Cell phones and plans

[asterroc]

My cellphone contract expires in October. I have the lowest possible Verizon plan, with more minutes than I ever use, at $40 or so. I haven't found a cheaper plan (other than pay-as-you-go, which might actually save me money, I should check) anywhere. My plan does not include txt, those were recently upped to 20¢ each and I spend on average around $3 with that (around 15 txts), so it's cheaper than buying a $10/500txt plan. Including taxes I pay around $48 most months.

This seems like an awful lot of money to me for an awful little amount of stuff I get, so I'm checking out my other options. After reading through my bills since January and comparing my current Verizon plan to a Verizon pay-as-you-go, I've concluded that pay-as-you-go will cost me nearly the same as having my current plan, so I won't change it for that. At BestBuy today, I reviewed plans from other companies such as Spring and AT&T, and there are no cheaper (non-pay-as-you-go) plans according to their lists there. (If such ones do exist, please let me know!) So I am concluding (unless corrected) that I cannot get what I have right now for less.

If I cannot get what I have right now for less, then it's worth my while (i.e., it will make me feel more content) to see if I can get more for more. Namely, a data plan (and phone). At $70/month, the iPhone/AT&T is a viable option. According to what Verizon lists online, their data plans start at $80, but a person I asked at a Verizon kiosk in a mall said it would add $30 to my current plan - so $70 or equal to the iPhone. As for actual phones, the iPhone grabs me, as does one a friend has on Verizon that I don't see on their page now. I don't know anything about AT&T coverage though. (If you do, I want to know!)

One drawback I see to the iPhone is it doesn't have a speakerphone or voice dialing, both of which were important criteria last time I got a new phone - I talk on the phone while driving, and I like not having to do more than touch one button on the phone do do so. I touch one button to activate voice dialing, and then I put the phone on the console next to me to talk and I don't have to fuss with an earpiece.

*sigh* So many thoughts. Any other contributions/opinions would be appreciated.

Comments

[demigoth.livejournal.com]

Yup, I pay about $50 total a month for AT&T's lowest-cost plan (that isn't pay-as-you-go) with a text package.

The iPhone doesn't have speakerphone?? WTF, even my crappy ancient candy-bar phone has that.

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

What I'm reading suggests that the iPhone has a speakerphone.

But, yeah, I'd totally jump on that. With the new applications coming out, it's an exciting time to own an iPhone.

Any new social dimension the iPhone offers will be replicated, but this is one of those rare cases where you get a lot of value on the bleeding edge.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Do you have a link for the speakerphone info? I didn't find it at apple/iphone.

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

http://www.ehow.com/how_2080582_use-iphone-speakerphone.html

And this video talks about poor speakerphone quality and weird interface quirks with voicemail, but it gives you the jist of how to turn it on. There's a "speaker" button in the interface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RGs2dezIaE

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

By the way, I also read that the speakerphone problems were resolved in the iPhone 3G.

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

family plan w/ T$ maybe?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

If he weren't already on a family plan with his family.

[l0stmyrel1g10n.livejournal.com]

wait a few months until the new iPhone's price goes down a little.

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

You think it'll drop again? It just dropped to $199 with service.

[dmp81.livejournal.com]

1. the iphone has speakerphone and there are apps that add voice dialing
2. waiting for apple prices to drop is like playing the lottery....

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I couldn't find the speakerphone listed on the iPhone page. Could you link me to where it is?

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/phone.html

Ah, this is easier. Check out the photo in the upper right. "John Appleseed, calling mobile..." There's a "speaker" option under the user's photo.

Sorry for the comment spam, it's just that I just love gadget porn. No, my materialism doesn't impress me either.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links. Good to know it's got a speakerphone. I'll definitely have to consider it more. You don't have one, do you?

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

Nope, single-income means crappy family plan at the moment.

[marquiswildbill.livejournal.com]

I emphatically recommend a data plan. Email and internet access on the go is a wonderful thing. I can't say anything about the new iPhone as I haven't playd with one yet, but I didn't like the old one. But I've been using palm pilots for almost 10 years, so my centro (which is $99 /w a service plan, not sure what a cheapo voice plan /w a data plan would cost with at&t) feels super natural to me (as have my treos before it). It has the best organizer features of any smart phone (being that it is a PDA with a phone function and wireless internet access, rather than a phone where they tried to put a good organizer on). T-Mobile if they are a viable option have really rates on both voice and data plans. Also, if you get a smart phone, get a texting plan, a qwerty keyboard makes texts wonderful. I never got into texting until I got my first treo which made it into my preferred method of communication much of the time. Most smart phones can also display all texts to/from a number like an IM chat so you can refer back to stuff easily and follow the conversation much better than with an ordinary phone.
Shop around and go check out the phones available with each service. They all pretty much do the same things so comfort with the device is the biggest factor in choosing a smart phone. And you can get the Opera Mini browser which makes any phone able to surf as well as an iPhone (except you can't access the youtube stuff that is formatted to work on the iPhone). Pandora mobile also works on the new iPhone, although I don't know if you can stream it through a bluetooth (or any headset for that matter although I imagine that being an iPod and a phone it would be able to do that.)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

How do you find AT&T coverage/reception to be? My Verizon is very good, so I'm nervous about switching to something that might be worse.

[marquiswildbill.livejournal.com]

I get awesome service with at&t, but that could be different by you, I would ask people you know who have at&t in your area what they think (also do this with sprint and t-mobile people). Also the type of phone you have impacts your service I get a better signal with my centro (and it's treo predecessors) than my mom gets with her (otherwise excellent) nokia, and I got better service than my dad's samsung and Shell's razr. I also have a slightly faster data signal on average than my friends with other plans, but again that's just my area. Mostly verizon and at&t have pretty similar network coverage but there are spots where on is better than the other. At&t also offers the advantage of being able to use your phone abroad without having to get any setting switched around.