Learn me: Cheap cell plans

No need for a smart phone. My mom is currently paying $50 a month for a E36 M3ty old phone with no texting and limited minutes. Seems freaking insane.

I pay $40 a month through Cincinnati bell for unlimited talk, text, and data. No contract either.

Paging John, this one's for you.

Can you hear me now?

hell, MetroPCS is unlimited everything for $40 around here.
http://www.metropcs.com/metro/category/Plans_&_Services/Plans/cat250023

check out straight talk at wally world. should be in the $30 range for talk/txt https://www.straighttalk.com/wps/portal/home/shop/serviceplans/!ut/p/b1/04_SjzQxMjUwMDcxMdWP0I_KSyzLTE8syczPS8wB8aPM4l0MvHyNAx09jII8zE0NPAM8nIPdzf0MTByN9cP1o8BKDHAARwOoAlxmGJjjV-DvZqTv55Gfm6qfG-XlmuaoqAgAvjW5Kw!!/?s=y

I've heard about this $20 unlimited everything as well http://www.republicwireless.com/

Walmart $45 month unlimited, Blackberry curve phone $130 all in, no contract, and you can port your old number. Just did this for the kid, so far so good!

How much does mom talk per month?
Does she text?
Where does she live?

If money were no object, what carrier would you like best and what carrier do you think has the best coverage in your area?

Walmart has a $10 recon phone, and the $30 plan.

PubBurgers wrote: I pay $40 a month through Cincinnati bell for unlimited talk, text, and data. No contract either.

Of course, this requires that you live in Metro Cincinnati.

Metro can be a good choice if you live in one of their dedicated markets (which Atlanta is.) If elsewhere, be sure to check T-Mobile coverage since they now own Metro.
Edit: If she lives in your little town or visits your little town, I would not choose Metro based on coverage (no coverage.)

The Clown and TechGuy are wise. The Walmart choice of Straight Talk can be a good value but you have to be wise about which coverage you will be getting from them hence the question of which carrier would you prefer if money were no object.

I would avoid T-Mobile also based on poor coverage (2G only) in that little town of yours.

Stay away from Sprint too since they seem to have only one tower in Jasper and then some large gaps till you get to the next tower in Talking Rock or Cagle

If you were a good son, you'd just add her to your plan for the $5 or $10 dollars a month

Grtechguy wrote: If you were a good son, you'd just add her to your plan for the $5 or $10 dollars a month

This! We are considering this for my parents if my little sister ever gets off her duff and gets off of their plan. We are still under an unlimited data plan through Verizon, as their new limited data plans would absolutely screw us. Just waiting for the S4 to come out in force before I buy myself a used note2. Her mom is already on our plan.

Go Smart Mobile has a $30/month tariff for unlimited text & talk but no data. They're a T-Mobile sub-brand so you'd need to look at their coverage (and probably BYOP).

Cricket out here offers a similar plan for $35/month.

If you happen to be on the new T-Mobile family plan (the ones you don't get a subsidized phone on), you can add another line for $10/month and she'd get unlimited calls and text, plus 500 MB of high-speed data. Compared to most of the big carriers like VZW who charge you $30/month for another basic phone on your family plan that's a bargain.

Guess who spent the last two days figuring out the ins and outs of the various phone tariffs in an attempt to save some cash (:/)

For VZ coverage, done Prepaid style, take a look at www.pagepluscellular.com
They are the nations largest reseller of just VZ service. That means 100% of the towers you would be using are VZ towers.
Check Coverage!

As low as $10 gives you 100 minutes or 120 days (whichever comes first) or $55 per month gets you Unlimited talk, text and 2GB of data. $14 more or $69 makes that 5GB of data.
Other plans as well
The $29.99 plan might be good for Grandma with 1200 talk, 3000 text and 250MB data.

Downside: only 3G handsets allowed but iPhone 4 is allowed. I personally am on the $55 plan with a Droid X that I bought used for $69.
I buy the monthly refills online at www.pincheap.com and they discount the $55 plan down to $50.88 all in with taxes and everything.

3G handsets can be sourced through ebay, CL or theses two trusted retailers:
www.cowboom.com
www.mobilekarma.com
For the Cow, keep your choices to Grade 6 or 5. Grade 4 is too low.
For Karma, keep your choices to at least Good but Great, Mint or Refurb'ed will be better.

Those of you with these cheap unlimited plans, what kind of data speeds do you get?

With my AT&T LTE on my iPhone 5 here in Tulsa, I typically get ~25mbs down using the Speedtest.net app everywhere I go.

I Pay $150/month for my wife and I's iPhone 5s. $100 a month wouldn't be worth the savings for cruddy DL speeds.

Data Speed via Speedtest.net just now 1007kbps (1MB-ish) VZ Droid X

If you are a "latest and greatest" type, you will not be happy with the prepaid offerings.
Does that $150 you spend include all the taxes and fees?

All in, my wife and I spend $101.76 per month. Unlimited talk, text and 2GB each. That $50 savings is $600 per year. I'll bet it is cool to have the pictures people send you of the breakfast they eat load in quicker but I'll take the $600 instead.
I also can quit or change companies at any time without threat of a $350 per line cancel fee or negative marks on my credit report.

It's a value proposition. Anymore, the contract companies have to keep back the "latest and greatest" stuff as the only real reason to lure people into $130++ type rate plans.

the one rub with most VMO (virtual mobile operators ie pretty much everyone NOT one of the big 4 with few exceptions) works on a given network but not only on native towers not "partner" towers

Net10 .... I pay $100 every 6mo. if you use it more than the min. that come with the air time, you can always just buy more min.

In reply to donalson:
And that is the cornerstone of the value proposition.
Take Virgin Mobile for example (which is owned by Sprint.)
For $55 Virgin will give you unlimited capabilities on the towers that they own.
Over at Sprint Contract (post-paid) $99 gets you capability to make calls on both towers that Sprint owns and towers that Sprint borrows or roams on. These borrowed, roaming calls generate a real expense to Sprint (like if you use a VZ tower, Sprint has to pay VZ.) Therefore, Sprint has to charge more because some of the monthly money will be sent away.

Also in the contract world, the carrier will give you a "free phone" or reduced price on the handset. This is typically a $200 value. In exchange for taking that "free" you will commit to spending $100 a month for the next 24 months or $2,400. If you break the deal and quit early, it can cost you up to $350 in early termination fee which pays back that $200 value you took.
In the pre-paid world, you typically buy the handset outright because you then have no bound commitment.

Here is another separate brand being started by AT&T directly.
aio (All In One)
Currently only offered in Florida and Texas (Naples and Ft. Myers, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and Gainesville, Fla, Houston.)
Coming soon to more of Texas, Chicago, Philly, Atlanta, N.California.

Spinout007 wrote:

Grtechguy wrote: If you were a good son, you'd just add her to your plan for the $5 or $10 dollars a month

This! We are considering this for my parents if my little sister ever gets off her duff and gets off of their plan. We are still under an unlimited data plan through Verizon, as their new limited data plans would absolutely screw us. Just waiting for the S4 to come out in force before I buy myself a used note2. Her mom is already on our plan.

My mom is on my uncle's play (her brother) and gets her for 70ish dollars a month. When that plan is done in sept, I am putting her on my plan with a modern phone

poopshovel wrote: No need for a smart phone.

Than look at track fone. Last time I had one, it was $11 a month. Minutes accrued, which was nice. Connectivity was very good anywhere I went in North America. Customer service is lousy, but you usually don't need it.

seems I've read somewhere that track fone and Net10 are either the same co. or closely affiliated ... I get e-mails from both concerning my "plan"

TracPhone and Net10 are two brands of the same company, American Movil (AM).. AM also has another brand that they only sell at WalMart as part of a joint venture, that is The Straight Talk brand as mentioned above.
Recently, AM bought Simple Mobile which is a reseller of T-Mobile. AM is currently making an offer to by PagePlusCellular that I mentioned above.

AM is still a private company, it is HQ'ed in Mexico City. It owns cellular networks in Central and South America. It's owner, Carlos Slim has been listed as The Richest Man in the World since 2010.

John: She's in Tampa. Sprint seems to work. She's with Verizon right now, and though they're absolutely assaulting her, the coverage is good.

Currently: $58 a month with no texting and limits on minutes. berkeleying insane.

Currently on 1000 mins a month BUT with "friends and family." total, she probably avgs about that (1k.)

She does not currently text but wants the ability to so I can send her baby pics and stuff.

Adding her to you family plan may be wise if you too are on VZ and you do not mind paying her bill. That will run you about $40++ per month. You will get a "free phone" in with that but be committed two years.

Tampa gives you a ton of options but anything other than VZ directly will not get the benefit of "friends and family."

I still like the $29.99 Page Plus plan (1200 min, 3000 text, 250mb data.) You could add that to a quality refurb handset like this that is easy for text and easy for pictures.
http://www.mobilekarma.com/p-16135-verizon-lg-octane-vn530-3g-qwerty-camera-cell-phone-refurbished.aspx

I'm on ATT which sucks down here, supposedly, so adding her is probably a no-go.