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Home > Prepaid plan costs 12-month wrap-up: $60.71/month annual average!

Prepaid plan costs 12-month wrap-up: $60.71/month annual average!

February 22nd, 2010 at 12:38 am

AS needed a refill, so we spent $107.78 to buy 1000 more minutes. She made her minutes last 4.5 months this time, much better than the previous record of 3.5 months. Having a work phone has made a huge difference, and she didn't even have it for half of this time.

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: $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
AS's late-February T-Mobile fillup: $107.78

So our total cost so far is $728.52.

I still have 140 of my original minutes, NT has 185 remaining on his phone, and of course AS has 1000 brand new minutes. We're assuming that's the last we'll have to buy before late March, at which point I'm going to start a fresh year of calculations. So, if I divide our total cost by 12, our new plan cost us an average $60.71 per month over the span of a year. That's much better than our $85 average on the T-Mobile family plan (and better than the $80 minimum which our family plan used to cost us in a really good month).

RECAP: I switched to prepaid in late March, meaning it's been 11 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.

(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 for next year is to get my average cost to $50 per month, but any average number below $85 will be a savings.)

2 Responses to “Prepaid plan costs 12-month wrap-up: $60.71/month annual average!”

  1. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1266805758

    Great job - that is some super utilisation of plans ! :-)

  2. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1266864154

    Great savings!

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