Money Matters

So T-Mobile, my cell phone provider, has changed the way they do their rates... For the better! I am so happy because they got rid of their normal contract system and are doing a reduced rate for the same services. The catch? There is no more discounted rates for phones.

Instead, you pay a portion down on the phone, then a monthly amount gets added to your bill each month. If you do it right when you upgrade your device, you can still save quite a bit of money though. You also don't have to wait the entire length of the term to pay off the device. If you have more money one month, you can put extra towards the device, and then make the remaining monthly lower!

So here is what I did: Currently I have a family plan on T-Mobile with three lines (Getting rid of one of them in another 8 days... current contracts are in effect for that duration at least, then poof!) for $160 per month. That was getting me 3 lines with Unlimited Talk and Text, and 2GB full speed Data. The new plan is as follows (In a few days) Unlimited Talk, Text and 2GB Data for 2 devices: $80 (Because of discounts already in place instead of $100). From there, add $10 for an additional 2GB data for one line, and expanding entire WiFi/USB tethering to 4.5GB (They include 500Mb in their plans by default now).

So Right now, $90/Month. $50 for one line, $40 for secondary line.  I just picked up the Samsung Note 2 on Wednesday for $200, and a bluetooth keyboard for it for $40.00. The phone adds $20 per month on the primary line. Now we are at $70 and $40 per month ($110). Overall savings per month: $40.

Granted, On the main line I only every average about 500 Mb on my phone because I live in an EDGE area (2G Antennas), so why pay an extra $10/mo for tethering? Because where I do programming. Where I do programming is a 4G area which should be getting LTE within the next year or so. As is I average about 8 Mbps with my phone. Currently I pay $50 per month for CLEAR wireless 4G, which I get capped at 6 Mbps and average about 4GB usage each month anyway.

I tested the Tethering capability and it was amazing! I was averaging about 6.5 Mbps tethering, and was able to do everything that I needed to for work, so there is no reason to keep CLEAR! Additional Savings: $50 per month.

So Now I save $90 per month. If I skip out on buying my humungo coffee every day to just one day a week, I can save an additional $75 a month. Do this for even 2 months and I will have completely offset the initial cost to get the good savings, so in 2 months that $90 is pure savings!

But wait! There’s More! I am already used to paying the increased amount per month. So if I don’t change my spending at all and instead put the $90 per month towards my new phone, then I would have the phone payed off fully in 6 months. At this point my T-Mobile bill will drop to $90 overall, and bring my monthly savings up to $110 per month, or $1320 per year! Well, $600 anyway after you take out the initial $240 that I payed for the phone and keyboard, then $1320 after that per year.

Technically I didn’t need to get a new phone, but my current one, the LG G2X did not get the best signal. I only got 3 Mbps max when I was working, and could not connect to my database connection easily. For $240 I am willing to get a better signal.

This is good, because I have a feeling that without roommates, I will need to get a gardner again since it is a bit hard to mow the lawn from the wheelchair. That usually runs $150 per month. Only from May through October though. So I am still in the black about $400 after the first year. The first year I am in the red by about $300 for this set of expenses. (I could always offset more by making my own coffee at the office, instead of my $6.00 lattes... I usually spend about $100 on coffee drinks and know I can get that down to about $15 if I make my own... stupid coffee vice.)