Introduction

This is one in a series of money-saving tips. For more information, please visit my home page.

Cell Phones

Several years ago my wife and I had different cell phone plans with different providers. Each of them gave us a free phone but they were different makes and models.


Eventually I got smarter and changed her service so it was the same as mine and we both got identical phones. That way I only had to learn how to program one phone. We each had a 1000 minute plan using T-Mobile that cost $39.99 per month. After adding in taxes and other fees the total monthly bill for our two phones was about $95. Both of these plans included free nights and weekends.


Then I got even smarter. I checked some past bills to see what our monthly usage was. I discovered that together we only used 500 - 700 minutes per month in total. That included the free minutes used at night and on the weekends.


I saw an ad on TV for a T-Mobile plan that was $49.99 per month for two lines sharing 1000 minutes. It did not include free nights and weekends but it did include free T-Mobile to T-Mobile calling. It was a limited time offer at the end of the summer just before the kids were going back to school.


Needless to say I switched us to this plan. Now our monthly bill is about $60 saving us $35 per month with absolutely no change in our calling habits. I also signed up for a two year contract which got us two new Nokia phones.


Aware of the cost when you go over the alloted minutes, I always check what we've used when we're getting towards the end of our billing period, just to be safe. T-Mobile makes it easy to do as all I have to do is key in #MIN# and press send. In a second or two a message appears on the cell phone screen telling me the number of minutes used and when the billing period ends.


T-Mobile has service across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with no roaming charges. So when we take an occasional trip out West or go on a Caribbean cruise we can easily call home. They also have coverage in almost 200 countries around the world which came in handy on a European cruise we took a couple of years ago. Many central and western European countries were $.99 per minute but some were higher.


I did see this same limited-time offer on TV again. It was just before Christmas. So maybe they'll run it again. And in case you're wondering, no I don't work for T-Mobile. They just happen to be the service provider that seemed to have the best plan for our lifestyle. Also, plans and rates were as stated when I wrote this but are obviously subject to change.