Challenges With Cheap Cell Plans
With Jeremy’s last day as an employed person fast-approaching, our access to his company-sponsored cell plan will disappear, leaving both of us needing a cell plan. Granted, I haven’t had such a luxury, well, ever, and over the past year I got fed up with paying a monthly ransom to be able to use my phone for the limited time I spent away from a good wifi connection.
Once we head off cruising, our access to a consistent wifi connection will disappear, leaving us at the mercy of coffee shops and libraries (which we won’t be going into until this pandemic is a little more under control) and, more likely, cellular data. Hence the renewed interest in researching cell plans.
With cell plans, you get to choose 2 out of 3 parameters. Price, coverage, and features. Care about price and coverage? You may well be limited in features (like bringing an existing phone, or access to the so-far-largely mythical 5G). Care about features and coverage? You’ll be paying more. You get the idea.
There are a number of cut-rate cell phone plans out there, ranging in price from $5/month upwards until you reach the lofty levels of the big companies (ATT, Verizon, and Sprint). Which plan appeals depends on a lot of factors (there’s my favorite response to any cruising question again!), and you may not have thought of some of them.
What phone do you have? If you’re counting on bringing your already-paid-for phone with you to a new plan, you might be surprised to learn that the highly-touted features of one plan may not work on the phone you have. This was the case with Google Fi and an iPhone, much to my disgust. I needed to be able to use wifi calling and was counting on the network-switching feature, neither of which is operational on an iPhone.
Where will you be using the phone? Cut rate cell plans are likely using the network infrastructure of a larger company, and understanding the underlying network (and where that’s got good service) can be enlightening. Mint, for example, relies on T-Mobile while Cricket is an ATT plan. In many cases, the calls and data associated with cut rate plans are considered second-tier customers, which means you might get bumped or have a harder time connecting.
How much will you be using the phone? If you’re looking to stream a lot of Netflix in out of the way places, or need to upload endless files for work or pleasure, you’ll care more about unlimited data than someone who pretty much only checks email and texts occasionally. Be honest with yourself about your usage; most plans offer the ability to add extra data but it’s costly.
A particular word of caution for cruisers who are on the move. Make sure the fine print of whatever plan you opt for (cut-rate or not) does not penalize you for leaving some area of coverage for an extended period of time.
What did we choose? We’ve got 2 different plans. I’m on Mint* because I have an iPhone (essentially incompatible with Google Fi) that offers me 3 gigs of data and unlimited text and calls. Primary for me was cost and features like wifi calling available on an iPhone. It cost me $150 up front for a year; renewal will be $165. Jeremy is on Google Fi*, with a Google phone - we like the Fi portability when we go international, even if we only use it in a country until we buy a local SIM card. His Fi account is a base of $20/month plus data ($10/GIG prorated by what you actually use.) For him, it was more coverage and features, with price less critical. See? We had to choose 2 of 3!
We’ll check back in in a year to see if anything has changed!
*these are affiliate links, meaning you and we get a discount if you use one.