One of our budget areas that I had been struggling to find a way to lower was my cell phone bill. My contract finally ended in September and so of course, I’ve been on a mission to find a way to lower that $80 a month bill.
For reference, here’s what my old phone plan included:
- 1 G of data
- Unlimited Talk and Text
- And that’s pretty much it…
I had an iPhone, which I loved and if I’m being completely honest with you was part of the reason I was so scared to switch to another service, because I didn’t want to have to live without the Apple symbol on the back of my phone.
However, after hearing other bloggers rave about Republic Wireless* and speaking with them while at FinCon, I knew I had to try them. For the same plan that I was paying $80 a month for, I could get it for $25. I would just have to switch to an Android.
Insanity, I know.
So, in October I made the switch to Republic Wireless and traded out my iPhone for a Moto G. Switching to a “Droid” has definitely taken some getting used to but honestly, the savings we’re reaping from no longer paying way too much for my cell phone are worth it.
Now, Republic Wireless works a little differently than the traditional cell phone providers and is one of the reasons why I think they’re so great.
By leveraging the power of WiFi in combination with cellular when necessary, Republic offers smartphone plans as low as $10 a month and in most cases can save consumers hundreds of dollars a year over the cost of service from one of the big carriers. The company’s philosophy is simple: Treat customers with respect, like people. Charge reasonable prices for great service. Let people cancel when they want, without penalty. Don’t bury important information in the fine print. Don’t play games hiding fees and building phone subsidies into monthly charges. Most recently, Republic Wireless upped the ante again – this time with a move threatening the estimated $52 billion in wireless industry profits – with new plans that refund customers dollar for dollar for unused cellular data.
So not only do they have low priced plans, but they will also refund you your unused cellular data. Awesome sauce.
And Republic Wireless was kind enough to allow me to host an amazing giveaway….
… we’re giving away a Republic Wireless Moto E + 3 months of complimentary service ($25/unlimited WiFi talk, text and surfing the web + unlimited cell talk, text and 1G cell data service) – a total value of $200. The Moto E is a great first smartphone for ‘tweens, ‘teens and maybe the grandparents if all you do is make calls, send texts, check email, scroll through Facebook, capture images for Instagram or fire off missives on Twitter, WhatsApp or Weibo.
Yes, you read that right, they are giving away a FREE phone and 3 months of services for FREE!
Enter the giveaway below and make sure you check out Republic Wireless here.*
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Money controlling you? I know the feeling. My family has been living this real life on a budget for a long time and I can tell you that there's never a perfect season, but with a few changes you can start to reign in your money issues.
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Excited about this contest.
Definitely cell phone! We have three teens so.the cost is crazy.
Oh Goodness! I can only imagine!
The one area of my budget that I need to revamp by the end of this year is the splurge part. We save up for big purchases during holidays, but it seems like Vacation usually eats into that because we purchase tokens while we’re out and about. I think I need to reallocate things a little better.
We need to rebudget our food spending! I’m excited about this contest. Would love to check them out!
We’ve been paying off debt for several years & still need to work on following our budget more closely.I think having a larger emergency fund would be best.
I plan to revamp my internet and cable budget. Going to switch to a better internet service and discontinue my $87 a month cable. Will try using Hulu Plus, Netflix and/or Amazon Prime.
I’d love to win this giveaway so I could see if Republic will work for us then I could revamp my cell budget also.
Netflix is the only way we watch TV – you’ll love it! 🙂
This does seem great! I hate cell plans and how expensive they are!!!
I have been brainstorming how to revamp my grocery budget (envelope system style). Most people want this to go down, I want to increase mine. This means moving other things around in the budget to make room for the increase in grocery funds. Being healthy is a huge priority, eating simple delicious food.
I have been contemplating Republic Wireless for some time. Happy to enter this giveaway! Thank you!
I hope to revamp the whole thing but mostly my food budget!
Okay, so the sad thing is, this phone would actually be quite an upgrade for me. I currently have a really crappy tracfone that is good for making phone calls and that’s about it. I’ve been meaning to upgrade, just haven’t wanted to deal with it yet…
As for what I need to cut out–I should do something about grocery budget. We all like to snack… a lot.
I’d love it if it was out cell phone bill. My husband is convinced republic wireless wouldn’t work for us. This would be a great opportunity to try it out. We are also working on writing out and sticking to it budget each month. We’ve successfully done it so far this month, now to make sure we do it next month.
I need to revamp the grocery budget so that I can cook more real meals without spending a fortune. This is one area that is difficult for me as I hate grocery shopping and I don’t particularly like cooking!
I’ve been toying with switching to Republic for about six months now but also have been reticent to give up my iPhone. Interested to hear how it goes.
We saved so much money by switching to republic wireless from our regular contract plan 2 years ago!
We are changing car insurance and homeowners insurance. I’m going to certainly be looking into this company though.
We are still ironing out all of the details and categories on our budget and sticking to it! Our goal going into the New Year is to save 20%
Great giveaway Jessie! I have a Republic Wireless phone too and I’ve been pretty happy with it…especially because switching to that plan saved me almost $80 a month.
I’m really trying to get us on a budget without feeling like we are cutting everything out for the new year! It’ll be hard but I know it’ll be worth it.
Excited about this! 😉
Thank you for posting your experience. I have a basic phone but am finding it necessary to upgrade to a smart phone. Not only are the plans expensive, the purchase of an iPhone is incredibly expensive.
It is nice to know there are good alternatives.
Awesome way to put Republic Wireless on the map! I have been interested in ditching AT&T and switching to RW, so thank you for your post and the contest giveaway! #newlywedbudget
#newlywedbudget We are hoping to have our budget in tact for the beginning of the new year, but would love to get our wireless budget under control. . .and our food budget.
Aside from food, which we could always do better on, the cell bill is our last budget hold out issue. I’d love to get it down. How has service been for you? That’s my biggest worry.
The are my husband and I are trying to budget better on is our ‘extras’. Our TV, Phones, Starbucks, *husbands* bad habit…
We’ve already cut our cell phone’s back from $136 – $88 (with Verizon), but we are always looking for more. We are close to completely cutting the cord to TV and just using our Roku, but one of my husband’s shows needs to be canceled first! 🙂
Thanks for bringing attention to this phone company. I’d never heard of them and will be doing more research, especially if I don’t win.
Randi
My budget is fine, I just need to stick with it!
Plan to get out of debt within one year. Plan to be AGGRESSIVE!
I’ll be revamping my budget for saving for some big ticket items that I hadn’t budgeted for before that I want to pay cash for.
I want to revamp my grocery budget to be able to eat more healthy but stay within the constraints.
I’ll be revamping my budget for saving money for Paris – and go and visit the people that live such a bad life right now with the terorism
I’ve heard so many things about Republic Wireless. I wonder if it will still be a better deal now that Verizon is going to no contracts that will cut plans by a lot. I definitely am going to look more into it!
I plan to revent my clothing budget
i must make a more realistic food budget. I need to actually spend a little MORE at the grocery store so there is less chance of us using (and going over) our “fun money” to eat out. This of course requires better meal planning, too. Sigh..But this is the year! I can feel it!
Definitely my cell phone bill!
SO glad to hear you ditched the big name companies and crazy Apple addiction! My husband and I are on separate plans (mine is through my parents’ family plan, his is through Straight Talk) and we both LOVE our Moto Gs! A techy friend of mine constantly tells me the Moto G is the best low cost smart phone you’ll find on the market and it’s totally true! Plus we are saving a ton of money and headache by not having a big name service provider (the’yre all shady anyway)! Glad someone is finally talking about other options.
That’s awesome! I’m going to check out Republic. I’ve been a Verizon customer for more than 10 years. I would be interested to know what you’ve done about cable TV. We have “The Bundle,” which includes cable (no extra movie channels, such as HBO, etc.), phone and high speed Internet from Cox Communications and pay about $200 per month. Outrageous.
We just have internet and Netflix. I haven’t had cable for 10 years and we used to use an antenna to get the broadband channels but when we moved further away from Atlanta we lost all channels so we’ve just been watching Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, and DVDs for the past 5 years. We haven’t missed it. 🙂