How I have a smartphone for only $15 a month

How NOT to shop for a smart phone and data plan

Before I go into the right way to shop for a smart phone and plan, let me tell you how a certain individual (OK, it's my dad) made all the wrong moves when shopping for a smart phone and data plan.  First, not only did he have no idea what his data and communications needs were, he had no real need for a smart phone: doesn't use email, doesn't have anyone to text, already has a GPS in his truck, and is computer illiterate.  So the smart phone was an impulse purchase bought on pure emotion.  Second, he didn't shop around at all.  He already had a Verizon phone, so he just walked into the Verizon store and presented himself as a nice juicy target to the sales staff.  Third, he followed up on these fundamental mistakes by not understanding his data plan and not seeing his phone as a part of his overall communications strategy, and promptly went above the limits on his data plan by incessant and unnecessary web surfing, none of it using wireless access.

What The Technical Meshugana taught me

Now that we've seen the case study of what NOT to do, let's move on to the smart way to shop for and use smart phones.  Much of what I learned about how to buy a smart phone and shop for a data plan I learned from The Technical Meshugana.  He has an extensive guide on telecommunications on his web site.  If you want to geek out I highly recommend it.  If you're looking for one set of recommendations that may work for you, and don't want to read an exhaustive guide, read on below!

First, know what your communications needs are.  Do you make a lot of international calls?  Are you a true road warrior who spends most of your time traveling?  Do you do a lot of texting?  Do you spend most of your time in a few locations, with easy access to phones and computers?  Will you have a home phone in addition to your cell?

Second, understand how best to use the technology infrastructure that already surrounds you.  I do a lot of surfing on my phone, and use apps that need access to the internet.  And yet I rarely use more than half my monthly allotted data.  The key is to use wireless access where it is available.  While I'm at home my phone is always using my home wireless access.  When I'm not at home I'm always looking for free wireless access.  In the past month I have used free WiFi at Barnes and Noble*, Kohl's**, the hospital where my mother in law was admitted, the hospitals where she had doctor's appointments, and my parents' house, just to name a few.  While the biggest threat to smart phones is apps that aren't downloaded from reputable sources, you still need to be careful when using unsecured WiFi networks.  Take a look at the free suite of antivirus and VPN products available from avast! to protect your phone while using free wireless access.

Third, take control of your texting.  SMS texting is a cash cow for service providers.  A text is a tiny amount of data that your provider will want to charge you big bucks for, so even if you don't have free WiFi available, almost any method of sending a text using your data plan is going to be more cost-effective than sending a text using your texting plan.  I limit my texts and I message my Facebook friends using Facebook Messenger, especially when I have free WiFi available.  In addition to Facebook Messenger, you could convert the few people you text most over to a service like Kik instant messanger or you could use Google Voice.  There's no need to give up texting -- just take control of it.

Other people "have to have" the latest and greatest; their loss is your gain

If you don't need the hottest, newest incarnation of the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy (hint:  no one needs the newest version of a phone), you are in control of the smart phone market.  While other people are selling their like-new phones in exchange for questionable benefits like owning a status symbol, you can have a great phone at a bargain price.  I bought my phone at Glyde.com, which is a middle man that connects sellers and buyers of used phones and other consumer electronics.  At Glyde you select what you want to buy and what condition you are willing to pay for.  The better the condition, the more it will cost.  However, having said that, I did not pick the best possible condition, and my phone still showed up looking brand-new; it still had the original protective cover on the screen.  Glyde guarantees the transaction, so if you're dissatisfied with anything, Glyde provides customer service, not the unknown seller.  So, for $100 I had a great, brand-new Samsung Galaxy phone and no 2-year contract obligating me to pay through the nose.

Now, this only works if you are using a service provider that will allow you to bring your own phone, so don't pick a provider that won't.

Where to get a $15 a month service provider

There are lots of providers out there who are buying service from owners like Verizon or Sprint and reselling it to consumers at a much cheaper rate than you can get from the owners yourself.  For a list of recommended providers and an explanation of how this works, check out the Technical Meshugana's Cell Phone Providers.

I chose Ting***, which is a Sprint reseller.  What I like about Ting is that there is no contract and you only pay for what you use.  Data, voice, and text each have their own buckets, and as you move out of one usage bucket and into another, you are charged incrementally more.  Here are their rates as of June 29, 2014.

Rates	XS	S	M	L	XL	More?
Minutes nationwide	No usage $0	1 - 100 $3	101 - 500 $9	501 - 1000 $18	1001 - 2100 $35	2101 + 1.9¢ per
Messages global	No usage $0	1 - 100 $3	101 - 1000 $5	1001 - 2000 $8	2001 - 4800 $11	4801 + 1/4¢ per
Megabytes nationwide	No usage $0	1 - 100 $3	101 - 500 $12	501 - 1000 $19	1001 - 2000 $29	2001 + 1.5¢ per

In addition to the usage bucket charges, you pay $6 per device, and all devices on the plan share these buckets.   If you go from one bucket to another there are no overage fees, and they have a nice app for your phone that you can use to monitor your usage.  Plus, you can set up alerts to let you know when you're coming close to the top of the bucket you want to stay in.  I have always been in the "Small" bucket by using the tips I listed above, so my monthly charge is only $15.  You can also go through Ting to buy your phone via Glyde, so you'll be sure you get a phone that works with the provider.

Ting also has a referral program.  If you use my link (https://zp70hi2inm6.ting.com/) you'll save $25 and I'll also get a $25 referral credit.

The Key is Mindfulness

When I had a work-issued phone I didn't pay attention to how much I used it or where I used it.  But, as in anything you pay for yourself, mindfulness is the key to keeping your bills low.  The good news is, once you've got this all set up and you've figured out what works best for you, it's extremely easy and CHEAP!

*I used Barnes and Noble's free WiFi to scan the bar codes of items using my Amazon price checking app and found that the items were cheaper at Amazon.  Purchased the items within the app and saved at least $5.  Barnes and Noble does not do price matching.
**Here's a tip that doesn't belong in this article but it's too good not to share.  Kohl's almost always has 15% off coupons available online.  Next time you want to buy something at Kohl's just connect to their free WiFi in the store then go to a site like RetailMeNot.com and find the best current coupon.  The cashier will scan it directly off of your phone's screen.
***This is a referral link and both you and I will benefit if you use it, as I describe above.

Sh*t happens ... usually when you least expect it

Three weeks ago my mother-in-law went in for what should have been a "routine" surgery.  It did not go well.  She spent four days in the hospital for a surgery to fix a disc in her back.*  After a week and a half at home my daughter and I took her back to the ER because the pain in her leg and hip was so terrible.  It turns out the disc was not fixed, and was worse than ever.  She spent another seven days in the hospital and came home.  This past Friday morning she called us again and we were afraid she was having a stroke.  We called the ambulance, my spouse rushed to her house, and my daughter and I met them in the ER.  It turns out that several blood clots had gone to her lungs and she was at risk for more clots that could do even more damage.  It was one of the scariest days of my life.

After we knew that she wasn't having a stroke, but that she was still in danger, next we had to start making plans.  First and foremost, who could take care of our nine-year-old daughter while we were in the hospital with my spouse's mother all weekend?  Sitting in the ER, seeing my mother-in-law lying there on the gurney, her face gray and full of pain, hooked up to so many machines, we knew we couldn't leave her any longer than necessary.  However, a nine-year-old can't handle the stressful boredom of sitting with a loved one who is dangerously ill.  And, after three weeks of dealing with her mother's pain and suffering, my spouse needed me at the hospital by her side.

Friends and family to the rescue

My first call was to my own mother.  She and my mother-in-law have become close friends, and I knew she would want to be here with her.  She could also take care of our daughter while we spent the weekend in the hospital with my mother-in-law.  Most of all, even though I am 43 years old, I was scared and I wanted my mom.  Despite the fact that she lives 3 hours away, she immediately said that she would be at our house by the evening and would stay all weekend to help us.

My second thought was where our daughter could spend the day while we dealt with the immediate emergency in front of us.  This was a Friday morning, so most people would be at work.  Luckily for us, several of her friends' parents would be home that day.  We texted the parents of a friend from Girl Scouts, and they invited our daughter over for the rest of the day.  It was such a relief to drop her off and see her run into their house, and to know that she would be happy and well cared for that day.

Gratitude

My mother-in-law is doing much better, and the doctors say she can come home tomorrow!

During this ordeal, we have had so much to be grateful for.  Besides the wonderful doctors, nurses, and nurse's aides who have taken such good care of her, we have a community of people to thank.  First, my own mother, who drove 3 hours each way to care for us and our daughter while we did our best to care for my mother-in-law.  Second, the kind family who took care of our daughter during those frightening hours we spent in the ER.  Third, my spouse's employer and coworkers, who have been more than generous and supportive while she struggled to care for her mother while also keeping her commitments at work.

Investments that pay off

During this time I have also been grateful for the investments we have made that have paid off, and I wanted to pass along our experience so that you, too, can make wise investments.

Invest in...

• your community.  The family that took care of our daughter while we were in the ER was a family from our Girl Scout troop.  I have been the troop leader for three years.  I am a big believer in giving back to your community for many reasons, and one of them is that we all benefit by creating a web of interdependence.  We have spun a web from volunteering with the Girl Scouts, getting to know our neighbors, being involved in our church, and reaching out to other parents at our daughter's school, among other things.  
• your career.  Don't just pick a job based on the salary.  My spouse works for a non-profit that allowed her flexibility while we were dealing with this crisis, and she has enough vacation time that she could take time off to be with her mom at the hospital.  In addition, she has worked for this organization for almost 20 years, and has proven herself to be a valuable employee, so she has earned their trust, which enabled her to be flexible.
• yourself.  We have been using the "pay yourself first" method of savings for many, many years.  When you have money automatically transferred to savings, 401(k), IRA, and money market accounts as soon as (or before, as in the case of employer-sponsored 401(k) plans) your pay check hits your checking account, you are paying yourself before you pay any other bills, and before you can spend the money frivolously on "wants."  Because of this, we have built up a sizable emergency fund, which is important when the unexpected happens.  But we weren't the ones in the hospital, so why did we need money?  The hospital we visited was in the city, and parking was a minimum of $8 a day, and averaged more like $25 a day.  On top of that, while we spent long hours at the hospital we got hungry and had to eat at the hospital cafeteria every day.  Also factor in gas for trips to and from the hospital, as well as items we had to buy individually while we were there for a huge markup (the jokes about $8 aspirins are not far off the mark).  We also bought bagels for the nursing staff one day in appreciation for the wonderful care they provided.  And, while she was laid up we bought groceries for my mother-in-law as well as picking up and paying for all of her prescriptions.  She later reimbursed us for her groceries and medicines, but we didn't have to worry about where the money was going to come from in the meantime, like we would have if we lived paycheck to paycheck.
• health insurance.  I am not an expert on the Affordable Care Act, but the intent is to make health insurance affordable for everyone.  If at all possible, invest in health insurance.  Without health insurance my mother-in-law would probably be facing a bill of $100,000.  One of the medicines she was prescribed would have cost $800 for just a two-weeks' supply without insurance.  With her insurance it was only $8.  There is a lot to be said about our country's broken health care system, but all I will say is that you need health insurance.

Most of all, know that things will go wrong.  If you make the right investments, it will feel a lot less like a catastrophe.
*I am not a medical professional and will use all manner of incorrect terms in this post.