Most everyone in this day and age has a cell phone on them. Heck, it’s more common walking into any establishment and seeing a majority of people buried deep into their tiny screens. While everyone has all sorts of devices from iPhones to Androids and will debate you to no end about the superiority of each, most people can agree that the cost of most cell phone plans are beyond reasonable for what they really need.
Everyone needs a cellphone in this modern world that we live in, but what if all those major carriers don;t offer something that fits your needs? What if you or your family is on a budget? What if you don’t need all those fancy features? What if you aren’t a data hog or have readily available access to WiFi? What if you don’t want to get stuck in a plan? Well, that’s where we come into the picture. Below you will find five cellular companies that odds are you have never heard of and that offer some pretty impressive savings for those looking to save a few bucks.
FreedomPop
What if I told you you could have full voice, text, and data all for the whooping price of $0 a month. You read that right, I said zero, nada, a big fat ZILTCH. Okay, so there are a few restrictions with FreedomPops “Freedom Phone” basic plan that you will have to abide with.
You’ll only have access to 200 Voice Minutes, 500 Text Messages, and 500MB Data per month. That may sound like a minuscule amount of service, but you still have to understand that it’s completely free so if you have ready access to WiFi at home and work you could really make a lot out of this plan. No to mention it makes a perfect fit for the older generation that don’t spend a great deal of time with a cell phone, or having the ability to give your child a phone while limiting their ability to abuse it.
For me, as someone who does an incredible amount of driving from press event to press event, convention to convention, the thought of having a relatively cheap phone and charger stowed away in a glove box for emergencies where I don;t have access to my personal cell phone makes FreedomPop a tantalizing option.
But what about if you are ready to ditch your phone plan and still want everything? Freedom Pops “Unlimited Everything” plan does just what it says. It offers you unlimited Voice, Text, and Data at the astonishingly low price of $19.99 a month. Sure, the data is throttled down to a paltry 3G after 1GB of use, but in the WiFi enabled world that we live in that doesn’t seem quite so bad, especially if you aren’t using a lot of data on a monthly basis.
FreedomPop offers a range of Android enabled devices to suit your need including the HTC Evo 4G starting priced at $99, all the way up to the almost current Samsung Galaxy S4.
GIV Mobile
GIV Mobile doesn’t brand itself as having the most unbeatable plans (although they are quite affordable), instead they do something a little different. 8% of your monthly bill will be contributed to a charity of your choosing. How neat is that! On top of being able to help out a charity every single month the plans that GIV Mobile offer all include unlimited everything.
That’s right, even their entry level plan of $29 a month gives unlimited Talk, Text, Data, MMS, and Global Texting. Color us impressed with the amount offered for that price. Again, you will be making a pretty big sacrifice on the data side of things as the $29 doesn’t offer any high speed data instead giving unlimited 2G speed. If you are just using email and Facebook this might be ok if you aren’t in a hurry, but GIV Mobile does offer a $65 plan that offers unlimited everything at 4GB of 4G LTE.
GIV Mobile offers a wider range of Android powered phones all the way up to the Sony Xperia M and Samsung Galaxy S4. Even better (at the time of this writing) GIV Mobile is offering a free BLU Advance 4.0 Android phone if you sign up and pay upfront for two months of their $65 plan costing you $134.99 for a phone and two months of unlimited everything. That’s a tough price to beat for even the most frugal of consumers.
Page Plus Cellular
The Page Plus Cellular plan list looks more on par with a number of normal carriers. The $12 plan may look inciting to many, but with the free option from FreedomPop that we already talked about it loses much of its luster and in fact offers much less Text at 250 vs 500 and Data with a measly 10MB vs 500MB.
So then why is Page Plus on our list? Well, Page Plus Wireless does something most other carriers just can’t: Access to the Verizon network. That means that odds are you won’t ever be out of service wherever you travel to around the country. Riding on the back of the Verizon network will give many an added sense of comfort when choosing a carrier as Verizon has the largest coverage area.
On the phone side things start looking a little less impressive with their top end phone being the Android powered ZTE Majesty at $179.99. If you are someone that’s just looking for cheap Android phone though, the LG Optimus Dynamic at $39.99 is a decent price Android phone even if it is pretty underpowered.
Republic Wireless
How does paying $5 a month for unlimited Talk, Text, and Data and having access to some pretty advanced and full featured Android phones? Pretty great is how that sounds, in case you were wondering. The only caveat to this wonderful sounding plan is that you will only have access to Talk, Text, and Data when you are connected to WiFi, so unless you work, go to school, or live in an area blanketed with free WiFi, this plan may not work for you.
But don’t be discouraged as Republic also offers their $10 plan that gives you unlimited Talk and Text without having to be tied to any WiFi hotspot. Sure, you won’t have any data access with the plan unless you some WiFi, but this is a pretty great plan for those on a tight budget or kids heading off to school that don’t have quite the disposable income they want.
If you do need to have unlimited data tacked on you could shell out a few bucks more and get the $25 plan that adds 3G data. It might not be the zippiest, but it’ll get the job done when you need it. Or you could just ask mom and dad really nicely to splurge on the $40 plan that rocks speeds of 4G, because you know, school and research papers and stuff.
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