smartphone/cell phone plan deals?

[Melaine]

I have never had a smartphone and I am ready to shop for one. I have had verizon and am interested in looking at other providers too. Any feedback/tips/deals anyone can share would be appreciated! I want an iphone just because I am used to the ipad and want it to be easy to use....but DH says I should consider an android also.

[ang79]

DH and I finally joined the smart phone world. We only have iphone 3gs, but they are much cooler than our old dumb phones! Mine was my mom's old phone, and DH got his used one for cheap at gamestop.com. I started out with AT&T GoPhone, very easy and quick set-up that they did in the AT&T store (and cheaper than adding a smartphone plan to our original postpaid account). I didn't get any roaming when visiting my family in rural northern PA though. DH tried out Net10 and he had some roaming when we visited my family, plus they were a bit cheaper and you can get a discount for a family plan with automatic credit card monthly payment. So now we are both on Net10. I had a problem at first with my voicemail because Net10 doesn't use visual voicemail and that was set up on my phone because my mom had used it that way. We got it figured out though, and no problems since. As long as you don't need roaming for traveling in rural locations, and you don't mind sometimes having to be on hold when calling CS, its a good deal. We pay $85 plus sales tax per month for both phones and that gives us unlimited talk and text and 2.5 GB of high speed data each (I think the speeds just get slower after that number, but we've never come close to reaching it). They have other plans as well. If you don't mind purchasing your phone at full price, or picking up a pre-owned one, its a good deal. Oh, we use AT&T service on Net10, but they also have Verizon service.

[MMMommy]

T-Mobile has been really shaking up the other providers with their offers and plans since late last fall. Free tablet data for life (no contract or voice plan needed), no overage fees, etc. If your T-Mobile coverage is good in your area, I would recommend T-Mobile. I had Verizon, which had good coverage, but switched because of their higher pricing and because they dropped their unlimited data plan. Tried Sprint, but coverage was TERRIBLE. Very happy with T-Mobile for their pricing, unlimited data option, and other perks like free international data (at slow speeds, of course), free international texting, etc. I recommend checking out their site and seeing if what they offer meets your needs. But more importantly, is their coverage good in your area.

[wendmatt]

I'm in the same boat as you. I have pay as you go right now (flip phone) and I've decided to go with T-mobile, as they give military discout; 1st line is $50 (unlimited talk, text data, 1gb then slows down), 2nd line is $30 then $10 after that, so DD starts middle school this year and we'll prob get her a phone. The discount prob covers tax, so for 3 of us, it'll be about $90 which seems a good deal. If it was just me I'd prob also look at Straight talk or Metro PC, both $45 for unlimited. Both have good reviews so look at coverage. I'm happy that there is starting to be some competition and we dont have to pay such outrageous amounts now. I'm getting a cheap Windows phone that has good reviews; the Nokia Lumia 521. I looked on Craiglist and there were iphone 4 phones going pretty cheap prob b/c they were being given to customers for 99cents. Good luck, I'm excited to be moving into this century!!

[nfowife]

DH and I share a plan on AT&T. We get a 15% military discount on our voice plan. For $102 a month we have unlimited talk and text and share 10GB of data. For an additional line it would be $10/month. We are happy with AT&T. We both have iphone 5's.

[vludmilla]

We have Virgin Mobile and the coverage is good in our area. We pay $70 a month for two smart phones (Samsung Galaxys) and we have 300 minutes each, unlimited data (slowed down after 2.5 GB) and unlimited texting. It's worked very well for us. We love our Samsung phones more than our previous iPhones and we never have a problem with data slow downs. We have occasionally gone over the 300 minutes but we just pay a nominal 5 or 10 cents for overage. We save probably $1000 a year over comparable plans that friends have.

[Mommy_Mea]

We have Virgin Mobile and the coverage is good in our area. We pay $70 a month for two smart phones (Samsung Galaxys) and we have 300 minutes each, unlimited data (slowed down after 2.5 GB) and unlimited texting. It's worked very well for us. We love our Samsung phones more than our previous iPhones and we never have a problem with data slow downs. We have occasionally gone over the 300 minutes but we just pay a nominal 5 or 10 cents for overage. We save probably $1000 a year over comparable plans that friends have.

This is the plan we used to have, and I was happy with it. We bought two smart phones for ~$100 each. The cheap smart phone was fine for DH, but I maxed it out eventually.

We just moved to AT&T, but only because DH's work reimburses in a way that it makes sense for us to sign a 2-year contract and pay for the phones that way (versus buying an unlocked phone and bringing our own to a carrier).

[o_mom]

Verizon has a single line plan with unlimited talk and text, 1 GB data for $60, 2GB for $75. It is more than some of the pay as you go or budget plans, but Verizon coverage here rocks and the other carriers are horrible, so I have not shopped around too much.

If you already have an iPad, I would go with an iPhone. I love Android and would never consider an iPhone, but if you are already used to it and have paid for apps, stick with Apple.

[AngB]

We have been using Straight Talk since Dec., 45/line unlimited talk/text/data (data up to 2.5g then it slows down)- it ends up being 49 with tax for us. You can buy a phone and bring it from wherever- unlike Virgin Mobile and some others I think- AND you get to pick which towers you want your coverage from (we are using AT&T sims for it).

[Jacksmommy2b]

We have verizon and are very happy with them. We were able to get their 'loyalty plan' although we have been customers for less than a year and pay $60 per line for unlimited text, talk and 2gb for data. We have never gone over, but I know they charge $10 for each additional GB. I have an iPhone and DH has a galaxy 4.

If you do go with an iPhone, make sure you get the apple insurance and not the verizon insurance. It is significantly cheaper and the deductible is less and you deal with apple directly in the event of trouble. I stupidly believed the verizon guy when he told me I needed their insurance as apple's didn't cover damage or loss and have been kicking myself ever since as that is not true!


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