My Cell Phone Origin Story
When my parents decided to get involved with cell phones, they – like virtually everyone else we knew – selected Verizon as their carrier. I was eventually allowed to join their plan, which I stayed on throughout high school and college.
After graduating from college and started my working life, I decided to unburden my parents and start my own cell phone plan. I, too, selected Verizon as my carrier without a second thought.
It took me three years to come to my senses (thanks to the frugal-mindedness of my other half) and look elsewhere for my cell phone needs.
What the Big Providers Offer and Why You Don't Need It
I remember thinking that I was savvy when I opened my own Verizon account:
- I was able to keep my phone number and the phone itself instead of buying a new one.
- I selected the smallest data plan offered by Verizon at the time (2 gigabytes), which still included unlimited talk and text.
- My job with the State Government even gave me a discount.
After sharing a 4 gigabyte plan with my parents and sister, 2GB all to myself felt like I was living large! I was paying around $60 a month between the line fee and the data plan, but it felt like a necessary expense. Everyone pays at least that much, right?
Mikayla eventually raised the idea of looking at other plan providers for a less expensive cost. I balked at first, as Verizon offered good coverage in the area and I was paying for the smallest plan they offered, but ultimately I saw the light of Mik’s wisdom. I am now happily a plan-holder for Mint Mobile, where I get 3GB of data along with unlimited talk and text for just $15 a month – a quarter of what I was paying previously, and I get an extra GB of data!
Depending on your needs and where you live, you might not be able to jump right on board with Mint Mobile. However, I encourage you to look into alternative cell phone companies. Many of them act as third-parties that piggyback off of the cell towers and coverage maps of the larger providers (Verizon, T-Mobile, etc). They “rent” cell tower service and therefore, don’t need to pay for the construction and maintenance of nationwide infrastructure. This allows the third-party carriers to offer lower rates to their to their customers in turn.
Introducing: Third-Party Cell Phone Companies
Let’s compare Verizon with a few of the leading third-party cell phone companies:
Verizon:
Great nationwide coverage at a relatively high cost. Not a bad option if you are in an area of otherwise poor coverage, have a large family with high data needs, or cycle through cell phone payment plans in order to always have the latest and greatest phone technology in your hands.
Mint Mobile:
Uses the T-Mobile and AT&T networks, so be aware of their coverage maps. The big shtick with Mint is that they offer some of the lowest monthly rates, but require you to bulk-buy in 3-month, 6-month or 12-month increments one of their available 3GB, 8GB or 12GB plans. The more time you buy up front, the greater the savings they are able to pass along to you.
If you can stomach the cost of a 12-month plan, the savings in comparison to other networks is phenomenal. My 12-month, 3GB/month plan with Mint ran me $180 bucks – I was paying that amount for just THREE months on my previous Verizon plan, and I get an extra gigabyte of data every month, to boot. Yahoo!
Google Fi:
Google Fi uses three different major phone networks (T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular) as well as available wi-fi hotspots to seamlessly offer the best connection available from moment-to-moment. Their plan even extends to 200+ other counties with no extra charge for data and texting!
Google Fi comes in two flavors: pay for the data you use, or pay for unlimited data. Talk and text is always unlimited in the US, and group plans cost increasingly less per person involved. If you’re prone to travel and use varying amounts of data month-to-month, Google Fi might scratch your itches.
Republic Wireless:
This company uses the T-Mobile and Sprint networks and offers a low rate of $15 for unlimited talk and text. The plans then allow for flexible data options, though are limited to 5GB maximum – you can add up to 15GB of data to your allowance if you go over, but there is no truly unlimited option and the costs climb quickly.
For the Apple fans out there, Republic Wireless is incompatible with iPhones. Lastly, you can’t get free internationals calls or texts, so it may be worth glossing over Republic Wireless if you are a frequent traveler.
In Closing
Seemingly everyone uses cell phones these days, and for a lot of people calling and even texting are becoming less of the reason why. If you love to stream music or regularly surf the internet outside of wifi range, there’s a good chance that you are consuming a large amount of data on a monthly basis.
Most cell phone providers have easy-to-access usage graphs available to their customers via their online portals. It’s worth taking a peek at what your average data consumption tends to be, and if it doesn’t amount to much it may be worth exploring some of the lighter and cheaper plans mentioned above.
Heck, even if you’re a huge data hog, there’s likely a company out there offering unlimited data for less than what you’ll find with the big providers. Shop around and lower those monthly expenses!
Note: Links with “*” at the end are affiliate links, meaning that we might receive a financial reward if you click the link and sign up for something. This is done at no extra cost to you, and I have only included products that I have used myself!