Cell Phone Dilema

stumben32

Member
Mar 5, 2008
85
0
0
Wife and I are trying to decide if we should switch phones/plans or stay with what we are using. Our cell phone budget is fairly low so not looking for anything too elaborate or expensive. so many choices its near overwhelming. Listed below our current plans, and needs.

My Phone : Current using one of the new Motorla Tracfones. For what it is, it works very well. The service is surprisingly very good as far as reception. I never have dropped calls, signal is good just about every where. I do not use it much - only when I really need to. I mostly sit at my Desk at work so just use the office phone. The drawback of tracphones is they gobble up minutes FAST if you chat. I find these days I am loving text messaging. Lets me get a quick message off privately without the chats on the phone. I would say if I averaged by month I pay like 15$ a month ( tops ) but now I text so much thats going to go up.


Wifes Phone: Older Verizon phone ( samsung model ). she pays 50$ a month. I cant remember exact details but something like 450 anytime minutes ( maybe more? ) but she pays for every text message. She uses hers significantly more than I use mine which is why we have been going separate plans. The minutes are just enough - but she also gets burned on the texts. Verizon service however is average at best. Signal weak, some dropped calls and alot of cutting in-and out.

So, can anyone recommend perhaps a family plan option that would keep us close to the same budget, yet give us more texting ( unlimited would be nice... )? I love the service of the tracfone ( is it AT & T? ) alternatively verizon kinda sucks... service is not the best in my area ( Upsate NY ).

P.S. I have seen plans refered to as "Data plans" and such like Sprint. What does that even mean...does it include text msg ? A little confusing to say the least.

Thanks in advance.
 

Jakeisbest

Senior member
Feb 1, 2008
377
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As far as i can tell the best plan is running currently is sprint's 99.99 + tax a month which gives you unlimited everything. They also have a deal where you and your wife can pay a bit more and both have the plan. The only problem is that Sprint has weak coverage (at least in my area which is very hilly).

I would switch but I signed up with AT&T when I bought my iPhone!
 

DivideBYZero

Lifer
May 18, 2001
24,117
2
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Make a list of things you want to do with a phone first, then whittle down the list to include only those phones that do what you want. Don't worry about data plans until you have established you want a service that requires it.