What's the latest on inexpensive cell phone plans?

[Fermion]

Moto X pure and Cricket Unlimited at $55 a month now (they just lowered it). We use about 60GB a month so get a good value out of it. No cable TV bill or other phone or internet bill.

 

[W2R]

Not the cheapest but a very good value: Cricket Wireless. Uses the AT&T network, you need your own unlocked GSM phone, and monthly costs are as low as $30 per line - including all fees & taxes.

Thanks for the recommendation, which inspired me to switch to Cricket last January. I got a free LG Spree smartphone from Cricket when I switched, and I couldn't be happier with the phone and with Cricket.

I got the $30/month plan, which gives me unlimited talk and text and 1 GB data. Perfect for me, and less than half the cost of Verizon.

 

[audreyh1]

Not locked- I brought an iPhone I had purchased from Verizon to Ting. It may have something to do with the technology- CDMA vs. something else- but the instructions included backing it up, resetting it to factory settings, then inserting the new SIM card and restoring from the backup. Too much to go wrong there. I think the cleaner solution will be a separate phone with a pay-as-you-go option.

We've used a Verizon iPhone in Europe with a European SIM - no problem. Worked well. Backed it up before going and carefully saved the "home" SIM.

I got tired of playing the find-the-SIM game overseas though and am much happier with the T-mobile solution.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

If you want to stay on the Verizon network (they prefer to say tower), check out Total Wireless. $35/ month for unlimited talk and text + 5G of data. Read the fine print on data use and verify the network for your zip code. DW loves it.

https://www.totalwireless.com/wps/portal/home

 

[Texas Proud]

DW wants and uses a lot of data.... we use Walmart unlimited that cost about $40 plus tax etc per month... unlimited voice, text and data... she gets 5GB at high speed and then throttled back...

Just bought a plan for DD... using Tracfone... buy a card every 2 months for $25 and get below... so $12.50 per month... do not know about taxes yet since we have not yet renewed....



$25.00
$12.50/Month
60

SERVICE DAYS


$23.75 With Auto-Refill


500MIN
1000TEXTS
500MB







AIRTIME FOR YOUR PHONE:

500

MINUTES

1000

TEXTS

500

MB DATA

 

[OldShooter]

Google Project Fi costs me $35/month for two phones, unlimited talk and text. Data is $10/GB, pay only for what you use. My April data charge was 97 cents. My May charge was $1.29.

Data is at that price in 135 countries. Phone is available in those countries too but cost varies by country. Some, like Canada, are free.

In the US, they use the Sprint and T-Mobile networks, whichever is better at a given place.

The only catch is that only a few Nexus phones will work on Fi because one of their tricks is to use VoIP when the phone is on a wifi network, switching seamlessly to the cell network as necessary. I paid $249 via Project Fi for a new Nexus 5X, then $175 via Craigslist for a LNIB factory refurb 5X.

We also have free Project Fi data-only SIMs in our Nexus 7 tablets. I also have a data-only SIM in an old Nexus 4 phone that I have in the car as a navigation device. The data these devices use just goes into the $10/GB bin. No extra charges or minimums. So, a total of five devices using data on the one Project Fi account.

Edit: Forgot to mention/the 5X phones will run as hot spots too, so I can use my MS Surface Pro 3 anywhere there is cell data. It is WiFI only/no SIM slot.

 

[Marita40]

I use Ting; my bill is usually $18-20/month. But I rarely use data.

 

[ivinsfan]

$220, two phones, unlimited usage. Nothing else bundled in, and frankly, we don't use all that much. I thought we might, and we had a few big months when DW's sister was ill, but generally, not that much.

You are Verizon's ideal customer...they bank on customers like you just hanging on to overpriced plans that don't really meet their needs. Rock the boat..call Verizon and complain about your pricing, see what they offer you right off the bat.

 

[Fedup]

I have Verizon. I thought we pay $15 per person. The problem is we had prepaid phone so right now it's high, but in a few years from now, it should be $60 for 4 persons.

 

[youbet]

You are Verizon's ideal customer...they bank on customers like you just hanging on to overpriced plans that don't really meet their needs. Rock the boat..call Verizon and complain about your pricing, see what they offer you right off the bat.

I generally agree with this except for the "that don't really meet their needs" part. I think most of the Verizon "over-payers" are over paying because they sometimes use the extensive coverage or unlimited mins/texts/data parts of the plan but could do with much less most of the time. They have plans they fully utilize a small portion of the time and pay for features and coverage they don't utilize most of the time.

This would be us! I pay just over $100/mo for Verizon's one smart phone and one not-smart phone plan. We're on the road about three months a year and found Verizon has the best coverage. It's extremely rare to run out of the Verizon service area and have someone else mention they have coverage with another provider that's working. (The Fla Everglades was an exception to this two winters ago.) Inspecting coverage maps verifies Verizon's excellent coverage although I think other carriers are doing better in this regard the last few years.

We also don't want to fuss about data usage, talk time or texts. It just works better for me if DW can pick up the phone and do whatever she wants (including using it as a hotspot for her laptop) whenever she wants with zero thought as to where we are or being sure we're on wifi, etc. Happy wife = happy life, etc.

No doubt, I'm blowing $50/mo or so for the 70% of the time we're here at home. In the Chicago suburbs, we have solid coverage from every provider I know of. But it's not because the Verizon plan doesn't meet our needs. It does meet our needs very well. But our needs are less about 70% of the time and we still keep paying.........

 

[euro]

Yep- I have CDMA although my phone is 5g. Looks like I need to get a GSM pay-as-you-go phone.

As far as I am aware, all iPhone 5g sold in the USA have dual band capability (GSM as well as CDMA) built in. In Europe, there are GSM-only versions because they don't use the CDMA technology at all. However, I don't know of any CDMA-only version. So, you should not need another phone! If your phone has a SIM slot, then it will accept any European GSM SIM.
Of course, you will want to back up your phone before you travel overseas (if nothing else, you could lose it!), but using a GSM SIM does not have anything to do with backups. Just install the SIM and re-boot the phone.

 

[REWahoo]

I suggested Cricket Wireless in an earlier post and want to expand on what I like about them - beyond the good network (AT&T) and reasonable prices.

We have two android phones and pay $35 per month each for unlimited voice and text, plus 4GB of data on each line. That's plenty of data for us other than for a couple of months out of the year when we take 2 to 3 week long RV trips. Cricket offers the option of changing your plan at any time during the month, and the cost is pro-rated. This is a great feature and I'll give an example of why:

We took a 3 week RV trip last September and I had used up almost all my data by the middle of the month. I logged into my Cricket account and changed my $35 4GB plan to their next higher plan (8GB for $45/mo). Since I was in the middle of the plan month, Cricket pro-rated my plan and charged me only an additional $5 for the remainder of the month. Even better, they increased my data allowance to a full 8GB for the remaining two weeks of the month - as if I'd never used the 4GB to that point. At month end, I changed back to my old $35 4GB plan.

Bottom line, I was able to get a month unlimited voice and text plus [-]15 GB[/-] 12 GB (see sig) of data for $40. This wasn't a one-time deal, it is how their system operates. I suppose if a lot of customers took repeated advantage of this to the point of abuse, Cricket might change their system. But for now it really works great for us since we only need additional data a couple of times each year.

 

[ivinsfan]

I generally agree with this except for the "that don't really meet their needs" part. I think most of the Verizon "over-payers" are over paying because they sometimes use the extensive coverage or unlimited mins/texts/data parts of the plan but could do with much less most of the time. They have plans they fully utilize a small portion of the time and pay for features and coverage they don't utilize most of the time.

This would be us! I pay just over $100/mo for Verizon's one smart phone and one not-smart phone plan. We're on the road about three months a year and found Verizon has the best coverage. It's extremely rare to run out of the Verizon service area and have someone else mention they have coverage with another provider that's working. (The Fla Everglades was an exception to this two winters ago.) Inspecting coverage maps verifies Verizon's excellent coverage although I think other carriers are doing better in this regard the last few years.

We also don't want to fuss about data usage, talk time or texts. It just works better for me if DW can pick up the phone and do whatever she wants (including using it as a hotspot for her laptop) whenever she wants with zero thought as to where we are or being sure we're on wifi, etc. Happy wife = happy life, etc.

No doubt, I'm blowing $50/mo or so for the 70% of the time we're here at home. In the Chicago suburbs, we have solid coverage from every provider I know of. But it's not because the Verizon plan doesn't meet our needs. It does meet our needs very well. But our needs are less about 70% of the time and we still keep paying.........

I guess you are an ideal customer too I'll rephrase that to say "more then meets their needs" the problem is they are paying for the extras everyday. Have you ever tried to talk down your 100 dollar bill?

 

[walkinwood]

If you've already paid off your phones (ie. you don't have a contract any more), call Verizon. You can get 2GB shared on your two phones with carry over for $35. You'll have to pay $20 per phone for access charges. So, for a total for $70, you can share 2GB, which seems to be enough for your needs.

Call them. They can set this up right away and you'll have no contract. Then you can explore other options at leisure.

 

[Nightcap]

Looking at the cut-rate plans here remind me of why I keep AT&T. We pay $92 per month for two iPhones with a 3GB data plan and unlimited everything else. That number includes taxes, tips, gratuities, cumshaw, and baksheesh.

The savings for a similar plan with a second tier company just don't add up to enough to make it worthwhile. YMMV, Reg. Penna., Pat. Pend., of course.

 

[REWahoo]

Looking at the cut-rate plans here remind me of why I keep AT&T. We pay $92 per month for two iPhones with a 3GB data plan and unlimited everything else. That number includes taxes, tips, gratuities, cumshaw, and baksheesh.

The savings for a similar plan with a second tier company just don't add up to enough to make it worthwhile. YMMV, Reg. Penna., Pat. Pend., of course.

You understand some of those "second tier" companies are simply subsidiaries and/or resellers of "first tier" company services? Example: Cricket Wireless is owned by AT&T and will sell you the same unlimited AT&T network service with 4GB data plan for $250 less per year.

 

[Nightcap]

You understand some of those "second tier" companies are simply subsidiaries and/or resellers of "first tier" company services? Example: Cricket Wireless is owned by AT&T and will sell you the same unlimited AT&T network service with 4GB data plan for $250 less per year.

Let's not include taxes, tips, and assorted baksheesh so that we can compare apples and apples. My plan is $80 per month. Now, among other benefits that AT&T offers is the ability to use my phone as a mobile hotspot. That alone would cost an extra $10 from Cricket. Now the prices are exactly the same. International texting and messaging? Comes with AT&T. Extra cost on Cricket. Rollover up to 2GB of unused bandwidth? Automatic on AT&T, not on Cricket.

I think I've made my point. For what I use, it isn't worth the bother or extra expense to switch from AT&T.

 

[euro]

Let's not include taxes, tips, and assorted baksheesh so that we can compare apples and apples. My plan is $80 per month. Now, among other benefits that AT&T offers is the ability to use my phone as a mobile hotspot. That alone would cost an extra $10 from Cricket. Now the prices are exactly the same. International texting and messaging? Comes with AT&T. Extra cost on Cricket. Rollover up to 2GB of unused bandwidth? Automatic on AT&T, not on Cricket.

I think I've made my point. For what I use, it isn't worth the bother or extra expense to switch from AT&T.

Good for YOU - stick with what works. It took me a while too - I even had to switch to a carrier that offered CDMA technology because both my home AND my mountain cabin seem to be in a GSM deadzone (or at least a near-dead zone) for some odd reason, and CDMA works much, much more reliably for me. Fortunately, there are tons of choices!

 

[REWahoo]

I think I've made my point.

 

[Amethyst]

I have ting on a gsm android phone, and while it's cheap, I have found it unreliable. Had to take a taxi ($80) instead of uber ($35) home from the airport because couldn't' connect to uber' s network, even outside the airport doors. Ting customer service said "airports can be a problem." Well, everyone around me seemed to be connected. If it were possible, I would have asked one of them to get an uber for us!

 

[RE2Boys]

just deleted

 

[walkinwood]

Then there's this if you are a comcast customer
https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/

It will use the Verizon wireless network. I just found out that if you use 1.1GB, you pay $24; so not proportional to use. 30 day return policy for full refund.

And no reports of actual usage experience yet. I'd watch & wait.

 

[Bestwifeever]

As far as I am aware, all iPhone 5g sold in the USA have dual band capability (GSM as well as CDMA) built in. In Europe, there are GSM-only versions because they don't use the CDMA technology at all. However, I don't know of any CDMA-only version. So, you should not need another phone! If your phone has a SIM slot, then it will accept any European GSM SIM.
Of course, you will want to back up your phone before you travel overseas (if nothing else, you could lose it!), but using a GSM SIM does not have anything to do with backups. Just install the SIM and re-boot the phone.

I actually used my iPhone 5s last month in England as is, no swapping out SIM card, same US number. I used Verizon's $10 a day travel plan (yeah, I know, but only charged if you use it) that works with your Verizon plan for data or phone limits. It worked great. Will see if my new iPhone 7 will work as well in Germany next month.

 

[zinger1457]

I would suggest reviewing your minutes/text used and see if some of the pay-go plans available meet your needs. I've been using H2O Wireless (uses AT&T network) for about 1.5 years now and it's worked out great for me. I use their pay-go plan, minimum cost is $9 every 90 days, $.05text-talk/min, $.10data/MB. Anything unused carries over as long as you don't let your account expire, I use $9 auto charge every 90 days to avoid that. Brought my unlocked Moto G over, total cost is $36/year and have accumulated enough carry over $'s so not concerned about using data when I need it.

 

[aja8888]

LG Nexus 5X phone (Android Version 7.1.1)

Cricket Wireless - $35/month total.

Unlimited talk, text, with 4 GB Data.

Uses AT&T towers.