Our lives are gadgety ones. Technology has become such a big part of our professional and personal identities that it’s hard to imagine what it was like before the advent of cell phones, cable, e-readers, and the like. But all that technology doesn’t come cheap. When I was in middle school, pagers and AOL Instant Messenger – anyone still remember that? - were the big thing on campus. In fact, CB and I even expressed our interest in each other via an Instant Messenger chat (ah, the joys of young love). My family had modem dial-up until 2004. Now everywhere I turn, there is this explosion of technology – new gadgets, faster downloads, bigger screens, higher resolutions. It’s exciting, but it’s expensive.
Even not counting the initial cost of purchasing the device, the monthly costs of using and enjoying all the technology out there can be a hefty sum. Think about it. A smartphone plan costs at least $60-$70. A family of four with iPhones can pay $200+ a month. Cable subscriptions cost $20-$50, more if you want premium channels such as HBO. Even readers aren’t immune from the costs – new books on Amazon’s Kindle cost around $10/download. Read 4 books a month and that’s $40. I can go through 4 books a week if they are good ones… so if I weren’t careful, I can spend $160 a month. JUST on books.
For now, CB and I have been pretty successful in keeping our technology/entertainment costs down. We don’t have a TV, we don’t have any premium subscriptions to Hulu.com or Netflix, and neither of us are big gamers (although CB hopes he can be!) so there are no costs for game consoles or money for multi-player-games. I have an iPhone, but my company covers that cost. We also both have personal cell phones. CB has a $35/month plan on his cell phone and my cell phone is covered as part of my parents’ family plan. We do have DSL internet (I would almost argue that is a necessity nowadays), and that costs $40/month. If we do count the costs for the iPhone and my cell phone, our total technology costs would be $160+ a month. I have free books on the Kindle, and CB once purchased a $0.99 book for me (it was a very bad romance novel. I really couldn’t finish it, but then I felt that I’d be wasting that dollar if I didn’t read it, so I just skimmed very quickly and confirmed how bad it was).
How much are you spending per month on technology (cell phone plans, cable, netflix, internet, e-books, data plans, etc.)?
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I'm always surprised how expensive the ongoing costs for electronics in the US seem to be. I pay 30 Euros per month for internet and landline with flat rate calling. I don't have cable but I cans till watch 30 channels for free in Germany. I don't posess a smartphone, but with my prepaid contract, I would pay no more than 40 Euros a month (if I would use Internet and chose a call and SMS flat). Currently I'm paying ~5 Euros per month on my cell phone.
Is it just me being very cheap? Or are follow up costs in US higher than for us Europeans/Germans?
When you put it that way I dont even want to think about it. Just the comcast bill alone is over 100 and to be honest theres never really ever anything on tv. Same things repeated over and over again. Not to mention phone bill i was thinking about just getting a prepay I hear a lot of people have cut done cost with that.
A frequent thorn in my side. Cable$70/Internet$54/Phone$23 (1 dvr, 1 digital box, HBO, 12 to 15 Mbps downloads) and Sprint family cell phone pland costs me $190 (2 smartphones and 2 dumbphones with 16% employee discount). I also pay $29 a month for a home security system, Las Vegas is not the nice small town I grew up in :/ Dropped Netflix when they hiked their price. Would like to get an Xbox $60/year and play SWTOR mmorpg $15/month. Being 39 years old it's tough for me to pay so much for technology. I grew up without most of it so having to pay so much for it pains me. The only technology I really need is the Internet, but the more I use my smartphone the more addicted I get to it. The smartphones are just so dang expensive. It was tough for me to go from $80 for 4 phones to $190. REAL hard…
I am not sure of the exact number but I think we are paying around $160. This is because we have a promo deal right now for our internet and tv. Once that ends we will have to reconsider things. Technology is expensive but it also seems like a necessity these days.
I live in Vancouver, Canada…
The hubby and I pay $45/month each including taxes for our cell phones, which include data and unlimited North American calling. TV and internet at home is around $70/month. The TV package is the one above the basic cable so I have about 40 channels. I also have Vonage landline at home because my parents insist that we have a landline, for $23/month. I think this is not too bad.
My sister in law and her husband pay $85/month each for their cell phone (including data plan). Landline, I estimate $20 to $30/month. Their TV package is the top of the line HD package, I have no idea how much that cost. Too much for me, that's for sure
We spend $50 for a home phone and internet, $100 for our cell phones, $75 for cable, and I'm probably forgetting so much else.
I spend… $65 on cellphone + $8 on netflix + ~$15 on iTunes (music, movies, books etc). It's probably close to $100 = yikes
I don't even want to think about it… It's definitely a lot. And you are right, some of those costs can just get crazy. I need to figure SOMETHING out to save some money.
It's not just the costs in the US, we live in Thailand and even though the country is considered as an inexpensive destination technology costs almost as much as in the West. Current tech expenses are Internet $50 / Cable $40 / Cell Phones (no smartphone) $30, so a total of $120 per month. This is similar to what we paid living in the US after dropping our smartphones and premium cable subscriptions. We could drop the cable because it isn't really necessary and dvd's can be had here for $6-7, but the internet and cell phone are non-negotiable.
$160 for 2 iphones, $35/month for internet/basic cable (share with downstairs housemates). If we weren't sharing, we'd only have internet, no TV. We pay $10/month for netflix. I never buy books for my Nook -I borrow them from the library or download the crummy free romance novels. I love it. My husband might start spending $20 for 3G for his iPad because he's having a hard time pulling up spreadsheets and reports for his clients when he's on the road (salesman). In total = $225. Geez smartphones cost a lot of money.
Isn't it amazing that, prior to, oh, 1995, we didn't need any of this (and hence didn't pay for it). Now, miraculously, a high percentage of us have found space in our budgets for smart phones, high speed internet access, kindles or ipads, laptops, etc. I think it's evidence that money is as much about priorities as anything else. When people tell me they're very busy, I sometimes suggest outsourcing things (like cleaning). People then claim they can't afford a cleaning service…but they have cable, three phones, etc. Sometimes we can't afford things, but sometimes we don't want to afford things.
We pay $140/month for our phones (two iPhones, one cell phone) and $60 for internet here in Australia. We don't have cable or a TV. Instead, we take advantage of Hulu and $1 rentals from the video store and watch them on our laptop. Maybe once our massive debt snowball is done, we'll celebrate with more technology.
I think my monthly avg is around $70 (internet, landline and pay as you go cell).
Ugh. Pre 2010 we spent $50 on cellphones (prepaid) between us two a month. Now, we both have smartphones. Mine is free, company pays for it, his costs between $40-60 a month. And now we have pay TV, which is at least $50 a month (depending on any movies we buy, or if we put on the film channel package that month).
Luckily, I don't have to pay for internet or cable, so I just have my cellphone bill (which does not have a data plan), so about $30 – $35/month. I'm not looking forward to the day when I have to pay for internet and cable.
Let's see.
* Cell phone is budgeted at $85/month. I expense about $15 of that (half of my data plan), so total average cost out of pocket is about $70/month.
* Cable costs me about $15/month since I have basic cable.
* I don't have Netflix – I found it to be a waste of my time. I do rent the occasional movie from Amazon though, at a cost of about $4 every few months.
* Internet costs me almost $60/month, but I can't really live without internet…
* I mostly only read books on vacation and I stockpile them, so I don't spend that much money on e-books.
So I guess I'm spending over $200/month on technology, wow! :/
I’m so glad you wrote this because just yesterday I was looking at cell phone plans and what my bill would be if I got a smart phone. I find it crazy how much everything costs – and I was having a lot of trouble figuring out how much data I would need to buy (I don’t want any charges for going over!). Right now I’m on my sister’s family plan so my line alone costs $10, plus a portion of her messaging and basic plan fees. Total about $15-20. An iphone would send that right up to $50/month easily. That’s $600/year just for my cell phone bill – not to mention the $200 just for getting the phone!
I’m also glad you mentioned the ebooks craze. There is no reason those ebooks should cost so much money. I think it’s artificially inflated to get people to still buy hard books. Anyway, I only have free book downloads from Kindle, and I heard that with Amazon Prime there is free book loaning or borrowing or something. It might be worth it if you are really a big reader.
ImpulseSave´s last [type] ..To Keep or Not to Keep, That is the Question
ImpulseSave´s last [type] ..To Keep or Not to Keep, That is the Question
Mobile plans can be such a ripoff, especially here in Canada where there is just not that much competition, and the CRTC tends to favour the bigger companies over the upstarts by passing certain laws excluding foreign capital, for instance.
I'm also glad you mentioned the ebooks craze. There is no reason those ebooks should cost so much money. I think it's artificially inflated to get people to still buy hard books. Anyway, I only have free book downloads from Kindle, and I heard that with Amazon Prime there is free book loaning or borrowing or something. It might be worth it if you are really a big reader.