We know your students love their smartphones. How about putting that obsession to use by having them read this article from Nerdwallet “Best Cell Phone Plan” As the article notes, every few months the carriers update their pricing models (check out our earlier posts on the topic here and here):

Shopping for a phone plan can be as daunting as picking a health insurance package. The rates and options constantly change, and it feels impossible to make simple comparisons between carriers. Case in point: The best phone plans we recommended a year and a half ago are now obsolete because the wireless carriers have completely changed their offerings.

The article goes on to highlight the “best plans” for different types of users: Single User, Single Power User, Average Couple, Power Couple, Family of Four, Occasional Traveler. Here are some ideas on how you can structure this as an activity for students to discuss with their parents or guardians (copied from an earlier post):

• Carrier name?
• Individual or family plan?  If family plan, number of lines/devices on the account.
• Phone model(s)?
• Cost of phone at purchase?
• Data plan (in GB per month)
• Contract (yes/no).  If yes, what is end date?
• Monthly charges (family or individual)

Class discussion:

• You can create a Google spreadsheet and have students fill in a column with the information on their plan.  Students can then spend time analyzing the variety of plans to figure out which one looks best.
• What should become apparent through this exercise and by reading the NYT article is the multitude of plans that are out there and the challenge of comparing different plans. You might have students identify the
• Ask students what drives their monthly charges?  Is it calls, messaging, data?  Since many plans offer unlimited call and messages, they may discover that data usage really matters in determining cost.
• Another important point with monthly charges is that they don’t go down if you use less data than you have signed up for.  You also will pay more if you use more than your allotted data plan which is why monitoring activity is so important.
• You might also ask students to evaluate their data usage over the past few months and see if there are opportunities for them (or their families) to save money.  Have them read this article, and identify 2-3 ideas on how they can reduce their data usage.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.