Do you have a smart phone? if so, how is the cost-use benefit?
My wife and I are thinking about getting 2 Samsung S3s. The shared plan (phone + data plan) would be $150 / month on Verizon (we have Verizon for our dumb-phones and like it).
This is a 4 gig plan, and is where I get confused. Will we have to worry about how much we use our phone with that amount of gig usage?

The main features I like is the navigation / way finding (e.g. where is the nearest free public restroom), and basic website browsing. I read that using it as a camera or music device really eats up usage.

Have you had any smart phone problems or received an unusually high monthly bill?

Please advise and share your experiences.
Thanks.

$150 a month for two?

I have an iPhone 4 and my bill is ￡20 a month.

Upgraded mine to an SIII with Verizon before they ended the 4G Unlimited Data..

Used 219Mb since the 15th about 8 hours of listening to pandora every workday.

I've had a smart phone for several years now, and have never had an increased bill because of it. I'm on T-Mobile and have a 2GB data plan, but I very rarely use more than 1GB (and that's even unusually high), that's with me streaming Spotify music and occasionally Netflix, among using other apps as well.

so 4 gigs is fine for 2 people? I doubt we sill be using it for watching youtube all day

@SomeWelshGuy: 20 pounds a month? what are the monthly capabilities for that?

I bought my first smartphone yesterday. 4 Gigs will be enough for 2 people if you do all of your heavy lifting on wifi (like excessive internet browsing or youtube-type stuff). If you're just doing navigation and the occasional or moderate surf, you should be fine between two people on 4 gigs, as long as you stay in your country. I have a friend who racked up a $600 bill using navigation in Canada which was considered "roaming".

Edit: typo

If I used navigation when visiting another country, is there always a roaming charge, or can navigation be used in a limited way to stay within gig usage?

I don't have a smart phone. I don't even own a cellphone of any kind. I don't need one right now. That's the only reason. I don't like phones to begin with. Hate using them. If I ever do get a smart phone, I will wish I just got a dedicated phone cell phone.

Phones are irritating to me. They're noisy, the voices sound distorted, and I don't like holding things up to my ear for long periods of time. I don't like being pestered by people. I don't like random companies calling me. I don't want to answer a damn survey from someone. Only reason I would own a smart phone is to keep in touch with people. Otherwise, I don't need one.

I don't have one. I'd like one but I recall my mother telling me it would be an extra $30 a month.

I'm not sure what the best options for visiting foreign countries are. I'll bet you can buy a service to just add that country to your normal dataplan for a month or however long you need it. But my standard practice (and I live about 30 miles from the Canadian border) and the habit of all of my friends when we visit Canada is to turn the phone off and keep it off.

I have a Samsung Galaxy SII. I pretty much only pay for internet since I really don't use it much for calling.

I have a weird combination, which is dumbphone + sd card + Handbrake video transcoding and Nook Simple Touch e-ink reader hacked to run Android 2.1. Extremely cheap.

Good ol' Europe, where telecommunications are cheaper and the gas is crazy expensive.

Not exactly sure if my touché-screened Nokia C6 phone is that "smart", but it cost about 250€. Definitely not worth it.. I mainly use it as an ipod / phone...

If it's still working in 2014, then I will call it a successful purchase.