Cheapest Ways to Chat it Up!
August 14, 2009 | Thursday Bram
When students moved into the dorms at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia last fall, they didn’t find landlines in their rooms. The students didn’t miss the phone lines, though: Roanoke’s administration had surveyed the student body the year before and discovered that only 14 percent of their students used their landlines on a regular basis — and many students reported that they didn’t even have a phone in their room. Instead, college students almost universally relied on their cell phones for communication.
Finding the right cell phone plan for a college student can require a little research: most students have different needs for their phones, and there are a few features that can really come in handy for a college student. The fact that most college students don’t have the sort of credit history that most cell phone companies like to see means that prepaid plans are usually the best choice — unless a parent is willing to add their college student to their cell phone plan.
Prepaid plans, such as Sprint Nextel’s Boost Mobile service, have an added benefit of letting college students better control the expense of having a cell phone as well as avoiding a contract which can prove problematic for a student. Boost Mobile, for instance, offers a flat-rate ‘Monthly Unlimited’ cell phone plan priced at $50 per month. It comes with unlimited anytime calls, as well as text messaging, and has no roaming charges — perfect for those students who need to stay in touch with the folks back home. Students who choose Boost Mobile’s service will still need a cell phone: the company offers a line of Motorola cell phones ranging in price from $29.99 to $129.99. While it’s necessary to buy the phone up front, unlike some cell phone services, it is much easier to avoid costly deposits with a prepaid plan — and it will work with cell phones with features like cameras and Bluetooth capabilities.
Sprint Nextel isn’t the only company offering cell phone services with college students in mind. Virgin Mobile offers a variety of prepaid plans, along with some special services. The Sugar Mama program allows customers to earn minutes for their cell phones through completing surveys online and responding to text message advertisements. The Fund My Phone program builds on Sugar Mama, letting students share content with their Facebook friends and earn even more minutes. Virgin Mobile’s prepaid plans don’t require contracts — or credit checks — and offer flexibility for college students. It’s easy to change a plan to reflect this month’s budget and the variety of ways to add minutes to a phone (PayPal, debit or credit cards or Top Up cards from local stores) makes relying on the phone easy. Both Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile’s plans can be set up online. Boost Mobile is also available at Best Buys, Walmarts and Targets throughout the country. Virgin Mobile is available through a variety of retailers, as well: its Top Up cards are carried by 7-Eleven, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and even local grocery stores.
Roanoke College didn’t leave those students who still wanted telephones in their room in a difficult position, however. According to Teresa Gereaux, the college’s director of public relations, a few students have arranged to have landlines: “Currently, I believe we have only six students with voice over IP phones in their rooms. All other students use cell phones. With the new phones, students do have to pay a deposit for the phones (which are more expensive since they are VoIP phones).” Other universities that have discontinued providing landlines in their dormitories have similar arrangements: students can still get the phone lines, but often must put down a larger deposit.
