# How much does a cell phone bill cost **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368 "2004-04-27T22:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368/21 "2004-04-28T23:34:43Z")
My bill is $89 a month. That’s two users with two individual phone numbers, free long distance and voicemail. We have something like 3500 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends plus free in network calling (calling to other people with Sprint phones. As I never spend a cent on long distance calls or maintaining a home number, I consider that a fair trade. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368/22 "2004-04-28T23:59:25Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Take whatever price they advertise, and add another $10-$12 a month. That’s what you can expect to pay in the “real world,” IME. It’s often more than that if you want caller ID, voicemail, text messaging, personalized ringtones, call waiting… My $29.99 plan (Rogers) ended up costing me almost $50 a month with only caller ID and voicemail. When they changed my plan without warning to remove my 100 free daytime minutes and started charging me 30c a minute for them, I canceled the service. $600 a year, for a student living at home, was ridiculous anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368/23 "2004-04-29T00:17:44Z")
I’m on T-Mobile, and I have 3000 whenever minutes; I don’t get free nights and weekends but with 3000 freakin’ minutes I don’t NEED 'em. Unless you don’t do anything else but talk on the damn phone, it’s extremely difficult to use up that many minutes. My base plan is $49 a month, with no roaming or long-distance charges. I pay about $62, all fees and taxes included. (I added 300 text messages as well for $2.99 a month.) The cool thing about T-Mobile is that you can check how many minutes you’ve used by dialing #646# on your phone. Other cell phone companies make you go to their website to find out how many minutes you’ve got left, if you can check at all, b/c they want you to go over. I’d second everybody else and recommend getting a plan with more minutes than you think you’ll need. You’d be surprised how “necessary” a cell phone becomes the moment you get one, even if you never saw the need for one. As for VirginMobile, which somebody recommended…I don’t recommend them unless you _rarely_ use your phone. I had one and it ended up costing me $20/$30 a week, and I am not a cell-phone junkie by any stretch. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368/24 "2004-04-29T02:09:25Z")
> [@SuperNova](#): > > $30 dollars here. Plan from Cingular with 250 anytime and unlimited night/weekend. Works for me well. Have nationwide roaming/long distance, which is good at college. If this cell phone is for use at college, I highly recommend it. While calling home may be a local call, many college students keep cell phones based from their hometown, so calling them would otherwise cost extra for long-distance. Huh, it sounds like we have pretty much the same plan. I don’t use mine much, so I got the minimum plan. I am not pleased with the Cingular people down here, but since I rarely have to talk to them, I deal. The service and the phone are fine. The people I dealt with in Georgia were way better. Do you mean long distance on a landline? Because from what I’ve seen, if you’re paying long distance on a cellphone, you’re getting screwed. I’ve had a phone for about five years and never had to pay long distance. ---
**Author:** ![SuperNova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SuperNova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNova)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368/25 "2004-04-29T03:01:51Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > Do you mean long distance on a landline? Because from what I’ve seen, if you’re paying long distance on a cellphone, you’re getting screwed. I’ve had a phone for about five years and never had to pay long distance. Nah. I mean, if you don’t get nationwide long distance on your cell line (which I have), then calling other cell phones can be long distance if they kept the same number they had back home. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368/26 "2004-04-29T03:55:56Z")
$65+tax/fees - Sprint PCS with 800 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, and PCS-to-PCS. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368/27 "2004-04-29T13:37:50Z")
> [@SuperNova](#): > > Nah. I mean, if you don’t get nationwide long distance on your cell line (which I have), then calling other cell phones can be long distance if they kept the same number they had back home. Ah. Yeah. I see what you mean. With taxes and stuff I pay about $34 a month. We have very high taxes of all sorts here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-a-cell-phone-bill-cost/242368.md?page=1)