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| *According To Us! |
How It Started:
About 6 months ago, we made a switch from Tmobile to AT&T so that we
could use the iPhone. The switch only bumped our cell phone bill up about
$15 more a month. When I got my iPhone, I set it all up and loved it.
We don't use many minutes, So we chose a low minute Family Plan.
We do however use a lot of data and messaging so we chose the
unlimited family texting for $30 a month and got unlimited data for
the phones which is another $60 a month for both phones.
Our bill ran right at $190 every month, but we were alright with it because
we felt we were really putting these phones to use, we used them for what
seemed like everything. I simply didn't know how I could manage without
my phone and all it's unlimited allowance. So every month, we paid that
expensive bill.
The Idea:
A couple of days ago, my husband had brought up the idea of switching
to Virgin Mobile prepaid. At first, I was totally against it and really just
wanted to drop the conversation. I saw it as losing my cool phone that
I use all the time and replacing it for one that wouldn't fit my needs, on a
plan that would be extremely limited. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I sat down with our AT&T bill and ran some numbers, We still had 18
months of our contract left so we knew we were going to incur an
early termination fee, So I had to be sure we were really going to be
saving some money. I called AT&T and inquired about the amount of
the ETF, the rep advised me that it would be $530 at this point to cancel
both of our iPhone lines. But if we chose to continue service with AT&T
for the next 18 months we will have paid a total of $3420! If we chose
to go with Virgin Mobile, we will only pay $900 over the next 18 months
instead!
I checked out Virgin Mobile's site and looked at plans and phones and
features. I checked the coverage map, and saw that we are in a great
area with full coverage.Virgin Mobile had 2 phones that I felt would meet
my needs very well. The Intercept and the Optimus V. Both of which are
Android phones and come at a price tag of $150 each, but without a
contract!!
So I spoke with my husband about all the prices and about the fees to
cancel service. He assured me that by selling our iPhones, we would
have enough to cover the cancellation fees and some of the cost of
buying our new phones. So we ended up heading to Target purchasing
our phones and prepaid cards and started the process of porting our
existing numbers over to our new phones. (Which was quick and done
in under 2 hours!)
We chose the $25 a month plan from Virgin Mobile for each of our lines.
It gives us 300 anytime minutes(each phone), UNLIMITED Texting
and UNLIMITED Internet! We both have Google Voice phone numbers,
so we can make free calls from home on our computers if we need to
conserve our minutes, or we can always add more money to our Virgin
Mobile account should the need ever arise for us to talk more.
(We don't talk a lot on our phones)
The Outcome:
We will pay a total of $50 a month for both of our phones, to do the same
thing that we were paying $190 a month on AT&T! That saves us $140 a
month that we can put towards paying off other debt each month, or put towards
savings!
I have been using the phone for a couple of days now and I absolutely
love it! I chose the Samsung Intercept, so that I would have the keyboard,
and my husband chose the Samsung Optimus V. He is impressed with the
speed and abilities of the phone for the low monthly price as well! My husband
was also right about selling our iPhones to pay the cancellation fees. As soon
as he listed them for sale, there was tons of interest in the price we were asking!
I am very happy about this decision, and I wanted to share this story with my
readers because everytime I use my new phone, I seriously say to myself
"Why would anyone pay $190 a month for something you can get for $50! I
wish I had known about this sooner!!"
Virgin Mobile has other phones available as well, There is a Blackberry, The
Rumor Touch and a few simple phones for those of you who don't want all the
bells and whistles. I know everyone's situations and needs in a phone are different.
But If you can, it's probably a good idea to sit down, look at your cell phone bill
figure some numbers and see if you can save some money each month by switching.
I really wish someone would have talked us into prepaid six months ago when we
went with AT&T! There are lots of other prepaid companies out there, but I have
never tried any of them, nor do I have any info about them. So if Virgin Mobile
isn't in your area, I'm sure there is another one that could save you money off
a contract plan.
Anyone else using a prepaid company and saving lots of money vs contract?
This post was 100% written by me. I am in no way affiliated with any cell phone
companies other than being a regular customer, and was not asked to write or
compensated in anyway for this post. I also wish to add that we had no problems
with the service of AT&T only have found it to be way more expensive vs.
our new service. The post is of true account and is written with meaning of hoping
you can save money as we did.
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