cell phone provider recs needed

apple_green

Both FH's and my cell phone plans expire very soon. To save money, we want to get a family plan and basically I want to spend the least money possible.

We use our cell phones very little... between the two of us we probably need 400 minutes and 50-100 texts per month. I know, weird, but we use our office phones during the day so our cells don't get much use.

Would you recommend your cell provider? He has ATT, which looks like it will be about $65+tax per month. I have Sprint, and it will be $70ish+tax. For how little I use my phone, I think I should pay less than that!

katiewhompus

I have Sprint so I'm not much help.

It might be worth looking into using a track phone. I think my dad's has 100 minutes a month, with overage being like..10 cents a minute. For $100/ year. You might be able to get a good deal that way.

apple_green

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_cell-phone-provider-recs-needed?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:b1913412-f362-4705-88a1-4c4d41770e27Post:0213f987-83d5-452c-9496-44b91686bec3">Re: cell phone provider recs needed</a>:
[QUOTE]I have Sprint so I'm not much help. It might be worth looking into using a track phone. I think my dad's has 100 minutes a month, with overage being like..10 cents a minute. For $100/ year. You might be able to get a good deal that way.
Posted by katiewhompus[/QUOTE]

Is that the pre-payed deal? I'm seriously thinking about it! I know it has a "ghetto" reputation but it might be a good deal for me...

katiewhompus

I think he just pays per month like a normal bill, but there's no contract and it's only $10. If he doesn't use minutes they roll over to the next month so if he has a month where he never uses them the next month he has a ton.

I'm thinking of going to one when my Sprint contact runs out. I don't talk on my cell much anymore and even if I go over minutes, paying $500 a year is a lot less than paying $95 a month.

apple_green

oooh I'm checking out their website now. Thanks!

squirrly

You should look at family plans where you share minutes.  H & I just combined plans and saved a bunch.  Also, check to see if any providers offer a discount based on either of your employers. 

apple_green

It looks like Tracphone will be too expensive to text Both ATT & Sprint allow us to share minutes, but I still feel like it's too expensive and more minutes than we need.

apple_green

Off to bed.. TIA for any recs that are posted overnight

loop0406

I had Cingular back then and switched to tmobile, they have good plans, I have 2 lines, pay $69.99 for 750 shared minutes includes unlimited texts. This is the family plan Family Talk + Text. Great service, they always answer promptly when I call customer service, I can check balance and minutes on my phone.

playtntsbpg30

I love tmobile. Your best bet there would stay with the  one person plans since you dont' use your phone that much that will save money.

Or you could go for the walmart phone thing (smart talk) or straight talk? it's 45 a month for unlimited talk,text and web. can't really beat that if that is the kind of thing you are looking at and it's sorta like a pre-pay but they have good/nice phones.

I always recommend tmobile.

edit- tmobile has a plan for 300 minutes, free nights and weekends for 29.99. and you can add 300 texts a month for about 7 dollars extra. (or pay 40 cents a text in and out).  This could be a good option.  Again this is for a single line.
Using your phones very little is probably not a good thing for a family plan at least not with Tmobile.

vegasgroom

Not sure how valuable coverage is but I've had Sprint, T-Mobile and ATT in the past three annual cycles and I'm on Verizon now and their coverage and data rates are magnitudes better.

kathrynhabibti

I was very happy with Verizon, although I don't have any other provider experience to compare them to. My individual plan was $59.99 for 450 minutes and unlimited texts, $39.99 for 450 minutes talk-only. Their cheapest family plan is $99.99 for 700 minutes and unlimited texts, and $69.99 for 700 minutes talk-only, $9.99 for each additional line. So I guess $109.98 and $79.98 respectively for the two of you.

In all cases - unless this has changed since I used them and I don't think it would have - Verizon-to-Verizon calls don't take away from your minutes at all, and the unlimited texting even applies when you text non-Verizon numbers.

Their minutes don't roll over, but for me that was far outweighed by the rest of the plan.

[Deleted User]

We have T-Mobile and love them. There plans are really reasonable. We still have individual plans bc our contract isn't up until November and if we renew early then we don't ge the deals on the new phones since we both need new ones. Once our contracts are up (we both got them 2 yrs ago at the same time) then we are going to go to a family plan which will be even cheaper than what we are paying combined now.

We have great coverage - we travel back and forth between Ohio and Georgia a lot.