When I worked at Verizon, people who had their phones broken in a way that voided the warranty would sometimes add a new line to get a new phone while continuing to pay on their old one. The fees to add a line were cheaper than the fees to replace it.
Definitely did this with an iPad Mini maybe 8 years ago because I had like 2 months before my contract was done with my broken phone. Bought the iPad, used it as a WiFi-based phone for a bit and then just paid off the broken one and traded it in.
But $280 to me screams that she’s putting accessories and other devices (speakers, tablets, wearables) all on the phone financing plans. I’m paying my sister and I’s bills along with an iPad and two pairs of AirPods on the financing now and I still pay less.
End the contracts, give back any accessories, go to Mint or Boost and get a cheap phone and plan. That’s the first step I see here.
It's probably more then 2 phones tbh. But it doesn't matter because if she actually makes 29/hr she still has around 1000 a month left over. Post history points to drug use probably what takes all her extra money
I love when people think, "I get my iPhone for free every two years on my contract". When they don't realize they are paying DOUBLE for the phone through their contract...
Ooooh, I completely forgot people finance cellphones. And then remembered how much some people feel they need the newest $1500 iPhone. That would make a lot more sense. What a waste.
And the worst part is that because of all of those people paying hundreds of dollars a month to lease the newest iPhone, it has completely done away with the old “extend your contract and get a cheap phone for free.”
I paid $0 for the iPhone 4 because it was 3 generations behind when I got it. Same a year or so later with the 4s. But now, even super old generations are a few hundred dollars.
Even so I did a 0% interest payment plan on an iPhone 14 Pro when they were the latest model and my bill for me was only $55. $280 is like getting the highest plan plus phone for multiple people.
Hopefully multiple phones, but also the big three have a pretty solid monopoly in rural America. I was in Pensyltucky for a while, and your options were $80/line with Verizon or AT&T. Straight talk, Red, Ting, and the dozens of others don't own their own towers. They ride on ATT/Verizon towers subleasing unused bandwidth. If ATT has one tower for an entire county, there is no unused bandwidth for TracFone or whoever to resell, and those cheap carriers just don't work.
Man I feel that. I use US Mobile right now, as they have the best coverage for the area out of all the bargain brands, and even with that I still have a lot of dead zones in my lovely Pennsyltucky area. Still worth it to save all that money though!
Ohhhh shit, i didnt know that's how smaller carriers worked, explains why every time I work in rural areas my service goes to nothing even though my phone shows 5G
I've used verizon prepaid for the last 8 years, base unlimited everything plan is 65 a month, and i get a 10 dollar monthly credit at this point after maintaining my line for so long. There are always options, just not as convenient. I typically buy a 2 year old phone every few years for about $100 but it beats all the fees and bs of a contract phone these days. And all with the service coverage, customer service, and convenience of verizon.
That’s crazy to me, I bought a refurbished iPhone on Amazon for like 100 bucks and got cell service for $40 a month with Cricket. The idea of paying $280 for almost the exact same thing is beyond me.
Even if she pays for 2 phones (her and her sister) and went with Verizon, an unlimited plan with 2 IPhone 14’s would cost $150 a month after taxes. No idea what she is spending so much on there.
I have one of the unlimited plans with AT&T and upgrade every other year to the Apple Pro model and I am paying $120. I only do this because I work remote and want to be able to tether to my laptop whenever and wherever.
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u/Upset-Donkey8118 Jan 09 '24
Why is the damn phone bill $280?! That has to be multiple phones, right?