The Rise of the $30 Prepaid Monthly Cell Phone Bill

By Brad Tuttle | @bradrtuttle | October 15, 2009 | +

After a trial run, Wal-Mart is planning on selling Straight Talk Tracfone phones around the country. The prepaid phones do NOT have long-term contracts—no worries about about ETFs (early termination fees)—and come with monthly plans that start at $30.

For the $30 plan, you get 1,000 minutes, 1,000 text messages, and 30 megabytes of mobile Web access per month, according to the WSJ. An unlimited plan is available for $45 a month, and the handsets themselves cost about $40.

There is already speculation that other cell-phone providers will lower their monthly plans to keep up with the competition. Right now, Americans pay five times as much as comparable cell phone users in some other countries, and the average iPhone user pays $95 a month to AT&T.

Related Topics: cell phones, iPhone, Straight Talk, Tracfone, Wal-Mart, Saving & Spending

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dbb10001

Brad, nice article. If we can score some serious savings through Wal-Mart plans, more power to us. But how many consumers already on other wireless plans will really make the switch, which would likely often incur substantial early termination fees and considerable hassle. Additionally, this is not even to consider the impact of the waves of wireless customers following the trend set by corporations and municipalities to embrace innovative new methods via telecom expense management (TEM) start-ups that effectively lower your current rates. I actually work for the consumer advocacy website http://www.fixmycellbill.com (powered by a company called Validas) where we slash the average cell bill by 22 percent. Validas acts as the wireless bodyguard protecting the consumer against frivolous charges that over-inflate 8 out of 10 cell bills. Anyone can find out for free if fixmycellbill.com can modify your wireless plan to better suit your usage by going to the website. Tens of thousands of consumers have averaged over $400 per year in savings through us, following in the wake of our major corporate and municipal clients.

For more info, check out Validas on Fox News at http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/consumer/conlaw/lower_cell_phone_bills_072409 .

Good luck to everyone reading on cutting your wireless costs–whatever method you decide to use–in this tough economy.

Dylan
Consumer Advocacy, fixmycellbill.com
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