Cell phones are a scam!

[IamDavid]

I was talking with a few friends and started thinking about how much of a scam cell phones are. A couple of us have the same carrier and # of lines yet the monthly cost was very different for each of us. Mine was the least, probably because I try to decipher the stupid bill and complain when it's wrong....

So..... How much are you giving to you carrier??

Mine:
Alltel
2 lines
700 Text
Nationwide coverage (Still don't understand this since I have no service in many area's.)

Last 3 month avg.
$120

 

[jpeyton]

Switch to a pager and a bag of quarters.

 

[Savij]

I've got 400 minutes and 100 something text messages with verizon's national plan for about $48/month. I do get a %10 discount from my old company though.

 

[PottedMeat]

prepaid - $20 every 3 months - dunno how much per minute, I don't use many

 

[TrueBlueLS]

Verizon
2 Lines
700 minutes
Unlimited text message (picture/video included)
Insurance on my fiancee's phone

$95 a month after my work's discount

 

[clamum]

My bill used to be $27 a month but I put on text messaging ($6) and Internet ($6) so now it's about $40/mo. I have a couple lines that will be dropped from it soon so it'll be cheaper after that. I don't use anywhere close to the minutes I have available.

 

[drinkmorejava]

t-mobile
3 Lines
1000 Minutes
Includes the standard free night, weekend, t-mobile to t-mobile
sister has 300 message for $3 (no longer offered for new signups), I send maybe 15 a month so pay whatever rediculous charge it is these days
$95 before taxes

 

[newb111]

Tmobile
Family plan 3 lines
1000 minutes
Tzones internet
$80 a month

 

[TallBill]

I don't know, I just paid my mom $10 a month to add me to her family plan.

 

[TruePaige]

$30 dollars.

I'm on the Sprint SERO plan.

So internet / unlimited nights weekends / 500 minutes / etc..

The newer SERO plan users also have nights at 6 and text for free from what I hear.

 

[randomlinh]

Verizon family plan
4 lines
700 minutes shared (90% of the ppl we talk to are on verizon, which is why I can't realistically switch to ATT)
unlimted text/picture messaging across the board
~$125/mo including state discount.

And nationwide coverage just means wherever you can get a signal. You can't magically have signal everywhere.

 

[olds]

Verizon, 2 lines
Don't know how many minutes or how much it is monthly. Just pay the bill when it comes, around $90 a month.

 

[paulney]

Verizon family plan
2 lines
400 minutes shared, 1000 weekend/night, no roaming charges anywhere in the US
$65.5/month with taxes.

We use up to 400 - never went over that limit. Verizon has been consistently trying to up us to the next plan (they don't even offer anything this small any more), but it's almost $20 more or so, and it makes no sense for us to switch. We locked into the promotion I typed up above, and I have no plans to change it, as it is the best bang for the buck for us.

 

[Kirby64]

AT&T Family Plan:
3 lines
700 shared minutes
no txt/data/etc at all

~$90/month depending on how much I txt (not enough to warrant the $5/month plan..)

Yeah, AT&T sucks but the AT&T Unity Plan is awesome. For an extra $5 its free talk to any AT&T land line (pretty much anyone around here..) so it's actually really nice.

 

[BoomerD]

We have a pretty decent deal through AT&T, (2 phones/family plan/$80/month with 700 or so minutes) but we rarely use 100 minutes between us. NO texting, no pics/data, it's a dammed electronic leash...that's it.

I love the new Sprint commercials...ONLY $99/month!
That's fucking robbery. If it were $39/month, it'd be a deal.

 

[BassBomb]

10$ per month CDN

 

[jaqie]

No carrier.

I recently got Vonage, with all taxes and fees, it is just over $31/mo for unlimited US calling, with no real contract. It's plenty good enough for me for now.

 

[JS80]

404 scam not found

 

[Mojoed]

Sprint
SERO Plan
500 minutes
Free roaming incoming and outgoing
Unlimited data
Unlimited texting
7pm nights & weekends
$30 per month

 

[Cristatus]

Buy the phone offline, outside the country, unless you have CDMA. You may even be able to find a CDMA handset outside the US, actually. Then just go up to your favorite carrier, and tell them you'd like a SIM card, and just pay month to month. That's what I do, though I don't live in the US (or anywhere in the continent of the Americas).

Also, how can you guys bear for paying for incoming calls? We have free incoming in most European countries.

 

[43st]

T-mobile pre-paid gold plan, with the $100 (1000 minute card) good for one year, $5 booster renews it for another year. Probably pay $30-40 a year when it's all said and done.

 

[TrueBlueLS]

Cristatus... I used to have free incoming on my Nextel. In a way it was kind of cool when people called me and I didn't worry about how long I was on my phone. Then the 300 minutes I had wasn't enough. So with overages and text messaging... I got sick of paying $80-90 a month once all my friends got rid of Nextel. I'm just glad Verizon rarely drops calls for me like the Nextel always did.

 

[brtspears2]

Sprint SERO $30 plan.

 

[newnameman]

Originally posted by: Mojoed
Sprint
SERO Plan
500 minutes
Free roaming incoming and outgoing
Unlimited data
Unlimited texting
7pm nights & weekends
$30 per month

+1

 

[GeekDrew]

AT&T FamilyTalk
1400 anytime minutes (we don't use all 1400, but we use more than the minutes in the next lower plan)
Unlimited nights & weekends
200 txt msgs on 1 line
4 lines in the plan
~$150/month

(not including my exceptionally expensive data plan, which is separate, and I use to occasionally connect my laptop and desktop to the internet)