Its a wide open cell market. Most carriers have lots of phones to choose from and a number of plans. There are so many carriers and plans out today that it is not a simple task to compare them. Circumstances vary. I hear that a lot of young people text so much and call so rarely that unlimited calling is a wasted expense. For them an unlimited everything plan is overkill. They may only need a few hundred minutes a month. For others not having unlimited minutes could mean ending up with a huge surprise bill next month.
Unlimited everything plans (including unlimited talk, text AND web) are the most expensive of all and are only needed by people who do lots of calling as well as lots of video streaming or online gaming.
My wife and I decided to cut the land line and drop cable TV. We needed to change from a limited minutes contract plan to an umlimited minutes plan. We needed to keep our monthly cost down while having unlimited calling, unlimited texts with some amount of web use. I set up a spreadsheet comparing plans, mostly no contract, with unlimited or 4000 minutes of talk, unlimited or a large amount of texts and some web use. The abbreviated version is below. The 2 person “Family Plan” monthly cost ranges from 58.75 (29.37 per person) with Republic Wireless to 152.50 (76.25 per person) with Sprint. My wife and I wanted the least cost, but we decided to go with the Walmart Family Plan because even though Republic Wireless was less expensive we don’t have good Sprint coverage in areas we frequent and we didn’t want the sole phone available on the plan.
Remember that the plans below have varying web caps and other features and you perhaps can get a better deal for your circumstances by using a different plan than the one listed.
A Comparison of Smart Phone Plans (mostly no contract) with unlimited calling (USA) and messaging with some web use on at least a 3G network for 2 people.
|
|||||
| Consumer Cellular (AARP) is included with 4000 mins, 4000 texts/400mb data for comparison. (Total cost below includes $20 per month for web use.) |
| Provider | Plan Name | Avg service cost for 2 phones over 24 months | Mid Range Android Phone | Phone price | Average Cost per month (over 24 months including phones) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | $65 Smartphone Monthly Plan with Data | 130.00 | Samsung Galaxy Appeal | 127.19 | 140.60 |
| Boost | Android Unlimited Plan | 95.00 (price declines over the first 18 months) | HTC EVO Design 4G | 194.99 | 111.25 |
| Consumer Cellular (AARP) | Anywhere 4000 | 86.60 | Huawei 8800 | 150.00 | 99.10 |
| Cricket | $50 Smart Plan | 100.00 | HTC One V | 139.99 | 111.67 |
| Net10 | Unlimited Nationwide data, text, talk and calls to 411 | 90.00 | HTC Wildfire S | 169.99 | 104.17 |
| PagePlus Cellular | the 55 | 79.90 | Huawei Ascend Y | $149.95 | 92.40 |
| PlatinumTel | Unlimited Everything | 80.00 | SAMSUNG T759 EXHIBIT 4G | 189.99 | 95.83 |
| Ready Mobile PCS | Unlimited All Day, All Night, Every day | 100.00 | Sanyo Zio | 69.99 | 105.83 |
| Republic Wireless option 1 | 19 per month | 38.00 | Motorola Defy XT | 249.00 | 58.75 |
| Republic Wireless option 2 | 29 per month | 58.00 | Motorola Defy XT | 99.00 | 66.25 |
| Sprint | Unlimited Smartphone | 140.00 | LG Optimus Elite | 149.99 | 152.50 |
| Straight Talk | Unlimited 1 Month | 90.00 | LG Optimus Q | 129.99 | 100.83 |
| T-Mobile – walmart | Unlimited Tak Text and Web | 100.00 | T-Mobile Samsung T679 Exhibit | 174.99 | 114.58 |
| Total Call Mobile | 99.98 | Sanyo 2700 | 27.99 | 102.31 | |
| TracFone | no | monthly | unlimited | plan | found |
| Verizon Contract | Share everything Plan 2Gb data | 140.00 | Apple Iphone 4 | – | 140.00 |
| Virgin Mobile | BEYOND TALK UNLIMITED DATA & MESSAGING PLANS | 110.00 | HTC EVO V 4G | 193.20 | 126.10 |
| Walmart Family | Unlimited Talk, Text & Web | 75.00 | Samsung T679 Exhibit II | 174.88 | 89.57 |
Prices were gathered in April 2013 at respective web sites. Prices are subject to change without notice. Plans and phones may no longer be available.
© copyright 2013 Mark W Smith, all rights reserved.
Comments and support for this post had been deactivated
1 Pingback & Trackback On This Post