So about a month and a half ago I was following a thread about being on XT prepay and using the 500mb data option as it was cheaper. Being the student that I am, the only reason I had the $6 add on was to save me spending $1 if I hit the wrong button on my phone and using data. All I used my phone for was text as the idea was stuck in my head that anything else was too expensive.

A month and a half later and I realise I have changed the way I use my phone. It's not a big deal to call someone and chat for a while (using SIP), or to call someone instead of sending a text (saving my Vodafone friends 20c). It's been great!

Basically my costs have been as follows:
Prior to the change
$12 unlimited text (I never used the data from my $6 add on)
No calls made.

Total: $12

After the change:
$4 on texts while I got used to the idea of calling people more.
5 calls to landlines of around 2min each, cost: data only due to 2talks 15min free each month, about $1 total.
7 calls to mobiles of less than 1min each, cost: data= 70c, call costs 25c/min=$1.75


Total: $7.45



Note: data seems to average at about 1mb/min, so at 10c/mb I have just assumed costs of 10c/min, I realise it is probably a bit more than use due to data used to log into 2talk but then it's making my calculations a bit difficult. Also, data costs will be slightly higher as I was using my Nokia email to check every 15min between 10am-4pm Mon-Fri, but it was set to text only, for 2 accounts.

It's been a really interesting experience. Which makes me wonder what other people do on their phones to either save money or for another reason. It's probably one of the few posts about XT that aren't bashing them for something. :-)

So you skim read my long post and got to here: Tell me what you do to save you money on your cell phone, or just abuse me for my bad maths.

Nick