Financial Friday
by Alice Shaffer, The Financial Nanny
Back in December 2010, I got the Droid Incredible from Verizon. I have been a “slave” to Verizon for well over 10 years for my cell service as well as landline. During one of my nanny jobs in the Washington DC area I had to get Verizon because Sprint didn’t work and AT&T for me was expensive. Another nanny job, my employers AT&T phones didn’t work in the house but my Verizon cell did. That is how my “marriage” to Verizon Wireless began as a professional nanny. One of the reasons I got the Incredible was that it was “free” at Best Buy. It was $149 dollars with a $50 rebate at the Verizon store. The main reason was that I wanted to give my Grandmother and my Aunt my enV3 so that when they are dealing with my grandmother’s many doctor appointments and so forth, they didn’t have to worry about cell phone minutes etc. Verizon had an offer to add a “smartphone” to a family plan for free for 2 years ($9.99 credit monthly). This was fantastic. I would however have to up my call plan by $30-50 dollars to make this all work. It also included a $29.99 data plan that I was not using for my enV3 phone as a I had the non existent $20 “premium” package Verizon once offered. It basically meant I was shifting money around to get my Droid and the data package.
I bring this up because Verizon just launched their iPhone4 the other week for purchase after many months of anticipation. People kept asking me if I was going to upgrade to the iPhone. I replied “Nope” My droid was FREE. I didn’t even pay tax or get my credit card swiped. Score big for me in getting a “smartphone” without any payout upfront. The only “payout” would be the increase in my monthly bill by the $29.99 data package and the taxes/fees that they tact on monthly. The iPhone is $200-$300 for the phone alone. They both have free apps and paid apps. The Droid doesn’t technically doesn’t play “itunes” but I have heard there are ways of getting apps to make that happen.
I ran across this blog post over at The MILLIONAIRE NURSE BLOG titled Save Money: On a Smart Phone???
courtesy of Smart Money
In this blog post, he discusses how there are shopaholics and how they have to have the newest and shiniest items on the market. Which has definitely been happening with the Droid and iPhone markets. If you happen to be one of those people who NEEDS the newest gadget when it hits the store shelves you should check out Smart Money’s article Save $500 on Your Cellphone This Year The Millionaire Nurse brings attention to this article. It has some been nice tips on how to save money on your cellphone bill this year. There is discussion of Skype and Instant Messaging versus texting.
How do you save money on your cell phone bill? Do you choose a carrier outside of Verizon and At&t?
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