We pay 35$ a month to cover all our call/text/internet requirements. Do you want to know how it can be so cheap and what we get for that ?
Hint : 2 very fast internet at home (at the tune of 100MB) & 5 pre-paid phone contract

Internet

Our 2 internet at home are a cable provider (with both TV & internet) and an internet only (ethernet cable). The main reason is that I work from home, and I’m totally dependent on internet to connect to my company VPN. As our main internet was a bit unstable we added the cable one (it’s blazing fast, but it crash every week or two for 15-30 min). We bought our own TP-link router for 20$ (saving on router renting fees)

Main internet : 8$ (ethernet access)

Backup cable internet: 8$ (with TV cable)

Mobile phone

We use pre-paid sim card in Ukraine with an automatic top-up. For that we had to buy our phone, a Liquid Z3 dual SIM for 120$ & a Moto G – 8GB for 220$ a year ago (mine is with dual sim to make life simpler, if you travel a lot, I strongly advise you to get a cheap dual sim phone). I’m paying 3$ a month (and my wife 4$ as she get unlimited internet) for a monthly :

• 1200 text message (40 a day)
• 100 min call
• unlimited call within network
• 1200MB of internet or unlimited internet (for 1$ more)

And we have 2 French sim card (when we visit family), for wich we pay 2€ a month (5$ for both) and can be cancelled at will

• unlimited text message
• 120 min call
• 50MB of internet but there is an automatic wifi sharing (so whenever in city we usually get free wifi from “neighbor”

And last but not least, I have a Belgian sim card (paid by my company) but taxed as benefit in kind (for 8$) that give me unlimited call/text/internet while in Belgium. I use it only when working from Belgium (a week every 2 month more or less)

Do you prefer “cheap” cellphone with expensive contract or pay upfront for the phone & get a cheaper contract ? How much do you pay for internet/mobile ?