[tabi] another money-saving idea for those looking for a great smart-phone plan

From: "Chip and Allie Orange" <acorange@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 19:30:54 -0500

Hi all,

On the theme (since we’re starting a new year) of saving money, if you have a
smart phone which is GSM (that is, compatible with AT&T or T-mobile), and if
you own this phone outright, then you don’t have to sign up for a plan which
locks you in for two years; you can get one of the “prepaid” or
“month-to-month” contracts.

T-mobile has a plan, only available via their web site (you cannot call and
sign up), which is rated by (Cnet I think), as the best phone plan available.
It is $30 a month, and has unlimited data and 100 minutes of voice a month.
Below is an excerpt from an email someone who has this plan sent to me about it:

“ Looking for this on T-Mobile's site just ran me around in circles. There
are also a lot of posts offering advice, often contradictory. The best article
that I found was
http://www.cnet.com/news/is-this-the-best-smartphone-plan-ever/. It pointed to
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans?AID=11031750
<http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans?AID=11031750&PID=6157500&SID=1ewycwd0g0iu2>
&PID=6157500&SID=1ewycwd0g0iu2. I might even have been on this page earlier:
it has plans starting at $50 in big, pink letters. Ignore the eye candy and
keep scrolling. Eventually you get to small, black and white type:

$30 per month — Unlimited web and text with 100 minutes talk

100 minutes talk | Unlimited text | First 5GB at up to 4G speeds

Includes unlimited international texting from the U.S. to virtually anywhere
included in your plan — at no extra charge.

This plan is only available for devices purchased from Wal-Mart or devices
activated on T-Mobile.com.”

Using the second link provided above (the one actually on the T-mobile site),
you can navigate using your browser’s heading movement commands, and you’ll
eventually get to the level 3 heading which mentions the $30 a month plan. I
don’t know about the “purchased from Wal-mart” clause; I guess this means
someone from T-mobile in some Wal-marts may actually talk to you about this
plan if you buy a phone there, but otherwise, you have to sign up on the
T-mobile web page in order to get this plan. If you need to talk more than 100
minutes a month, I think I saw a $35 a month similar plan which has unlimitted
talk time, also on this page.

We’re looking at buying a GSM phone, so like the originator of the email
excerpt, we’ll sign up on the T-mobile page after buying the phone unlocked, so
that the purchase of the phone isn’t tied at all to the plan we sign up for.

Hth,

Chip

[tabi] another money-saving idea for those looking for a great smart-phone plan

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