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How To Reduce Your Monthly Cell Phone Bill To As Low As $10 Thumbnail

How To Reduce Your Monthly Cell Phone Bill To As Low As $10

Personal Finance

Twenty years ago a “cell phone” category didn’t even show up on a person’s budget, while today the average American spends more than $100/month for cell phone service if they are with one of the four major carriers. In this blog post, I want to tell you about a way to bring your monthly cell phone bill closer to what people were paying in 1995 ($0) than they are today – and I’m not asking you to give up your cell phone!


This is my second blog post in a series of practical ideas to save money. In my last post I shared my thoughts on how to reduce your grocery bill by 44% and today I’ll tell you how to lower your monthly cell phone bill to as little as $10/month.


The Role of My Cell Phone

I want to start by saying that I’m not a tech expert. I’m sure that there are better phones out there as well as other low-cost cell phone plans that I haven’t tried. However, I’m ok with not always having the best of everything. My criteria are fairly straightforward for a phone and plan.  


  1. A phone with which I can easily make and receive calls and text messages and find what I need on the internet quickly.


  1. Reliable service in the area surrounding where I live and in my home – especially in my basement, which is where my office is located.


  1. Low cost.


Republic Wireless

After hearing about Republic Wireless from a few different sources, I decided to make the switch from Sprint last fall because I felt like it almost perfectly met my criteria for a phone and plan.  


The Phone

With Republic Wireless, you are essentially limited to two phones – the Moto X ($299) or the Moto G ($149). Thankfully both are great phones and are highly rated. I have the Moto X and it allows me to do everything I could ever want on a smartphone and more. As a bonus, it is powered by Google and integrates perfectly with my multiple Gmail accounts and Google Calendar.


The Coverage

Republic Wireless uses Sprint cell phone towers, so it is not a small coverage area. Click here to see if you’re covered. I have found the coverage to be great and what makes this plan exceptional for me is that if you have access to Wifi, all use of your phone is through the internet. This is an amazing benefit for me because I have a great Wifi signal in my basement office but bad cell phone reception.


The Price

In order to meet their unique customer needs, Republic Wireless offers a variety of plan options.


  • For unlimited talk and text and 1GB of 4G data per month, the cost is just $25/month. Plus with Republic Wireless’ new 2.0 Plan they just released last week, they give you a refund for any unused data - how awesome is that?!


  • If you’re not much of a data user or pretty much always have access to Wifi you can choose a plan that offers unlimited talk and text with zero data, but unlimited use of the internet and apps if you have access to Wifi. This plan is just $10/month!


  • And for those of you who need more than 1GB of data, there is also a great option for you. You could use their 1.0 Plan and for just $25/month get 5GB of 3G data ($40/month for 4G).


The bottom line is, regardless of what type of plan you need Republic Wireless probably has an inexpensive option for you that could save you a lot of money.


An Example of the Savings

Let’s say that you are currently paying $100/month for your cell phone plan and decided to move and go with a $25/month Republic Wireless plan and the $149 Moto G. This would be savings of $75/month, meaning that you would have paid for the phone after only two months and after two years you would have spent a total $1,650 less than your $100/month plan.  (In this same example, even if you are currently only paying $50/month for your cell phone, you would break even on the phone after six months and spend $450 less over two years.


So What Are You Waiting For?

This may sound too good to be true, but it’s not. I’ve now been with Republic Wireless for more than six months and have nothing but good things to say about the company. If this sounds good to you, I’d encourage you to do some additional research and instead of paying 2015 cell phone prices, reduce your cell phone budget category to 1995 levels, or next to nothing.  



Note: I think it’s important to let you know that I have no financial incentive to recommend Republic Wireless – I just want to share a good thing. Other than them providing me with my monthly cell phone service, I have no relationship with Republic Wireless.