# How much do you pay for a month of cellular phone service? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 4, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242 "2009-08-04T01:00:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/21 "2009-08-05T00:30:57Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I have an iPhone, too. My bill is basically like **Munch’s** , except I don’t work for AT&T, so no employee discount. I also have an iPhone and get an employee discount, but my bill is a little less than **Munch** ’s because I don’t have texting at all. And I don’t know where he works, but I do not work for AT&T but instead get the employee discount because my employer is a big customer. (I think my discount is about 16%. A co-worker who used to work for HP gets a bigger discount, because HP has a better deal with AT&T than mine does.) So if your employer is at all large, check if you can get a discount on cell services. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/22 "2009-08-05T02:22:35Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I also have an iPhone and get an employee discount, but my bill is a little less than **Munch** ’s because I don’t have texting at all. And I don’t know where he works, but I do not work for AT&T but instead get the employee discount because my employer is a big customer. (I think my discount is about 16%. A co-worker who used to work for HP gets a bigger discount, because HP has a better deal with AT&T than mine does.) > > So if your employer is at all large, check if you can get a discount on cell services. Ah, I assumed **Munch** worked for AT&T, and didn’t take into account that companies pass discounts on to their employees. My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/23 "2009-08-05T19:00:37Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > …the prepaid can be very inexpensive - cheaper than that, in fact - if you’re a very casual user. Don’t go with Verizon though (their prepaid is NOT competitive for our needs). Thanks for that info and suggestion. And the warning about Verizon. 😃 I’ll keep this in mind if and when my cell phones or their batteries die. They are LG flip phones, and so far are behaving very well. Knock on wood. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/24 "2009-08-05T19:10:00Z")
> [@Hokkaido\_Brit](#): > > My biggest peeve is that my husband’s job absolutely requires him to have a cellphone as he is on call 24/375 but they neither provide one nor subsidise the one he has. Wow, that’s really demanding. Even after he quits, he’s going to have to be on call for ten additional days for each year on the job! I pay about $85 for an iPhone. $29 plan for 250 minutes, $30 data, $5 text, I think about $5 for international calling, and a few bucks in usage. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/25 "2009-08-05T19:12:36Z")
About $75 a month for my G1. $30 for 300 minutes (I’d probably be fine with 60 minutes) and $35 for unlimited text & internet, then fees. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/26 "2009-08-05T19:42:28Z")
About $7 a month for a TracFone. 😃 I buy a $20 60-minute card every 3 months, but I have double minutes so that gives me 120 minutes. Add a bonus code and I usually get 140 min or so. 46 min a month is plenty for me, I don’t talk on the cell phone that much. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/27 "2009-08-05T20:27:53Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Ah, I assumed **Munch** worked for AT&T, and didn’t take into account that companies pass discounts on to their employees. My mistake. Yup - it’s essentially a “I work for a big company and get a discount” discount. **fervour** - Web browsing is excellent. I live in a [3G area](http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/), which helps. Here’s an old map of people publishing their download speeds: [Map](http://www.zeemaps.com/pub?group=99034&x=-20.3906&y=37.7186&z=15). Some people really don’t like typing on it. To those people, I say, “Bah!” There’s a learning curve on it, but once you just start letting the spellcheck pick things up and not backspacing every single time you make an error, my speed surpasses anything I’ve seen someone on a blackberry do. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/28 "2009-08-05T20:42:19Z")
34.99 a month, no texting plan, but I also get $10 off per month as a corporate discount via my employer, a college. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/29 "2009-08-06T02:48:24Z")
Pay as you go for $10/mo, I just use the phone for emergencies and ‘where the hell are you, you’re late for the movie’ calls. It seems to be cheaper to do that and have a $30 land line than have a bells & whistles cell service. In Greater Vancouver. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242/30 "2009-08-06T04:38:21Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Ah, I assumed **Munch** worked for AT&T, and didn’t take into account that companies pass discounts on to their employees. My mistake. All sorts of organizations have discount plans. I know that Sprint offers a discount, for example, to Avon representatives. (I used to be one.) If you have an opportunity to be in a retail location for your provider when it’s time to re-up your contract, you should ask outright, “I work for X, do you offer a discount to our employees?” They won’t ever offer it to you, but if you ask, they have to give it to you. > [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > it’s hard to find replacement batteries for an older phone), and a cheap prepaid is a good option then. But before replacing the phone, check on eBay. All sorts of batteries for both cell phones and household cordless phones are available on eBay at surprising prices. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-month-of-cellular-phone-service/505242.md?page=1)