I think I'll keep averaging out the costs until late March, and then I'll start my calculations over again. That will have been a full year, so I can state what the average monthly cost for the first year was, then start tracking the average monthly cost for the second year, etc.
NT filled up with 300 more minutes because his 60 days had nearly run out (AND he'd had to be really careful not to run out of minutes this time!). Cost: $32.82
RECAP: I switched to prepaid in late March, meaning it's been 10 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
NT's late-January Net10 fillup: $32.82
So our total cost so far is $620.74.
So far, if I divide our total cost by 10, our new plan has cost us $62.07 per month. That's the lowest the average has been, and much better than our $85 average on the T-Mobile family plan.
I've still got about 300 of my original 1000 minutes and I don't need to re-up until late March 2010 unless I run out of minutes before then. AS may need to fill up again soon, but she's made her latest 1000 last 3.5 months, which is better than the 3 months and the 3 months, 1 week, that she lasted the other two times. And that's with having been at home through November. I think the next round of minutes will last her even longer now that she works full time!
(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.)
Prepaid plan costs update
January 22nd, 2010 at 04:10 pm
January 22nd, 2010 at 05:40 pm 1264182054
January 22nd, 2010 at 06:03 pm 1264183382
January 22nd, 2010 at 06:36 pm 1264185376