The Best Cell Phone Plans for Seniors
A cell phone is a communication device that can be used the same way as a landline telephone, but instead of having it plugged in and in one place, you can take it with you wherever you go. There are so many types of cell phones out there right now, which is why we are going to talk about the best cell phone plans for seniors.
Why Should Seniors Have a Cell Phone?
There are many pros to having a cell phone as a senior and not many cons. The pros are that you can use it to contact your family or friends from anywhere, not just at home. You have a way to contact emergency services from anywhere if you have an emergency. You can use your cell phone to text message your grandchildren. Some phones have the ability to make video calls too, so you can call your family and almost feel like you are chatting in person.
Some cons would be that they are easy to lose. Some cell phones can be expensive, and a cell phone is an additional bill each month. Now with all of that said, what kind of cell phone plan should you look into as a senior citizen? Well to answer that question, you need to ask yourself a few more questions.
What Is Your Budget?
Firstly, you should know how much you are willing to pay per month for your cell phone. By knowing what your budget is, it will make it easier for you to decide on what kind of cell phone you will purchase, what company to buy a plan from and what features you may be able to include with your cell phone plan. Cell phone plans generally start at $30 per month for a basic plan and then increase in price from there.
How Do You Plan on Using Your Cell Phone?
The next thing you should decide on is how you are going to be using the cell phone. Decide whether you are going to be making mostly phone calls and text messages, or if you will use your cell phone to look at social media.
If you are only going to be using your cell phone for phone calls, it is better to purchase a basic plan because then you are not paying for a service you will not be using. If you plan on using your phone for social media, you will want to purchase a cell phone plan that includes data to connect to the internet. The price for plans that include internet start at $40 and go up from there.
What are Sharing Plans?
A great offer to take advantage of is family sharing plans. If you have family members who already have a cell phone plan, then it may be a good idea to set up a family sharing plan with them. Family sharing plans mean that the cell phone company gives you a discount for having more than one phone with their company. A lot of the time, the discount is fairly significant, and it can mean saving money on your monthly cell phone cost.
What Company Should You Choose?
There are quite a few companies to choose from for your cell phone plan, but which one is going to be best for you as a senior citizen? Well let’s start with the company that we think offers the best options for seniors.
T-Mobile
T-Mobile offers a cell phone plan that is specifically for anyone aged 55 and over. Their Essentials Unlimited 55 plan offers unlimited texting, calling and internet for $27.50 per month. This plan also includes texting abroad and internet that you can use if you travel to Canada or Mexico.
They also offer two more plans. The Magenta Unlimited 55 at $35 per month provides more data abroad and up to an hour of airplane WiFi use. There is also the Magenta Plus Unlimited 55 at $45 per month with unlimited airplane WiFi and additional data for use abroad. There is one catch though, you have to have two phones and that price is per phone per month. If you only want to register one phone, the Essentials plan is $40 per month and the Magenta plan is $50 per month.
Verizon
If you are planning on having a shared plan with your family, Verizon is the way to go. They offer big discounts on the amount you pay per phone as you add more phones to the plan. A basic plan in their Unlimited plan section is $70 per one phone, but as you add more phones that price drops. If you have a plan with five phones on it the cost is only $30 per phone. That is for unlimited talking, texting and internet for all those phones. Verizon also has a basic phone plan that is perfect for you if you do not want to use the internet on your cell phone. It costs $30 per month for unlimited talk and text.
Sprint
Sprint cannot really out-price the competition, but they do offer one thing over their competition, which is a subscription to Hulu included in their Unlimited plans. That means that you get talk, text, internet and the Hulu subscription for $60 per month. If you do not know what Hulu is, it is an online TV service that you can use to watch TV shows and movies, the same as Netflix.
AT&T
AT&T compares to Verizon with their offer of a basic talk and text plan, with a small amount of internet. The cost of the plan is $35 per month and includes unlimited talk and text, which is a good price if you are not planning on using the phone for anything else.
In Review
There are a lot of options out there for the best cell phone plans for seniors. You can now pick the right cell phone plan based on your needs!