Cell phone plans are too complicated. The usual pattern is that you can buy a phone fairly cheaply if you commit to a new two-year pan. The monthly fee is partly an installment on the phone and partly a fee for the actual service.

After two years, the phone is paid for. You can keep it and cancel the plan, but almost no-one does that. Many people upgrade to a new phone and enroll in a new two-year plan. This used to make sense when smartphones were developing quickly, and the next generation phone had more features, better camera, more memory, etc. But now, even a two-year-old phone has more bells and whistles on it than most people need. I don’t see that my life would be made better by upgrading from my Samsung Galaxy S5 to the S7. Also, it would take a while to set up the new phone with all the apps I use. And cell phones are full of valuable and rare chemical components, so they should not be tossed out after a couple of years.

When the two years were up, and the contract expired, I did nothing for a couple of months. This was silly of me. I was paying a monthly fee as if I was still paying off a loan on the phone, even though it was still paid for. Eventually, I called Bell, told them my phone was now off contract, and I could go to any other mobile company and sign up for a cheap “Bring Your Own Device” plan. Bell checked into the situation and very quickly came back with a new plan. Exactly all the features and data of the old plan, but $25 a month cheaper!

The plan is called “Loyalty BYOD 80”.

NewCellPhonePlan

If your cell phone is out of contract, and you do not need an upgrade, call your cell phone company and tell hem you need a cheaper rate or you will take your device elsewhere. It just makes sense.