Saving Big with $40 Unlimited Plans – Unlimited Talk, Text and Web #FamilyMobileSaves #cbias

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and their client. As always, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

I was given the opportunity to try Walmart Family Mobile Unlimited Plans and I jumped at the chance. Currently, my hubby and I have AT&T and to be frank, we pay an arm and a leg for our cell service each month. So when I was given the chance to try a service plan that was considerably less expensive, the frugal queen in me was very intrigued! Go HERE to view my story in pictures on Google+

To prepare for the cell service, I received a T Mobile myTouch. My phone came with a battery & charger with USB cable and a SIM card. I installed the battery and SIM card and then headed to Walmart to purchase a Walmart Family Mobile Starter Kit. The Starter Kit is $25.00 and comes with a Family Mobile SIM card which was necessary in order to begin my cell service.

The salesperson was very friendly and helpful as she explained how the Walmart Family Mobile Unlimited Plans works. The Family Mobile Plan is $40.00 per month. What does $40.00 get you? With the Walmart Family Mobile Plan, $40.00 gets you unlimited talk, texting and web browsing. I had to ask my salesperson to repeat herself three times to make sure I heard correctly. I can talk on the phone as much as I want, text as much as I want and surf the net, chat with friends on Facebook and Tweet on Twitter as much as I want! To add a caveat, the “unlimited web” actually gives you 1 GB of web usage. After you hit 1 GB, per the salesperson, the web browsing slows down drastically. If you add a second line to your account, the second line is $35.00!

With the Walmart Family Mobile Unlimited Plans you also do not need to sign any contracts. You pay month to month and do not have to sign a one or two year commitment.

Now.  I need to confess.  One of my “non-frugal” expenses that we pay each month is my cell phone bill.  Currently, my hubby and I spend $188 on our two cell phones. Yes, you read that right. We have the AT& T FamilyTalk Nation plan which gives us 700 minutes with rollover (this alone is $60.00 for one line). Mobile to Mobile phone calls are unlimited. We have unlimited texting (this is $30.00 for one account). And we have 2 GB for web usage (this is $25.00 for one account). To add a second cell phone to our account, we pay an additional $58.20. We also pay an additional amount for tethering (so I can work anywhere and everywhere) and that is included in the $58.20. Our total amount due each month is $188.30 and that includes taxes, fees, etc.

(evidence of my current expensive AT&T phone bill is below)

So of course, the potential to pay $75.00 (before fees) with the Walmart Family Mobile Plan is VERY appealing! I am loving the idea of saving over 50% by adding my husband and I to this plan. My main concern is losing the tethering capability which my iPhone has. Because I need to be able to blog anywhere, I relish in the fact that I can go online anywhere by hooking up my laptop to my phone’s tether (“aka” wireless router). I am excited to see that I may in fact be able to use my new phone for tethering! My goal is to figure this out asap and I will be posting my update in the next month! My husband and I are in the midst of adopting and we are hoping that by the end of this summer, our child will be home. We have more adoption expenses facing us during the next few months so saving money on our phone bills would be a blessing.

The salesperson installed my Family Mobile SIM card, explained that I would receive my first month’s bill in a few weeks via a text message on my phone, and I was on my way. I will admit that I don’t love the idea of receiving a bill via a text message. I prefer the more old fashioned way of an email bill or even a paper bill. But we’ll see how the text messaging bill works once I receive it in a couple of weeks.

My time using my T Mobile myTouch has been great thus far. The web browsing functionality is very easy to use. Within minutes of having my phone line activated, I had connected my phone to my Facebook and Twitter accounts. And after a little playing, I quickly learned how to take pictures, play movies on my Netflix account and add Instagram to my phone.
During this next month, I will continue using my new myTouch and will report back on my phone’s functionality and my thoughts on my new, affordable cell service plan.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and their client. As always, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.