My Recent Cell Phone Experience

Recently, my cell phone bill went up.  I wasn’t happy about the higher cost, so I decided to look for a new plan.   

I shopped locally and went from phone store to phone store without success.  They were actually higher than what I was paying.  Then I found MVNO’s (Mobile Virtual Network Operator).  These businesses, from what I understand, sell space on the towers of the big three carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon).  I did some online research and picked one of those MVNO companies and a plan.  I was ready to move both my husband’s and my cell phones to the new company.  All I had to do what contact my current provider and get some information for the new carrier.  

Needless to say, when I contacted the company I had been doing business with for over a decade to switch over, they tried to keep me.  They said they would offer me a great deal on a new cell phone.  I said no.  They asked what they could do to keep me.  I said reduce my plan back to what it was.  They said no.  So the final consensus was that I was going to leave and nothing they could offer would keep me.  I am NOT a cell phone technician but I managed to figure out how to change my SIM cards, and with the new company’s customer service personnel, I was able to activate my new plan for both phones.  

So what is the moral of this story?  I went from $70 per month to $28 each month or a savings of $42 every month.  Add that up and that’s a grand total of $504 every year.  My take is that I owe my previous cell phone carrier a thank you.  If they hadn’t raised my rates, I wouldn’t have looked for a new plan.  I would have continued to pay what I was paying.  But, since they did raise the rates, I did look and was pleasantly surprised that I could save money by switching.  Thank you previous carrier!!!