Saying Goodbye To The Two-Year Contract
Like most everyone else, since getting my first cell phone in early 1990, I’ve signed a service contract. That first one was for a year, but now they’re all mostly two-year contracts. But when our last contract ran out a year ago, we didn’t rush in to get a newer – read: more expensive – phone because we just didn’t want to sign up for another two years. We’re getting more resistant in our… (cough)… maturity.
Whenever we’d talk to our provider and ask about new phones over the past year, we’d learn that we’d have to buy a minimum data package which would push our monthly bill up to $130 between us, and that would be with limited minutes and data, plus that ubiquitous two-year contract.
We had looked at Straight Talk in Walmart a couple of times but couldn’t seem to find someone who could connect the dots for us about their service.
But then, last week, I got yet another email from Walmart touting their current store specials, and it included a blurb about the Samsung Proclaim which was available on their Straight Talk network.
I snooped about online for descriptions and reviews and, basically, it looked like a decent phone that would do everything we would want and then some. It’s not the very latest and greatest – it was introduced in May of 2012. According to information I found, it’s a rebranded Samsung Illusion just for the Straight Talk network. And we learned in the store that this phone uses Verizon’s national network, so we get the same coverage we’ve had on our previous phones.
We decided to go for it and paid $149 each for the two phones, plus we kicked in an additional $15 each for a two-year full-replacement warranty. If we drop it or lose it overboard, it’ll be replaced.
A month of service including unlimited minutes, data and texts is $45 with no contract. Our service is simply charged to a credit card every month. As of this writing, we’ve had them for less than a week but we’re rapidly turning into smartphone junkies. I’m already accessing stock market data, playing Solitaire when I have to wait somewhere for a few minutes, checking the weather radar, and scanning email.
I can feel myself becoming a glassy-eyed digital zombie but at least I feel as though I got a good deal. And a nifty phone. And no contract.
Please comment below, even if it’s just a quickie.
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Thanks for the post Barry. I’ve been wondering about that service too — perhaps this will open the gates a little wider for other good deals too. Meanwhile, I’ll have to give it some thought for myself.
Thanks for the comment, Wendy. I think I saw an ad just a day or two ago in the newspaper that Straight Talk now offers service for the iPhone 5. Might be worth looking into.
Huh… I’m going to have to look at that – my own contract (2 year of course) is up this summer, and I really don’t want to renew it. That looks like good pricing!!!
Thanks for reading and commenting, Robin! So far, so good for us. We’re happy with the phones and the pricing, but that isn’t to say there won’t be some kind of screw-up down the road. Cell companies seem to be known for that…
Hey Barry…. Somehow I missed out on this edition last week. I could have connected the dots for you a long time ago. Toni and I have been on StraightTalk a couple years now. Generally, the recpetion is good and they work really well, but there are a few issues to consider. First, if you have a problem with the phone, you have to send it in to get it repaired and you are screwed for a phone till it gets back. Second, they want you to send it WITH the SIM card and likely all your info in there will be lost. I recommend buy a sim card reader and backing that data up regularly regardless. The also have no way to move youre data from the SIM card from one phone to the other, hence another reason to get a card reader. Each phone uses only one specific SIM card, you can’t just take your card from one phone to the other like you can on most other phones. On the otherhand , since I use the cheapy phone and have a card reader, when I damage my phone which isn’t an unusual occurance, I just go to Wally World and get a new one and I’m back in service in an hour or so for about $40.
Appreciate the insight,Dale. We deliberately bought phones that were for the Verizon network, the same one we were on before under contract. We also bought, for $15, full replacement coverage. So, rather than potentially “have a problem”, the phone will be irretrievably broken… if you get my drift. I did buy a card reader and do back up everything so I think I’m good on that. I swapped the card from my old phone to retrieve the pictures and transferred them to the new phone with the same card so that worked out. I’ve been lucky over the twenty-three years I’ve had cell phones – I’ve only had problems with two – one was damaged and the other one was stolen out of my car. That also cost me a new car window…