Comparing some prices across the water

[voodoopenguin]

Cell phones, we call them mobile phones, along with monthly packages.

I have an elderly basic Nokia which has served me well for many years, I don't make that many calls on it but it's useful to always be able to contact or be contacted by friends and family. My daughters though say I really should get a more modern phone especially as it is now difficult to read the screen!

In the city this morning (called in from the Apple Store on a previous thread) and did a quick check as to what is available. I've decided which phone to get and on what plan, so was wondering how these costs compare to what you lot have to pay as quite often technology hardware appears cheaper with you.

I'm going for a monthly plan that gives me 125 talk minutes, 5000 texts and 256MB of data for a charge of £7.50. I do have to commit to a 24 month contract but I do get a free Samsung Galaxy Ace in with the deal. The plan is way more than I ever use in talk minutes and texts. I don't see that I will exceed the 256MB data either considering I always have my iPad with me and have never got close to using up the 1GB data limit I have on that plan.

At the moment it seems that £7.50 is less than $12 so what do you lot pay?

Paul

[graylocks]

you commie socialist europeans have the slacker life.

the lowest ATT plan is 450 minutes for $59. if you have a smartphone you are required to have a data plan; the lowest one is $20 for 300MB. if you want texting you have to add it. i think for 200 texts it's another $20. other posters will let you know about non-major plan options.

hey, it's pricey - but our petrol is cheaper!

[voodoopenguin]

graylocks wrote:
hey, it's pricey - but our petrol is cheaper!

It would be good to know something is cheaper over here, this is the phone I will get by the way:



Paul

[datbeme]

Sounds like a GREAT deal. Don't look back.

[M A V I C]

Carriers here don't really offer plans for that limited of use. My wife and I had a family plan that gave us 700 minutes - and we never used them all. When we upgraded our plans, the lowest tier was 1500 minutes. And the price was higher as well.

I presume that price also includes tax? Here you're going to have sales tax and other service fees tacked on.

[voodoopenguin]

All stated prices in this country for consumer products include any tax the product incurs. Only products for businesses show prices without tax and clearly state that is the case.

Paul

[clay]

that is a very good deal.

There are potentially somewhat comparable deals (but I think still not as good of a deal) in some prepaid plans (no contract) if you shop around and find deals on minutes. I'm currently on a Tracfone that I purchased in May....$90 USD (£56)--all inclusive (tax, etc)...includes a cheap-o "smart" phone (LG 800) and 1200 minutes (can use for texting (.3/minutes per text) and connecting to the web (minute usage varies, but is pretty high, so I don't use it). So, I'm spending about $7.50 a month for a year, unless I need more minutes, and then I can get the equivalent of 1200 more minutes for about $60.

It works well for my very limited needs, and also meets my cheapskate requirement :-)

[GGD]

clay wrote:
It works well for my very limited needs, and also meets my cheapskate requirement :-)

I'm doing even better than that.

I'm also on TracFone with a dumb phone (Nokia 1100), I work from home, have poor cell reception at home and use landlines most of the time, so this phone is only used when I'm out running errands, and only family members know the number, so it's very low voice usage and no text/data usage.

I pay what works out to $4.70/month. Every 15 months I add a 60 minute / 90 day airtime card from the Tracfone website for $19.99 and they offer an option of adding an additional 365 days of activation for $50, so after taxes are added, I wind up with 15 months of activation for $70.40.

I've got the double minutes for life on this phone too, and usually find a promo code to add an extra 30-60 minutes, so I'll get about 150 to 180 minutes every time I refill, and with the minutes I've accumulated over the years I've rarely need to add more.

I've also got one of these phones in each car for an emergency phone, again, averaging $4.70/mo. each. And over the years, those phones have built up a pretty good size balance of minutes.

[clay]

GGD wrote:
[quote=clay]
It works well for my very limited needs, and also meets my cheapskate requirement :-)

I'm doing even better than that.

I'm also on TracFone with a dumb phone (Nokia 1100), I work from home, have poor cell reception at home and use landlines most of the time, so this phone is only used when I'm out running errands, and only family members know the number, so it's very low voice usage and no text/data usage.

I pay what works out to $4.70/month. Every 15 months I add a 60 minute / 90 day airtime card from the Tracfone website for $19.99 and they offer an option of adding an additional 365 days of activation for $50, so after taxes are added, I wind up with 15 months of activation for $70.40.

I've got the double minutes for life on this phone too, and usually find a promo code to add an extra 30-60 minutes, so I'll get about 150 to 180 minutes every time I refill, and with the minutes I've accumulated over the years I've rarely need to add more.

I've also got one of these phones in each car for an emergency phone, again, averaging $4.70/mo. each. And over the years, those phones have built up a pretty good size balance of minutes.
haha! I forgot to mention that I also use bonus codes and the phone came with a Triple-minutes-for-life bonus as well...so my $7.50/month total is probably a little high as well. My wife also has a tracfone, and I'm getting closer to $5-$6/month with her phone with a combination of those same tricks as well. Either way, I'm happy to be spending under $8/month no matter how you splice it :-)

[Bill in NC]

$30/month for T-Mobile's unlimited text/5GB plan - only 100 voice minutes, so VOIP will be needed for big talkers.

Still, you can put an iPhone on the above where TMO's 're-farmed' its towers to get high-speed data.