With the advent of so many pay as you go phone services, it may seem like traditional mobile plans are dying. That’s not actually the case, however. The majority of mobile users still use pay monthly plans because in the long run, they’re far cheaper. So is a pay monthly mobile for you? This article walks you through some of their benefits, and whether a pay monthly plan could save you money.
How Do I Choose My Plan?
For some users, a pay as you go phone service is cheaper than any of the pay monthly options available. However, with the way that we use our mobiles now, very few people would find that it pays off. Not all plans are unlimited, so if you only use a moderate number of minutes, you can find a pay monthly plan that’s cheaper than pay as you go, but not as expensive as unlimited minutes packages.
Look at the number of minutes you use in a month. Consider how much you text and how much data you use. You probably need more minutes than are affordable with a pay as you go plan, but you probably don’t need unlimited minutes, which are generally intended for business use. For texting, however, pay monthly phones usually offer the best deals because they separate texts and minutes. Pay as you go generally does not, and even lower priced pay monthly plans often offer unlimited texts, meaning you needn’t worry about exceeding your monthly allowance.
What About Data?
Most people use a lot less data than they think. Unless you are streaming regularly or use heavy data for business, you can usually save with pay monthly phones. If you are using more than you thought, it’s almost always possible to upgrade your plan in case you’re regularly exceeding your data limits. This is especially important because you may find that the higher quality of pay monthly phones increases your data usage.
Still, the average person should be fine on a low price data plan, even if they use their phone regularly, whereas, on pay as you go services, data costs can be very high, meaning that, even if you are an irregular user, you may be paying over the odds. On pay as you go services, the convenience of data is at a premium. With pay monthly phones, it’s part of the package.
What Handsets are Available?
Arguably, this is the real beauty of pay monthly phone plans. When choosing pay as you go, you have to pay up front for a decent phone, which can be quite costly. With a monthly contract, it’s easy to get even the highest quality and state-of-the-art handsets for little to no money. In some instances, you will have to put up some money for your handset, but it’s still far cheaper than just paying for the phone on its own.
What If I Have a Family?
Another great way to save is to bundle your services, something you can’t do with pay as you go. You might find that you can get a shared plan where everyone gets the minutes and data they need and pay less so it’s important to do the research and find out more. It is very rarely cost effective to provide everyone in your home with their own service, no matter how much data they use.
In the end, choosing your plan depends on how you use your mobile, but with the increase in daily mobile usage, pay monthly phones save the average consumer a lot of money, for a lot of gain.