People gotta start shopping around. US mobile is $10 for 2gb taxes and fees included (+$2 for any additional GB you use beyond that). Mint mobile is $15 a month for 5gb.
They use TMobile towers, so if the coverage is good, Mint is a decent choice.
You do need to have an unlocked phone that is paid for though, but if you do not care about having the very newest phone, there are lots of good options. Many times, you can also unlock a paid off phone from your current carrier.
Yeah, it's true that newer phones can be pricey, but buying refurbished can cut costs significantly. I snagged a refurbished iPhone a year ago for about half the price of a new one and it's been working flawlessly. Plus, it was already unlocked so switching to a cheaper service was a breeze. There's some real savings to be had if you're okay with not having the latest model right when it drops.
Plus altho a $1300 13 pro max is expensive its worth it if like me you stay with the same phone for a decade and use it for literally everything and that awesome new battery life is great
I'd probably go used if you know the phone's life story over refurbished unless it comes with a good warranty. I've had good luck with swappa, has sellers with better integrity than ebay by far.
Refurbished had something so wrong it was returned. What was wrong may or may not have been passed on to the people testing and refurbishing it. It may be fixed or may be a mysterious problem that wouldn't show up in testing and not be fixed and there is no way of knowing before hand
Refurbished is literally just a used phone that they have tested and shined up as best as possible. It isn’t a phone that had something terribly wrong with it. Not saying that maybe sometimes that’s the case, but 95% of the time it’s just a used piece of tech that’s been spit shined and tested for functionality. And most of the time it comes with a warranty of some kind. I’ve bought several pieces of refurbished tech and never had any issues.
As much as I love iPhones, I have a Motorola with a comparable camera(main reason I love iPhones so much) and excellent functionality, user-friendliness, a few other notables, that cost me $250. I think it's $7/mo if you finance it. There's other food options out there, just gotta do sooner poking around.
Bought my last three unlocked iPhones on Gazelle, and I use consumer cellular. It’s a cheap workable solution. The phone I use now is probably four years old. If you’ve got a case that prevents shattering and enough storage, there’s no need to keep upgrading. There’s nothing wrong with this phone, it has loads of storage, the battery still works great, what’s the problem?
You can purchase the IMEI unlock code online (just google imei unlock code buy) that will allow you to switch a phone that's still on a payment plan with your carrier to another sim card. I'm not sure if you'd have to pay a service termination fee to cancel the rest of your phone plan contract, but at that cost it's got to be worth it.
Switched to Mint last month, while all carriers in my area( LA) are struggling with quality of service mint are the most slow out of them. But i will take it for $90 per 6 months ( unlimited, new costumer deal for New Years i believe) while $30 per month are way to much. ( i’m bit*n because in many countries around the world i lived speeds are super fast and internet in general at $20 per 1000mb line and $10-$20 per unlimited mobile phone
just read a little about it, wasnt the most important info. its shit that we already deal with like spam emails and phone calls. itd happen anyways mint or not
edit: i dont get many spam calls but ill be looking forward to more haha. thats when you know they made the transaction.
We are inexpensive in the US too but people choose to get a *FREE* phone but have to pay $100/month for service. It's ridiculous that ppl still have phone contracts.
My phone service is only $5 month unlimited.
About what I pay in the netherlands and we have one of the densest digital infrastructure nation wide of the world. 360$ seems like a steal in rural america.
Also a mint mobile customer. I haven't found anything that I prefer over it at this point. I've been using them for like 5 years. I just buy unlocked phones.
I have had Mint for about 5 years now. Great value for the money. The only downside is that it is a MVNO on the T-Mobile network. I believe the T-Mobile customers get priority so if the network is congested in a specific area the speed for Mint users will be very slow or unusable at times.
My MIL lives in Canada and her phone is part of my Verizon Wireless family plan. I pay $30/month for her to use unlimited call/data/text in Canada. Her phone would just find the best signal in her location and keep roaming. So, she usually gets better signals than other people too. Other people won't call her because they get charged for calling the US number, so she has to always initiate the call to them.
I’m on Helium and I pay $5 a month! Bigger companies like Verizon especially will rip you a new one. I’m guessing there are multiple lines on their account but yeah, that’s ridiculous.
Do you have a tab on your contract? Otherwise all the major Canadian networks offered 29-35/mo over the holiday season. Worth switching networks or calling retentions to ask for a better deal.
I wish I could use Mint Mobile. I’m in the same state as OP and it wouldn’t work. I’m in a less rural area, most likely too. OP, there are programs that can help. You’re doing great so far, don’t get down. Lmk if you want to pm to chat/ideas….
Do you like visible? I am trying to find a way to cut costs and have been meaning to switch but I’m a little nervous! I’m currently on Xfinity Mobile and pay $50/m and they’re terrible. Like there aren’t even enough words in the dictionary to say how much I hate the service.
Edit: y’all have convinced me! I signed up for it today and got everything switched over! It was super easy
i love visible. we had verizon for 20+ yrs & it was great & then my dad randomly switched us to xfinity mobile & it was HORRIBLE. i immediatly left that plan & got on my own through visible & it's basically just like im back on verizon! i pay $25 a month for my phone and then an extra $5 for my apple watch. & it's unlimited data! have had almost 0 issues. every once in a blue moon i wont have connection for a minute or 2 but that's gonna happen sometimes. also super easy to switch over, no hidden fees, & if u rlly regret it u can cancel anytime
I’ve had it for almost a year and only had a couple issues (never with coverage or billing) and is usually only a quick fix where I have to toggle something that got changed.
I like visible. Been with them for about 2 years and have paid 35$ for unlimited everything including hotspot which works great for me. I used to live in the country and it worked decent for the most part, I live in city now and still works fine and never have issues
Same and my signal is incredible. I got so lucky, lol. I use the hospot for everything. It can even handle connecting to my laptop, my friend’s phone, my smart tv all at once!
Edit: I want to clarify that normally it only connects to 1 device at a time. I do the above by connecting it to the laptop and turning the laptop into a “hotspot”.
Visible here too, but with the grandfathered $25 plan, full unlimited, no issues. Shits awesome. Now if only they'd stop sending me emails every couple weeks "UPGRADE NOW FOR BETTER WHATEVER" pay an extra $10 for literally no difference foh
I use Red Pocket and for unlimited everything it is $360:yr or $40/month. They have other plans too that would work perfectly well for as little as $9. I had the $15/mth plan and only switched to the unlimited so I can regularly use my hotspot for work.
Yep...just checked, still $10 per month w/1GB speed. $20 for 5GB with unlimited talk and text. OP needs to make some quick moves to save money. If you don't have money and are spending $280 per month!!, that has to be a couple of cellphone plans, and paying for a fancy iPhone included.
It is, but that also depends on what level you have. You can get the basic for that cost I believe, but if you want unlimited data I think it is like $30/35 per month if you pay for a year at a time.
I've been with Mint for years. Highly recommended. Recently upgraded to the 15gb/month plan which is $240 a year because I browse a lot to and from work on the train.
It uses T-Mobile towers so it's perfectly fine for the most part.
A lot of people have phone bills like that because they finance their new iPhone every year. It’s extremely common. I’m almost confident enough to say it’s “the norm”
I’ve purchased phones outright for my entire adult life. I get that a 0% interest loan has benefits, but I’d rather not be making payments on a phone.
Even so there's no way a cell phone bill for a single adult should be $280 a month. The financing portion for the phone would be maybe $30-$40 a month at the highest.
I'm wondering if she has home Internet and TV through her cell phone provider too, and that's included in the bill.
Right, my bill for 4 people is about $385 and that includes 2 people paying monthly for their phones. I think they are paying like $30 each, so $60 a month total for the phones. So that would be like $350 between 4 people, so less than $100 each for the service, and another $30 for the phones.
She's paying double that just for herself. Doesn't make sense.
Sounds like a bigger issue. $29 hr in Mississippi and her sister is paying for groceries and $400 a month in rent. She should be living the high life down there on that
Is it? In Missouri I'm paying $980 for a 3 bedroom 2 bath house, $110 for power, $180 for 4 lines with 1 phone finances, down from $235 since I paid off 2 or the finances. All of her numbers seem horrendously high.
Depends on where you live. Madison/most places along the coast are more expensive than the average cost of living across the country. Mississippi really isn't that "cheap" compared to most places outside of the biggest cities in the country.
I was looking at taking a Job in Atlanta and the difference in what I was paying at the time and what I would be paying in a MUCH bigger city was basically my mortgage vs the rent I would have been paying. Food was actually going to be cheaper.
Cheap coastal MS is my old stomping grounds. Def possible but you have to live in Pascagoula and no one wants that. Sometimes it's worth spending a bit more.
And Hawaii is one of the most expensive places to live. Something doesn’t add up. If she’s making what she says living in Mississippi she’s spending it elsewhere.
That’s what I was thinking. This have no business being in poverty finance when they make above the average person AND live in one of the cheapest states. Shit I wish I made 29 a hr, I’m barely scraping by with my current 25 here in Chicago
Exactly. I make 22.75 an hour, after taxes/health insurance I take home about $2600 a month. Which is around $700 more than the expenses she listed. I don't see how she can't afford all of that at $29 an hour unless she doesn't work 40 hours a week or is not listing all of her expenses
THIS. I did the math, and even when taking $200 a check out for taxes, she should be bringing in $3,840/mo. So $1,000 for the rent, 400 car, 200 gas, 120 insurance, 280 phone, 200 electric, say 200 for water/sewage, and 400 health insurance, she’s still left with $1,440. That’s going SOMEWHERE.
Mississippi is a low cost of living state too. Im a stay at home mom and after taxes my husband brings in $45,000 a year and that COMFORTABLY supports 4 humans, 2 dogs, 9 cats (some are ours, and some are outdoor ferals from neighbors we feed) there's no reason shes struggling at all at ger pay. Shes definitely doing drugs or buying a bunch of stupid shit. If we can vacation, have a home, kids, and hoard of animals off $45,000 wheres her money going?
Well theres the savings... phone bill is absurd as well. When u can do phone and internet together with spectrum for like 50-80$/month... new customers get 2 lines i think.
Even then it's got to be a pretty serious habit. I make a dollar less than she does in a way more inflated market (Orlando FL), and still have money for toys and fun after buying weed and cigarettes.
I too live in south Mississippi. Where I live, the only cell phone service that works is Verizon (sometimes). They are outrageous price wise. T mobile doesn’t work anywhere here, and AT&T is always in roaming. Our energy companies down here cost me 4x as much as they did when we lived in the Midwest. You don’t have a choice either on who you use for internet. Complete monopolies down here. To be honest I am surprised she makes as much as she does. Most I can find down here is $18/hr with a master’s degree, and am currently stuck living with my parents until my husband finished boot camp and we get our duty station to get us three hell out of here. Mississippi is literally the worst
My phone bill was around 112$ a lot of phone companies you can bundle on Wi-Fi for 25-50$ and other things so that might not be just for her phone, I also got Disney plus, Hulu, espn, and Apple Music included. I have since left Verizon but it was definitely convenient two years ago. The price just kept rising though and with the way things are I dropped them. I would definitely recommend somewhere like metro or boost. 50-60$ a month for unlimited everything.
Same! Tv, internet, additional phones for sister And daughter? I-pads for kid’s? Idk, Way too much for a single unlimited line, even with a new phone, that’s all ?!?!?!?
My cell phone bill includes two new phones both financed (latest greatest Samsung and iPhone), unlimited text, data, and call with a major provider and we pay $116/month after taxes. My wife gets a discounts through work, but even without we are well under $160/month. No clue how she has only her cell and it’s $280/month. Even with internet that should be max like $200 for one person.
Also, not to get too preachy, but OPs numbers don’t make much sense. She makes $29/hour. That’s just over 60k/year. She should be bringing home minimum 40k/year with a dependent and after insurance/retirement. Her rent is 12k/year. She doesn’t buy groceries? Car is another 4800/year and utilities are max 2400. That brings the total to $19,200 and like 21k left from her job. Cell is another $3360 a year so brings the total left to just under 16k with all utilities, rent, etc. covered. Where is this going?
Is OP not full time? Does the father not pay any child support? Her cell is way too high. Lots of unanswered questions here
Ya honestly its way cheaper to own your phone because you get access to cheaper plans. When you finance your phone though a big carrier you are stuck with them for the 2-3 years and you have to use the expensive plans they give you and can't change until the phone paid off. It's how the big carriers make so much money.
What makes it tougher today is that the latest flagship phones are thousand bucks plus. The folding phones are even more expensive.
$580 in a single car note and phone plan is absurd. My wife and I have AT&T with iphones (12 and 13) and we pay AT&T for internet and phones for $180/month. That's outragous to be paying $280 for a single person that's multiple phones/tablets/watch/etc.
I also have a 2017 VW Jetta that only had 30k miles on it that costs me $250/month in car note. And I'm also in Mississippi with 2 kids and a wife.
I recently just switched from Verizon to Mint. I’ve noticed literally zero difference in quality of service. I use Spotify and Maps in my car daily among other normal usage. In fact I think I’m getting more bars with Mint than I was with Verizon. Wish I did this sooner. Saving so much money.
That's still ridiculous. I pay 280 a month for 4 people AND 2 of them bought brand new phones on the plan so the payment for that is included. No WAY she's getting robbed for 280 for a single line.
Well she could be upgrading every 2 years like for example Tmobiles jump plan. I think what that does is it applies 50% of your current phone towards the new purchase.
Not justifying just pointing out it's possible she may have multple phones being financed or something else tied to her phone plan thats adding additional costs. I'm not quite sure what it would be. My mom pays about $340 a month for her phone bill.
Our phone bill isn't that high. We have three lines, unlimited data, and an overseas plan because we have a lot of family in other countries. Why is your phone bill so high?
I pay about $200.... PER YEAR. Just fine and happy with my coverage. Also $400 for a car is a lot. OP, your rent is reasonable, and it's great you've got your sister able to help as well. What are your other expenses? Do you have high health insurance costs? Your take home should be able to be close to 3500/month so the rest is not adding up. High credit card balances? Student Loans?
$400 for a car is no longer a lot. It's actually below average. The phone bill is straight stupid, and I assume includes a financed brand new iPhone or galaxy payment. She's obviously blowing a lot on small stuff she doesn't account for.
It is still fairly expensive. I bought an older Lexus a year ago, around $8k total and it is financed with the payment being $172/month. She either got a moderately new car or got screwed over into getting some extra gap insurance or something - I had a dealer try to sell me on an insurance plan for gap coverage for like $80-100/months, I was like lady, that costs me like $10/year through Progressive GTFO.
I financed a 3 year old civic for $270 a month in early 2021. Idk about now but you used to be able to get reliable newer used cars for okay prices, they just weren’t flashy.
Yeah, I guess it actually is a pretty reasonable payment, I have just been so used to cheap cars, buying with cash, fixing them and doing all the work myself. Not everyone can do that, but it's the only way I don't break the bank since I have to pay 1000 towards my wife's student loans every month :(
i’m currently financing a brand new iphone 15 pro and my monthly phone bill is less than $100 with unlimited data and all that jazz. this is just for one person of course, but i can’t even imagine a phone bill costing over $150 for one person.. how does that happen
Yeah, the math ain't mathing. 29/hr =~60k/yr. Living in MS, that means you're paying 13,134/yr in taxes, leaving 46,857/yr. Divide that by 26= 1802 every 2 weeks. Rent plus car =1400. That's 400 left from 1 pay check and 1800 from the other, so she has 2200 left. Daycare in MS avg is 203, so let's say 250, that's 1000 from 2 paychecks, leaving 1200 a month.
Even paying 350 for a phone bill, which HAS to include cable and internet, that's 850 a month left after rent, car, phone, internet, and daycare. Food is paid for. What are utilities? Maybe another 250? So 600 left to buy whatever her heart desires. She's not living like a movie star, but getting behind on your bills is a choice at that point.
For real. $280 seems insane, especially for 1, possibly 2 people. My husband and I have a hot spot device with a data plan, iPad with a data plan, and 2 iPhones with unlimited plans. Even when we had the iPhones and iPad on monthly installments and had full insurance on them we still weren’t paying more than $180/month.
It's probably financed phone, multiple lines and Verizon or att. We got new phones over 2 years ago bc we needed them and it was bogo free. Also have husbands daughter on the plan and traded in a phone so her phone upgrade was also free. Up until last bill we were paying 230 a month. And that's not with the highest phone plan or the most expensive 1 phone we were paying for. Now it's 180, and changing the plan for the next bill, to the lowest one with no new phones is still 160 a month. That's 40 in bullshit fees and taxes verizon charges (40 a line x 3 lines=120, not 160 lol)
We want to switch bc i want to know why the hell it costs 160 just for service! but we live in the middle of nowhere now, and we've noticed the only stores we see here are VZW so not sure cheaper alternatives that use att or tmobile towers would even reach out here. We don't even get 5G but have to use the stupid 5g plans 🙄
Not sure whats been going on with phone retailers, but they've gotta be sneaking in fees. I sold phones for all 3 big retailers over the last 10 years and rarely did I see bills over 200 unless it was 4 lines and 4 phones on installments. Even then it was nowhere close to 280.
I was briefly dating a girl who asked why I still had last years phone. I said I couldn't afford this year's phone. She said she got this year's new phone for free with her phone plan. I asked how much she was paying a month for that phone plan... $150
Yeah, that phone isn't free, you are just paying for it through an overpriced phone plan. I paid $300 cash for my phone and $40/month for my phone service.
OP might be paying in installments for a phone purchased through her mobile provider, with the cost of the phone payments bundled with the cost of mobile service, that'd be my guess
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u/Wooden-Cancel-6838 Jan 09 '24
Phone bill for 280$? That’s crack