All I Want For Christmas…is a Cheap Wireless Plan!

I got my Christmas shopping done early with this cheap wireless plan that I picked up for Jai as part of a post sponsored by Collective Bias®! My shop for the best wireless deal has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client. #FamilyMobileSaves #cbias

Since my fiancé Jai is one of the most tech-savvy people out there, you’d expect him to be brandishing the latest smartphone. But I’m about to blow your mind: He doesn’t have a phone. Period.

It wasn’t always like this. He was one of the early adopters of the Android smartphone, picking up one of the first phones when they came out several years ago. Like everyone else, he had a phone plan, text messaging, and data. But over the years, the price rose, the annoying calls increased, and the plan’s limits became draconian. For example, he was limited in his voicemail space and even though he paid an extra monthly fee to upgrade his voicemail memory, it still wasn’t enough – because he was getting so many messages every week, his voicemail box would become full quickly and prevent people from leaving messages because it was out of space. As you can imagine, every aspect of this was just a headache. The price had risen so much and the cell phone was becoming a hindrance rather than a help, so he got fed up and got rid of his smartphone plan altogether.

He switched to a landline for a brief period of time, because it was miles cheaper; but when we switched our landline provider, he decided to get rid of that as well, because he wanted to move completely over to VoIP. Jai is extremely clever and tech is his specialty; he’s a “Tinkerer”, if you will, so he wanted to try setting up a slick VoIP system for managing calls. He’s been trying to make this system work for some time now, and while the concept was a good one, it just hasn’t been very practical for day-to-day implementation. We’ve tried VoIP boxes and, after many months experimenting this past year, we determined they just weren’t working reliably for us as a long-term solution.

At the moment, Jai has a complicated setup with Google Voice that somehow involves his computer, tablet, and sometimes using my landline to call another number(?). His number shows up as “Folly Beach, South Carolina” which confuses most of our friends since we live in Oregon and sometimes causes them not to answer when Jai calls. When he IS on a call, the quality isn’t always very good, oftentimes causing so much reverb that he can’t understand the person on the other end. The worst part is that those who call his number get extremely confused trying to leave a voicemail, and complain constantly that they don’t know how to get in touch with him. As a result, people are just calling me instead and not even bothering to try Jai’s number, so I get lengthy voicemails about Jai’s personal matters left on my work line. Suffice to say, I think everybody’s frustrated.

But recently, Jai has been considering a new option, inspired by something I did for myself: Back in August, I got my very first smartphone plan when I bought a Walmart Family Mobile starter kit. Yes, I too was without a cellphone, for reasons that I won’t bore you with here. I swear, Jai and I are the most tech-savvy couple to be phoneless ever! I had done quite a bit of research on plans in our area that were compatible with my iPhone, and was getting frustrated at the lack of options. I was having a hard time finding anything that offered unlimited plans for data at all – most had ridiculously small data restrictions at huge prices, with lengthy contracts and endless loopholes. During this time, I kept seeing blog posts by my friends in the Collective Bias community about their experiences with Walmart Family Mobile, and the more I read and asked questions, the more this seemed like a cheap wireless plan that could work for me.

A Walmart Family Mobile plan is pay-as-you-go plan that costs $39.88 per month for unlimited data, talk, and text. Once you purchase a SIM card activation kit for $25, you can use the plan in any phone; it works like a charm in my iPhone 4S. I thought I would give it a trial run, since there is no contract, and you know what? It’s worked out better than I hoped for. We tend to think of pay-as-you go plans as being “Budget” options for those who don’t use their smartphones very much, but there is nothing “Cheap” about this plan other than the price. As a social media professional, I’m dependent on my smartphone for business, and this plan fits every single one of my needs. The phone can be used anywhere on the road, and I have high-speed/4G data up to 5 GB (Or 2.5 GB of 3G data if you’re on 3G), with unlimited data still available after that, but at a somewhat slower download rate. You can learn more about Walmart Family Mobile via their site for online account management and information – for what it’s worth, I’ve traveled across the country with this phone tweeting, Instagramming, Facebooking, and emailing constantly and it’s been perfect; definitely the best wireless plan for me! My friends are really shocked when I tell them what I pay for what I have. One of my friends pays almost double what I do for a tiny amount of data each month!

Suffice to say, after seeing how satisfied I am with my Walmart Family Mobile plan, Jai said to me recently: “Maybe I should get one of those plans instead of my VoiP.” Since I’m always thinking ahead, this seemed to me like the perfect Christmas present – so I got a jump on Black Friday shopping this weekend when I headed over to Walmart to surprise Jai with his own plan and a new smartphone to replace his outdated old Android!

Jai really loves the Android operating system and has mentioned several times that he plans on getting a Droid for his next smartphone over any other system. So imagine my delight to learn that Walmart carries an Android smartphone that retails for just $49.88: The Concord smartphone! This phone has everything you’d expect from a smartphone: Touchscreen, 3G, Internet with email, Facebook and Youtube built in, apps, a camera (2 megapixels) – all for less than $50. I paid way more for my first “Dumbphone” back in the day so I am seriously impressed! Between this and the SIM card starter kit, I paid just $74.88; so it’s a significant savings for me as a shopper, and will be the gift that keeps on giving for Jai since he will now have a cell plan more affordable than any other that he’s had in the past – this is the lowest price rate plan that I have personally seen in our area which includes unlimited calls, texting AND data.

Picking up this phone was fast and easy – I just love playing Santa, and I always get excited thinking about what to get someone, so I really enjoy Christmas shopping. I even had time to buy myself a little gift. 😉 As soon as I got home I set about wrapping up Jai’s present so he won’t get an accidental peek before the big day – I better hurry and get a Christmas tree now so I can tuck this under it!

After Christmas, I will be sharing Jai’s reaction with you, so stay tuned to see how he likes his gift!

Would someone on your holiday list love an affordable smartphone plan?