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I've gone the opposite direction (here in Canada). I'm on a plan that costs at most $13 (+HST) per month but can get cheaper. It gives me unlimited internatio

I've gone the opposite direction (here in Canada). I'm on a plan that costs at most $13 (+HST) per month but can get cheaper. It gives me unlimited international text/multimedia messaging, 100 dialed minutes / unlimited incoming minutes per month and 250MB of data. Pathetic? Sure. But just don't use mobile data unless you need it. 250MB is enough for data plan based messaging, Strava, Google Maps (with cached maps) and whatever information you need to look up. You don't really need to watch 1080p streaming video outside the house. If anything this actually encourages healthy phone habits. If you do need massive data, suck it up, pay the CAD $80/month for the big data package, then the incremental cost of visiting a given web site is zero. Cheaper? Look it up. It's Public Mobile prepaid. $15/month minus $2 for autopay (which everyone uses), minus $1/month for every year you've been on to a maximum of 5, minus $1/month for every referred friend (or spouse!) that is currently using it. I think the wife and I together are running at $21 or $22 per month currently. Yes, would be nice to have dirt cheap internet and mobile data, but we don't. So make the best of what we do have.

deregulateMed 5y ago
It's interesting to see the rationalization. "Just don't use it, plus good phone habits" What about value added uses for the phone? I looked up how to harvest basil today and watched a 60 second YouTube video. Or reading an encyclopedia. Or fixing a car. None of those are bad phone habits. And those previously mentioned don't necessarily have the luxury of wifi.
- MarkusWandel 5y ago
  I have a gigabyte of backup data for stuff like that; it costs $30 but you can use it up as slowly as you want (once you deplete your 250MB). I find it super annoying that low bandwidth information (i.e. a paragraph or two of text) has been replaced by ad-riddled Youtube videos! I've been able to avoid this usage pattern while on mobile data, but I can see that not everyone feels they can. Wikipedia is lightweight, no problem on frugal data.
- TMWNN 5y ago
  >It's interesting to see the rationalization. >"Just don't use it, plus good phone habits" Agreed. For a couple of years I had 1-5GB mobile plans, often free (thanks to the late great RingPlus). I never used more than 1-2GB a month so they were quite sufficient for my needs. I then got unlimited service from Sprint (thanks to the late great free unlimited year offer). My usage patterns did not change. To my surprise, however, I found that no longer having to think about the usage limit—even if the limit was never a real problem before—perceptibly eased my daily life.

deregulateMed 5y ago

It's interesting to see the rationalization. "Just don't use it, plus good phone habits" What about value added uses for the phone? I looked up how to harvest basil today and watched a 60 second YouTube video. Or reading an encyclopedia. Or fixing a car. None of those are bad phone habits. And those previously mentioned don't necessarily have the luxury of wifi.

MarkusWandel 5y ago
I have a gigabyte of backup data for stuff like that; it costs $30 but you can use it up as slowly as you want (once you deplete your 250MB). I find it super annoying that low bandwidth information (i.e. a paragraph or two of text) has been replaced by ad-riddled Youtube videos! I've been able to avoid this usage pattern while on mobile data, but I can see that not everyone feels they can. Wikipedia is lightweight, no problem on frugal data.
TMWNN 5y ago
>It's interesting to see the rationalization. >"Just don't use it, plus good phone habits" Agreed. For a couple of years I had 1-5GB mobile plans, often free (thanks to the late great RingPlus). I never used more than 1-2GB a month so they were quite sufficient for my needs. I then got unlimited service from Sprint (thanks to the late great free unlimited year offer). My usage patterns did not change. To my surprise, however, I found that no longer having to think about the usage limit—even if the limit was never a real problem before—perceptibly eased my daily life.