Thinking of getting rid of 1 cell phone

[Phisher]

I am trying to reduce costs while living aboard. How many couples while cruising only use 1 cell phone? It would save me around $75 a month on my current AT&T plan..

[pickpaul]

You could setup google voice to give you a free second number so you'd know who should pick up the phone based upon ringtone and each have a separate voicemail account. I think it could work. Good luck.

Sent from my SM-G925T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Sailmonkey]

When we took of we had a "burner" phone in the US, the reluctantly bought an unlocked phone in Belize. No need for phone(s) most times.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[sailormed]

Reduce costs by buying local data only Sim cards. Then phone worldwide with Skype, Whatsapp, Facetime, ....... This saves a bundle.


Envoyé de mon iPad à l'aide de Cruisers Sailing Forum

[annsni]

If you are looking for just the US, look into something like Virgin Mobile or Boost. I've had VM for about 10 years and it's been great. No need to spend $75! I pay $30 a month for unlimited everything.

[Lockjr]

Wife and I did the same. The only time we miss the second phone is when we are not together which is not often. We got rid of our cell phone and saved about 100 dollars and picked up a sat phone with 100 minutes a month for 75. So in the long run we save 25 dollars a month. However with the sat phone we have some freedom and we have a cradle with antenna for boat use. The phone was free with one year contract so made sense and it has come in handy when have been separated for whatever reason. A lot of the smaller things have been the more complicated to work out like whose phone we would keep and what extras on the phone. Cost versus benefit type issues you know.

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by Phisher

I am trying to reduce costs while living aboard. How many couples while cruising only use 1 cell phone? It would save me around $75 a month on my current AT&T plan..

Phisher,

You may have already evaluated other AT&T plans, but if not: on our US AT&T "family plan" we only pay $15/month/phone. The plan is basically a shared data plan, and that is what we are paying for [$125/mo for 40GB data. We get a small discount as retirees.]

The service charge per phone is cheap in comparison.

In our traveling lifestyle, we still prefer to each have a phone not only for those times when we are separated, but also because the remote monitoring system on our boat texts us with alerts while we are traveling on land.

In case this is useful.

Cheers! Bill

[knockabout]

drop one plan and store the phone for a spare /we use prepaid on Telstra freedom plan / $2 for a sim from the post office or supermarket for a spare phone if needed / they come with $10 start up credit / no you can't buy a bucket full and discard after using the credit on each one / that's in Australia / prepaid phones come unlocked with a start up sim / I am using a waterproof phone watch on prepaid that cost $35 on ebay

[Kiwi.]

Overseas on the boat we only have one cell phone and the satellite phone for emergencies. When we are separated for any length of time one of us is almost always on board. So the other one takes our portable VHF and we leave the ship VHF on the agreed channel. Mainly used to ask for the dingy to come and pick up the shopper and the groceries.
If we're staying in one country for a while we always buy a local sim and put it in our spare phone. We can then email a local number to family and friends without us paying roaming costs.