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I've been thinking about the right plan. I've never had a cell phone before and I'm concerned about the whole minutes idea so I would like to ask for some advice.
At first I was going to get the free incoming plan with 300 anytime minutes. That way people can call me for free during the daytime and I'd use minutes if I called out. I don't make that many calls but sometimes I get called to instruct as to how fix something. I'd be replacing my landline with the cell, although there I have another landline I can sometimes.
I'm wondering if that is worth it and maybe I should get a plan with more anytime minutes and maybe on data access rather then free incoming. Perhaps the whole minutes idea is buggin me out a little bit. Basically is it worth it for 100 less minutes a month and weekends at 9 vs 7 for unlimited incoming? (comparatively)
How much are taxes on the phone? Should I budget $5 for it? What plans do you all have that suit your needs?
Roaming is free, so when I read about analog and digital roaming It's free right? No hidden tricks?
Why is there two colors for roaming on the map. Digital Roaming and one of the Analog Roaming key colors are the same, but analog is only the AMPS network?
have to get to work, but can answer one question now. your taxes, surcharges, and fees will more than likely total over 5$
orangesuburban
05-04-2006, 08:11 AM
I've been thinking about the right plan. I've never had a cell phone before and I'm concerned about the whole minutes idea so I would like to ask for some advice.
At first I was going to get the free incoming plan with 300 anytime minutes. That way people can call me for free during the daytime and I'd use minutes if I called out. I don't make that many calls but sometimes I get called to instruct as to how fix something. I'd be replacing my landline with the cell, although there I have another landline I can sometimes.
I'm wondering if that is worth it and maybe I should get a plan with more anytime minutes and maybe on data access rather then free incoming. Perhaps the whole minutes idea is buggin me out a little bit. Basically is it worth it for 100 less minutes a month and weekends at 9 vs 7 for unlimited incoming? (comparatively)
How much are taxes on the phone? Should I budget $5 for it? What plans do you all have that suit your needs?
Roaming is free, so when I read about analog and digital roaming It's free right? No hidden tricks?
Why is there two colors for roaming on the map. Digital Roaming and one of the Analog Roaming key colors are the same, but analog is only the AMPS network?
taxes on the phone, when you buy it? will be what ever the tax rate in your state is. in arkansas its .075 % for every $100 you spend there is an added $7.50 total = 107.50.
as for minutes, do you talk a lot? with sprint you can change your plan as many times as you want in the first 3 months and not change your contract date, so start with a small one, if it looks like it will be a problem change to a slightly larger one.
do you talk more at night then the day? if so paying the $10 for nights to start at 6pm on a small minute plan (200 mins for 29.99) might be an option.....
and also, if you want to replace a land line you may need more minutes just for your house calls lol.
let us know some more deatails about your calling habits....
Final
05-04-2006, 10:38 AM
Taxes on cell phone bills around usually around 12-15% percent depending on your states taxes, in wisconsin they are about 14% or so.
Juno
05-04-2006, 12:48 PM
The 300 minute plan with free incoming sounds like a great place to start if you're not sure how many minutes you're going to use. Keep an eye on your usage for the first couple months and then you can adjust your plan as needed. Remember too that a lot of people's usage goes up quite a bit in the first couple months. At first you're not used to having a cell phone, so you maybe don't use it so much, but eventually it'll become invaluable and you might use it more! Fair and Flexible should be great for you though, because then you won't get screwed completely if you go over.
Also, expect to be shocked by taxes. You think your bill is going to be the cost of the plan and change, but you'll probably pay 8-15 bucks in taxes. All kinds of crazy FCC regulation taxes and Phone Button Usage taxes. (I just made that last one up.) All carriers love new customers, so you're in a position to get a great deal right now. Ask as many questions as you need to, and make sure you read EVERY line of the contract before you sign it, so they're not putting stuff on your plan that you don't want.
Welcome to the world of cell phones!
Mysticle31
05-04-2006, 12:52 PM
On taxes, I'm asking taxes and fees on the plan itself, not the actual phone. Does the government run 12-15% on the plan?
You know, I really haven't paid much attention to my phone habits. I tend to call out at night, but that may change when I'm able to take a phone with me. If I make a call it's only for a couple to 30 minutes for something else to come up and I ask to be called back, or call back later. Unless I'm giving tech support over the phone to some not-so-tech-savvy friends, which can take some time but it doesn't happen every day.
Sprint lets you change your contract for the first 3 months. Is there any fee? What if I changed it in the 4th month? That's just an extra month worth of contract time?
orangesuburban
05-04-2006, 01:02 PM
no fee to change your plan the first 3 months. after that you would need to sign a new 2 year contract on that date. again, no fee just 2 more years. really not a bad deal. as for takes it depends on where you live i live in arkansas, and i only $3.xx in taxes a month.
if a lot of your calls are short incoming calls you may ask about First Incoming Minute Free(FIMF). it is a hard to get option but the first minute of every call is free and doesnt count against your minutes. i am not a big phone user but i have FIMF and my nights start at 6pm, im half way through my month and i have only used 12 of my plan minutes!!!! i think almost 70 of the other 2!!!
so an example of how good some of the features can be, it can really make a difference depending on how you use your phone.
do you plan on using the internet via your phone?
Mysticle31
05-04-2006, 01:03 PM
Fair and Flexible doesn't have free incoming? Can that be added or should I dump it all together and see how it goes?
I would like to use internet on my phone. I think it would be really neat to be in best buy and pull up prices online for a product, and get movie times, and browse around a little bit at my friends house who has dial up and can't get broadband. I'm there maybe two or three times a month.
You guys are fast on this forum! My the time I get this all typed up I might get another reply and have to go modify it :bang: :lol:
Quill
05-04-2006, 01:36 PM
I'll tell you a bit about my experience when I first got a cell phone. I started with Sprint back in September 2001. I started with the minimum plan of $30 a month with 300 anytime minutes. Six months in, I was going about 100 minutes over, so I bumped up to 400 anytime minutes and hung there for about a year. Then when I did my first phone upgrade, I bumped up to 500 anytime minutes and that worked real well for me until we decided to buy a house. Heh. Then for two months I was over. Once we moved in, though, I went back down to my just under 500 anytime minutes usage and for the third year I had Sprint, I had free 8 p.m. nights, which knocked a bit off my anytime usage.
I know have an 850 anytime minute shared plan with my husband. If I had Sprint, I would probably need the Fair and Flex. My husband uses between 150 and 200 minutes a month. Last billing period I was up over 600 minutes and I've been averaging about 600 minutes the past three months. We no longer have a landline. I use my phone for work calls almost daily, too, because I'm not at my desk half the time.
The recommendation is usually to start with 100 more anytime minutes a month than you think you might need and then scale back after the first couple months if you're nowhere near your limit.
Sprint is a great carrier to start with and your range of plan options are so much wider than when I started nearly five years ago.
Oh, yeah, taxes. When I lived in Nevada, they were like, $4 a month. Up here in Washington state, I pay about $12 a month. It really varies from state to state and even city to city. Crazy.
Good luck!
gaylordfocker
05-04-2006, 02:28 PM
It's not easy to predict your usage because it's your first cell phone. However it's a safe bet that you will talk on the phone more than you think. It is very convenient and your minutes get eaten up with 1 minute calls back and forth.
If you have a budget of $45 and you are getting the $15 data access, it will be hard to go under budget without some discount.
Sanyo7400
05-05-2006, 09:27 AM
it is wise to start with a plan that has a lot more minutes than you THINK you will use. the free incoming plan overage rate is now 45 cents per minute. 100 minutes over and wow, $45 extra dollars. when i worked in new account activations for sprint, we kept seeing customer after customer going for the cheap plan, they knew they wouldn't go over their minutes. you would check back on the account a month later and they had a 2 or 300$ bill. you will play with your phone like crazy when you first get it, as does everyone. when you get used to it, your usage will normally go down (there are people that go over their minutes no matter what plan they change up to). also anytime you upgrade your phone or get a new toy for your phone (i.e. bluetooth headset, etc) your usage will generally rise again for a while. make sure you atleast accept the 1 month free trial on the web offer. we see people all the time that say they won't need it b/c they will barely use it that get high bills b/c they couldn't stay off of it. from experience as a sprint employee, if you think you need 300 minutes, i recommend starting with 500 minutes. just remember, 300 minutes is only about 8 to 10 minutes per day, 500 minutes will get you almost 20 minutes per day. i also recommend the earlier nights and weekends, i have the unlimited plan, but i have all my family on 6 pm nights (get home from work at 5, take care of business, go through the mail and wham, it is 6pm and you can talk all you want for free). fair and flex vs free incoming, i'd recommend the fair and flex to start and then switch over to the free incoming after you have a couple of bills to see what you have been using and how many minutes you will need. roaming is great on any plan, you can use the phone anywhere in the country without an additional charge, just remember that you are not using the sprint network while roaming, so any calls to sprint or nextel customers while roaming will come out of your plan minutes and will not be considered mobile to mobile if you have that option.
orangesuburban
05-05-2006, 10:52 AM
just remember that you are not using the sprint network while roaming, so any calls to sprint or nextel customers while roaming will come out of your plan minutes and will not be considered mobile to mobile if you have that option.
if you have m2m and roaming which does it charge? just wondering, it wouldnt matter if you have both but still interesting tidbet.
Studogvetmed
05-05-2006, 01:11 PM
if you have m2m and roaming which does it charge? just wondering, it wouldnt matter if you have both but still interesting tidbet.
Huh? What do you mean, which does it charge?
If you are roaming (and have free roaming) and also have free mobile to mobile and you make a phone call, you get charged airtime for the call because Mobile to Mobile doesn't work while roaming. Good news nights and weekends does, so make the calls thenn if you don't want to use your anytime minutes.
What I'd like to kow is if you are on a roaming mobile and you call a non-roaming sprint phone, is it at least free for the non-roaming person... Probably not, but I wonder.
wBkM85
05-05-2006, 01:24 PM
it is for the non roaming person, not you...so u are right
Mysticle31
05-05-2006, 02:19 PM
Well how do you know what is Sprint's network and what is not? All the dark green on the coverage map is Sprints network? Why does analogue and digital share the same 2 colors? The analogue has 2 colors by itself. I remember the whole idea of roaming was why I never got a cell in the past. I didn't want to go up in the hills here and all of a sudden your roaming and it's costing you 25 cents a minute..ha.
orangesuburban
05-05-2006, 02:25 PM
most plans include roaming so dont even worry about it. :tu:
Studogvetmed
05-05-2006, 03:13 PM
Well how do you know what is Sprint's network and what is not? All the dark green on the coverage map is Sprints network? Why does analogue and digital share the same 2 colors? The analogue has 2 colors by itself. I remember the whole idea of roaming was why I never got a cell in the past. I didn't want to go up in the hills here and all of a sudden your roaming and it's costing you 25 cents a minute..ha.
As is suggested, roaming is included on most plans, so make sure you get it! Even if that, your phone will tell you if you are roaming, and most phones can turn on a guard to help let you know when roaming charges would apply, but of course all fair and flexible plans come with roaming. With the free incoming, free incoming doesn't count off the network.
Mysticle31
05-05-2006, 06:33 PM
Off the network meaning if I'm roaming, say cruising down highway 80 to Chicago?
sneak
05-05-2006, 09:02 PM
Taxes on cell phone bills around usually around 12-15% percent depending on your states taxes, in wisconsin they are about 14% or so.
Heh, I'd love to have 12-15% taxes. Taxes on cellular service in Nebraska run either 21% or 24%, I can't remember which, but its ridiculous.
MyGosh
05-05-2006, 10:27 PM
My opinion, you can't go wrong with Free Incoming, period. ALL of your incoming calls are free. Depending on the volume of calls you plan on making, I would select a Free Incoming plan wisely.
Mysticle31
05-05-2006, 11:18 PM
Dang, California is the land of taxes so what I'll be paying 50% :P AHHH!. And federal.
Studogvetmed
05-05-2006, 11:28 PM
Off the network meaning if I'm roaming, say cruising down highway 80 to Chicago?
Yes if you are roaming. I can't tell you if you're roaming on highway 80 or not. Use the 14 day trial to find out if the phones work where you need them too.
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