After a stupid amount of indecision, I finally set myself up with a new phone plan today.

My previous plan was costing me $40 per month, and gave me 3gb of data. Given that I hardly ever use the phone bit of my phone, and rarely even come close to using the 3gb of data, I’ve been trying to find a cheaper plan–especially since, for the first time ever, I’ve bought my new phone outright and don’t need to be tied to an expensive monthly plan.

A few weeks ago I found out about a company called Lebara. They use the Vodafone network, which has always worked pretty well for me, and offered a plan for $15 which came with 0.5gb of data. Not great, but there was a promotional offer to get another 2Gb added to that, plus I’d get my 3gb per month if I set up auto recharge. Seemed pretty good. However, the reviews weren’t great, and I couldn’t get comfortable going with a possibly crappy company.

Then Vodafone began offering some new deals. Stupid amounts of data for starters, and money off each month. I eventually found a plan that would offer me 20gb of data for $35–way more data for a slightly less money, which was better than a kick in the teeth. I nearly signed up over the weekend, but stopped at the last minute when it I couldn’t see anything to make it clear whether this would replace my current plan, or end up being added to it.

Then, at the start of this week, I read about some Virgin Mobile deals–20% off plans, plus bonus data. I found a plan that would give me 5gb of data for just $23 per month, which was the sort of saving (down from $40 per month) that I really liked. Even better, when I went to sign up online, I was thrown a code giving me another 1gb per month, bringing me up to 6gb. So, twice the data for nearly half the price. Done.

The only thing left was to transfer my number and cancel my Vodafone account–my month rolls over on the 25th, so I needed to get this sorted out asap if I didn’t want to end up paying another $40. This turned out to be ridiculously easy. I set up my number to be ported on the same evening that I unpacked my SIM card, and found that it had happened by the time I woke up the next day (following a brief period of wondering why my phone had switched to SOS mode!). I then dropped by the Vodafone shop today to cancel my account (because it was preferable to calling) and was told that my old account would have been automatically cancelled when the number was ported over. Win!

As an added bonus, my (ultimately unnecessary) trip to the Vodafone store also gave me the opportunity to do the very final bits of my Christmas shopping. I headed home that day with my fresh new phone plan all set up, and the knowledge that, for once, I’d bought all of my Christmas presents well before Christmas Eve.

So, yeah, reading about phone plans might not be the most riveting–but it was a good day 🙂