Independent Living
If you find you need to own a smartphone, it doesn’t
have to cost you $100 per month. Just like basic phones,
the secret is to sign up with a prepaid plan and buy your
phone at full retail or get a used phone. You won’t be tied
down with a contract and your payments will be much
lower. It’s as simple as selecting a carrier, a plan and a
phone as outlined below.
First, you select the carrier and plan. By far the best
deal is T-Mobile’s unlimited plans, which are as low as
$30 per month for unlimited text, web, and 100 minutes
of talk. The only downside is T-Mobile’s data coverage
in the Capital Region isn’t as good as AT&T or Verizon
Wireless, so it will be a little slower when downloading.
Another option is StraightTalk’s Unlimited Everything
plan (available at Wal-Mart and other stores), which runs
$45 per month. With StraightTalk, you can choose either
T-Mobile or AT&T. If you really want to be on Verizon
Wireless, their smartphone prepaid plan runs $60 per
month, but since they only offer 3G data speeds, your
choice of phones is severely limited. You will only be able
to choose from one of four phones, none of which is
an iPhone.
The next step
is to decide on a
phone. You will be
able to use just about
any phone you want as
long as your carrier of
choice isn’t Verizon. If
your usage is limited
to keeping up with
emails, connect to
Facebook, playing
a casual game, and
occasionally searching
for something on the
web, you don’t need
to buy the latest and
greatest. The newer
phones will cost over
$600, but you can
go for an older iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S, which would
run $350 to $450. The carriers also offer a variety of
Android phones that could cost as little as $250 to $350
off contract. You can also opt for a used phone on eBay or
Craigslist. And lastly, you might be able to get a hand-medown phone from one of your children. You just need to
make sure the phone that you get is compatible with the
carrier you select. Buying a phone off contract does cost a
little more upfront, but you will be saving as much as $50
per month over traditional contract plans, which equates
to approximately $600 per year.
Another option would be to tag along
with a family member, if they are using
a family shared plan. By adding your line to
theirs and sharing their data allowance, it would only cost
$40 per month on Verizon, or depending on the data plan,
about the same on AT&T. If it does happen to be Verizon,
you have more phone choices since it’s not a prepaid plan,
this includes an iPhone. The only factor left to consider
is your data usage. Assuming you don’t need much, this
could be a great alternative. Should you require additional
data, it would only run an extra $10/GB per month.
As you can see, there are many
affordable options to owning
a mobile phone. You just need
to assess your needs and
make sure shop around.
Robert Nazarian is the Editor
In Chief at Talk Android and
is a technology enthusiast.
You can visit his website at
www.talkandroid.com
or email him at:
[email protected].
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