Kicking Off my $100 Cell Phone/Service Challenge

What if somebody gave you $100 and requested, “How far can you stretch this money to cover your cell phone communication needs?”

Yesterday, I get started on a adventure to reply to that very query (that nobody is calling.)

The problem has two portions:

1. Buy a brand new telephone
2. Buy the provider for that telephone

The objective is to spend $100 on BOTH of the ones. Do you assume Lazy Man can do it? Yes he can!*

In truth, I positioned the orders the day gone by.

In an international of $1000 iPhones, $100 isn’t going to get you very a long way. It would possibly simply pay the gross sales tax in some excessive puts. I spent a very long time looking for the common value of a cell-phone plan and got here up empty. I discovered one thing that stated JD Power put it at $73, however it appeared old-fashioned. I’m considering it could be nearer to $60 or $65. In maximum circumstances, you almost certainly can’t get two months of what the common individual will pay for mobile phone provider.

It must be evident that I’ll be reducing some corners to get this finished. Part of the problem is not to reduce too many corners the place the entire thing falls aside.

Getting the Cheap Phone

I’ve written ahead of that you’ll be able to get monetary savings with Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones. If you might be keen to place up with some further promoting, you’ll be able to get a brand new Alcatel A30 for $59. It used to be $64.19 together with tax for me.

It’s an excessively low-end telephone. It is a step under my previous Nexus five that debuted just about four years in the past. I don’t have this telephone in my fingers but, but when it’s anyplace on the subject of that, for $59, I’ll be extraordinarily satisfied. I used to be in a position to make use of that Nexus five as my common telephone till only a few months in the past till I broke the display screen.

Getting the Service

Amazon has had that mobile phone deal for a very long time. It’s been tempting, however I by no means had an actual explanation why to shop for it. The perfect method to economize isn’t to spend it, proper?

However, Rick Broida from CNET’s Cheapskate discussed this deal for three months of Mint cellular provider for $30. That’s 2GB of 4G information every month on T-Mobile. Without that “Foxtober” promo code it’s $15 a month. The feedback on that CNET article appear to be break up between individuals who just like the provider and people who bumped into some problem with restricted customer support once they had an issue. I believe love it’s definitely worth the gamble, as a result of if it really works, I’ll save $20 a month. I recently have Cricket for $35/mo. with autopay. (I’m additionally presuming that over the lengthy haul, I’ll pay the $15 a month value.)

Mint Sim (to not be puzzled with Mint the net non-public finance instrument) additionally has very reasonable plans if you happen to use extra information. I generally tend to make use of round 1.5GB a month.

I took good thing about the deal and purchased three months of provider. With delivery and the regulatory restoration charge it got here to $35.55.

The giant query is whether or not T-Mobile might be applicable in my space. Cricket makes use of AT&T and I realize it works neatly for me. For the cost of 1 month of Cricket, I’ll roll the cube to determine.

Winning my Own Fabricated Challenge!

If you upload up the $64.19 for the telephone and the $35.55 for three months of provider I spent you get… $99.74. Boom! Challenge received! I’ve 26 cents to spare. If I want to stick with AT&T, I will nonetheless stick with Cricket for $35 for one month and squeak in underneath $100.

The giant win right here might be if the Mint provider works for me. That’s a possible financial savings of just about $250 a yr… possibly $500 if my spouse does it too.

I’d love to make a last be aware concerning the telephone I purchased. It would possibly appear foolish to shop for a telephone for any such (fabricated) problem. I may just simply pop the Mint sim card into my Moto X Pure and notice the way it is going. However, I discovered the lesson a few months in the past that it’s extraordinarily useful to have a spare telephone. We truly needed to scramble with a few damaged monitors. This new telephone doubles as an insurance coverage plan. It’s additionally the type of factor I will drop within the diaper bag with a couple of episodes of Blaze or Paw Patrol. That’s an enormous worth when you wish to have to entertain a few tots.

I’ll record again in a month or so and mean you can understand how it is going.

* Lazy Man may be very adept of relating to himself within the 3rd individual.