

Ask HN: How do I cut down on my cell phone bill? - eibrahim

I have a family plan with AT&#38;T: 2 smart phose with data plans and 2 regular phones and I am paying $260 a month.  Getting ready to quit my job :) and want to cut down on expenses.  I am ready to lose 1 data plan and possibly both..<p>I would love to cut this bill by half - any ideas?  suggestions?<p>PS: 1 phone for me, 1 for wife, 1 for mom and 1 for dad.
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patio11
"Hiya AT&T CSR. I'm considering canceling my two smart phones and two regular
phones because I feel I'm paying too much for cell phone service. Yes, I can
hold."

"Hello Retention Department. Two smart phones with data plans, two regular
phones, total bill $260. What can you do for me?"

This will knock about a thousand bucks a year off your bill in about 5~10
minutes.

~~~
dgunn
Bingo. This works for several services. I've personally had success with this
(accidentally) with my cable provider back when cable was something people
used. I called to cancel and enjoyed 3 months at a very reduced rate prior to
cancelling. Not bad.

------
FilterJoe
Drop the minutes and data plans to the minimum and drop your 2 regular phones.
Then share your plan with other people if you can.

I am sharing a family plan with my inlaws at 550 minutes for the 3 of us. I
also pay $15/month for data, so incrementally my 3rd cell phone adds $25/month
+ fees to the monthly costs. I keep cell data turned off most of the time
except when I truly need to use it (typically Pandora or mapping while
driving).

I typically use more than 550 minutes of phone time by myself each month as
follows:

In office: Google Voice (free).

At home: My wife uses T-mobile@home service for $10/month. No longer available
but you can use Google Voice comfortably at home with the right kind of phone
router, such as this one: [http://www.amazon.com/OBi202-Phone-Adapter-
Router-2-Phone/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/OBi202-Phone-Adapter-
Router-2-Phone/dp/B007D930YO)

Lots of high quality cell phone use on a single day: T-mobile $2 for the day
(with my old Blackberry, which gives me much higher voice quality)

Our total monthly costs including fees and taxes are about $45. For that price
we have unlimited domestic calling at home and in my office, I have an iPhone
4s with limited minutes and data and my wife has Virgin Mobile cell phone that
she only uses for emergencies. Would only be $35/month if we got the above-
referenced phone router and dropped T-mobile@home.

------
dutchrapley
I suppose the additional two phones are for your kids? Does your wife need a
smartphone?

Check out Net10. You can get an unlimited plan for $50 for a smartphone, 750
minutes for $25/mo. and 200 minutes for $15/mo. The 200 minute plan has carry
over minutes. Your net total would be $105, and ~$115 by the time you include
sales tax. Granted, you still have to buy the phones.

You could also look at Walmart's family plan.
<http://www.walmart.com/cp/Family-Mobile/1076544> That would get you down to
$150 for the whole family and it's powered by T-Mobile.

FYI, I'm not offering this simply as a suggestion. I did this back in 2009. I
was looking to move away from Sprint (poor coverage where I moved to) to a
regional carrier. They wanted $60 per live for activation. I was told they'd
only charge for one but I ended up still getting billed for all three. They
wouldn't honor the discount the sales person offered me saying the offer
wasn't approved by a manager.

Fed up with the state of wireless companies at the time, I originally moved to
Tracfone and later to Net10 when Net10 came out with monthly plans (both owned
by the same company). Only this past August did I finally upgrade to Android.
While my phone is no frills (800 MHz processor and 3.2 pixel camera), it keeps
my calendar and contacts in sync, which makes life easier.

------
srehnborg
When is your contract up? Check out Republic Wireless -
www.republicwireless.com for a cheaper option.

It's $19 a month for unlimited data/talk/text. Runs over wi-fi when you're
around wi-fi or cell towers when you're not. That will save you quite a bit
per month.

------
eibrahim
OP here:

I called AT&T to cancel and got $130 off my monthly bill and about $140 in
refund. This should keep me going until October when I can cancel and move to
T-mobile which has the BEST prices I found for 2 smart phone + 2 basic phones.
Thanks everyone.

------
pardner
We've very heavy voice users, so needed lots of minutes/month. We've had great
luck with Boost Mobile... I particularly like their retention policy which is
NOT to lock you up on a 2 yr contract, but rather, to reduce your bill after N
months of on-time payments. (Started at 60/mo, and after about a year we're
paying 45/mo for unlimited voice+data+text.) On the other hand their customer
support sucks if you need any help beyond the self-help on their website.
AFAIK they do NOT have any live support.

------
runjake
An option might be heading to StraightTalk (www.straighttalk.com).

Plan Costs would break down as follows:

2 Smartphone @ $45/line = $90 2 dumbphones @$30/line = $60

Total = $150/month

These figures don't factor in ETFs. Your existing AT&T phones will work
without unlocking.

StraightTalk is an MVNO that operates on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks. You
can pick which network.

------
firefoxman1
I use a combination of Google Voice (free) and H2O wireless ($10/month for 200
minutes). H2O uses AT&T towers, so your existing GSM phones should work fine.
I give people my Voice number, which I set to forward calls but not SMS, so
text messages don't use up my minutes, and when I'm in a wifi zone (pretty
often) I can log in and check my text messages.

~~~
grumps
Text messages count as minutes?

~~~
firefoxman1
Well, you load up your account with $10, and you can use them on text, data,
minutes, etc. It's 5c per text.

~~~
grumps
Interesting. I'm thinking about picking up the $30 / mon from T-Mobile.
Although sprint is free but absolutely no signal where I live.

------
lifeguard
Switch some or all of your phones to pre-paid tmobile.

Get google voice numbers, and use them for SMS and voice calls for personal
business (like calling your bank).

I don't have 4 accounts like you, but I have saved hundreds of dollars this
way.

~~~
grumps
So you're using some sort of SIP account to GV to avoid using minutes?

~~~
lifeguard
Yes.

Mostly my friends just text each other, not talk. Google voice provides SMS
and voice mail, so it saves me a lot of monies.

Then I use my paid minutes to return calls if needed. For making calls where
quality is not critical, I put on headphones and make SIP voice calls.

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robflynn
I switched my girlfriend and myself to StraightTalk plans. $49.xx (post
tax)/mo for unlimited everything. Bought two sims and popped them into our
iPhones.

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dsr_
If the coverage works out for you, 4 $35/month VirginMobileUSA plans. Includes
data, text, and 300 minutes per line. The 1200 minute version is $45.

