Cutting the Tower

April 26th, 2013

Cell phone contracts are crazy, yet seemingly necessary evils in today’s society. But do we really need them?

I pay roughly $100 a month for my phone’s plan. This is nearly how much we pay on our car loan. That’s insane! If I went back in time and told my 12 year old self that in the very near future I’d be paying $1,200 a year on cell phone service, I would have called myself an idiot (and ask if I could have that money to buy LEGO sets).

Now, all that money isn’t wasted. I talk on the phone about 200 minutes a month and send roughly 800 texts. But the most concerning statistic I found when looking at my history is how much data I use. It’s not what you’d expect: I use, on average, just 0.5GB of data a month. How do I use such little data? Aside from the terribly slow 4G Sprint offers, I only use my phone’s data when I’m walking around or on the train. Everywhere else?our apartment, the office, restaurants?I am able to use WiFi for all of my data needs.

So why do I waste so much money every month on a cell phone plan I barely use? I hate wasting money! After looking around online for cheap alternatives, I came across a little thing called Karma.

The Experiment

I have decided to run a week-long test where I use this device for all of my cell phone needs. There will be things I will have to get used to, like using Google Voice for all my calls. If after a week I’m not sold on this new way of using my phone, I’ll return the Karma and jump back onto my expensive cell phone contract. If, however, I like it, I will cancel my cell phone contract and never look back.

Follow me on twitter for updates!


Note: The title of this post is an homage to cutting the cord. I realize I’m not actually cutting the cell towers out of my phone’s service. Instead, think of the tower as a metaphor for the monolithic cell carriers who continue to trap us into crappy contracts with ridiculous rules, costs, and fees.

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