the no cell phone might not be the best idea for price depending on country. E.g. here in Germany my phone is a cell phone, with a contract that has a base price of €0 per month, and €0.01 to €0.03 per minute. The contract includes a local area phone number, so people could call me, as if I have a land line, as long as I’m within two miles range from home.

I really dont need a cell phone plan. I normaly pay less than €1 per month, and all flat rate plans start at the magical €10 here. Also a land line would have a basic cost of €29 here, without any minutes called.

I use this former land line for SDSL, so I have no phone on my DSL line, and have symetric upload and download rates. Sharing a land line between phone and DSL makes the DSL asymetric, so the phone will eat upload rate.

I use the former TV line for internet cable modem. Its funny here, that the best DSL line offered by phone company has 16mbit downstream, and is bundled with phone and TV to an extreme price, while cable company here sells 52mbit internet without bundling TV or phone much cheaper.

So well – I have a dumb cell phone and even two independend internet lines. But I need those for work. I also have two linux root servers in two different countries for same reason.

A 2nd independend internet line adds €19 per month. But internet lines have only an uptime of 99% in average, so they are down 3 days a year in average. Paying those €288 per year is my insurance that I can continue work and write invoices even if a dredger ruined one of my lines.

ciao,Michael

I have an unlocked smart phone that I bought for $70 in cash, new. I use it to run my international business through pre-scheduled free VoIP calls over Skype. I just find Wifi access before the call will take place. If you search around you can get phone numbers for free (but they have extension numbers) so that people may call you and it will connect to your Skype accout.

Another aspect of the issue: I am a new accountant in a CPA firm though, and “fitting in” is important. I’m already odd enough, but if I didn’t have a cellphone number to share with my coworkers, I’d immediately be branded the weird one. When that opinion is related to my job, it seems more prudent to keep a phone. You’re right that I could get a cheaper phone though!

LOL!!! This is Jacob being even funnier than usual!

http://www.curbyourconsumerism.com/2010/06/im-not-giving-up-my-phone/

I plan on asking a family member if I can get 2 lines on their plan. I’ll go from $120/mo to maybe about $50 (depending). I better make sure it’s a family member who is never late, I don’t want our phones cut off.

Buy a T-Mobile, phone 30 buck say, purchase $100 air time get 1000 mins that is good for a year, 365 days, use the 1000 mins up and pay another $100. That’s it. My wife had a Verizon phone and it was $70. each month. She uses under 200 mins, do the math for the last 4 years she has spent under $200 a year on here phone and I was around $300. with the use of Skype for long distance. I just changed to WalMart’s Straight Talk $30. for the phone and I pay $30. per month for 1000. mins and don’t use skype never go over 1000. mins but if I did I would just pay another $30 and begin with 1000 more min’ and begin the 30 day window a few days early.

I was able to drop the Land Line and we saved around $50. per month and our cell phones are paid for out of what most people have for years thought of a a necessary cost , the home phone. $70 + $50 = $120 * 12 = $1400 for old land line and Wife’s old cell plane. Both of our phone cost under $550. per year.

My step-Daughter just said last night I can’t wait until my contract is up ! She is switching over to Straight talk.

“They’re essential for emergencies. What would you do if your car broke down?”

“I’d get out & walk. At what point did having to walk somewhere become an emergency?”

We will probably downgrade later tho to a simpler pay as you go type deal once our contract is up.

Another thing I do that saves me time is make phone calls during otherwise unproductive times such as when I’m sitting on the bus.

Still, it is a significant expense that I’ll probably reevaluate soon. Contracts is how they get you, but at least I never fell into the phone upgrade trap. I’m still using the same phone I got five years ago.

In the US (likely elsewhere), every cell phone (with or without a plan) must be able to connect to 911. Cell phone manufacturers have strict guidelines they must follow in regards to connecting to emergency dispatchers.

Try locking the keys on your phone, then dial 911 w/out pushing send. This will automatically unlock your keys and put the phone in “emergency mode” or some equivalent. It won’t dial until you tell it to. It’s another example of a feature the phones incorporate that allow someone to dial 911 when they find a random phone during an emergency and don’t know how to operate it.

The bottom line is that if you follow Jacob’s advice and cancel your cell subscription, just keep your old service-plan-free phone charged and with you. It will still connect you to emergency services, should the need arise.