My partner sent me this interesting article from Yugatech, saying that Globe’s quarterly report shows that postpaid subscribers spend 7 times more than prepaid subscribers. Here’s a quote from that article:
A recent press release from Globe Telecom indicated that their average revenue per Postpaid subscriber is Php1,492 for the 2nd quarter of 2008. On the other hand, average revenue from Globe Prepaid subscribers is just Php206. TM subscribers even spend less — Php107
Why is this the case? Probably because prepaid subscribers become more aware of what they spend, since every time they need to restock their cellphone credits, they have to get cash out from their wallet. There’s already prepaid cable TV, and the possibility of having prepaid electricity. How will these options, especially the one for electricity, affect consumer spending habits?
Since going prepaid or doing away with subscriptions altogether generally forces consumers to spend less, it’s a method that many personal finance gurus recommend. Blogger Ramit Sethi calls this the A La Carte Method, in the article he talks about the many benefits of this method, however, he also mentions a disadvantage:
The big downside is that this method requires you to un-automate your life, which is the price you pay for saving money. I encourage you to use this if you find yourself short of cash and wondering why you can’t save more money each month.
Personally, I’m a prepaid Globe subscriber and I spend roughly P30 a week on cellphone credits. I didn’t have cable TV until recently (just to watch the Olympics), but the Destiny Cable subscription is much cheaper in the long run than the Skycable Prepaid. However, I could easily go back to having no cable TV at all, since most of the things I want to watch are available through the internet and I didn’t have to follow channel schedules (I did it for over a year and didn’t miss cable that much). How about you, how much of your expenses are prepaid?
Guilty ako dito. I got a post paid when I worked on a certain company since it was needed. Now I could hardly consume my post paid plan. But I use it often again to get back to my connections making sure I make use of everything I pay for. And I have a retention plan now where Im thinking of selling the new high-end phone and buy a basic one instead.
Sounds like a good plan, Jinoe
Yung partner ko dati may postpaid na provided by the company, kaso di niya rin nauubos so share kami hehe. Pero ngayon na pareho kaming freelancer, pasaload na lang sa isa’t isa kasi hindi na rin namin maubos yung P30/week.
i also prefer prepaid for my cellphone. my mantra is, the less bills i receive monthly, the better i can keep track of my finances. i only have bills for the most basic – electric, water, telephone, cable tv (had to because of my kids)
since i use smart, i always spend P35 for their expanded promo – 30 sms for smart to smart + 30 sms to other network.