Part 8 (1/2)

Butonly a wireless phone as they get used to calling people, not places A generation ago, callers would dial up a place, such as a hos Today, wireless phones are associated with individuals, so people call other people, not buildings As wireless phones become commonplace, it's harder to justify duplicate landline telephone service

Before cutting the cord, hout your ho Some allow you to put a snals by soet poor reception, keep an eye out for these new technologies, one of which is called fe a small base station in your house that uses your broadband Internet connection to boost your cell-phone signal and ih minutes on your wireless plan to handle calls at hoo

Consider Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) Consu their broadband Internet connection as a phone line, using VOIP Skype and Vonage are examples of Internet-based phone services Several traditional phone companies also offer VOIP service It can be far less expensive than a traditional stand-alone phone line And if you have strong, reliable broadband Internet service, call quality can be quite good

The MagicJack Phone Solution

MagicJack, MagicJackco distance, voice , and other features for 20 per year That's per year

For an additional 20, you s into the flat USB port on your co a phone line and phone into the other end of the device Software loads onto your coet started, the device plus a year's service costs about 40, and you never get a icJack as a landline by plugging a cordless phone syste icJack include not being able to keep your existing phone nuet a new one And you must have the co calls go to voice on solutions to both of those disadvantages, MagicJack inventor Dan Borislow tells icJack works flawlessly forood as your broadband Internet connection Voice quality can range froood as a landline to as poor as a cell phone with a weak signal Use several online speed tests tointo your favorite search engine ”VOIP speed test”

Use the 30-daylandline service to htsize Your Wireless Phone Plan

I'et For one thing, offerings seee al on how they use the phone Someone who uses the phone for hours a day and has substituted it for their landline phone needs a different plan than soencies

But I can tell you how you should decide for yourself

The big idea in buying wireless service is not to pay for ht sound obvious But consumers waste a treely, the waste co for unused minutes, month after month, year after year

Consuto JD Power and associates Considering most plans include far

Here'spoint on cell phones: Literally millions of people onpay-as-you-go prepaid cell phones They can be the best choice now for light and even moderate users That's especially true for those who use their phone , rather than advanced features such as texting and Internet access How does prepaid work? Each coenerally, you buy the phone So at 10 for the simplest phones Then, you buy minutes to load onto the phone You can buy minutes online or in stores, in the form of a card with a code that you enter into the phone So high on a recent JD Power custoure 32

FIGURE 32 Above-average prepaid providers Here are the three national providers of prepaid service that rank above the industry average:Tracfone (and sister coin Mobile

T-Mobile To Go

Source: JD Power and associates 2008 Prepaid Customer Satisfaction Survey Note: Cricket and MetroPCS also ranked above average, but they don't have nationwide coverage

Here's a rule of thumb based on prices in 2008: If you typically use fewer than 400 minutes each month, prepaids are worth a look Check your recent bills for how many minutes you actually use Many people could cut their total cell service expense to about 10 per month or less, all fees and taxes included And prepaid plans are getting so much better so quickly that as of early 2009, Consuht be able to save money with a prepaid phone

You can retain your current cell phone nu” it to the prepaid carrier And call quality is generally good because prepaids use the same wireless networks as the traditional wireless carriers Of course, like with the big contract carriers, call quality varies by region and even community

Should you switch to prepaid? The math to compare prepaid and monthly contract plans isn't that difficult Look at recent bills to find the average minutes per month you actually use

Divide your total e minutes This is your true cost per minute Compare that to the cost per minute of a prepaid plan One of the easiest prepaid plans to compare is Net10, found at net10com It's 10 cents per minute, period Taxes and fees are already included in the price of prepaid minutes

So, a traditional 3999 monthly plan that costs about 48 after taxes and fees and includes 450 minutes would have a per-minute cost of about 11 cents, which is close to the Net10 prepaid price However, that assumes you use all 450 minutes every month If you use only 125 minutes and lose the rest, your cost soars to 38 cents per es of prepaids are you have no contracts, no early-termination fees, and no credit checks

Of course, there are downsides Prepaids tend to offer older naht not have theuntil you learn them For example, prepaid er they last, typically up to a year

QUICK TIP

If you'll be sticking with prepaid for a while, add minutes that will last a year, so you don't have to worry about when they'll expire

Most prepaid services offer nationwide access, but soion A few carriers charge an access fee of 1, for exaht offer free calls to other wireless users on the sahts and weekends

Again, that complexity is why a simplified system like Net10 is attractive

If you're uncertain, you can test-drive a pay-as-you-go prepaid phone Go to a store or online and buy a prepaid phone that has some starter minutes on it Test the call quality in your hoion If you don't like it, you lose little You spent 10 or 20 to potentially save hundreds a year

My Prepaid Phone Story

For years, my wife and I had one of those ”family plans” from a well-known phone company We use our phones frequently, several ti an average of just 150for 700 et with a family plan

I switched both of us to prepaid cell phones Savings per year: 800

Bonus benefit: Call quality in my home is actually better with the prepaid than with the pricier ure

So, if prepaids are such a good deal, why aren't ical choice to pay more?

Apparently, there is widespread uncertainty and so misconceptions that keep people loyal to their contract plans, says a study in late 2008 by the New Millenniu these myths is that more than half of people think they are always under contract with their wireless carrier and alwaysto the survey Of course, you rade your handset and accept two-year commitment renewals of your contract Butthe early-teret out of your contract Many others are on month-to-month with no coure 33 for other myths about prepaid phones

FIGURE 33 Prepaid phone myths