No Choice but to give it up
When I moved to Rossland at the end of 2015, I had a Wind Mobile phone plan. It offered unlimited call and texting for $25+tax per month (around $33/month). Unfortunately, Wind didn’t work in Rossland so I had to look at my options which included Rogers, Telus and a few other networks that use Rogers and Telus towers.
At this point, I didn’t have a job and when initially looking it seemed as though each plan was at least $35/month for the bare minimum. My girlfriend Alex had been without a cell phone for months and seemed to be doing alright so after weighing my options, I decided to try to live without a cell phone.
$400-$900 savings / Year
The first thing I noticed was that I was saving money, duh obviously… but it adds up fast. In the last year, I have saved $400 if I was somehow able to keep my Wind Mobile plan but I feel I have saved over $900 because to get the same service that I did with Telus, it would be more than $75/month. That is a whole month of Rent payment that I am saving! That is crazy to me!
What is even crazier is that for the last year, I haven’t noticed a difference at all in life quality. In fact, I think life is better.
Why it works
Everyone’s needs are different and this probably won’t work for everyone. But here is why it works for me.
In Rossland, there is Shaw Open access everywhere. I have Shaw internet at home (which I would have regardless of having a mobile plan or not) so I can use the ShawOpen access points everywhere in town. This means I can check my email, message people on Facebook and even make Skype/Facebook calls.
I use Skype as a way to call people but have only had to make 4 phone calls since getting rid of my phone. The rest of the time, I email or Message people. You can buy skype credit and it costs 3 cents a minute to use it. I bought $6 worth of credit in 2015 and still have $4.95 cents left which never runs out.
I even run a business and don’t feel I need the phone. Everyone seems pretty cool with dealing with me through email and when I tell them I don’t use a phone anymore they seem to accept it pretty easily. When I was starting the business everyone told me I needed a phone. Want to know what is funny? Only 1 person has ever even asked for my phone number in the last year that is related to business.
I still carry my smart phone around with no plan. I use it for the internet and also if I need to make emergency calls.. did you know that 911 works on all phones even if you don’t have a plan?
The upsides
Besides the cost savings, I have noticed a lot of benefits. I don’t have my face buried in my phone wherever I go. I am checking out the scenery, saying hi and smiling to random people on the street and being more social.
I also love that I am not “always on call”. When you have a cell phone, people expect to be able to get a hold of you. I used to have nightmares about missing a call from work when I was living in Vancouver. It was looked down upon even outside of business hours. If you need to get a hold of me there are plenty of ways to do it and I will respond when I can.
I still get invited places, I still have an active social life and don’t feel I am missing out… although I do sometimes miss sending random texts to people telling them they are special to me.
I am more organized. If I say I will be somewhere at sometime, I don’t have a way of weaseling out of it. I make plans, just like I did when I was a kid without a cell phone and stick to it.
The Downsides… what downsides?
Well, It’s hard to know if I will be kicking myself in the butt if I ever need to desperately call someone some day and there will be no internet as it hasn’t happened yet but the only downside I have come across is that sometimes when you ship items to yourself, you need to provide a phone number. This being said, I have only had to do that 3 times in a year and they never even called. I just gave them my parents phone number just in case.
Conclusion
Well it might not be for everyone, I haven’t had any issues without having a phone. Most people seem to prefer to deal with email over phone and when I tell people I don’t have a phone number they don’t seem to think I am crazy, although I have been told that I am “Artsy” once.
When I add up the numbers, I can’t believe that I can pay a month of Rent with the amount I have saved while feeling like I haven’t missed out on anything.