Jon Bon’s Money

           I figured I would get it out of the way early this year. Usually I am Mr. Responsible; I buy the right sized house, a used affordable car, pay my bills on time and generally don’t splurge on luxury items. 2010 is going to be a little different, after having a good 2009 and really starting to balance out this whole homeowner thing I find myself needing (read: wanting)  a new cell phone.

            Oh not any phone, I must have a smart phone. Oh not any smart phone I must the most expensive and most advanced phone out there. I must have the Iphone.

         The Iphone is of course the culmination of everything that Apple does well; it’s a computer, Ipod, and phone all tucked into a tiny device that actually works quite well. You can surf, listen, or talk on this  expensive device.

          Now I am pretty responsible and I have been hearing lots about prepaid cell phones in the blogosphere. They are cheap to purchase and easily replaceable.  They require no contract, are pay as you go, and really only make calls. I would highly suggest this type of phone for my grandparents or someone who has limited monthly usage.

So let’s do some cost comparison here:

                        Cost           Monthly cost           Termination cost.

Iphone              $200                $90                              $250

Prepaid            $40                  $40                              $0

So over a 2 year period:

Prepaid cost: $1000

Iphone cost:  $2360

            That is actually not as bad I was expecting, the Iphone would cost around 2.5 times more then a prepaid barebones phone would over the 2 year contract period. Figuring in the benefit of web-browsing, email, texting I would say that the value received by those extra services probably about equals the cost difference of these phones.