First the obvious: price.

The numbers are pretty large when you start looking at getting just about anything off of a contract. If you want something even close to being a “cool” phone, it’s going to upward of $400. Now this isn’t a huge chunk of money, but owning a business, I could spend my money in lot more productive areas.

Now price doesn’t stop with just the phone itself. You’re also looking at accessories (now that you’ve got a cool phone), data plans (I have internet in my office), and let’s not forget the almighty apps. So my bill has just reached at least $600 just about any way you look at it (ie. iPhone, Nexus One, etc.). (Note: I didn’t mention the total of a data plan with a two year contract)

Okay lets talk: time.

So now with my new phone I would be able to access the internet anywhere, surf the net in line at the store, and fact check the guy that always seems to outstretch his “did you know’s.” Well guess what else comes with that equation? E-mail. Something I avoid. The last thing I want to do is walk around wondering if I have any new e-mails, or hanging out with my family and passing the time doing pointless emailing. When I get out of the office, I get out of the office entirely, that means no laptop, no work, and certainty no business calls. So far my phone is causing me more of a headache than I thought.

What about buyers remorse?

Now that I have this cool phone guess what happens next? In just a few months, my cool phone just became a relic. You know exactly what happens at this time, it’s time to get a new phone because the Jones just passed you in the slow lane. This is a never ending cycle that get’s you nowhere and thinking about nothing else than what the world thinks of you.

Now for the upside in a pay-as-you-go phone.

Price.

This phone cost me about $60 with shipping. So far I have saved at least $540.

Time.

My phone doesn’t do anything impressive or distracting. I have still saved $540, plus I don’t have work following me around in my pocket.

Buyers Remorse.

Absolutely none. This phone probably won’t even have another version, although I could care less if it did.

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This post is about myself finding a solution to backing up files online. It is not about buying Sugarsync and is certainty not an affiliate blog post with affiliate links. Simply, a story of how I went from thinking in just a monetary sense, into thinking time saving and ease of use. Enjoy.

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Lately I’ve decided rather than burning DVD’s to backup my files, to go with an online backup provider, specifically SugarSync. Now I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner.

I think that the reason it took my so long to make the transition was because I just hadn’t been exposed to an alternative, until now.

I got my first PC about 13 years ago. At that time your only method was floppy discs and a couple of years later by CD. Either way, there wasn’t an option for backing up your stuff online that I knew of (and probably 99% of the population). So when I started hearing about companies offering online backup solutions in the last few years, I thought it was cool, but I really didn’t want another alternative. I was paying 25 cents per DVD, and I couldn’t see a solution more cost effective than that. So a friend of mine pretty much sold me on Sugarsync one day when I found out that not only could I backup my stuff online, I could also share a folder from my computer that he could access at any time.

So came the real equation:
Time, Ease of Use, and Convenience

Now there was a lot more going into this than I originally thought. The 25 cent DVD, with about 30 minutes to 1 hour of time, the hassle of loading a program and navigating — while also the “I’m backing up files, so I can waste time and browse the net since this ‘ has to be done.’ ” So now that 25 cent DVD was actually looking quite a bit more expensive, especially with time added in.

I find out all I have to do is sign up (under 1 minute), install program (under 3 minutes), select the folders I want to backup (under 20 minutes — this will be different for everyone), and I’m ready to rock n’ roll. Now everytime I open up a file in a folder I have chosen to backup, that file is automatically backed up within about 10 seconds of me hitting the save button. I also I find out I can access all of my files online at any computer with an internet connection. Oh and one more thing, about the friend I mentioned earlier. Now we don’t email files anymore, we share a folder and give instructions on where to find the file we have just created or updated — all for $5 a month (30 Gig’s).

You could say I’m completely sold and will never go back.

I was even considering buying a physical terabyte of space so I could basically do the same thing. When considering this $150 (average at the time) up front cost vs. $5 monthly, my SugarSync will last me 30 months or about 2.5 years before I reach that amount of money (plus, how long would that hard drive last anyways?). Obviously not the best scenario for someone with a ton of data to backup, but if you’re an average Internet user or business owner, it’s probably going to float your boat just fine.

Okay I could go on about this forever, but I want to drive home a very important point to you. It’s not just about money. It’s about time, ease of use, and convenience. In college I used to shop for toilet paper (getting a deal of a lifetime) $5.00 for 1,000 rolls, and guess what happened when I got home. I found out that my cost was just offset with Preperation H. Okay, that was a little far — but really, have you bought cheap toilet paper? The stuff is basically transparent.

Anyways, make sure you find out if a product or service is actually going to help you more than the ability of telling your friends that you kept your wallet a little fatter. Good things cost more money based on the equation that we were all made to believe. If X costs $10 and Y costs $5, buy Y because you’ll save money. But when something takes you more time to complete, or makes you jump through extra hoops compared to the alternative, it’s actually costing you more.

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I’d like to hear what you think about the equation of money, time, ease of use, and convenience. Do you have a better idea? If so, I’m all ears — I love learning.

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