Is almost enough to get my blood pressure up a point or two.

$35 a line unlimited....

The the "math" gets foggy.

"Jack" who "doesn't understand math" is trying to explain the pricing plan for my cell phone plan.

"It's ok Jack" I say, "because I understand enough math for at least you and me."

Well, what Jack really doesn't understand is having to tell me how much my bill will be if I switch to his company.

Me:35 dollars a line and 7 lines. My bill will be $245 per month?

Jack:Umm no, do you want insurance for the phones? That's $18 per phone.

Me. 35 plus 18 times 7. So my bill is really $371 a month?

Jack. Well, there's taxes and stuff.

Me. Jack, can you tell me within $10 what my phone bill is going to be?

Jack. Uhhhh, 371 is probably close.

Me. Jack, how close? Because I really like to keep track of my money. Maybe you make enough to throw $120 away per year but i'd rather not.

It went down from there. I didn't change plans.

It's the fine print that gets my blood boiling with these cell phone companies.

I have 2 lines and pay about 70 dollars a month with all the fees included and after a corporate discount.

We get only a few gigs of data per month which is ok we are never on the mobile data that much and use wifi whenever possible to stay off it.

So see the commercials of unlimited everything for 35 dollars a line seems for a few dollars more won't ever have to worry and would have a safety net. But no to get that price you have to have a minimum of 4 lines or more. Oh and on top of that you have to setup automatic bill pay as well that doesn't fully kick in for nearly a year.

Guess what I'll stick with my old grandfathered plan and if you piss me off I'll jump ship and go with someone else.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dfens,

Another reason why I do pre paid for myself and the tax write offs, I know exactly how much my bill is. If the the little shits go over the data limit, it just stops working, no extra charges

I'm at the point now where I just say "I want to see the out-the-door price in writing". If they can't do that, I walk.

Last week, I needed some services done on my car. I called the dealer I got the car from and asked how much the services would cost. A "service advisor" gave me some numbers.

I asked if there was any kind of a discount for having multiple services done together. "No."

I asked if the price she gave me included tax. "Uh, no, it doesn't."

I asked if the price she gave me included any fees, like waste disposal. "I'd have to check." OK, I'll hold while you do. ... "Um, there's a $25 waste disposal fee". Is that $25 total, or $25 for each service? "I'd have to check." There's no need. Goodbye.

The fine print and all of the unknown charges can be a real bite in the butt. I have been on a grandfathered plan for over 20 years now and continuously get calls and emails about upgrading to the latest and greatest 5G plans. Problem is that 5G is not really active where I live and the new plan would eliminate the unlimited voice, data, and texting I currently have on my plan. There should be some amount of truthfulness on the part of the sales people. The taxes, government fees, and surcharges are what kills a really good plan. Here is what is above and beyond what someone gets told about the great deal:

Surcharges
Fed Universal Service Charge
Regulatory Charge
Admin & Telco Recovery Charge
Universal Service Surcharge
Municipal License Surcharge

Surcharges are discretionary charges, subject to change, not taxes, that we collect to fund certain governmental and other expenses

Taxes and Gov Fees
State 911 Fee
Dual Party Relay Charge
State Sales Tax-Telco
County Sales Tax-Telco
County Special Sales Tax-Tel

We are required by law to collect these charges, based on your service address.

I can understand the taxes in that the gov has their hands in all of the pies.
The Surcharges are a bit of BS if you ask me.

I've spent an afternoon trying to sort all this out for myself.

I'm making progress but what a pain in the ass it is.

Even more so as most online web sign ups limit you to 5 lines, so you have to talk with "Jack"

If you are a Costco member hit one of the stores in the middle of the week and talk to the guys in the Kiosk, they usually know their stuff on all the plans and can help...

Spectrum Mobile -- Simple pricing plans.

"By The Gig" $14.00 / month for unlimited text an talk, and one GB data. Additional data, $14 / GB.

Unlimited" is $45.00 / month for unlimited everything, for one phone. With two or more phones on the plan, it drops to $29.99 / phone.

The quoted prices INCLUDE all taxes and junk fees; what you see is what you pay.

Limit is ten phones per account.

There is on "gotcha" -- in order to get these prices, you must have Spectrum internet service, either as a residential or business customer.

I use this service, three phones at $14 / month each, for a TOTAL of $42.00 / month. Good quality service riding on the Verizon network, and Spectrum customer service has been really good at the walk-in stores.

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הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים

My kids are on the tmobile magenta plan.
4 lines, $100 out the door.
unlimited text, data. no hotspots.

Thanks guys. I'll be checking other services out. I had a very difficult day trying to get AT&T to help me yesterday. (They didn't)

I apologize if this has already been posted, but if you have Xfinity for internet, they have a very affordable mobile service offering and they piggyback on Verizon so coverage is excellent.

For two lines with unlimited talk and text and 3 gigs of data per month, we pay $30. We rarely go over the 3 gigs, but if we do, each additional gig is $12. For $60, you get 10 gigs a month.

quote:

Originally posted by rsbolo:
Thanks guys. I'll be checking other services out. I had a very difficult day trying to get AT&T to help me yesterday. (They didn't)

The last time I talked to them, they lied to me twice.

I'll be leaving them at the end of the year.

quote:

Originally posted by M'headSig:

I apologize if this has already been posted, but if you have Xfinity for internet, they have a very affordable mobile service offering and they piggyback on Verizon so coverage is excellent.

Basically the same deal that I posted above, re Spectrum. Comcast has a similar deal.

I just switched over to Visible by Verizon. It is a pre-paid plan. Flat $25 a month. Have to join their "Party Plan" to go from $40 to $25, but no big deal to do that. All help / service is done through their app, which some may not like. No issues so far.