For years, my wife had maintained her cell phone service with Net10 (one of the big prepaid MVNO carriers).
Even though it was dirt cheap at just $16.44 per month (including regulatory fees), it had been bugging me that we had to purchase service days every month and the minimum amount of minutes were 150. With her usage rates, she had banked over 1,000 minutes, so we were basically paying for too many minutes and not getting enough service days to use them.
So… we decided to shop around for a new phone and carrier to see if we could save some money.
The only necessary parameters were:
- the phone needed to have a full QWERTY keyboard (touch-screen or otherwise) for easy texting
- the phone should be eligible for cheap texting rates. Many of the prepaid carriers now have Androids but charge 0.5 minutes or 1 minute per text
- the plan had to be notably lower priced than the current $16.44 per month we were paying
- the phone shouldn’t have a payback period of longer than 6 months. In other words, the monthly savings from switching carriers needed to cover the full cost of the phone in under 6 months. Any gifted minutes/service days that came with the phone would be a bonus.
- the reviews of the phone on Amazon needed to be at least 3 stars (shitty phones not welcome)
Any of the following would be a big bonus, but not a necessity:
- WiFi connectivity
- upgradable memory for mp3 player usage
While there were a few slightly cheaper monthly plans out there, they offered very low minutes and really shitty phones that didn’t meet our parameters.
The best combination of phone, number of minutes, and lowest monthly plan price was the LG 840G on Tracfone (coincidentally, a sister company to Net10 with different pricing options).
I was able to get the LG 840G (brand new in box) for cheaper on Amazon than I was on the Tracfone site. Sure, it’s no Android or iOS, but for just $19.99, the thing has some impressive features:
Triple minutes on Tracfone for the life of the phone- Each text is only 0.3 minutes deducted
- 3.2″ Touch-screen with full QWERTY
- 3G/WiFi connectivity
- Mp3 player
- 2 GB memory, expandable to 32GB
- Bluetooth
- 2 MP camera w/ zoom and video recorder
- 60 days of service on activation (no minutes)
And it even had a 4-star rating, with over 1,500 reviews (not bad for a spoiled crowd who’s already seen/experienced smartphones).
Then there’s the Tracfone component. With the triple minutes the phone offers, you get 180 minutes (600 texts) and 90 service days for just $19.99 ($21.91 with taxes/regulatory fees), or just $7.30 per month!
It may not seem like much, but nearly $10 per month in savings results in $120 in annual savings (or about $200 in pre-tax earnings). That’s enough to cover my life insurance policy. Or a cheap haircut every month (if I didn’t cut my own hair to save $1.6M over my lifetime).
The phone would pay itself off before the end of month 2, and it even included 2 free months to add on.
AND it’s made even better by the fact that she won’t see a decrease in service (just fewer unused minutes/texts). AND she will actually have a newer and more functional phone.
This particular phone uses AT&T towers (Tracfone doesn’t own its own network, rather, it buys up bandwidth from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint). A solid nationwide network, no roaming.
Nice!
Now, for all those snickering at this not being a smartphone, you’ve got to understand something – smartphones have zero impact on our happiness levels. Sure, some apps are cool and some might actually even have some real world value above a web app. But at what cost? Tracfone offers Androids as well, but we just didn’t feel like we wanted/needed one. The LG 840G is better than any cell phone made in the history of mankind, up until 2007-2008. Good ’nuff, in my opinion.
If we’re comparing the cost to the true cost of a smartphone plan on one of the major carriers, the savings are in the $700 – $1,200 per year range.
Why share this with you?
Sure, Tracfone presents a good tangible alternative to ridiculously priced smartphone plans and even cheap prepaid ones. But, it also shows that even after 7 years of borderline obsessive personal finance hacking, there are still opportunities to notably decrease your expenses. Accepting your current budget status quo out of comfort is to your own detriment. Keep pushing for better so that you can use the savings on more important things – like buying back your time.
I too have been searching for a way to cut my awfully expensive phone bill (120 a month for two lines), but I still have not found an acceptable alternative. I am on Verizon and where I live it is the only reliable carrier besides U.S. cellular. I have tried others such as net10, tracphone, and boost but with no luck. Spotty coverage, missed calls, etc…
My wife and I rely heavily on our cell phones for GPS and email(for work). If other networks expand their coverage then I will drop verizon in a second but until that happens I’m kind of locked in if I want reliable communication:/
Tracfone also uses Verizon towers, if you get the right phone. Just shop through their phones and find one that matches up w/ current or older Verizon models.
You may be in a different situation than I was, but… When I worked at a chemical plant as the only engineer, I received calls at all hours of the night, several times a week. Because of this, my employer bought me a new phone and I used this as my personal phone for 3 years until moving on to my next job (using it for personal business was agreed upon, since the plan was unlimited). Do you rely heavily on the phone for work because you want to (don’t want to open the computer) or because you have to? If you have to, I would make a case to get the cost covered by the employers. If you don’t have to, I would stop. For me, that would be happening at all hours during my off time, basically keeping me tied in as much as possible, which in my opinion is the best way to burn out.
Did you look at ting mobile, by chance? My wife and I are using them and they have been fantastic. Unlike other MVNOs you pay for only what you use. The down side of this is that our monthly bill is not always static, but because we are in control of the final dollar amount, we usually end up with a bill of around $10/person/month after taxes and fees. The awesome part is that you can bring your own phone (provided it is in the list of supported phones). There is no annual contract and you can cancel at any time.
Certainly worth a look if anyone out there is interested in switching plans.
Yes. The price for our usage would be about half on Tracfone vs. Ting. And with the other benefits I highlighted here, it was the better route.
Have you considered what would be the best plan for someone who wants a simple, low monthly payment but who’d like to keep their data plan? Even if it’s limited, since Wi-Fi is prevalent, it’s nice to have GPS on a smartphone to have everything in one package.
Having data makes pretty much everything possible, such as unlimited text and calls for free whenever you’re on Wi-Fi.
We recently switched to Cricket’s data plan. We pay $62/mo for 2 lines.
Republic wireless’s new option to change and drop your plan to WIFI only during the month for only $5 seems like a great way to compete with this. Though I see now they limit you to 2 plan changes per billing cycle so you have to use them smartly.
It would be a hard sell for those who really use the data for convenience now to go back. I didn’t have it for years.. and got a minimal plan and have to save the real time research one can do while traveling is a huge time and money saver right there…
My current employer pays for my phone so yeah I just use that now… Kept my number by going with a google voice number and having it forwarded..
But by any means.. the data plans are not necessary yet!! But there have been several occasions where mine saved me a good chunk of money on getting a better deal on something just a few miles down the street so I can say I have realized a direct financial gain with it.
Knowledge is power sometimes.. But paying more than $50 for a good phone plan is just careless at that point.
I switched from an ATT plan at $80/ month to Airvoice Wireless’ (ATT MVNO) $10 plan a couple of years ago and I haven’t looked back. I still don’t use all my minutes every month, but I’m a very light user and don’t use data (only WIFI). The minutes rollover if I use autopay. I’ve been very happy. Since they use the same network, there has been no difference in service.
My mother is very heavy data and usage and uses Virgin’s $35 unlimited plan. It’s more money, but she really does use it enough to justify the extra cost.
Although my phone gets very little use, I still prefer a smartphone. I was able to get a refurbished Samsung Focus windows phone from Amazon for less than $50 and it has worked perfectly for the 6 months we’ve had it so far. That’s one of the benefits of most MVNOs is you can have any phone that will work on their network, allowing you to shop around for deals.
Not bad. I switched over to Republic Wireless. I needed a modern smart phone with cheap unlimited service. I’m on their $10 a month plan. Phone uses WiFi when available and Sprint’s network otherwise. Calls/texting unlimited on the cell network, and data on WiFi only. They have like 4 plans and various phones. No matter what there’s no excuse for most people to have these ridiculous cable bill cell service contracts.
I agree that paying huge amounts of money is silly. However, there are advantages to having a smart phone with data not only on WiFi. I’ve found the advantage of having a GPS wherever I go incredibly helpful as well as being able to quickly search for cheap gas, nearby restaurants, etc. Although most other uses of the data plan I could probably live without, having internet service anywhere is great. I just wish it was easier to find a list of all the possible plans for this sort of thing, as that’s why lots of people stick with their expensive plans.
We had US Cellular and loved them until they exited our market in January. I started searching for a new cell carrier last October. I had three high school seniors and one in college. My eldest had a smartphone and my triplets and I had basic phones. My trio wanted to upgrade to smartphones, while I need a huge amount of talk minutes. The kids contribute toward their phones.
The kids are rough on their phones, damaging or losing them about once a year on average. I didn’t want to lock into plans that allowed one phone every two years, or have to pay $10/month insurance for each phone.
My eldest, mesmerized by an iPhone, jumped ship early, going onto her dad’s AT&T plan last October; she had broken her USCellular phone and I was still comparing carriers. After much analysis, I found the best choice for the trio and myself was Virgin Mobile prepaid. I have a basic slider phone with unlimited talk minutes for $40/month, and each triplet has a smartphone with the $35/month plan. The trio are in college now, local community college and living at home. The kids pay me. They tell me monthly when their phone plan is up and I can collect on their debts. 🙂
When a phone breaks, they can easily find a new one to buy for $100 or less at Target or Radio Shack. The ZTE Awe has been a fav of all three.
Perfect timing, G.E.
I have been thinking heavily about making a switch like this for the last couple of weeks, and then you apparently wrote this article just for me. I’ve heard of Ooma but had never considered it prior to reading your reviews. Thanks!
So here’s the rundown, my wife and I have no landline and we currently spend nearly $120 per month on smartphones with Verizon. On top of that, I have a work phone with data that I can use for GPS, web searches, etc.
Using Ooma and Tracfone together, I figure we should be able to have all the functionality we need — and a new home phone number! — for $20 per month or less. That’s a savings of $1,200 per year!
I actually went ahead and figured out the cost of breaking our Verizon contracts to get this done, and within a year, we will wind up $250 ahead of where we would be if we just let the contracts expire prior to switching.
If we stayed on the Verizon $120/month plan, I’d be $1,800 in the red within two years. Why would we ever buy into this system to begin with?
I haven’t tried to switch my phone service/plan yet to a different provider. I wish there were more options where I live, but many of them don’t have very good service outside the city limits, which is where I spend a lot of my time… But at my current plan $102/month, it’s worth looking into again from time to time to see if services have improved.
We finally made a switch out from under Verizon to PagePlus Cellular (the Verizon MVNO). We went from a $155 monthly bill (2 lines) with Verizon to roughly $24 for both lines each month with the best part being that we got to keep our iPhones and receive the exact same service (since PagePlus uses the same Verizon towers). However, service providers that utilize Wi-Fi calling are definitely the wave of the future (Republic Wireless, TMobile, etc.). Imagine never paying an actual phone bill because it is a bi-product of your internet bill…
I just looked at the LG 840G on amazon – it’s $90! You got a great deal.
I may switch to Tracfone if I can find another phone that would work for me. I’ve been using Consumer Cellular and love them (excellent customer service, and you can change your plan up to the last day of your billing cycle if you haven’t been heavy on the phone use), but am still paying over $30/mo and think I could do better.
Also, my flip phone is a pain for texting. But it’s a great conversation starter! (for face-to-face conversations, that is . . . )
Did you consider the Samsung S380C? I may go with that one unless the price on the one you got drops dramatically . . .
Holy crap that price really went up!
It is on Tracfone for $39.99 now (link in article).
I’m on the Verizon network so I looked around and found the LG305C. It’s a 2014 phone and is pretty much identical to the one shown in this post. $19.99 on Amazon.
I’m surprised that no one here has mentioned FreedomPop w/ the Samsung Galaxy S2 for $60 + tax. Sure the service runs on VOIP, but I don’t do many voice calls anyway. I wanted 500 texts and 500MB of data free every month.
Have you heard of Republic Wireless. They utilize Wi-Fi first rather than cell towers and also have cellular service with Sprint. They actually offer good smart phones with bills for $10, $25, or $40 bucks per month.
I think if i can save the 1.6 million by cutting my own hair then I can have my smartphone with the blingy apps 🙂
I found the phone for 9.99 & called to get $10 worth of airtime (30 mins times 3 so 90 mins) best 20 I spent. The phone was at the market “smiths”, I needed a phone for fb pictures and some web surfing while on wifi. Plus run my phone and texting apps seems like a great phone works good
You folks seem to be missing his POINT! I also bought a LG840G w/600 mins. 4 years ago w/free shipping for $50. Living in a rural area 80 +/- miles SW of Phx, AZ. I can attest that this is one sweet NOT so smart phone. Personally, you can go to Wally World or in my area Dollar General and purchase a 60 min. card for $19+tax w/90 day service. I have NEVER missed a call, text or email. As for GPS, check the “InterWeb as I have done, YOU can find a very nice stand alone (Dash Mounted for $20+) unit that will still offer FREE GPS updating. Take your time and Do UR research. AMF