I feel like every two years I need to call my carrier and complain if I want a decent deal. They will do things like upgrade my plan on their website to have 10 extra gigabytes of data but won’t upgrade me to it until I contact them. There’s also all the new member exclusive deals that I feel make it impractical to just sit on one plan for an extended period of time.
I don’t. My carrier calls every time the exclusivity deal wears off to plead to renew it, and I just negotiate extra speed, higher caps on my mobile data or make the plan simply cheaper
Often, once a year or so. It’s the only reliable way to get a lower price plan where I live. If I were to stay on the same plan I was on a couple years ago I would be paying an extra 20-30$ a month in fees for less data.
It’s the only reliable way to get a lower price plan where I live.
That’s what I thought, too. But nonetheless, I stayed with the budget provider who was trying to shake up the market. I chose them solely because they were cheap.
When mobile plans started getting really competitive, they quadrupled my data (to over 10gb/mo) for free, no questions asked. So now I’m probably going to be a customer of theirs for life unless they start raising the price on my grandfathered plan.
Whenever I change employer and they get used to my habits. My employers have paid my phone bill since 2012, so they pick whatever is cheapest for them.
Fun fact: Largest bill (so far) was ~4000 USD for one month
What are you doing on a cell phone for that cost? There are international phone plans that would be so much cheaper.
I was over in TX for work, and we had a production system there that was needed inline ASAP. So I grabbed a 4G router to allow the VPNs to connect and used one of my spare SIMs (associatedwith my cell phone plan). In 99% of the cases this would not have been an issue, as it’s mostly telemetry and the occasional SSH session. Until a geophysicist notived that it was online and spent the next few weeks pulling down terrabytes of raw seismic data for testing.
LOL, whoops!
Never. $25/line, unlimited talk / text / data. Had it for seven years now. Can’t beat that.
Can’t beat that
Laughs in Rest of the World
I have a prepaid plan that I never change. It costs nothing per month and I get 10 MB inclusive. I only add internet volume bundles when I need it for navigation for longer trips - to ensure it does not exceed that price (gets slower after).
If you’re in the US, switch to Mint.
I pay about $45/month now. Is mint cheaper than that?
I pay $15 a month for a plan with 5gb data. But even their unlimited plan is $30 a month. So yes, mint is cheaper assuming you are talking about just one phone.
The answers here are interesting. If I don’t change my mobile plan after it expires (2 years) and it gets renewed automatically it will get more expensive for the same service. Actually, if you want to keep getting a decent price, the best way is to completely change provider every 2 years.
Been with the same carrier 18 years now, same unlimited plan for at least the last 8.
Every two years. That’s how I get a new phone for free…
Every other year I will review my phone plan. I use Sim only plans because phones provided by carriers are generally awful in my opinion.
You don’t like bloatware and having to ask if they can unlock your phone for you so you can leave their business? Psshhh
Network locking isn’t a thing in any place I have lived. But I know some uncivilized north American countries do it.
Every other year or so, but only because there somehow keep being better deals. Over the last 8 years mint mobile has been consistently good pricing even for returning customers provided you’re willing to pay for the whole year up front. That’s my baseline. From there other small carriers come along offering unlimited for less and you join for a year or two until they go bust. Right now I’m on Spectrum mobile since it’s free with even the cheapest home internet available to my address (for 12 months).
In the 15 years I’ve had a mobile phone I have changed around 5 times. But the last one was just an upgrade that added 40 GB of data while roaming in the EU, US and Canada to my previous unlimited plan for Switzerland only. That increased the cost from 20 to 25 Swiss Franks per month.
I change phones (used 5± years old), phone number, and service every year, but it has nothing to do with billing, price, or service quality. Had to create a list of accounts that I have to update as well. Would desperately like a virtual phone forwarding service I can trust to further help obfuscate.
That just sounds like hell. Why?
Honestly, I acknowledge that I go WAY overboard when it comes to privacy… But of the past few numbers, I haven’t been able to find any tied back to me. I don’t recommend what I do for anyone, but anything I can do to obfuscate my data and online identity I usually do regardless of the inconveniences. As I’ve gotten better and better it’s become a fun challenge to find new ways to duck online corporate spyware. (Yes the government probably knows each and every number I’ve had… But there’s only so much a guy can do.)
Can you hear your phone ok through the tinfoil hat?
It’s paid for by my job
I just switch providers, it’s easier to get a good deal than by staying and nagging customer support. Though I currently pay €10,- with my current provider because I also have fibre with them, so I’ll probably stay with them for the foreseeable future.
I switched ever couple of years.
