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Prepaid plan costs update

November 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 pm

Another thrilling episode in the cost of my prepaid plan! I know these are really boring entries; they're mostly for my benefit so I can keep track.

NT filled up with 300 more minutes because his 60 days had nearly run out (not because he'd used up his minutes). Cost: $32.82

RECAP: I switched to prepaid in late March, meaning it's been 8 months. We have 2 phones on T-Mobile prepaid and 1 on Net10 prepaid. AS and I refill in 1000-minute increments and only need to refill when we run out or when it's been a year since our last fillup to stay active. NT needs to buy 300 more minutes every 60 days to keep his phone activated.

Initial layout to get us set up with phones and 2300 minutes: $241.63
NT's late-May Net10 fillup: $32.65
AS's late-June T-Mobile fillup, 1000 minutes: $107.40
NT's late-July Net10 fillup: $32.82
NT's late-September Net10 fillup: $32.82
AS's early-October T-Mobile fillup: $107.78
NT's late-November Net10 fillup: $32.82

So our total cost so far is $587.92.

So far, if I divide our total cost by 8, our new plan has cost us $73.49 per month. That's the lowest the average has been, and measurably better than our $85 average on the T-Mobile family plan.

I've still used just over half of my 1000 minutes and I don't need to re-up until March 2010 unless I run out of minutes before then.

(Our cellphone bill, for three phones on a family plan, used to range from $80-$95, depending on texts, calls to 411, etc. Usually it was close to $85. My goal is to get my average cost below that, preferably to $50 per month, but any average number below $85 will be a savings.)

4 Responses to “Prepaid plan costs update”

  1. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1259024379

    That's really good for 3 people!

  2. crazyliblady Says:
    1259029670

    I have a prepaid Tracfone. I had been warned by my hubby about how expensive prepaid minute phones are, but I was prepared and I definitely did not want to have to put another phone on our contract phone plan. I bought my Tracfone in July at Big Lots for $15.00 and a $19.99 minutes card with it. The minutes did not expire until June 2010!! I don't use my phone very much, maybe about 20 minutes a month. No joke.

  3. CouponAddict Says:
    1259077454

    Can you get any text minutes with the Tmobile plan? I really want to look into a prepaid as I average about 17 minutes a month, but I cant seem to find a good plan like the Tmobile you have.

    We only have Version and Alltel here; AT&T is suppose to buy out ALLTELL in this area but it has not happened yet and I really have not heard anything new since Verzion bought out Alltel.

  4. ceejay74 Says:
    1259077739

    Hey CA,
    Yep, you can use your minutes for texting on both the T-Mobile and the Net10 plans. I think it costs the same as a minute ($.10) to both send & receive texts with T-Mobile, but Net10 only charges $.05 to receive.

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