What do you have?How do you like your current plan/provider? Whats the best bang for the buck out there right now? I am like a kid in a candy store having service from all providers for the first time in years and being able to pick and choose.
Thanks in advance
I use Redpocket. They are good. The TMobile service is fine but they don't offer "Visual" voicemail.
They do offer "Visual" voicemail with ATT. Thinking of a internal switch
They offer good yearly plans on eBay.
Glty
I think you mean "Visual" Voicemail.
Yes, thanks
I fixed it
For us, the FreeUp's 2GB plan for zero a month with successful coupons (YMMV), FreeUp's 1000 minutes / text plan (now grandfathered), Visible's $40 plan for unlimited everything including hotspot, Tello's PayGo option (glove compartment phone), and Tracfone's eBay deal (1200,1200,3GB). Those take care of all of our immediate needs. I also placed a family member on Tello's unlimited talk, text, and 1GB plan for $10.00 which is fantastic provided you have good Sprint coverage.
I would agree with the OP that options in the phone service world have improved. I have two phones on the FreeUp $15 plan paid in full, as with tech-stitch, with rewards from coupon printing. Service on the FreeUp AT&T network has been troublefree. I have another phone on a one year Speedtalk Unlimted t&t+2GB plan working out to about $6 a month with the promo discounts received. Also, mother in law's phone on Tello unlimited t&t for $8 a month, and one old flip phone on Tello PayGo plan. The Speedtalk data speeds were unusable at first, but I called CS and complained and they assigned new APN settings at their end and all is now well.
T-Mobile:
I consider my "main" phone to be a postpaid T-Mobile unlimited Simple Choice plan that I'm grandfathered into for $37.50/month. (Includes Binge On)
I have a second identical line that we use as our home internet and the hotspot mode is bridged to our home WiFi. Bandwidth is sufficient to stream to 2 televisions at once.
Verizon:
I have a TracFone Family Dollar accidental $1 deal, that many of us got, way back when. I've extended the end date with the recent $50 eBay deal.
I also still have a functional Verizon unlimited $5 3g plan on a smartphone. My mifis all got killed, with everyone else's, but my smartphone seems to have escaped the axe.
I plan to sign up a Visible line very soon.
AT&T:
FreeUP free plan with tons of credit in the kitty for future use.
Lots of FreedomPop SIMs that I'm waiting to see what will happen to them.
Sprint:
One phone on the free year.
One phone on grandfathered $25/mo unlimited Boost plan.
One UnReal line that I'm probably going to cancel and put the funds toward my Visible line.
Three Tello PAYG lines.
Misc:
One Piranha Mobile SIM, for international use.
One Truphone SIM, for international use.
I think the best unlimited deals, right now, are Visible for $40, if you need hotspot and Verizon coverage; and Sprint Kickstart, for $25, if you don't need hotspot.
I think the best non-unlimited deal is Mint Mobile's unlimited/unlimited/8GB plan for $20/mo.
Our phone budget is pretty limited, but our needs are also pretty small
Our family:
FreeUp (AT&T)
Tracfone (Verizon)
FreedomPop (AT&T data)-- free plans and a 1GB annual plan (Thanks, sovashadow! for the affordable upgrade) paired with FreeUP in a dual-SIM phone.
Tello (Sprint) PayGo, and hybrid/PayGo, as backup lines or for extra data.
Sprint Unlimited 1 year free (for a few more months).
Ting (T-Mo) backup, on traditional Ting rates.
All of the above are keepers for us, with the exception of the last 2.
We've also used short-term lines from Mint, Simple Mobile, Net10 over the last 8 months. (I'll note that Net10 surprised me by having the most responsive Customer Service of all the America Movil brands I've experienced.)
All are good bang-for-the-buck for someone with similar needs, and perhaps not so good choices for someone who needs a lot more data/minutes than we use.
As far as 'liking' the relationship with the providers (CS, ease of use, reliability, risk) I might rank them as
- Ting (I'm not considering pricing here, since our plan is currently on a traditional Ting rate, or anyone's issues with the RingPlus migraton. On everything else, I consider Ting to be the 'gold standard'.)
2)Tello (Lower than Ting because of the hassle of getting port-out credentials.) - FreeUP (higher ranking based mostly on technical CS, and less on rewards issues.)
- Sprint Postpaid (lower ranking due to lack of reliable self-service options. CS has handled any issues well, but it takes a lot of phone time.)
- Tracfone (You really need to learn how to interact with the system, and to monitor usage.)
- FreedomPop (Love/hate relationship here.......)
Based on utility for our needs, I'd rank them differently:
- FreeUP (in use daily, reliable coverage)
- Tello (It'll be more important to us after Sprint Postpaid runs out, and it's our backup plan for any of the other options falling apart)
- Tracfone (for Verizon coverage in rural areas here)
- FreedomPop (for the data I want, but don't absolutely need.)
- Sprint Postpaid (it's way overkill for us, and only temporary.....but 'core' usage for now.)
- Ting GSM (it's purely a backup, at traditional rates-- this rank will change if I accept one of the migration offers.)
Ringplus then cellnuvo then freeddompoop. 》》》 now no phone. Good happy life
als, what are you using?
I know Pix.....
I have a redpocket $60 annual plan on verizon
Googlefi sim for international travel and data sims
Tracfone tmobile
A free surgephone line
Two free Freeup lines on the old 100mb plan
two truphone sims
two freedompop sims
4 tello paygo accounts.
Far too many really.
$30 from the website inc $15 credit.
In terms of TruPhone, as Chelle has mentioned before, I am asking those who use it to PLEASE DON'T ABUSE the service. It is a god send for all of its customers, including myself.
Edit: For context I always try to do at least 1 top-up a year.
How would you define abuse?
How is it a G-d send?
Truphone doesn't charge for incoming calls (in the USA) and some people only use the service for incoming calls, which obviously makes it hard for Truphone to make money.
There are also apps that turn your outgoing calls into incoming calls, which makes it even harder for Truphone to make money.
If they don't make any money they'll either change the policy or go out of business.
I jumped on the twigby ( verizon roaming fallback) 25% off offer combined with the double referrals credit to make sure it was the sim not the phone . I had intermittant and no service on a 1/2 cross country trip with pix wireless. Pix wireless offered me a new sim from a different carrier and ultimately refunded me 2 of my 4 months payments .Pix was a disaster for me. I expected my phone to work when I finally arrived in a service area and i got left stranded on the side of the road. Luckily my partners phones on another verizon mvno worked and i was able to contact roadside assistance..