- Jun 24, 2004
- 15,628
- 5
- 81
Last year my wife and I ditched Verizon and our $140 monthly bill (for 2 smartphones).
Paid the ETF, sold our old phones, bought new ones for cheap (two Lumia 521s), and moved to a pay-as-you-go plan. We actually pay per use on everything, including data, meaning it's really not economical to keep data on all the time. But it's simple enough to just switch data off and rely on wifi. Doing this, we have averaged something like $15 a month each since switching, so we're saving over $100 a month. That put us in the black very quickly despite having to pay $480 in ETFs.
Pay-per-use data isn't going to appeal to most people, but even if you need a lot of data, there are plenty of prepaid plans available for $30-$50 a month.
I suppose this is a gadget enthusiast community so most people will want the latest and greatest all the time, but I feel like the price you pay is way too high to be worth it. You can get a Moto G for $200 or a Nexus 5 for $350, and you're saving potentially thousands of dollars over the length of a contract.
So who here is off contract? What do you use? Or is it not viable for you? I know that a lot of people are stuck with Verizon because the other networks just don't cover them and there are almost no Verizon prepaid options.
Paid the ETF, sold our old phones, bought new ones for cheap (two Lumia 521s), and moved to a pay-as-you-go plan. We actually pay per use on everything, including data, meaning it's really not economical to keep data on all the time. But it's simple enough to just switch data off and rely on wifi. Doing this, we have averaged something like $15 a month each since switching, so we're saving over $100 a month. That put us in the black very quickly despite having to pay $480 in ETFs.
Pay-per-use data isn't going to appeal to most people, but even if you need a lot of data, there are plenty of prepaid plans available for $30-$50 a month.
I suppose this is a gadget enthusiast community so most people will want the latest and greatest all the time, but I feel like the price you pay is way too high to be worth it. You can get a Moto G for $200 or a Nexus 5 for $350, and you're saving potentially thousands of dollars over the length of a contract.
So who here is off contract? What do you use? Or is it not viable for you? I know that a lot of people are stuck with Verizon because the other networks just don't cover them and there are almost no Verizon prepaid options.