I make it no secret that I’m very anti-cell phone. The main reason is because I do remember when the phone companies were literally screwing us blind in phone charges for land-line telecommunications back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Today’s wireless plans are essentially just as bad cost-wise.. and unfortunately no one sees this, but I digress.

I use a wireless phone not because I want to but because I have to, therefore I go cheap. With that said, here’s the lowest cost post-paid plans (meaning contractual agreements and not “pay as you go” pre-paid methods):

Verizon, AT&T, Alltel

Lowest possible price: $39.99 monthly, 2-year contract

You basically get the same features no matter which carrier you choose in this price range. All of them have free mobile-to-mobile (meaning same-carrier) minutes. AT&T is the only one that does NOT offer unlimited nights and weekends. All have 450 “anytime” minutes with the exception of Alltel that has 500.

The best deal in this price range is Alltel, no question. You get 50 more minutes plus the ability to add 1 “My Circle” number that doesn’t count against your 450.

Sprint, T-Mobile

Lowest possible price: $29.99 monthly, 2-year contract

T-Mobile offers 300 “anytime” minutes while Sprint only offers 200 monthly.

Does Sprint sound crappy? Not really when you consider their plan has unlimited nights and weekends while T-Mobile DOES NOT. T-Mobile only offers unlimited weekends but not weeknights and that’s a huge drawback.

Both carriers have the same perks so-to-speak as the higher-cost plans such as voicemail and so on.

. . .

So there you have it. Five major carriers in the USA with 2 of them on the low-low end of the price spectrum.

If you’re the type (like I am) that uses a wireless phone for basic and/or emergencies only, now you know how much it costs.

Verizon (for those unaware) is a humongous telecommunications company with a very large presence in the United States. It’s more or less guaranteed that anyone you talk to in the US knows what Verizon is and what they do.

Verizon’s infrastructure is also humongous (obviously). This means they can offer anything to do with telecommunications. So, if you’re the type that uses one company for everything, Verizon can usually do it.

When I first moved to Florida two years ago I decided to go all-Verizon. Why? Because it was easy and they had the lowest price. Furthermore you can combine everything using their “One-Bill” service to make managing services easy.

Or so it would seem. Continued