<p>Hi!, Im right now thinking on all extra costs as you can see lol.</p>
<p>Anyway, I was wondering if a cellphone is really needed? I mean as an international students we don't have off campus friends yet, so thats why I was thinking if its really needed? </p>
<p>I ve been checking the costs and it is really expensive, in my country there are pay as you go plans, no credit card, id or anything needed and for 10 dlls every two months the line stays active and those 10dlls can be used in calls, sms, web etc...there are some other pre paid plans and still very cheap.
I have a smartphone with great features and exactly what I need.</p>
<p>I was thinking on taking my phone to the us and then just unlock it and use an att or tmobile sim card, but after seeing the monthly costs.. its just way to much.</p>
<p>Since I don't have too many friends off campus, I don't see the need for a cellphone, I was thinking on taking my cellphone with me, keep my country's line and sim card in, and use the wifi feature around campus, I already have whatsapp, and twitter and facebook are a good way of communicating. And my room has a phone line.</p>
<p>Does that make sense? Would you recommend it? or Do you think having a cellphone is a must?!</p>
<p>It really depends on how flexible you want to be. I did not have a cell phone my freshman year and I was fine - however, I was not the social type who made spontaneous dinner plans with friends. </p>
<p>
I don’t follow your reasoning. How do the housing arrangements of your friends affect your need for a cell phone?</p>
<p>Well, we would all be in campus where wi fi is available so a whatsapp message or twit would be a good option…</p>
<p>Personally I use most of my minutes/sms on people who isnt where I am, people from other networks or schools or next town etc. But my school isnt too big anyway.</p>
<p>I am a domestic student, and find a true need for a phone. But if you plan on only doing Skype with parents, and as a previous poster mentioned: no impromptu, well anything, I am sure you can be fine without a phone for a while.</p>
<p>There are many cheaper prepaid phones in the States, I am just too lazy to give a list at the moment lol. </p>
<p>All in all, try no phone and see how it goes. It may work out.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I usually use my phone only for internet and as a personal planner and don’t use it very often for calls or texts, but I do find being able to make and receive calls very useful, although I’m not very social.
Like you, I found the cell phone plans in the US exorbitant after I arrived, and therefore cancelled my plan and started using AT&T’s prepaid service called GoPhone. With occasional calls and mostly web browsing, the cost comes to about $20 per month. I also use Google Voice to text for free over 3G and WiFi.</p>
<p>Thanks!!!</p>
<p>Since Im on a budget I think I won’t get a plan yet, unless I really need it.</p>
<p>I would like to use prepaid though. </p>
<p>In my country prepaid works this way> I buy the phone I like, it comes with a sim card and that sim card is charged, it can be charged at almost anywhere and from $ 2 dlls to $50 (usually new phones come with free balance), which can be used for texting, calling, internet or whatever. Each call has a cost, as well each sms, kb etc, those are deducted from balance. When balance finishes it can be charged again and so on…if the balance isnt used in two months it expires, OR before the 2 months period it can be charged again and the two period policy starts again. Each call costs around $.40cents per minute (or $.10 cents if the mobile line has more than one year active) Each sms is $.08 cents and so on, no charges for received calls, sms etc.</p>
<p>Now my question is, how do prepaid works over there?
Ive been checking the AT&T website and apparently the prepaid thing works like a plan thing, they control every call and text and all that, am I right?
Do you know of a plan where you control your balance and use and all that?</p>
<p>You’ll want a cell phone, you can get a prepaid plan but its best to just do something like use Boost Mobil and pay 50$ a month for unlimited calls( Boost is apart of sprint so your phone will work fine ).
Unless your VERY disciplined your going to end up spending way more without an unlimited plan .
BUT Virgin mobile has phone plans with 300 monthly minutes for 25$ a month , so if you don’t talk much you can do that. Although you’ll save alot of money in the long run paying 50$ a month with Boost since you wont have to worry about how many minutes your using( plus boost goes down to 35$ a month after 6 months of using it)</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that even if the balance expires you keep receiving calls, sms etc. If left without balance for 6 months the line is cancelled.</p>
<p>
There’s a lot more variety. The only thing they all have in common is that you have to pay for service ahead of time, rather than being billed afterwards.</p>
<p>On one extreme, there’s per-per-minute options very similar to what you are used to, with two significant differences. The first is that you have to pay for incoming calls and texts, which is standard in the US. The second is that you have to add money to your account in regular intervals to keep the service active, regardless of the actual balance of your account. When I was on a pay-per-minute plan with Virgin Mobile, I had to add $20 every 45 days. </p>
<p>On the other extreme are monthly plans, which work just like contracts except that you pay ahead of time and don’t have a 2-year commitment.</p>
<p>In between are various options where you might buy a package of minutes or text or data at a discounted price, and then pay per minute/text/KB for everything else.</p>
<p>has anyone been using Google Talk?</p>
<p>[Google</a> Chat - Chat with family and friends](<a href=“http://www.google.com/talk/]Google”>http://www.google.com/talk/)</p>
<p>@reallifeis - a potential problem might be ‘training’ your new friends to contact you via twitter, whatapp, facebook etc, and not by cellphone. You might think about printing, on cardstock, a bunch of ‘calling cards’ with your name and ways to reach you - to make it easier for them.</p>
<p>I have the 0.10 per minute plan with AT&T. It works out for me really well because I use the call feature very rarely. </p>
<p>I call my parents on Skype, and when I need to call somebody and I happen to be in my dorm, I just use Google Voice, which gives you unlimited free calls in the US. I have saved a LOT of money with Google
Voice by using it for calls during which I’m likely to be put on hold.</p>
<p>During my freshman year, therefore, I have received and initiated only 10 hours of calls, which is $60, bought a 100MB data plan every month for $15, and a 200msg plan every month for $5, making my monthly cost for having a cell phone about $25.</p>
<p>Lately, this cost has gone even lower for me because I now use free Google Voice texting on my phone (-$5 in monthly costs!), and because my unused data rolls over to the next month, I can, in some months, buy only a 10MB package for $5 just so that my previously accumulated balance doesn’t expire.</p>
<p>I’m estimating that in the long term, my monthly costs will be about $17 per month.</p>
<p>Being a poor student, I felt horribly ripped off the two times I had to pay the $68 bill for so little service when I used to have a plan.</p>
<p>Have a look at Virgin Mobile. I paid $25 a month for unlimited texts, unlimited internet and 300 minutes. Way cheaper than most other plans.</p>
<p>You are all wonderful!!! Thank you so much!
@mtpaper, thats a good one lol, Ill try to convince a whole community to start using facebook, twitter and whatsapp instead lol </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your patience and great suggestions, Im still deciding which one is better for me, after all ill have a phone in my dorm room free of charge for local calls, so Ill try to get a good plan with lots of sms, no data and the cheapest voice call rates.</p>
<p>Thanks again for explaining everything.</p>
<p>Also check whether you qualify for a discount on service plans as a student. Many schools have negotiated special packages for their students specifically. Princeton students, for instance, get 10% off monthly contract charges from AT&T and Sprint.</p>