So this month my iPhone contract with verizon will be ending. My parents are currently paying for my bill but once my contract is over, the bill is on me. So the problem lies is should i even get a smartphone? I mean I’ve had one for so long that it will be pretty damn hard to get used to not having one, but I’m not sure if i will be able to afford it on my own and plus considering 99% of college campuses have campus wide wifi it wouldn’t even be worth it. So what should i do?
My parents made a deal with me that they would pay the first year of my smart phone if i stay on my family plan with my parents but i would have to give them money every month for the remaining year. The cons to this is we share 15gb between 3 people and my dad uses 13gb a month , my dad isn’t telling me how much he will be charging me a month, known him the price will be subject to change, and my dad has an issue in telling my the verizon info so if i ever have a phone problem i will have to mail my phone away and allow him to bring it to verizon on his spare time. It would be so much easier to go on my own plan with a cheaper company but I’m not sure if i could afford it.
What are your other expenses? What would paying extra on phone bills cut into?
Do you have an itouch or some other device that you could use with wifi?
These days smartphones are relatively cheap so it could be a matter of finding a low budget plan that works for you. Verizon is one of the best but also most expensive companies. I would assume going elsewhere on your on would be cheaper.
I would go on your own plan regardless of if you get a smartphone or not, the independence and convenience sounds preferable.
There are definitely cheap options out there. As an upgrade from my flip phone (those were very dark days… :)) I bought a $70 smart phone that was pretty generic but gets the job done and I pay $30 a month for unlimited text, unlimited data, and 100 minutes of calling (which I pretty much never use). Definitely look into some other options and shop around. I’ll bet you can find something.
Smart phones can be had for cheap these days. You can get a pre-paid smart phone through Straight Talk at Walmart and it only costs $45/month for unlimited text, talk, and data. And the bills can’t get behind…because it’s prepaid. This is a good way around possible concerns of running up the phone bill. I love having my smart phone, but it’s by no means necessary for college.
I second the idea of Walmarts straight talk. I had that for about 3 years before I felt financially stable enough to be on my own plan. It’s runs off of either Verizon or AT&T towers depending on what kind of phone you get. If $45 a month is something you can afford, I recommend it. There are also other companies that have just talk and text if that would be more along the lines of what you need. Make sure the wifi your school has us reliable though if that’s what you’ll mainly be using. There were many times when I was in the dorm or on campus that the internet quit or was so slow it wouldn’t work. Not the best situation when you need to register for classes during class lol.
I’m on Cricket’s plan for $35/month - 2.5 GB 4G data (which I never get close to using because I’m usually on wifi), unlimited talk and text. I didn’t have a smart phone until a month ago (4 years into college), and I got along fine without it. (I used my iPad mini when I didn’t want to pull out my computer). But having the flexibility of data off campus is nice, and it makes it a lot easier to explore and keep in touch with people (when everyone’s using stuff like snapchat instead of texts).
Staying on Verizon is by far going to be your most expensive option. In addition to a cheaper plan like Straight Talk or Cricket (using AT&T’s network), you can get a relatively inexpensive smartphone like the Moto G, or invest a bit more and get something like the Moto X or OnePlus One (I have one and love it). Off contract, the flag-ship phones from companies like LG, Samsung, Apple, etc. are really expensive and IMO not worth it.
I also used to use Straight Talk. I had it for about 3-4 years before switching to the Verizon plan that I’m currently on, and I never really had any issues with it. Beware of customer service though. You will likely be talking to someone overseas that has no vested interest in actually helping you.
nanotechnology i agree with you on how it feels good to have data off campus, thats one of my concerns if i decide i i can’t really afford a smartphone because I’ve become way too accustomed to having 24/7 internet access haha. and its also a safety feature, there have been COUNTLESS times where I’ve had to pull over and use my gps because i got lost. So I’m not sure if i really am ready to give up the convenience of my smartphone.
Here’s my recommendation: switch to T- Mobile and get the cheapest package. You are right. College campuses have wifi everywhere. T- Mobile has a new feature which allows customers to use WiFi to make phone calls and if you are still on iPhone, you can use WiFi to send text messages. Every month, the data you don’t use will rollover as well. So if I were you, I would keep the smartphone, but switch to T-Mobile.
Yeah, getting a cheap unlocked phone on T-Mobile isn’t a bad option either. There are a bunch that are really quite good overall. With 1440p screens and more complex Armv8 chips working their way into the upper segment, you can get a ton of bang for your buck in the mid-range price area.
Verizon just cut some prices on plans… I got a deal on my iPhone6 a couple of months ago where my data plan cost went down. Tell you dad this and ask him to call to see if they can give him a better deal (since you are thinking about dropping your line) and ask if he could apply any discount he gets to your data bill (since it was your idea to call )
And as a bonus, all Verizon phones come preinstalled with a supercookie that tracks all of your internet traffic and is easily accessed by and sold to third parties. You can’t remove it, and it can easily spread to your other devices.
I wasn’t trying to make it seem like I didn’t think that, but I really didn’t think that the mainstream media covered it well, or gave it the proper attention. I find that a combination of Extremetech, Cracked, John Oliver, and The Daily Show provide a less biased and overall superior breadth and depth of news than the mainstream channels ever will. It doesn’t help that they’re owned by such benevolent organizations as Comcast (Comcast and Verizon seem to be fighting each other over who’s a worse company).
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