Have Cell Phone Price Wars Begun?
At first glance, it appears the initial stages of a cell phone price war have begun since Verizon, AT&T, and US Cellular recently cut rates on their unlimited talk plans. For example, Verizon’s nationwide unlimited talk plan was cut by $30 to $69.99 per month. Of course, now speculation has begun whether the big carriers will cut rates for minutes-based plans. However, there is no indication that the minutes-based plans will be changing at this time. In fact, in this post by Brad Tuttle at TIME, he investigated this supposed price war between the cell phone carriers and discovered that the carriers have implemented new, higher charges for unlimited texting and data plans. Tuttle quotes a Verizon spokesman as saying they think this move will actually increase revenue as more consumers will subscribe to data plans.
As usual, consumers need to read the fine print and understand all of the extra charges involved with their cell phone contract. Perhaps this is a good time to do some price comparison shopping and evaluate your cell phone costs. If you’re interested in doing some price comparison shopping and evaluating your cell phone costs, check out Consumer Reports article on 8 ways to cut your cell phone bill. Consumer Reports points out that they’ve found that pre-paid cellular service is often cheaper than the typical contract plan.
For example, with Straight Talk from Tracfone Wireless, they offer two no-contract plans:
- $30 plan – 30 day plan which includes 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts, 30 MB of mobile web access, and calls to 411 at no extra charge.
- $45 plan – 30 day plan which includes unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited mobile web access, and unlimited calls to 411.
We found phones ranging from $60 to $140 on the Straight Talk website, along with two very high end phones for $359 and $374.
Cricket Wireless is another popular no-contract provider with options ranging from $25 to $55 a month. Cricket also has a handy tool on their website to compare their rates versus your current provider. We found phones available on their website from $40 to $140. Two examples of their plans are:
- $30 plan – Unlimited talk, caller ID, and premium coverage.
- $45 plan – Unlimited talk, caller ID, premium coverage, text, long distance, pix, and more. Includes 30 minutes of nationwide roaming per month.
Are you satisfied with your cell phone provider? Do you prefer no-contract providers? What provider do you think offers the best value? If you have any insight to share, please leave a comment.
Cricket Wireless Free Turkey Giveaway – 11/21
JSOnline blogger Doris Hajewski has reported that Cricket Wireless will be giving away free turkeys to the first 100 people in line at their four new Milwaukee area stores on November 21st.
The stores are located at:
- 5444 W. Fond du Lac Ave., Milwaukee
- 745 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee
- 8311 W. Brown Deer Rd., Milwaukee
- 7925 W. Layton Ave., Greenfield
The first one hundred people in line at each location will receive a free frozen turkey when the doors open at 10:00 AM.
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