John Green and Wheezy Waiter, and others I'm sure, have said that pennies are useless, and I would agree. Unless you have a personal vendetta against someone, or are trying to get the ultimate retribution for paying a fine of any kind, pennies are utterly useless. But that's not why I'm writing this blog entry, I could take another post and write my thoughts on the confusingly beloved Lincoln Cent Piece. But I'm using it as a clever segue for this:
I have recently looked at my US Cellular bill for this month, and was sticker shocked to discover what we are really paying. I'm not going to get into how I've had a cell phone with US Cellular for oh say 6 years, and only now am discovering how much it truly costs. Suffice it to say that is one good thing on the side of US Cellular, I would have had no phone quite frequently. Anyhoobastank, so my current cell phone bill cut today. Now I cannot look at the schematics of it yet but I can say we have not gone over on data, so this bill should have been a normal bill. Eyes got wide when I saw $152, let me tell you.
Now I've been mulling over the possibility of switching over to Cricket wireless. I've heard nothing but good things about them, and you can't really argue with the $35/month price tag. No I am not being sponsored to write this, but I'm a research oriented individual, and I've scoured the internet looking for reviews and comparisons between Cricket and US Cellular, and unless I haven't dug deep enough (my Google Search History might beg to differ), I haven't found much, if anything. So that is why I'm writing this. If you have US Cellular, and are thinking about switching...keep watch on this blog. Starting next week, I will be taking my line from US Cellular and switching it to Cricket, and leaving my wife's at US Cellular, as she just got a new phone recently and I cannot afford to buy out the $444 plan (I guess the new way to get you into a contract??)
One thing of experience to share, is I went into the US Cellular store and told them what I was thinking of doing, and trying to get an estimate of how much going down to one line was going to cost. Now the lady was super nice, and she did tell me to contact Customer Service, because they specialize in retention, and might be able to cut me a discount to retain me as a customer. My first thought to that is, if you have to have a department specializing in that...shouldn't you just offer lower prices to begin with? Maybe (okay definitely) I'm naive, but why should one have to threaten to leave a provider just because their bill is too high and they're finally able to see it for what it is, not just pay it and go "It is what it is"...I hate that phrase by the way.
SO, what I'm going to do with this is compare the services, with frequent (or as frequent as I can) updates regarding service and coverage between the two providers, because for the time being that's what I'm going to have to do. But I'll say this also: Two lines on a shared plan, with 6 GB of data, and insurance on one phone, runs you about $150-160 at US Cellular. Dropping down to one individual line, at 3 GB of data, it was estimated that my bill will only drop to about $88 (whether that's before or after taxes I don't know). Meanwhile, a similar plan from Cricket will run me just $35. Well, $40 but I will be using the auto-pay option to get a discounted rate. Still...combined with the US Cellular bill of (estimated) $88, that brings me to $123. I'm told that Cricket's taxes and what not are already built into the price of the plan so it's basically a flat $35 ($40). I'll update that as well.
On paper, it would seem that I'll be the one with the better coverage, as Cricket uses AT&T's network. US Cellular's network is primarily in the Midwest. The true test will be when the family and I venture to Alabama later this summer, and also when we go up north over 4th of July. But to have that side by side comparison...relieves some of the natural anxiety I'm feeling that "What if I make the wrong choice? Which do I choose?" But to save at first, about $30/month? Why not? And then after that to basically cut my cell bill in half...I mean it's a no-brainer. That's a box of Pull Ups for my 2 year old. It's a night out at a restaurant, or a pizza delivery, or $30 per month going into savings for upcoming trips.
I'm not saying I hate US Cellular, don't get me wrong. They've been really good to me over the last 6 years, and maybe that's where my hesitation, or at least part of it, comes in. But this way, if they suck...I can always come back because it's a no-contract kind of deal. Win-Win? We shall see....stay tuned.
In other penny-pinching news, so I have returned the antenna that I had purchased in the last entry. Sad to see it go, but happy to get my $50 back instead of have a stylishly-curvy paperweight sitting right next to my TV or up on a bookshelf or in a window. I have taken the first step of cable freedom and signed up for Netflix. For my family, it seems like a logical choice, as we are not major TV watchers. My oldest already knows how to do Netflix so if I'm too old to figure it out, he can show me I'm sure. I'm debating now between Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime. I do like the Amazon Prime option (also not a sponsor, and neither is Netflix or anything else I mention in this blog...if I was being sponsored, I wouldn't have to write a blog about penny pinching now would I?) because for $8,25/month, I can get the video option plus the free 2 day shipping on orders...which interests me, because in the last month I've probably spend $30 in shipping costs alone. But in return I've gotten a manual coffee grinder, a Wisconsin State Flag, and 3 books. So yeah I'd probably make use of free shipping...further research is required but all of that, since it's involving Penny Pinching...will be discussed here.
Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Stay tuned for further updates!
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