Mobile Phone Plans...

[Maximus]

So I am grandfathered into a verizon plan for $50/month, is there anything that compares? Even any good 2mb plans for $50?

[Bo Diddley]

So I am grandfathered into a verizon plan for $50/month, is there anything that compares? Even any good 2mb plans for $50?

Depends on what you value. First, if your minutes and texts are plenty, but you value being on a Verizon network, I'm not sure you'll beat it yet. But if you would transfer to a Sprint network, you can unlimited data through Virgin Mobile for $35/month.

[Walter Sobchak]

I have a kid that starts middle school this year, a big step. As such, he has been hitting us up for a cell phone beginning well in advance of his recent birthday. Today it has come to a head I suppose, for no apparent reason. "I'll pay for the monthly cost if you buy the phone.", he negotiates. "What phone do you want?" "An iPhone." "OK, go price it out and get back to me." "Where?" Here, I say:

http://graphics.wsj.com/PhonePlan/

30 minutes later. "Wow, cell phones are expensive." "Yep. Now go price out Virgin Mobile. Google it."

10 minutes later. "That is half the price Dad!"

[Joe Public]

I have a kid that starts middle school this year, a big step. As such, he has been hitting us up for a cell phone beginning well in advance of his recent birthday. Today it has come to a head I suppose, for no apparent reason. "I'll pay for the monthly cost if you buy the phone.", he negotiates. "What phone do you want?" "An iPhone." "OK, go price it out and get back to me." "Where?" Here, I say:

http://graphics.wsj.com/PhonePlan/

30 minutes later. "Wow, cell phones are expensive." "Yep. Now go price out Virgin Mobile. Google it."

10 minutes later. "That is half the price Dad!"

This story made me wonder how long it will be before I send one of my kids off to the computer to Google something with the word "virgin" in the search terms.

[Eddie]

This story made me wonder how long it will be before I send one of my kids off to the computer to Google something with the word "virgin" in the search terms.

Got a serious out loud laugh from me.

Um.....never.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Does anyone here have any experience with Google Voice? My limited experience suggests that it's pretty mediocre (you get what you pay for).

I have given up hope on any of the pre-paid/no contract services. In the future, the US will follow the rest of the world and go the no contract route, but for right now the service is just too shitty at least where I live. I had to finally give in three months ago an re-up with Verizon.

Anyway, I have three phone lines with Verizon -- two smartphone lines (mine and my wife's lines) and a dumbphone line. The dumbphone line has a Nevada area code and is only for my Nevada business. My thought when I got it was that I would be better off contacting potential clients in Nevada using a local area code so that they felt I was local. The problem is, I just don't do a whole lot in Nevada anymore, and instead do a lot more in northern Utah now. So now, I'm thinking of doing one of two things: 1) Switch the Nevada line to an 801 area code line, and then establish some Google voice 702 line that gets forwarded to one of my lines; or 2) Get rid of the 702 line altogether and then just have Google voice lines with a 702 area code and use my current service that gives me an 801 area code ($20 a month as compared to $30 or $40).

With option 1, when I call people in northern Utah they would see the 801 number, right now they see a 435 number (either my office phone or my personal cell). Using a 435 area code is not that bad up there because people may just assume the number originated in Heber or Park City. Because of my Google voice skepticism, I actually pay $20 for an 801 number that routes to my office phone. If I got an 801 cell phone, I could just replace that 801 number I'm paying $20 for. The number I use on court documents and the one non-client parties receive from the court is my 435 office phone.

Option 2 has enormous pitfalls -- as I said my limited experience with Google voice is not good, especially the voicemail feature of it. Then I can't call people with a local area code. I'm willing to forgo having a local area code number I can call with in Nevada and I think my 435 area code number is okay in northern Utah. But if people call a line and discover that it's a Google voice number because of the shitty messaging feature, and if it's call from a potential new client, you might as well forget about them ever calling you again. They'll think you're either out of the area or a scam. It's important that I have a reliable 801 number for people to call (which is what the $20 line is) moreso than I have an 801 number to call from. For Nevada, I'm willing to just take the risk with Google voice quite honestly.

If I keep three lines on Verizon and one of them is a dumbphone line, I save $10 a month over if I just have three smartphone lines. If I reduce my lines from three to two, I'll save $20 a month (over having three smartphone lines), but won't be able to call people using an 801 area code phone number. But there's also an advantage to having three smartphone lines -- I have an upgrade to play with for the two lines that my wife and I use heavily and then I can just put an older phone on the other line that is not used as often. For example, I have an upgrade available now on my Nevada line. I just upgraded my phone in the first part of May and my wife upgraded her phone in October last year. My wife has an iPhone 4s, but I can juggle the upgrade so she can get an iPhone 5 (at Walmart they're $129 right now) and then sell her iPhone on KSL for $250. Then I can pair my older smartphone with my 702/801 number or buy something like Motorola Droid X on KSL for $50. Next year, when my wife's upgrade comes up in October, I can sell my Galaxy S3 presumably for around $200. So, I almost wonder if keeping the three lines and selling your 1 year old phones (and getting by with an older smartphone on the line that is used less) makes up the cost difference between the options.

[Maximus]

It's too bad sprints coverage sucks.

[OhioBlue]

I still just use Tracfone prepaid. Wife too. We buy a bunch of minutes every several months or so for a total cost of $100. No data. But for the amount I use it, which is moderate at best, it's so much cheaper we can't bring ourselves to think about changing anytime soon. Our kids are pressing though....

[old_gregg]

Does anyone here have any experience with Google Voice? My limited experience suggests that it's pretty mediocre (you get what you pay for).

I have given up hope on any of the pre-paid/no contract services. In the future, the US will follow the rest of the world and go the no contract route, but for right now the service is just too shitty at least where I live. I had to finally give in three months ago an re-up with Verizon.

Anyway, I have three phone lines with Verizon -- two smartphone lines (mine and my wife's lines) and a dumbphone line. The dumbphone line has a Nevada area code and is only for my Nevada business. My thought when I got it was that I would be better off contacting potential clients in Nevada using a local area code so that they felt I was local. The problem is, I just don't do a whole lot in Nevada anymore, and instead do a lot more in northern Utah now. So now, I'm thinking of doing one of two things: 1) Switch the Nevada line to an 801 area code line, and then establish some Google voice 702 line that gets forwarded to one of my lines; or 2) Get rid of the 702 line altogether and then just have Google voice lines with a 702 area code and use my current service that gives me an 801 area code ($20 a month as compared to $30 or $40).

With option 1, when I call people in northern Utah they would see the 801 number, right now they see a 435 number (either my office phone or my personal cell). Using a 435 area code is not that bad up there because people may just assume the number originated in Heber or Park City. Because of my Google voice skepticism, I actually pay $20 for an 801 number that routes to my office phone. If I got an 801 cell phone, I could just replace that 801 number I'm paying $20 for. The number I use on court documents and the one non-client parties receive from the court is my 435 office phone.

Option 2 has enormous pitfalls -- as I said my limited experience with Google voice is not good, especially the voicemail feature of it. Then I can't call people with a local area code. I'm willing to forgo having a local area code number I can call with in Nevada and I think my 435 area code number is okay in northern Utah. But if people call a line and discover that it's a Google voice number because of the shitty messaging feature, and if it's call from a potential new client, you might as well forget about them ever calling you again. They'll think you're either out of the area or a scam. It's important that I have a reliable 801 number for people to call (which is what the $20 line is) moreso than I have an 801 number to call from. For Nevada, I'm willing to just take the risk with Google voice quite honestly.

If I keep three lines on Verizon and one of them is a dumbphone line, I save $10 a month over if I just have three smartphone lines. If I reduce my lines from three to two, I'll save $20 a month (over having three smartphone lines), but won't be able to call people using an 801 area code phone number. But there's also an advantage to having three smartphone lines -- I have an upgrade to play with for the two lines that my wife and I use heavily and then I can just put an older phone on the other line that is not used as often. For example, I have an upgrade available now on my Nevada line. I just upgraded my phone in the first part of May and my wife upgraded her phone in October last year. My wife has an iPhone 4s, but I can juggle the upgrade so she can get an iPhone 5 (at Walmart they're $129 right now) and then sell her iPhone on KSL for $250. Then I can pair my older smartphone with my 702/801 number or buy something like Motorola Droid X on KSL for $50. Next year, when my wife's upgrade comes up in October, I can sell my Galaxy S3 presumably for around $200. So, I almost wonder if keeping the three lines and selling your 1 year old phones (and getting by with an older smartphone on the line that is used less) makes up the cost difference between the options.

my google voice number used to be the fax number of a large pharmacy. i don't use it because i'll get 50 voicemails in two hours from sender fax machines.

[beefytee]

I've had no problem with Google Voice. If you have an Android phone, you can call out with the number. I assume you can from iOS as well. I've also liked their voice mail features better than anything I've used before. Listening in on voice mail is handy. And having everything available online is great. I love sending texts from my computer with a full keyboard. But my situation is probably way different from yours. I sit at a computer desk all day.

The biggest things missing that I would like to have:

- Be able to send/receive photos in texts
- Be able to use groups setup is my contacts to send group texts.

[LiveCoug]

Just switched from Verizon to Tmobile. With verizon, my wife and I shared 1400 minutes talk, my wife had 500 texts a month, I had none and neither of us had smart phones/data. Total for both came to be about 65 bucks a month for both of us on a family plan with my sis and bro in law. Now? We get unlimited talk, unlimited text and 500 mb data a month and the total will be 37 bucks a month plus tax for both of us. Sheesh. Shoulda done this long ago.

[Bo Diddley]

I've found prepaid to be the cheapest. And as prices continue to drop, it's best not to be roped into a contract.

My latest plan is through Republic Wireless. I'm paying $10 per line for 4 lines. Unlimited talk & text. No data except when you're at a hotspot that gives you wifi. You can add unlimited data for $15 more.

[Surfah]

I've found prepaid to be the cheapest. And as prices continue to drop, it's best not to be roped into a contract.

My latest plan is through Republic Wireless. I'm paying $10 per line for 4 lines. Unlimited talk & text. No data except when you're at a hotspot that gives you wifi. You can add unlimited data for $15 more.

How are you liking them? Is the transition from VOIP over wifi to their cellular network as seamless as they advertise?

[Bo Diddley]

How are you liking them? Is the transition from VOIP over wifi to their cellular network as seamless as they advertise?

So far so good. We've only had the phones for about a week, but I've transitioned both ways on the calls.

[Surfah]

It will be interesting to see what T-Mobile's big announcement is going to be. Many speculate they're going to offer account credit for ETF if you move your phone to them. That could be big.

I also wonder if anything will come of the Sprint and T-Mobile merger talks.