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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

i did it.

You all are going to think i'm crazy.

Well, except maybe Laura. :) Haha.

But what started as me accidentally washing my cell phone in the washing machine...

...ended with me canceling my AT&T wireless account. 

As of, about 5 minutes ago.

I am now the proud (almost) owner of the very popular (note: sarcasm) Tracfone

AND - i'm pretty excited about it!

Now, understand something. When Brad & I first got together, he had a tracfone. I kinda thought that was goofy. I mean, who has pay-as-you-go phones these days? Nobody. But i couldn't afford my cell phone bill. I had actually stopped paying the bill & the account was closed (due to my not paying it. i was in bad shape.). And so, at the time, Brad bought me a tracfone. Just to use until i could get a new cell phone.

I finally got myself a "real" cell phone with AT&T in May 2009. And i liked it. It was a good little phone. My sweet Samsung Impression. My bill averaged about $70/month. Yikes. It was actually $35/month but then i added unlimited texting. And then i kept getting on the internet, even though i didn't actually HAVE an internet package.

But we just kept on paying it, because i needed it.

Don't get me wrong. I understand the need for a cell phone. I like cell phones. And hey, if you can afford one & you want one, go for it! But we are trying to save money. I'm thinking that money towards my bill could go towards something else. Like, debt. I really used my cell all the time when i was stage managing. I don't even know how they SM'd before cell phones. Haha. Seriously! You are the main point of contact for the cast, crew & production team. But really...I haven't SM'd a show since July. After i was done with Sound of Music, i realized something. I don't use my cell phone as much anymore.

Then in September i went on vacation. We came home & i did laundry. I was talking to Brad one evening as i was transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer. And....mid-sentence..."Oh-no!!!" i said sadly & pulled my sweet Samsung from the washing machine. 

DRENCHED. 

So i did what any normal person would do. I got advice on Facebook. I was told to put it in a bag of rice for 24 - 48 hours & it might work again. 

I did that. For 48 hours. And it turned back on!! Hallelujah! But, that's all it would do. No texting. No calling. No nothing. Dead, dead, dead. 

I was also advised to put it on a dryer that was running...that didn't work either. 

I got on AT&T's website & discovered i was due for an upgrade. YES!! But my upgrade didn't do much for me...the cheapest phone it would buy me was a $140 one. And that's probably a CRAP phone!! All the good phones were at least $300! Even my Samsung Impression was $300-something (though i got it for free as an online deal when i first signed up). 

And i mean, i guess i could have saved my pennies & gotten me a phone. But i'm just not a big phone person. I LOVE to text, but seriously... i just did not have any desire at all to spend $150 on a phone that might be a crap phone. Not when i'm already paying $70 a month. And that $70 was starting to tick me off. Because now i was paying for it, but i wasn't using my phone. And my contract wasn't up until May of 2011. Durn 2 year contracts!!! Isn't a year enough!? Why 2 years?!!

This is when my anger at AT&T began. As long as my phone was safe & sound, i had no issues with AT&T. But i didn't get phone insurance & maybe that was my first mistake. 

So i just kept on using the old tracfone. The same one Brad got for me back when we were engaged. And you know...it's not that bad. I don't use it much. I don't need it as much. The only thing i hate about it is the texting. It is just AWFUL. No predictive text here, which kills me. Texting is sooo slow & awful. Like dial-up for phones. You know what i'm saying? SLOW. And awkward. It takes me like 3 full minutes to type "hi". Ok, that might be an exaggeration. But seriously. As someone who texts more than she talks, i need a text-friendly phone!

So we just kept paying that monthly AT&T bill. It wasn't $70 anymore though. Because i wasn't using it AT ALL. Since, you know, it was drenched. My bill is now right at $50. I kept figuring i'd get a new phone ONE DAY. 

But then we started talking about saving money. We're already paying off debt like crazy & trying to save money too for future kiddos & all that. And Brad mentioned that i should really just get a tracfone. I think he expected me to say, "uh-uh! noooo way!" but i stopped & thought & said, "does tracfone have other phones? Because if it has a text-friendly phone, i'll totally do it."

Well, they do. And not only that but it's only $30. With free overnight shipping. And double minutes for the life of my phone. Okay, tracfone's are prepaid cell phones. You run out of minutes, you pay for more. So basically, for the life of the phone, if i pay for 60 minutes, i'll automatically get 120. Good deal.

I just ordered my phone. And then ended my contract with AT&T. Forever, the website would say "early contract termination" but clicking on it got you NOWHERE. You can't do it online. Or at least, i couldn't find it. So i had to call. I kept putting it off. But tonight, i just grabbed the phone. And now it's done. :) It cost me $80 to end my contract with them. And boy, they tried to get me to stay! But i had already got the TracFone so there was really no turning back! So our next bill will have an $80 termination fee. Which is nothing considering if i don't end the contract, i'll pay $50/month for the next 5 months!

And now i'll have a tracfone. A Samsung phone w/ predictive text that only cost me 30 bucks. With double minutes for life. And free overnight shipping. And a lot of other cool things. And no contract.

Good decision, i think. :)

Before i decided on a cell phone, i was thinking about saving for an iphone. I have never, ever wanted an iphone until about 2 weeks ago. And then suddenly i'm buying a tracfone? Well, i'll say this. I finally realized how cool iphones are. BUT. i cannot afford one. Christmas money is going towards a CAMERA. Because that is what i really want! A tracfone is totally all i need & it's gonna save me some serious money. :)

Wow, that was REALLY long story! Thanks for reading!

6 comments:

  1. I have a TracFone and it is really all I need. It is mainly for emergencies. And for ordering pizza when I'm out. :) The schools have the number just in case. I will agree that texting sucks, but I don't really text much. I just can't see paying all that money for a "cool" phone. Plus I'm home so much, the "need" for a phone really isn't there.

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  2. We're thinking about ending our cell phone coverage with Verizon to go to Walmart's new family mobile plan. Basically it's unlimited talk and text for both me and drew for $70 a month. The downside is you have to pay a lot for a phone (about $120 or so). We don't have a home phone, so we NEED cell phones. But right now we just have a basic plan without texting, so we're pretty much on the caveman's cell phone plan :)

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  3. This is a great idea...too bad my cell service isn't up til next nov!

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  4. My parents just got tracphones and they really like them. They actually had pre-paid Verizon phones for the longest time, and theirs kept cutting out when they'd get incoming calls. It was so awful. They ended Verizon and got Tracphone and now everything is fine. I've been wondering what the cost difference for me would be to get a home phone and a tracphone, but I haven't really looked into it yet. It might not be worth it, but I do want to see.

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  5. I do love my iphone but only have one because of my occasional real estate work. Otherwise it would be hard for me to justify the cost. Plus, in wanting to be able to stay home with babies, cell phone monthly debt is a crappy debt to have!!

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