I can see that @notrichenough has some features I’ve not heard of (free hotspot by mandate?), and @OHMomof2 and @SlackerMomMD have said some things I need to quickly take a look at.
Deals around the 4th, @raclut? Kind of like “white sales” at certain times of the year…that had not been something I’d thought of, either.
I do like the idea of not going much out of the $35 range I’m doing on the VM plan, and @Dougsey has said something I’ve never even heard of with Total Wireless, which is right in my neighborhood.
@ucbalumnus, thanks for the links. Will look into them.
@HImom, I can’t figure out why my T-mobile walk-in store experience was so deflating. I like those rates.
@thumper1 : Yeah, I hear you. Your total package is definitely sounding good to me, as I’m gauging my cable bundle, which is used by the entire household, against the walk-with-the-world-in-my-pocket access the smartphone gives the kids.
@MOWC, right now the rural area thing is not an issue, but then there is the choosing of college which could throw a monkey wrench into everything. I’ll have to cross that (covered) bridge when I come to it if that crops up.
@MotherOfDragons: On the LG G series phones, can you tell me what your kids think of them?
Hope this isn’t too much of a thread hijack, but I also find that actually buying a phone in a store is almost as much fun as buying a used car. It’s just awful.
@Waiting2exhale my 16 yo daughter has an LG f2f and loves it. Especially the camera and battery. My 17 yo daughter wanted a removable memory card so has a Samsung galaxy s4. H has an s6 and that thing is amazing.
If anyone knows of any current “great” Verizon deals, I’d like to know about them. I’ve had Verizon forever (since the 20 minutes a month for $20 plan), and because my H travels and Verizon seems “the best” to him we won’t change. I have two sons who are data hogs. I think we pay $50 per phone, plus maybe extra for a couple extra G of Dara for one son (older was grandfathered in). I think all four of us are up for renewal this year. Does anyone have an opinion on the pay for the phone over two year plans? I am nervous about switching BC it doesn’t seem like new “deals” usually favor the consumers.
I do seem to favor Samsung, though I’m not the one using the phones. Just looked up an Apple iPhoneSE, but will look into the LG f2f. A conversation broke out at dinner about the way the outgoing comment bubble looks for the sender of a text on an iPhone when sending to other iPhones, vs. sending to Androids (and other types?).
Craziness. My kids say their friends don’t like texting people who are not on iPhones because the outgoing text bubble is green instead of blue, and that bothers them.
I have never heard of this before. Told my kids I can’t give a hoot what their friends “prefer” for my kids. They can customize their lives around their own tastes, but have really gone too far when trying to peer pressure my kids into accommodating their shallowness. (Sigh)
We didn’t want to deal with buying phones at the stores, so S just got us phones at the Apple Store, so they are well and truly UNLOCKED and can be used with ANY carrier. None of us are particularly loyal to any one company, but we are happy enough with the TMobile rates, so we stick with them, for now. Their coverage isn’t the greatest, but it is good enough for most of our needs, since we don’t travel to rural areas that much.
@Waiting2exhale yes, she only has data through wifi. She could get cell data as well for slightly more. Maybe $5 a month more? She may do that for the month we go on our next vacation if she chooses.
She really doesn’t need data outside of wifi though in general because she has access to wifi at school and home. When out and about or on the bus, she just needs to be able to text.
“Craziness. My kids say their friends don’t like texting people who are not on iPhones because the outgoing text bubble is green instead of blue, and that bothers them.”
That might bother the other kids’ parents if they do not have unlimited texting option.
When Verizon bought some of the 700Mhz spectrum, one of the conditions was that they couldn’t restrict what people used it for. However, Verizon had blocked apps from third parties in an attempt to make you pay them for tethering and having a mobile hotspot.
They got sued, lost, got fined a few mil by the FCC, and part of the settlement was they couldn’t charge for it. Some other companies may offer it now just to be competitive, but I think only Verizon is required by the FCC to give it away for free. It’s a great feature when you are somewhere without free wifi, like a hotel or out on the road.
All the companies are moving away from “contract” plans where you are locked in for two years and the device price is built into the plan cost.Now you buy a device (or bring your own), and the plan is separate. The major providers (and maybe all of them) will let you finance the phone over 24 months and add it to your bill, but when the phone is paid off it is off your bill. This just happened with us - all four devices are paid off, and our bill dropped from $300/mo to $175/month.
Verizon lets you “upgrade” after a year, you turn in your old phone and they start a new two year payment plan - basically you will always have a device payment but you get a new phone every year. I am trying to run our devices until they die - there is little to be gained by upgrading. Unfortunately Apple engineers their phones to only last 2-3 years until the battery dies, so who knows how long DD’s iPhone will last. They rest of us all have android phones and they are working well.
@MotherofDragons: Your Galaxy 3 still works? I’m jealous. Seems like when my son’s Galaxy 3 suddenly, inexplicably dead, I couldn’t even find another one to replace it, which I would have in a quick minute.
Another thing to look at - if you have device insurance, check the current value of your device. We discovered that we could buy replacements on eBay for less than the $99 deductible of the insurance plan, so we dropped the insurance, saving us almost $20/month.
Yep, I am notorious for taking really good care of things (both inanimate and animate). It’s a bit of a weird obsession/superpower with me. You don’t even want to know how old the family gerbil is…
Very interesting thread. We have 5 (iphones) on a Verizon plan and pay $300-$350/month, depending on dh’s travel (this includes monthly fees for phone purchase). I’m intrigued by Total Wireless which might be less expensive for us and uses the Verizon network. I’m confused, though – why would Verizon allow another entity to use/rent their network and charge less to customers? Seems like they’d be undercutting themselves which makes me think I’m missing something. Also, since it uses Verizon’s network, can I assume that d3, at school in upstate NY with good coverage on Verizon, will have the exact same experience with TW?
I believe it was #dougsey and #ucbalumnus that mentioned TW.
Is that true? Aren’t some phone made just for att or verizon even if you buy from Apple store? I am about to buy a phone from Apple store. I thought I had to tell them who my carrier is.
I would also like to learn more about Total Wireless. I am about to switch my carrier vrom att to verizon.
AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM, while Verizon and Sprint use CDMA. So, unless a phone is capable of both, there will be different versions of the phone for GSM and CDMA. Note that most other countries’ cell phone networks use GSM.
I have Verizon and just switched from the More Everything Plan to The Verizon Plan because two of our five phones had just completed their two-year contracts. Under the More Everything Plan, the $40 per month line charge for these two phones would stay at $40 per month despite the phones having been fully paid for (Verizon said that was because I received a ‘deal’ when we got them) however under The Verizon Plan, these two phones would drop down to $20 per month for the line charge.
I was hesitant to switch because two of the other five phones are on a 2-year device payment plan (which is different from a 2-year contract) and those two lines would each increase by $5 per month under The Verizon Plan (but would have decreased to $15 per month under the More Everything Plan once the 2-year device payment period was fulfilled). The 6GB of data was $10/month less under The Verizon Plan than the More Everything Plan.
In the end, since we decided to keep using the two phones which just completed two-year contracts and not replace them (Galaxy S5), we switched to the More Everything Plan to save overall about $45/month. We are now paying about $250/month for 5 smart phones and 6GB* of data, unlimited talk/text. Two phones are paid for, one is on a 2-year contract and the last two are on the 2-year device payment plan.
The 6GB* of data monthly cost is reduced by a 17% discount through one of our employers.
