[MaverickLovesYou]

I'm thinking of cancelling my Verizon Wireless phone plan ($66 monthly) to save money & bc I don't believe I need it. I'm disabled with agoraphobia & I do not go out. I have Spectrum home internet router ($80 monthly) which I wirelessly connect my phone to, to make calls, messaging, Facebook, YouTube, stream movies. I also have my desktop computer wired to Spectrum router via ethernet cable.

If I cancel my Verizon Wireless phone plan & I DO go out, I understand I will incur data charges, depending on what I'm doing on my phone outside. The charge should be low bc I will only be making quick necessary calls, quick messaging, checking my Facebook, email, then go home.

What is the purpose of a mobile phone plan?

I believe it only comes into use if I was to go out in the neighborhood, travel out of state or to another country, correct?

All these years I've been wasting money by paying Verizon Wireless, correct?

[unaluna]

I would say you need one or the other, not both. I just have a mobile phone plan and do everything except print! And sometimes some websites require an actual computer, like state gov. For that i go to the library. Id rather have my phone easily available when im out of the house, and in my house i think i have everything i need.

I was just thinking that 50 years ago i wrote a college paper on The Godfather, for which i went to my hometown movie theater 3 times to take notes. And then just this week, i watched the whole series on my phone!

[divine1966]

It depends on your life style.

I commute two hours a day in no traffic and over two hours in traffic. I don’t want to be stuck in traffic jam or be in car accidents with no ability to call. We also have rough winters. I’ve been stuck in blizzards and storms. I need my phone. I take and receive pictures. I do work related stuff on my phone that is urgent and when I am away from computer. I communicate with family overseas using my phone as all communication is free iPhone to iPhone. I also travel quite a bit. It’s silly of me not to have phone plan.

Having said that, I understand that other people have different life styles like don’t work or don’t go out. But even if you take my dad who is in his mid 80s. He doesn’t work or course but he still drives, shops, talks to people, takes pictures, make appointments etc I would not want him be out and about with no phone plan. And he uses his phone quite a bit although not as much as his computer.

[unaluna]

Good points. When i first moved here without a car, i was like, if you dont have transportation, you gotta have information. That is, a mobile phone.

[splitimage]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your email, but if you cancel your Verizon contract, you'll lose all access to make calls/text/whatever on it. With a wireless contract, although they don't spell it out this way you're paying for 2 things, the phone service and the data plan, which covers things like text and using the web on the phone. You can circumvent the later as you are doing by connecting to home wifi when you're home. But if you cancel the Verizon contract, you won't be able to use the phone at all.

A better option might be to see if they have a cheaper plan than includes less data so you could keep using the phone as a phone.

[eskielover]

Phone plans are the SIM card in your phone that allows you to make calls.

I kept my old phone when I got a new one. SIM card was ended on my old phone. I could still play games & access facebook using my home wifi but the phone had no capability away from my home wifi connection & no calls, not even emergency ones could be made.

Get rid of your phone plan & you will have no calling capability no matter where you are. I think wifi calling still requires the SIM card to be active in the phone

[downandlonely]

I think you should be able to get a cheaper plan if you cancel data and just pay for calls and texts. Or you could get a cheap phone that is not a smart phone that you can still use if you need to make calls while you are out. I think you would need some way to make calls.

I also haven't found a way to call 911 over the computer. However, if you have a really old cell phone, you should be able to call 911 even without a phone plan.

[MaverickLovesYou]

Originally Posted by splitimage

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your email, but if you cancel your Verizon contract, you'll lose all access to make calls/text/whatever on it. With a wireless contract, although they don't spell it out this way you're paying for 2 things, the phone service and the data plan, which covers things like text and using the web on the phone. You can circumvent the later as you are doing by connecting to home wifi when you're home. But if you cancel the Verizon contract, you won't be able to use the phone at all.

A better option might be to see if they have a cheaper plan than includes less data so you could keep using the phone as a phone.

Yes, I just realized by cancelling my Verizon phone plan, my phone number which belongs to them will also be cancelled. As you mentioned, I am going to ask Verizon for a cheaper data plan. Spectrum has a $14 one gig data monthly plan, I will go for if Verizon has nothing.

[MaverickLovesYou]

Update: I cancelled Verizon mobile & now have Tello data plan $11 monthly whose towers are T-Mobile. I still have my old phone # woot woot!

[Nammu]

Oo smart move.

[cool09]

What's the purpose of cell phones? Just another technological distraction from every day life.

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by cool09

What's the purpose of cell phones? Just another technological distraction from every day life.

That’s the strange thing to say @cool09.

Do you not use it for directions? Getting to place you need is every day life. Receiving pictures of loved ones who live too far for you to see them regularly? It’s not real life? Face time with grandkids who live far away isn’t a real life? Calling to check on elderly relative and see if they need anything? Or them calling or texting you asking for something? Not every day life? Calling emergency car services come get you and your
car because car broke down? Not every day life? Many places don’t have landline and it’s the only way to call emergency services. Not every day life? Look up plumbing services and call a plumber to fix a leaky pipe or malfunctioning toilet isn’t an every day life? A distraction?

What kind of every day life do you have that the phone is a distraction?