August 25, 2005

Cell phone voice plans sure have gotten expensive

So in my efforts to restructure, cut costs, improve efficacy for FY06 - I’ve decided to look at my cell phone bill which averages $63 a month.

Half of that is the voice plan… $39.99. The other half is unlimited data.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how much data I’m actually using right now… so I’ll have to put that aside.

Looking around at the big 4 wireless companies, here are the starting prices for their plans:

Cingular: $39.99 for 450 anytime, 5000 n/w, unlimited m2m, 2 year contract.

Verizon: $39.99 for 450 anytime, unlimited n/w, unlimited m2m, 1 year contract, $35 activation fee.

Sprint: $35 for 300 anytime, unlimited n/w, $5 m2m, 2 year contract. (Maybe 1. Hard to tell.)

TMobile: Actually I’m not going to include TMobile because their coverage in the Bay Area from my experience really blows.

Wow, so basically you can’t get a plan for under $480 a year (plus huge tax) anymore.

Posted by: dtc @ 1:18 am

Mark Jen Says:
August 25th, 2005 at 8:53 am
We’re probably on the same legacy AT&T plan where MSFT employees were able to get the SMT5600 w/ unlimited data… that plan is sweet. The unlimited data is key.

I can’t find a reasonable unlimited data plan from the other providers… for the ~$20/month we pay for unlimited data now, it’s almost a steal!
Gene Says:
August 28th, 2005 at 8:40 am
Boy, it’s amazing how expensive cellular service has become — was it always this pricey?
It’s like regular POTS in the way the cost rose so quietly it went unnoticed. I am now paying $60 per month (Cingular 450min+weekends+messaging) for a cell phone that I rarely use. That’s $20 more than my home VOIP service, which has 3 telephone numbers assigned to it and unlimited calling.
It really makes me wonder if it’s necessary to have a cell phone at all. $60 a month is a lot of money, and seems like it could be put to better and more altruistic uses than the comfort of being constantly available to callers, 90% of which are wrong numbers anyway.