Let's talk cellphones. What is 3G and why is it a network? What is a G anyway and do we need 3 of them? What if we only want 1G? Wait. Isn't that the name of the Google phone?
Confused yet? Welcome to the club. As technology gets more sophisticated, it gets more confusing. Are we spending more money than we need to on nifty features that we really don't need? Do we need to have access to the worldwide web every second of every day? How about this idea? Pay only for the services you really need and saving some bucks.
Prepaid cellphones are becoming increasingly popular in these tough economic times. Prices are very reasonable, and you don't have to sign up for a year or multi-year plan. Take a look at this article from the SF Gate to illustrate our point: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/18/financial/f102402S54.DTL&feed=rss.business.
Then take this quiz: http://cellphones.about.com/library/bl_pt_q1.htm?q=UPT-TAKEAGAIN
Not satisfied with your quiz results? Check out this nifty comparison chart: http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm
Don't get us wrong. We're not recommending everyone switch over to prepaid cellphones. Subscription plans with 1 or 2 year contracts can be moneysavers too. HOWEVER, make sure you're buying what you NEED, not what's cute or new or hip or whatever. We got along just fine without cellphones for years. Just because something new is available doesn't mean you have to have it. Remember landline phones? Remember letters? If you travel extensively and need to be in contact with your office, then of course you'll need a plan with email and data. Hopefully your company will pay for it too. If you have a family and want to keep in touch, then of course a family plan makes sense. But do the kids need to run up your bill with constant texting? We don't think so.
As we always say, shop wisely, save money.
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