eBay thinks it has the cure to thousand-dollar phone addiction

Over the years, eBay has become a pretty popular place to buy and sell phones, and now the company is trying to turn buying a phone into a more holistic experience. eBay has announced that it will begin offering wireless plans alongside every phone it sells on its platform, allowing buyers to get up and running without having to visit a carrier. To accomplish this, eBay has partnered with Red Pocket Mobile.

If you've never heard of Red Pocket Mobile before today, you probably aren't alone. The company offers service all four of the major carriers in the US, and its plans have the potential to be pretty inexpensive if you're willing to compromise on your monthly minutes, texts, and data.

For instance, the basic plan that it will offer through eBay includes 100 minutes, 100 text messages, and 500MB of LTE data for $5 a month. Most plans these days offer unlimited minutes and texts, so it might be a little strange to see caps on those, but then again, those plans don't cost $5. Red Pocket says that its most popular plan costs $30 a month, which includes 5GB of LTE data along with unlimited minutes and texts.

That certainly isn't bad if you're looking to cut back on your monthly phone costs, but if you need more data, Red Pocket has plans that go all the way to $60 per month. With that one, calls and texts are once again unlimited and you get 10GB of LTE data – you can keep using data after you hit that 10GB threshold, you'll be limited to 2G speeds when you do.

So, if you're looking to get going with a used phone and a plan but you're on a budget, eBay has suddenly become a resource to consider. What do you think of this new team up between eBay and Red Pocket? Head down to the comments section and let us know!