A combo of my wife and I giving up our Apple Watches, a horrible experience with Verizon, where I was straight up lied to by several people while trying to get a carrier-subsidized phone, and a friend making fun of me for paying too much. I took the plunge and switched to Mint Mobile, note this is a referral link.

Everything from setup, to number porting to transfer was pretty easy, and my bill went from ~$200 a month to ~$45. At the max, it could be $60, but I looked at our usage, and I never hit over 15GB and wife 20GB. It includes the two things that are important to me as well: tethering and an option for seamless international travel.

Sure, I can’t get the carrier to subsidize my phone but’s not a big deal as I’ve always just bought my phones outright. It doesn’t take much math to figure out that $2500 a year vs $550 a year leaves a couple grand on the table to put towards a new phone.