How to lower your smartphone bill (to $21/month!)
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On Monday, I told you all about why I finally decided to take the plunge into the world of smartphones.
And today, I'm going to share the details about how we have four smartphones for about $20 each per month!
The provider that we use is Ting Wireless. Basically, it's a bit like a pay-as-you go sort of plan, and there's no contract involved (yay!).
Ting Rates
There are several different "buckets" of usage that you can fall into, and you're only charged for the bucket size that you use each month.
Here's an example of what that looks like for our family, with four phones on Ting.
Phone minutes, texting, and data usage are all separated, so if you use no data, but you text and use phone minutes, then you'll only pay for those and you'll pay nothing for data.
Normal contract plans box you into predetermined allotments (Don't use data? You'll probably still have to pay for it.), but Ting's plan is customizable and flexible. If you never use text messaging, you'll never have to pay for it.
$20 per line is very reasonable, and of course you could get your bill even lower if you use less data.
(Data is definitely the most expensive part of Ting.)
What network is Ting on?
Ting operates on two nationwide LTE networks.
You can view the coverage map right here to see if this will work for you.
What phones work with Ting?
You can either buy an unlocked phone, or you can use Ting's site to check and see if your phone will work with their network.
We've always bought unlocked, refurbished iPhones from Amazon and ordered SIM cards from Ting.
(I currently have the iPhone 7 Plus.)
It's a super-duper easy process, and Ting's customer service is EXCELLENT at helping you out if you get stuck.
You can also buy a wide range of new or used phones right through Ting's site.
(Note: You can use Ting's service with a simple flip phone too. They have several non-smartphone options on their site.)
Set-Up
Once you have your phone, the process of getting it set up with Ting is crazy easy and fast. Mr. FG had it done in something like 10 minutes per device.
Keeping your bill low
To keep your cell phone bill low, you'll want to hang out in the low usage categories.
This means that you can't operate as though you have unlimited minutes, texts, and especially data, but the savings are totally worth it to me.
What's the point of having a smartphone if you barely use it?
Well, wifi usage is free, which means that if you're careful, you can still use your smartphone a whole lot without paying for data.
To keep our usage low, Mr. FG and I try to mainly use the web on our phones when we have access to wifi.
So, I pretty much never tweet or use Instagram on my phone except over wifi (which I have at home, of course, and which is also available in a surprising number of locations these days.)
Also, texting from our iPhones to other iPhones over wifi doesn't count as text usage, which means we can text other iPhone users to our heart's content.
And of course, you can use free texting apps to communicate with Android users.
A hidden advantage of this pay-as-you-go plan is that there is significant motivation to control your usage.
If I had access to data usage no matter where I was, I would be sorely tempted to be on my phone way more than I am.
But because I know I'm going to have to pay for it, I'm not at all tempted to pull my phone out at the park or in the car or at a friend's house.
This might seem inconvenient to some people, but I really, really appreciate the limits this places on me.
(I could go past the limits, but then I'd have to pay for it, and we all know I don't want to do that!).
Also, if you want to avoid a $120/month cell phone bill, the fact of the matter is that you will have to get used to a more pared-down level of cell phone usage.
It's just like when you decide to get rid of your cable bill by switching to Roku...you can still watch TV, but it won't be exactly the same as it was when you had cable, and you have to be more creative than you were before.
Get $25 toward Ting service!
I was about to hit publish on this and realized I almost forgot to tell you that if you sign up with Ting through any of the links in this post, you get $25 toward a phone or toward a month of Ting service.
____________________
We've been really, really happy with Ting so far.
It feels like we have the best of all possible worlds...we have access to smartphone features, we have motivation to keep our phone usage under control, and we have a ridiculously low bill.
I hope that I've explained all of this clearly, but if I haven't, please do feel free to ask any questions you have, and I'll do my best to answer them.
Awesome! I've been a happy customer of Ting since I got out of my Sprint contract this past May (and ported my phone over with ease). My bill averages anywhere from $23-$47 depending on whether I use my phone as a hotspot that month. NO REGRETS.
Thanks so much for all the info! I just might be ready to give up my two piece red neck smart phone (as my friends so lovingly call it) for a one piece! Going to check it out through your links now.
I have been waiting for this post since you mentioned your venture into the smartphone world. I have been contemplating the switch. I have been looking into Republic wireless and Ting and t-mobile. Republic Wireless seems like a better deal because you get unlimited everything for $10 per month per phone . But you do not have the option to bring your own phone so you are stuck buying their $300 phone(but it does have great reviews). I am going to review Ting again because of your satisfaction in their service. Thanks for the Review!
My husband got his first smartphone through Republic in January. He got the Moto X on the $10 per month plan. It has been great! Republic is coming out with some less expensive phones soon. We like the wifi/3g hybrid. Handoff has been seamless.
Another happy Republic Wireless customer here. My husband loves his Moto X. We looked at Ting, but Republic was cheaper and gives you unlimited minutes, texting, and data (we are on the $25 plan).
Hi Leigh and Carla,
I was wondering if you could help me out a bit! On Friday; I got fed up with Verizon and decided I was done paying around 80 bucks a month for my Iphone. Which I didn't even use a whole lot.. well enough for 80 bucks. So; I have not closed my account YET. But I signed up for Republic Wireless, I was in ah of how amazing the plan and the Moto X was! So, I did a whole lot of research, watched a bunch of Youtube videos, all were very positive except one.
I decided to go for it, as I don't think it could get much cheaper than 10 bucks a month. Basically everywhere I go has wifi, my college, my home, and my work has wifi. I figured this was all I needed.
On Saturday morning, I went to my online banking account... they have seemed to "charged" me twice.. for everything? I ordered one phone, and one plan. Including taxes and everything. I email RW and they told me that the second "charge" was not a "charge" more of a "pending authorization" and that they would be dropped in three days. I'm lucky I had extra money in that account, and it didn't over draft it. My question for you two, has this happened to you??? I really want RW to be awesome.
Thanks 🙂
That did not happen to us but we used a regular Visa charge card. I know that the "pending authorization" looks like a double charge sometimes with Debit cards when used at gas stations. Don't cancel your account with VW until you port your phone number.
We have had good success with Republic. We had no problems with activation. You will have a 30 day trial period. (you can return the phone if you don't like it.) My husband's bill is $12.57 total (including taxes etc.)
Thanks for all your help!! My phone came last week, and the day that the phone came the authorization charge dropped off. So far besides that issue, I'm really loving it!! Not only because the 10 bucks a month (12.75) with tax, but because of all the cool features this has that the Iphone didn't. I've found myself enjoying the phone more now that I'm NOT always connected to internet unless I'm at home or at work. Which is about 88% of the time. Do you have any tips on using the phone? Have a wonderful week
I believe Republic also has a $99 phone and a $149 phone available as well.
I'm a Ting user, too, and I LOVE it!
I have parameters set on my account so I know when I get closer to hitting a new "bucket" and receive an alert. I went from using over 2,000,000KB a month on Sprint to 21KB (this month) on Ting. I am more purposeful about the time on my phone (connecting at wifi areas) and it allows me to be deliberately present with my children without checking incoming email or browsing Facebook or any other unimportant distraction. There's no price on quality time with them.
Thanks so much for the review! I wish we had good service through Sprint where I live so I could get it, too!!
We recently switched from AT&T to Straight Talk, the prepaid option through WalMart. Although I have a love/hate relationship with WalMart, the prepaid plan is saving us an insane amount of money. For one smart phone and one "dumb" phone on AT&T, we were paying $135/month, AFTER an 8% discount I received through my work. Hubs got a work phone (which happens to be an iPhone), which he started using as his personal phone as well. He asked his employer and they didn't care. We were able to completely eliminate a monthly cell phone bill for him. With Straight Talk, I was able to keep the smart phone I already had (which I got for free when I signed the contact!) and now I only pay $45/month for unlimited everything. So we essentially are saving $90/month on our cell phone bill! Last month, I also found someone local to me who bought the wrong phone card on accident. I bought it from her for $35, which saved me another $10 on that month's cell phone bill! I know there's always room for improvement, but I'm still pretty dang proud of us for cutting our bill down that much!
Jen - For the StraightTalk plan, do you have to go into Wal-Mart to do this? We're in the same boat as you. We currently have MoblieShare with AT&t. For 2 phones, our bill is $150 after taxes and discount. I'd love to cut it down to $45/month per phone.
I also have Straight Talk and have been generally happy with it. I really only use the phone within a 50 mile radius of my home and typically have good service except for a few spots. I purchased my phone on the straight talk website. They will ask for your zip code so they can show you the phones that operate on the network in your area. Mine is At&t. After trying it out for a few months with the monthly $45 plan I decided to purchase a whole year. I bought the card on the Straight Talk website and have never purchased anything from walmart. When buying the 1 year card on the Straight Talk's website the cost is closer to $41 per month. I recommend going to the Straight Talk website if Walmart is not close to you because the phones sold at walmart may not operate on the network that will be best for your actual zip code. I have found the service to be workable, but not nearly as reliable as my husband's big carrier. Hope that helps!
You can go into WalMart or you can buy everything online. It was kind of confusing trying to get the phone switched over, but I didn't have too much trouble with customer service - I didn't think StraightTalk was any worse than AT&T. Definitely do some research before switching over. StraightTalk operates on different towers in different areas. It just happens to be AT&T in my area. We've had great phone service though! The same as AT&T!
You can also shave that bill by buying 3 and 6 month cards. The cost per month comes down. Also, you can sometimes find people on Amazon selling them even less. We bought 6 mos. cards on Amazon that worked out to about $33/mos for unlimited. We're paid up through the end of the year
Love my straighttalk, but I am always looking to save a few more dollars. I switched my Verizon number which was an Iphone5S. Yes, It was a tad bit confusing & I spent quite a while on the phone with straighttalk switching my phone over to them. But the great part is switching a verizon phone I still have all the verizon networks and range. I have service everywhere I had service before. The only thing that has changed is my bill was cut & with Bring your own phone I have 2GB more data (Totals to 5GB/ month) for $48 (with taxes&Fees)
Hi Kristen! Do you know if there is a similar provider for AT&T? We live in a small rural town & Sprint doesn't work here. We currently pay $130 for 2 smartphones monthly & that seems so high to me! Thank you!
Off the top of my head, I don't. I thought of Republic Wireless, but apparently they use Sprint too. Boo.
Maybe another reader can help!
I went with Wal-Mart's Family Mobile as I could not port my phone number to Republic and I had inherited an AT&T iPhone 4. They are $39 per month for unlimited phone & text with 5g of Data. You can port any GSM device (AT& T etc). The additional phones have a $5 discount. I think they use T-Mobile's network. The service has been fine. I'm hoping Republic expands so that I can port my number for my small business.
Consumer Cellular is ATT & cheap with great service.
I wish I could find the page again, but somewhere on the Ting site it mentions that it also uses Verizon and AT&T towers. It's probably worth checking their coverage map just to be sure.
We've been using Ting for about 10 months and love it. My husband has a job where having a smart phone and access to email and electronic calendars is a must. By going with Ting we dropped our phone bill by about $80 a month. We don't have a land line, so I tend to talk on my phone and sometimes land in the large bucket if it is a family intense month, but Ting has a dashboard my husband put on both of our phones, so it is really easy to check where we are at in usage for the month and to monitor our usage. Ting uses a Sprint network, so if you have good Sprint coverage, the coverage is great. If Sprint coverage isn't great where you are at, you may want to look at a different service. We've been very happy with Ting. They also have great costumer service.
This is great! I am going to share this with all of the people I counsel in financial counseling.
A brief, very unsuccessful experiment with Republic Wireless (painfully bad customer service) made me really appreciate T-mobile and the fact that I can talk to someone on the phone or even walk into a retail location if I really need something resolved. I pay $33 per month (taxes and fees included - no contract) for unlimited texting and data and 100 minutes of calling. This is perfect for me, since I just make all my longer calls for free from my computer using Google and save my mobile minutes for quick calls on the go.
You might also be able to make Google or Skype calls from your phone, using the unlimited data.
This is great! I have a Nexus 5 and it would work. Our bills are lower than most (we have a pre-paid deal), but I'm always looking for better.
Unfortunately, the Sprint network is notoriously bad in my town. Poor coverage. Really have to go with Verizon or ATT. Maybe it will eventually get better.
You don't mention if you are getting 3g, 4g or 4gLITE service with the phone. How is the sound quality? We live in a major city with lots of cell towers and our experience with Sprint was so bad, we cancelled our service (We were paying $27 incl taxes a month for unlimited text, calls and data.)
Some days, texts NEVER went thru. Slooooooow texting and call quality was horrific.
The "value" of any plan aside from usage is about phone quality (if you are using it for calls). Sprint was the worst for us. Be sure to consider this when considering a new plan and how it works in your area. (FYI: According to spring maps, we should have had superior service. We didn't. So don't believe what you see on those maps.)
If all all possible be sure you can return new phones within 30 days if you see that service doesn't work for you.
The sound quality has been fine thus far...but maybe I live in a better Sprint area than you do.
Oh, and I just checked-I'm in a 4gLTE area for data, so that may be why my experience has been great.
Thanks, Kristen. I am still a Tracfone user but have been considering a smartphone IF I could do it affordably. Still not ready to take the leap but this is great info and will help me sort out my thoughts.
Same here Kris. I actually don't NEED a smart phone. The food bank I work at is all manual paperwork. I volunteer at school and do things on my computer at home for extra income. So the only reason for me to have it is to access the internet when I am away from home. Granted I would love to jump on the smart phone band wagon but with the costs, I'm still sticking with tracfone. This Ting thing does intrigue me though......
Hi, I ran across your blog as I was searching for frugal and minimizing tips, this is my first ever blog question. I am not very up to date on techy things, but I get by fairly well. However when it comes to smartphones I am lost. My husband and I each have a basic phone that we pay $10 a month each for thru a plan we share with my folks. It is thru AT&T which has good service in our general area, but not at our house. We would like to get off their plan and get our own when the contract is up. Due to the not so great service we can't talk in our house on our cells, sprint is better, if we could get on a plan like this our bill would stay the same or close, but we could eliminate our home phone saving us $30 a month. My biggest concern and the actual question is how does the wifi part work? We have a mifi for our internet access thru verizon we have the smallest plan at 5 G and as long as we are careful it lasts us just fine. Would the phone automatically use our wifi signal, like when you mentioned you go places with wifi to save? Does the phone work without wifi? Is there a way to easily turn off a feature like that and still use all the other features of the phone? We live about 7 miles from town and get there 1-2 times a week, but my husband works near where we live and I stay at home with kiddos, so this plan sounds like it would be a great plan for us if I could just figure out how the phone and data/minutes thing works. Thanks for any insight to my non techyness. I like your blog too thanks for the tips.
Yes, you can easily turn off data through your iPhone (that's what I have). So then you have to manually turn it on in order to use data, and you can't accidentally start using it. Love that feature!
My phone automatically connects to our home wifi when I'm here, and when I'm out and about, I just go to the settings and click on the wifi network at Target or Panera, for example. You usually just have to push a button or two to connect to those sorts of wifi services.
The phone part of the plan doesn't operate on wifi, so that will work no matter if you have wifi or if you have data turned on.
It sounds like this could be the answer to saving us money without giving up our phones, thanks so much for the info. I think I will go check out some phones at our local sprint store then see if I can find them refurbished like you did.
I'm with Wind Canada and I spend about $10 per month. I buy minutes $100 at a time so that they don't expire for a year. I text a fair bit so I pay $5 per month for unlimited text messaging. The remaining $5 per month is occasional short calls and occasional 3G data. Mostly, I use free wifi, too.
It's very worth it to me to buy my smartphone outright.
Yep, that's what we thought too...better to plunk down the cash and then not have to worry about a monthly bill.
Thanks for the tip Kaylen! My phone is a hand-me-down and we are out of contract and looking for a better option. I only use data and texting and rarely the phone, so a Wind plan might work for me :). Just need to get my phone unlocked.
This is awesome! We switched from Verizon to Tracfones and only paid $38 for 2 phones because our Verizon phone bill was $120 at least, but paying only $21 a month for two smartphones, that's even great!
Thank you so much for sharing this information. My Sprint contract is up soon, I am trying to limit my smart phone usage, and I want to save money. This will be a great fit for me!
I don't think I've ever had a contract cell phone. We have Virgin Mobile (they're on the Sprint network too). I've never heard of Ting; I don't think we have them out here on the west coast. My VM plan is a little more than your Ting plan, but it's still a great plan. I get 300 minutes of airtime (which I NEVER use all of) and unlimited data and texts for $25 a month. My hubby gets 1200 minutes and unlimited data and texts for $45 (he needs more minutes since his cell phone is also his business phone - self employed, so no provided phone). We save money by having just the two cell phones and no landline. With all the long distance calls my hubby has to make for his business, a landline just doesn't make sense for us.
Oh, and we buy our phones outright too. The good thing about doing it that way is that you can get a new one whenever you want. No waiting for your company to tell you it's okay. Not that I upgrade often (every 2-3 years), but it's nice to know I can when I want to.
We have Virgin Mobile too. I rarely use all the minutes, but I love the unlimited text and data....$60 a month for two phones that would cost $130 on contract...
What a great deal! It's impossible to find a plan like that in Canada
I just clicked on the Ting link and it showed $21.00 per device? Is that what you and hubby pay, $42.00 a month? I think this is a great plan, I am currently with sprint on the family plan with my daughter and 6 others I pay 25.00 a month but just have a flip, I dont have a smart phone.....
Thank you
Rhonda
Nope! That's just the average bill for a Ting customer. You pay $6/month per device, and then you just pay for your usage on top of that. So far, we've been paying $6/month for two devices, and then just $9/month for our usage, which brings us to a total of $21/month for two photos, total.
I have been doing the math ever since I read this post. Is it weird that this kept me up last night?! I am trying to justify moving 4 phones over from Verizon - 2 smartphones, 1 feature phone, 1 basic phone. 1 smartphone and the feature would have to bear the brunt of early termination fees which makes me cringe. But, running the numbers, on the low end we'd still save $2500 over 2 years. It seems like it could be a little tedious to do all of this but I'm thinking that it is well worth it for a savings of roughly $110/month.
We just recently switched to Ting, actually about a week ago, but we've been hearing great things about it from one of my husbands friends. We needed new phones so we purchased new Nexus 5's from the google play store. I was so tired of Sprint, the high bills and the poor customer service and we'd been lied to way too many times. We ported our numbers no problem and we can't be happier. We're looking to spend about $41 a month for both of our phones which is about $150 savings compared to what we were paying for our plan on Sprint. I am already happier just knowing that! Even with buying new phones we will still be saving money. We did break our contract with Sprint but I'm okay with that as Ting will credit our Ting accounts a bit to help make up for what we are paying in early termination fee's which I think it awesome. It'd be great if my husband and I got free calls to one another but even with paying for those calls, we still save money. We have a house phone through Obihai which is free for the moment because we use Google Voice, but in the next few months Google is taking that option away (Boooo Google) but the Obihai company is working on another deal for home phone for only $30 a YEAR using wifi calling which is what most of our phones have been, something else to check out if you are tired of paying a monthly home phone bill, but want to keep your home phone #. I like having the home phone because of having younger kids in the house. Yes it only works as long as the wifi is working but we don't experience too many problems in that area. So glad to see so many people using Ting!
Thanks so much for the great review! I am on my parents family plan, but once the contract ends in April I need to pay for a phone for myself. I was originally going to look at Virgin Mobile but I'm going to have to look more into Ting as well. Thanks again!
The best of both worlds indeed! An extremely low cellphone plan AND not dissociating one's self from the real world (everyone seems to be attached to their smartphones these days, myself included).
Thank you Kristen! We have a shared plan with AT&T with only 1 smart phone and have been thinking about making some changes (we have 3 lines - mine with data since I have a smart phone, my husband and his dumb phone and our pastor and his dumb phone). We share 1400 minutes plus rollover and pay $168/month which is crazy. Granted we have unlimited text and mobile-to-mobile calls, but the data of 2gb is only used by me and some months I come close. And this is WITH a 14% discount with his work.
We did the math and to switch over (not factoring in the phone changaroo we will endure) we will be paying about $93/month before taxes/fees. Still if that bumps up to $120/mo we are still saving about $40 which is worth it.
And I really like the idea of being conscience about how I spend my time and what I do on my phone. My young kiddos need me present and sometime the phone can hinder that. I need to have access to data and such with my work but there's no reason why I can't tap into more wifi spots as I am able.
Huge, huge help and we will definitely use the link so you can get a referral fee!
Hmm.. I used my Debit Visa card. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm not planning on cancelling my VW account until I change my number over as you said! That is what discourages me; because everyone loves them. I want to love them as much as everyone else. I'm going to call my bank tomorrow and see if they can take that "pending authorization" off. That sounds perfect. $12.57; you can't beat that!!! I'm really hoping that once the phone actually comes; I'll have much better luck.
Ting says I can save 671.90 over 24 months. Wow!
Hi Kristen, so I went and opened a TING account under your link.... And the $25 wasn't applied to my account :o( They stated it was over on April 1... However the banner on the TING page via your page doesn't state that, it just states that I would be entered into a drawing by then, which ok whatever. I was looking to help you and help me with a $25 credit. Anything you can do? TING didn't seem to want to even try to help with it!
But I am excited to to try their service :o) As always thanks for posting this fabulous frugal thing!!!
Huh. I will look into this and get back with you!
Hey again! I've sent you an email with instructions on how to get help from Ting. The problem could be that you haven't added a device yet or ported a number. I don't think the $25 shows up instantaneously.
Anyway, Ting will help you get it straightened out-there's no expiration on the $25 credit (the expiration was just for the giveaway).
Ting is the best. I average $34 per month for two cell phones and house land line. That is three phones for $34. Great service at a great price.
Are there any alternatives in Canada, I don't think this service is found in Canada 🙁
Roku actually is available in Canada...check out the options here: http://www.roku.com/ca/where-to-buy
Go with Republic Wireless and pay $20 for unlimited calls/texts & data. Ting is expensive if you use a lot of data and calling. Republic keeps you on the same Sprint network as Ting, so no difference in data.
https://republicwireless.com/
I completely agree. Ting is *HORRIBLE* when compared with Republic Wireless. I went with Ting because of *this* post. I've had it for a week or so. My husband has Republic Wireless. There is no comparison. Republic Wireless is far, far, far better. I won't be staying with Ting. It isn't worth it at all. I'm surprised there's any love for it at all, really!
I think it all depends on how you use your phone service. My husband and I have a bill that averages about $26 a month for TWO smartphones, so about $13 apiece. That's cheaper than what we'd pay for Republic Wireless, and we get to choose whatever phones we want (whereas Republic gives you only a few.)
I think both are good services-they just meet different needs.
Wonderful if you don't care about coverage. Sprint's is the worst network of the big 4. Better off getting a CDMA phone on Straight Talk and getting on the Verizon network
Ting sound great but it's still a monthly bill. We have been using Tracfone for years and now finally they have a smartphone option. We live in a big city and have a very rural place. Tracfone covers both places. Best part of Tracfone--is rollover. I have been paying about $85 a year---(1 year card plus triple minutes from e-bay) that's right A YEAR. Now with a smartphone--my 3,000+ units transferred. I use wi-fi whenever possible to save units--but having no trouble. Be careful when choose ATT --no contract --because they DO NOT USE the same coverage towers for no contract phones--I found out the hard way. And they don't tell you that until you call customer service to find out why your phone doesn't work.
How much did you pay for you iPhone? Most plans, like Verizon subsidize the cost of the phone.
The ones we bought were about $250 from Amazon. They're refurbished and are iPhone 4's, so they're not nearly as expensive as a new iPhone 5.
Despite the initial cost, we knew we'd far ahead money-wise without a $100/month cell phone bill. It doesn't take too many of those to add up to the cost of an unsubsidized phone!
Good info. I'm going to check to see when my contract is up.
I have found a similar yet different option that my family has been using since August of 2013. The service I'm using provides unlimited talk, text, and data on a nationwide 4G network provided by T-mobile. Through the company's optional referral program my monthly service on my Galaxy s3 is completely FREE, and my monthly charge for my wife's Galaxy s3 is about $20/month and dropping as she refers others to the service. If you just want to use the service and not bother with referring anyone, you pay $39/month plus tax for unlimited talk, text and data or $29/month plus tax if you only use talk and text functions. Currently the company has a promotion which gives anyone signing up for service prior to May 31, 2014 - 50% off the first 2 months of service.
What sevice are you using. I am with sprint and am sick of the high bill.
Hi Kristen,
Just signed my new 13 year old cell phone user up to Ting. He has an Iphone. You mentioned in your post that you can text via wifi to another iphone and it doesn't count toward your bucket. Is there something I have to do to set that up?
Thanks, Heather
Yes! He needs Apple's iMessage, which is free. Here's info about it and directions about how to set it up. I LOVE iMessage!! https://www.apple.com/ios/messages/
It all says +tax - what's your average monthly tax charge? I now pay about $5-10 in taxes per phone line and I could see getting screwed by the taxes :S
The taxes will vary based on the state and county you live in. I'm sure if you contact Ting, they can help you figure it out. The taxes are obviously not determined by Ting, but rather by the government.
How can I save compared to Verizon?
Visit Ting's website and you can use their calculator. Just enter your current bill/usage information and you'll immediately be able to find out how much you could save!
Two simple words:
Thank You
Hello FG!
My concern has always been coverage... We live in So. CAL on the border of both Los Angeles & San Bernardino counties. Dropped calls and unavailable usage is of great concern. What has your experience been w/ Sprint?
Have you checked the Sprint coverage map? It all depends on how it is in your area (I live on the east coast, so I have no idea what the coverage is like in CA.)
wow that's amazing! Only 21$
Ting is an interesting concept but with fixed fees I have never found a scenario in which they were the best option for me. Currently I have two phones that cover four major networks with three Paygo plans:
Freedompop - $0/mo for 200 minutes, 500 texts, & 500M data on the Sprint network.
Truphone - Free incoming calls with outgoing and data at 10c/min on AT&T or Tmobile network (one fee based transaction required per 30(?) days. Terms are not clear.).
PagePlus - ~$2.25/mo ($9 for 120 days) through a discount reseller or $10/120 days purchased directly for 200 min or data on Verizon network after deducting the monthly 50c fee.
Google Voice forwards calls to every number I own and works with RingTo to provide VOIP calling when on Wifi (I have heard Google Hangouts now has a VOIP option so I might be behind times).
This gives me much more than I need but if I needed more there are several very inexpensive options. I had to research for compatible phones which I found on Ebay. The Sprint phone was a "buy it now" option inc shipping for $30 and the Verizon, AT&T, and Tmobile phone is a global phone I won at auction for ~$43 including shipping.
Freedompop charged $20 setup fee, Truphone SIM cost $30 which included $15 worth of calls, and I was able to bypass the $10 activation fee on PagePlus by finding a dealer who waived it when I purchased my initial $10 standard plan card. Google Voice charged $20 to port my number so my total initial outlay was about $153.00 including minutes and the initial research to find the right phones for me was a hassle but it rocks having everything I need for ~$32/yr when I used to pay twice that per month to get less!
I keep my global phone locked onto the GSM networks but if I lose signal it will alert me to switch to global mode so I use this as my regular phone. The Freedompop/Sprint phone is mostly used for navigation and I would need to do a LOT of travelling to push the data limits. All I miss out on is the convenience of making calls or using data without thinking about it and the data speeds are 2g on the global phone (3g on the Sprint phone but even 2g is fast enough for getting directions or checking a website) but after getting acclimated to it I find it easy to work around the limitations. Wifi makes it even easier.
I stumbled on your site researching if the cinnamon ornaments we made are preservable (we dismantled Christmas at home today) and did a little exploring. I pay $12/month for phone/text and no data (because wifi, as you said, is everywhere nowadays). I own my phone (iphone4) so just pay the $12. My wife is still on her old plan but she'll be switching since she now works from home full time. So we'll be going from $150/month for two plans down to $24/month. Whew! Carrier is PagePlus and I'm in Houston. Don't know if location makes a difference.
Welcome! So glad you found me and are sticking around.
I know that you mentioned apps. for free wifi texting, but don't forget that there are also VOIP apps (Google voice, etc) that allow you to make calls via wifi as well. Just another way to keep your mins down when your on home or public wifi.
Ting has a thing where you can compare your current plan to ting and it tells you if you would save on ting. I wouldn't save on ting with my phone current usage... My plan on Tmobile is only $35... I get unlimited text, talk and 3 GB of data each month with a 10 GB data stash for the year. My data rolls over each month, plus the other 10 GB of data which I can use....
With taxes it comes out to $42 a month...
You can't beat that even with straight talk.. I have compared it...
The tmobile base plan, I have is the $ 25 talk and text unlimited plan
Plus, the 3GB data plan for $ 10 and the data rolls over each month.. so the data isn't lost. You keep using what you didn't use the month before plus your monthly data...
My monthly minutes are: 1194, text are 3452 and data, I use only 280 MB of data...
Ting wouldn't even come close to saving me money...
I have been waiting until now to make the switch because we are currently on pay per minute cheap phones through T-Mobile. I have referred multiple people to check out Ting through your blog. I just ordered my phone and I got the device credit you mentioned above. Thanks for sharing your experience with Ting!
Since I have AT&T, would I have to change my phone number?!
Nope, you should be able to port your number!
FG, I am going to look into this deal. I love reading the conversation of fellow frugal people because it gives me more ideas to save money or whatever.
thanks
Hello Kristen: I would love to save all that money, but I live in a rural area and Sprint does not work there.I work for a hospital and get a 26% discount. I pay over $80.00 for my iPhone and my son pays $88.00 so together our bill runs for over $170.00, Do you know if AT&T has something similar that I could use? I would love to hear about it. Thanks so much.
Hmm, I'm not sure what to suggest. I know Republic Wireless is a great carrier too, but I'm pretty sure they run on the Sprint network, just like Ting does.
What do you think about Ting's coverage after being on their plan for a while? We've been on Google Fi for almost three months--they use both Sprint and T-Mobile towers. It's been nice to have a $30 phone bill for the two of us, but we do seem to have coverage issues on our provider, and we're in a major metro area. Sigh.
For me, it's been good, but I live in an area with good Sprint coverage. Does your area show good Sprint coverage on the map?
We have awesome MetroPCS coverage. Moved over two cell phones from sprint. We now pay $60 total for two phones (all fees included in this price). We have unlimited talk and text and 6G data. Think this deal ends sometime this month if anyone is interested. I think MetroPSC runs off from the T- Mobile network. We have great coverage. In the middle of nowhere Illinois, we had perfect text and cell service. My old Sprint was terrible. I was always in roam and if I had to make a call I would have to stand in one place for it to work. Best cell decision we've made. We don't have IPhones but the phones we do have work great. We had tons of free phones to choose from but my husband and I both opted for a phone upgrade. Mine was an extra flat fee of $20 and my husband's was an extra $40.
Thank you so much for sharing about your experience with Ting! I've been reading all the posts you've written over the past couple years, and it's been a big part of helping me make a plan to switch over to a smart phone (my other phone has been giving me problems in receiving texts so I've decided it's finally time). Have a "new to me" cheaper used smart phone on the way from eBay this week! And then I plan to set up my phone service thru Ting. Will have to use one of your posted links so I can even get a discount! Thanks again!
Can you recommend the cheapest internet provider, slow speed is ok.