This past weekend when I was away I was asked about my pay-as-you-go phone by Marie, who runs the Turf & Spa Motel in Saratoga, NY. Like me, Marie doesn’t use her cell phone much and even the cheapest contract plan is too extensive/expensive for her. Which was my situation when I finally relented and got a cell phone a couple of years ago (I didn’t particularly want people to be able to get in touch with me anytime they wanted; then I realized the flip side – doh).
Anyway, I’ve never used anything other than a TracFone. Initially I got this pay-as-you-go phone because I wanted to see how much I’d use a cell before committing to a yearly contract. As it turned out, I use my cell even less than I thought I would – to call my husband from the bakery to see if he wants a muffin, to call a friend if I’m running late or when I’m traveling, which I don’t have to do for work. (In fact, I rarely call people when I’m traveling, because I want to be away; I tend to check email once a day instead.)
For this post, I dug out my one-time TracFone airtime bill and found that I’ve spent $6.75 per month for my cell. Pretty cheap, right? This is because I only used my phone about 36 minutes a month.
So let’s run a comparison: The cheapest contract plan I could find today is Sprint’s $29.99/month for 200 minutes. Now technically, if I needed 200 minutes a month, this plan would be cheaper than my pay-as-you-go because I pay about ¢19/minute on my TracFone, ¢4 more per minute than if I’d been on the Sprint plan. But since I use only 36 minutes a month, that would have come out to ¢83 per minute on the Sprint plan. Wow! That’s a big difference. But be aware: You must always buy minutes along with airtime, so don’t overbuy minutes – you can always add more.
Granted, I may be a poor example of a cell user because I’m not a big phone talker to begin with. But what about your kids? Another friend of mine, Cary, also recently asked about my TracFone because she’s planning on getting cell phones for her kids. Their phones are supposed to be for emergencies only. How many emergencies per month are there? Hopefully not more than a half hour’s worth. And what if your kids are out of control with their cell phone use? If they have a set amount of minutes and texting, they know what their limits are (when the phone is out of minutes, it’s out of minutes).
To get an overview of what’s out there, check out Best Rated Pay as You Go Phone Plans. You might also want to take a look at MyRatePlan, which offers info on both pay-as-you-go and contract plans so that you can compare.
The best thing is that it’s now easier than ever to get a pre-paid phone. They’re available at places like Target and Best Buy so you can actually see the various phones, hold them in your hand. Nice. In fact, I think I’m going to upgrade my hardware. Although my Nokia has a funky Star Trek communicator look, it might be time to get something new. And the one I’m looking includes double minutes for life – it keeps getting better and better.
