The Everything Guide to Belt-Tightening -- New York Magazine

The Everything Guide to Belt-Tightening

Cell-Phone Savings

What you get for $39.99 a month.

(Photo: New York Magazine)

AT&T Free Minutes: 450
Text Messages ($5 a month): 200
Coverage Quality:* Spotty all over, especially in lower Manhattan.

VERIZON Free Minutes: 450
Text Messages ($5 a month): 250
Coverage Quality:* By all accounts, the city’s most reliable carrier.

T-MOBILE Free Minutes: 300
Text Messages ($5 a month): 400
Coverage Quality:* Coverage gaps all over, from Harlem to Battery Park.

SPRINT Free Minutes: 450
Text Messages ($5 a month): 300
Coverage Quality:* Few complaints, but occasional breaks in service way uptown.

Haircuts for Little or Nothing at All	Cut-Rate Luxuries
Doggy Discounts	A (Really) Cheap Lunch for Every Day of the Week
Adam Platt’s Best Dinner for Your Dime	Why Pay for Broadband?
Three Big Grocery Stores Versus a Corner Deli	How to Make Your Home a Hotel
Earn Extra Dough	Cell-Phone Savings
Bargain Hoods	Work Out for $6.25 a Month
Fun, From Free to Cheap	Nightly Beats, No Cover
Avoid Taxis, Get Exercise