the dark technologically for ages has free wifi as of last month, which partially prompted this change of cell carriers. |
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| A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. - Ayn Rand | |
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qwerty67890 New Zealand. Oct 12 2012 20:40. Posts 14026 | | |
how the fuck do you pay $83/month for cell phones lol?
for $19NZD/month (no contract, pre-pay) you can get 50 minutes, 5000 texts and 500mb data, and NZ has some of the worst cellphone/internet pricing in the developed world. |
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Kinda fail cancelling an unlimited data verizon plan.
You might be saving some money but your service will be trash now. No reception unless your in the heart of NYC or something.
And why would this company be giving out a totally free device with free data. They just going to try to gamble it up with everyone's deposit? |
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Daut United States. Oct 13 2012 06:39. Posts 8955 | | |
didnt read, but all i can say is if you start graphing your cell phone bill over time, it will grow exponentially with respect to your daughters age. enjoy these next few years before she gets one lol. i remember in high school my best friends sister had 2200 texts one month when she was on a 100/month plan. holy shit his parents lost their goddamn minds |
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| NewbSaibot: 18 TIMES THE SPEED OF LIGHT. Because FUCK YOU, Daut | Last edit: 13/10/2012 06:40 |
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thewh00sel United States. Oct 13 2012 11:23. Posts 2734 | | |
| | On October 12 2012 22:31 traxamillion wrote:
Kinda fail cancelling an unlimited data verizon plan.
You might be saving some money but your service will be trash now. No reception unless your in the heart of NYC or something.
And why would this company be giving out a totally free device with free data. They just going to try to gamble it up with everyone's deposit? |
That's the impression I got with prepaid services, but PagePlus (and a few others) piggy back on the Verizon network. So you still get the same coverage as anyone else on Verizon.
I believe the concept with FreedomPop for monetizing is that they take your credit card info and you can still go over the free 500MB if you're not careful and they automatically charge you for extra data used if you don't monitor it. They also have several up-charge services that cost between 2 and 10 dollars per month that they try to sell you on when you're signing up. |
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| A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. - Ayn Rand | |
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thewh00sel United States. Oct 13 2012 11:27. Posts 2734 | | |
| | On October 13 2012 05:39 Daut wrote:
didnt read, but all i can say is if you start graphing your cell phone bill over time, it will grow exponentially with respect to your daughters age. enjoy these next few years before she gets one lol. i remember in high school my best friends sister had 2200 texts one month when she was on a 100/month plan. holy shit his parents lost their goddamn minds |
Yeah I'm a little worried about it, but the way VoIP and other cheap/free services are going, in 10 years, or whenever kids are getting cell phones in the future, I wouldn't be surprised if the cost was much lower than it is now. I mean with GoogleVoice you can turn an iPod into a phone with a GV phone number and pay nothing and still have a phone number people call and text, you just only get the calls around wifi. Also, if you put a teenage girl on a prepaid plan that runs out when they run out of messages it will teach them some responsibility in managing the time/texts remaining on the month hopefully. |
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| A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. - Ayn Rand | |
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thewh00sel United States. Oct 13 2012 11:29. Posts 2734 | | |
| | On October 12 2012 19:40 byrnesam wrote:
how the fuck do you pay $83/month for cell phones lol?
for $19NZD/month (no contract, pre-pay) you can get 50 minutes, 5000 texts and 500mb data, and NZ has some of the worst cellphone/internet pricing in the developed world. |
Yeah, just goes to show you that the contract environment has sucked in the U.S. market. It seems like a minority of people are utilizing the benefits of prepay options. |
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| A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. - Ayn Rand | |
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Almost 6 hours and 2,8k messages a month? Holy... ! Women are crazy. |
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Ket United Kingdom. Oct 13 2012 19:23. Posts 8665 | | |
lol in uk u can get 250min talk, unlimited texts and virtually unlimited data for £10/month from a couple providers. one tiny victory since we pay way more for most everything else |
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Uptown . Oct 14 2012 03:20. Posts 3557 | | |
Respect for going through the math and making the change.
Vast majority of people don't cut the financial waste in their lives because they either don't know it, or even worse, because they can't be bothered to spend the 2 hours needed fix it. |
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