Cell Phone?

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squashroll
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 5:16 pm

Post by squashroll »

I've relied on my cell phone for about 7 years now (had to get one for a job). I use my cell phone a lot, especially looking things up on the go. example: we will be out and about, or about to return home when, "hey, are there any good happy hours/food deals around here?". (we usually do happy hour food when we go to restaurants, seems to be a better deal) Out comes the smart phone and we search, then make calls. We also do this for other CONSUMER activities. It really does SEEM to be worthwhile in the realm of consolidating trips and MAYBE 'saving' some time and money.

Specifically: The other day I was on the way home from skiing w/ a buddy. He wanted to get a beer on the way back to dropping me off at my car. While he was driving I searched multiple restaurants that required no detour. I was able to look up reviews and make calls. We found a great place w/ half price burgers. This may or may not have gone as smoothly without 'info at my fingertips'.

I do live in a huge metropolitan area. I suppose this would be irrelevant to someone in a smaller city/town where you can easily learn ALL the places you would want to be/need to go--
So my question is, have any of you 'heavy' cell phone users dumped your cell phone to save money? How did it go?

For reference I share an 'unlimited' family plan w/ 2 others. Net cost $59 month/each.


lilacorchid
Posts: 476
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:20 pm
Location: Canada

Post by lilacorchid »

My hiearchy of things that make life nice (arranged by order to chopping block):
-Cable (just chopped to make way for my cell)

-Home phone

-My cell (smart phone)

-Internet

-Electricity/Water (depends on time of year)

-Husband's cell (can be used to do side jobs), but downgraded to dumb phone before we have to decide on whether water or electricity goes
I was without a cell phone until just before Christmas. It was nice and quiet and I didn't miss having a phone. Do I like having the internet in my pocket? Yes! But do I need it? No. Researching everything before you do it does take some of the fun out of life. And you would probably spend less than $59 paying regular price for burgers. ;)
That being said, only you can decide if $60 a month ($18000 saved up to pay for it forever) is worth it to you.


mrjay
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 7:06 pm

Post by mrjay »

I strongly suggest page plus for the verizon network, or net10 or straight talk for the AT&T network. Our company just got into dealing with both of these and the pricing is fantastic vs. an actual contract with a big company. Both will also now allow you to activate pretty much anything on their networks (except 4g on page plus).
I own a broadband company and was looking to add additional revenue per user (ARPU) and felt a cellphone plan was the best way to do that. We can activate on pageplus or net10 ; my hottest selling item currently is a $80 plan that lasts for a year. It's mostly talk and text only. We also have smartphone plans - 2 gb data for $55 a month or 5 gb of data for $69.95 a month.
I just upgraded our corp. plan from a 3g htc incredible to a 4g htc incredible ; took my old 3g and activated it on our pageplus service. Saw NO difference, except it was cheaper, and visual voicemail didn't work.
Just a suggestion :)


karim
Posts: 59
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by karim »

I was using my cell phone heavily for exactly what you described. But there are ways around it, you could always ask someone for local bars/etc. Also there is free internet in a lot of places, your friends likely have smart phones and they can look it up.
The solution I came up with was the $12 plan with pageplus and linked that with Freedom Pop. The latter offers free 3G/4G internet. You have to just pay $100 for a deposit and you get this tiny little square that acts as a hotspot. I carry it in my pocket with my phone so can access the internet if needed. Freedom pop comes with a 500mb limit for free (technically 400mg, read the fine print) and then you get charged for it. Check it out.


Spartan_Warrior
Posts: 1659
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:24 am

Post by Spartan_Warrior »

I have to point out that all the uses you mentioned for the phone involved the consumer practice of spending money in bars/restaurants, which is an inherently expensive endeavor, regardless of the "deals". Beer and burgers at home would be far less expensive. I know, social obligations sometimes necessitate exceptions, but it sounds like if you didn't have the smartphone you could've shrugged and said, "I don't know anywhere! But I have a 12 pack back at my place." ;)
Personally I've lived life just fine without a smartphone to date and have no intention of changing that any time soon. I still have a "basic" phone on my parents' plan for $10/mo. Probably not a sustainable plan in the long term but it works for now. Most of the time I feel like I could live without a cell phone at all, save perhaps for emergency use. I feel like

other people would be more miffed by my lack of one than I would be.
Anyway, isn't there still an operator who could get you numbers for places, or has that gone the way of the public phone booth?


JohnnyH
Posts: 2005
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:00 pm
Location: Rockies

Post by JohnnyH »

Tons of good info here:

viewtopic.php?t=787#post-9987
I think I've decided for every 1 occurrence where my phone has been impressively useful, there have been at least 3 occurrences where it has been used to annoy with unwanted contact.
While we're on it; I don't know how any smartphone user can exist without a rooted phone and this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... nav_result
Without that I probably would have smashed my cell months ago :D


squashroll
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 5:16 pm

Post by squashroll »

Thanks for all the input folks. this forum is great :)


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