I Like My Consumer Cellular

[easysurfer]

Been using the chat feature on Consumer Cellular the past couple of days.

Thought about picking up a mobile hot spot device for when traveling when I need a quick and dirty safe connection.

During the chat, I mentioned that don't have a mobile hot spot device yet but am considering. The client helper on the chat mentioned, I don't need to pay for an extra device, the hot spot feature can be turned on for my phone by them. As Wayne from Wayne's world would say "I was not aware of that!"

Next thing, the feature is turned on, and the chat give directions on how to navigate to and use the hot spot feature .

I know this sounds like a commercial but as a customer, I see why Consumer Cellular consistently ranks right on top. Answer my questions in minutes not getting a run around like at other chat help from some other companies.

[Dave J]

I've been with Consumer Cellular for about 4-5 years and VERY happy with them and their customer service and rates. Have saved a few friends some good dollars per month when I show and tell them how it works.

[easysurfer]

Along with their customer service and rates, I like their How To videos. Informative with people showing step by step.

[pjm-7]

+1. Been with them for about six years.

[pb4uski]

I prefer airvoicewireless. Same AT&T network and one line, unlimited talk and text and 2GB of date is $18/month on autopay rather than $30/month for the same thing on Consumer Cellular.

We've been with them for many years... good service.

[FreeBear]

We started the switch to Consumer Cellular about 2 months ago, first my phone, as a test, and now DW's. I went with them because of top reviews from Consumer Reports and a couple of other "indepedent" sources. Not the cheapest MVNO (reseller), but much cheaper than the majors. They also offer both AT&T and TMobile service. I expect that they will at least cut my bill in half compared to AT&T.

Customer service is excellent, both routine as well as problem solving. When I switched from AT&T, I gave Consumer the wrong access code, which delayed my port out for a day or two. I went several rounds with Consumer customer service, eventually getting everything straightened out. I also called to enable teathering/hotspot off my phone. It's off by default, but it was quickly activated.

Consumer gives you a SIM card for either AT&T or T-Mobile. They may not mention which they are sending, but will if you ask. You can also request either carrier or even change later. They gave me TM, claiming it was better in my area. Well, it wasn't, and they quickly honored my request to switch to the AT&T network.

Network coverage is very good, comparable, as I'd expect, to AT&T directly. Data speeds are also comparable to AT&T when the signal is decent, say 2 bars or better. Data is slower than AT&T when the signal is weak, but enough for my casual surfing. This mainly occurs indoors, but I'm usually running on wifi anyway. Wifi calling does w*rk fine on my iphone 7.

Supposedly you can get Consumer Cellular support at Target, but I at my local store I found a sign stating that you need to call Consumer directly for just about anything. So, maybe brick and sticks hand-holding is fading out. Still, since it w*rks for me since phone support is so strong and US based.

Oh, I initially wanted discounted Verison service, but most of the resellers (MVNO's) looked pretty sketchy, especially in terms of customer service. I was very concerned about porting over our current phone numbers; DW would kill me if her phone went down. Some Verison MVNO are known for terrible customer service.

I am tempted to get a cheap Xfinity (yes the cable co) Wireless android phone, which runs on Version, just for boonies travel and emergencies. If you are an Xfinity cable customer, I hear you can have basic service for less than $5/mo ("free", just taxes) or less than $20/mo with a little data. This is still tempting, but I'm reluctant to deal with xfinity customer "service" if I have issues with one of our important lines.

I've even thought about going with Verison Prepaid (as opposed to the standard "postpaid"). Maybe $10-20 more per month for 2 lines compared to Consumer.

Yes, I have been thinking about this too much lately. Still, glad to be saving over $50/mo "forever" switching to Consumer from AT&T.

[FreeBear]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski I prefer airvoicewireless. Same AT&T network and one line, unlimited talk and text and 2GB of date is $18/month on autopay rather than $30/month for the same thing on Consumer Cellular. We've been with them for many years... good service.

Consumer's pricing is more competitive with 2 lines: $45/mo, unlimited text & talk, 2GB shared data. Average of $22.50/mo per line. Would Airvoice be $36/mo, for 2 lines, but now 2GB data per line?

Seems like Consumer does decently when you have at least 2 lines and do not burn much shared data. DW and I together burn less than 2GB/mo, with her using most of it. A solid use case for Consumer.

[CoolRich59]

+1. They were terrific even when I left for another provider. (I left because my daughter lives in rural Nebraska and AT&T’s coverage flatlines once you get a couple of miles off the interstate.)

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreeBear Consumer's pricing is more competitive with 2 lines: $45/mo, unlimited text & talk, 2GB shared data. Average of $22.50/mo per line. Would Airvoice be $36/mo, for 2 lines, but now 2GB data per line? Seems like Consumer does decently when you have at least 2 lines and do not burn much shared data. DW and I together burn less than 2GB/mo, with her using most of it. A solid use case for Consumer.

Yes, airvoicewireless would be 2GB per line... if you go with Consumer Cellular 2 lines with unlimited talk/text and 5GB it is $55/month (closest service to 2 Gb per line I could get on their website).... vs $36/month for airvoicewireless.

[Cat-tirement]

We've been with CC for 5 or so years. Currently paying about $66 for 4 lines, with AARP discount. We don't use a lot of mobile data, generally 2GB total or less, but $10 more when we go over that. We're grandfathered in to $10 each for lines 2 through 4 (it's gone up to $15), otherwise it would be costing us more. Customer service has always been helpful.

[Cobra9777]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski Yes, airvoicewireless would be 2GB per line... if you go with Consumer Cellular 2 lines with unlimited talk/text and 5GB it is $55/month (closest service to 2 Gb per line I could get on their website).... vs $36/month for airvoicewireless.

As we learned in another thread, Airvoice Wireless 2GB is really 1GB of 4G LTE. The other 1GB is throttled to 2G speeds (128kb). After 2GB, all data stops until the next month or you can pay to start a new 30 day cycle. This is very clear in their terms of service and applies to all their unlimited plans; i.e. the advertised data is half 4G LTE and half 2G (128kb).

I'm not sure about Consumer Cellular, but for every other MVNO I've researched, when they say 2GB, it means 2GB of 4G LTE and then unlimited 2G (128kb) for the remainder of the month.

The Airvoice $18/mo rate is still a pretty good price for a 1GB plan, but don't make the mistake of comparing it to a true 2GB plan from other carriers.

[pb4uski]

All I know is that it has worked well for us for over 5 years.... we don't use much data except while traveling... otherwise just for looking up an address or phone numbers while running errands, etc.

If data is an issue, one can always upgrade to the $27/month plan whcih advertises 6GB of data so would be 3GB of 4G LTE and 3GB of 2G.

An additional $9/month for an additional 2GB of 4G LTE data is a deal methinks.... as is $27/month for unlimited talk & text and 3GB of 4G LTE data.

[Rianne]

+1 Very easy to change plans. If you go over the data, they just up you to the next level (no fee). You can go back to original plan, no issues. We went overseas and had excellent coverage, very inexpensive. Texts, calls, data all worked well in Eastern Europe.

[Cobra9777]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski All I know is that it has worked well for us for over 5 years.... we don't use much data except while traveling... otherwise just for looking up an address or phone numbers while running errands, etc. If data is an issue, one can always upgrade to the $27/month plan whcih advertises 6GB of data so would be 3GB of 4G LTE and 3GB of 2G. An additional $9/month for an additional 2GB of 4G LTE data is a deal methinks.... as is $27/month for unlimited talk & text and 3GB of 4G LTE data.

1GB per line won't work for us. So the Airvoice $18 plan is out.

Also, what I've learned in my research last few days is that $27 is not the best price for 3GB. It's OK. But Redpocket offers 5GB on AT&T for $20 (all in) with an annual plan... $25 with a monthly family plan. And Good2go has 3GB on AT&T for $20 + taxes/fees, so probably ~$23-24.

Right now I'm leaning toward Redpocket for the best value and the most data.

[steelyman]

I’m with the Consumer Cellular crowd now. I received the CC (AT&T) SIM late yesterday afternoon, replaced the Verizon SIM that I’d had since I bought my iPhone 5s in 2014 (I think).

It was a little more trouble than I’d anticipated because there was a mysterious PIN (not the phone password or a SIM PIN but another PIN associated with my Verizon account) that took several calls to CC and Verizon to reset before the number could be ported to CC. But a little patience got it done.

Now to see how good the AT&T coverage is in my area - field work!

My plan is 250 mins talk and 2GB data, unlimited text, 1 line. Cost is $25/mo + tax.

I’ve never come anywhere near to using the 1 GB data with my Verizon small plan. Talk time has varied depending on current life-happenings but is normally pretty low compared to home VoIP.

While I have navigation apps like Waze/Google/Apple, I use a dash-mounted Garmin Nuvi GPS while driving.

Tethering for a hotspot was enabled and tests out. I’ve rarely used that but expect to buy an iPad in Sept/Oct if there are new releases from Apple.

If this plan works out it’ll be ~$30/mo savings. And I’ll say “I Like My Consumer Cellular!” too [emoji4]

[JoeWras]

I'm still considering them.

They clearly are marketing to a mature crowd, without going so far as Jitterbug. The limited data plans are one give away. The other are their models all seem to be 50+. Nothing wrong with that! I just laughed when I was looking into plans and saw a discussion about it being "for old people."

[steelyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras I'm still considering them. They clearly are marketing to a mature crowd, without going so far as Jitterbug. The limited data plans are one give away. The other are their models all seem to be 50+. Nothing wrong with that! I just laughed when I was looking into plans and saw a discussion about it being "for old people."

I agree. Another tipoff is a discount for AARP members. I’m not one but I am retired!

[steelyman]

I’m continuing to learn about CC and my own inexperience with changing carriers.

It seems that CC does not support wi-fi calling in the way I’d been used to. While you can use the Internet (VoIP) under the plan, the minutes are charged as if using cellular. I suppose this doesn’t matter if you have a plan with unlimited talk.

I noticed the settings related to this on my iPhone disappeared after my switch to CC (w/AT&T).

[Markola]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski I prefer airvoicewireless. Same AT&T network and one line, unlimited talk and text and 2GB of date is $18/month on autopay rather than $30/month for the same thing on Consumer Cellular. We've been with them for many years... good service.

I’m thinking about switching to them after reading your recommendations. Thanks for the lead. Does Airvoicewireless work well when you are traveling internationally, assuming you do?

[pb4uski]

I haven't traveled internationally since I started using them.... I know my plan doesn't work in Canada.... but then again I wouldn't expect an $18/month plan to work internationally to begin with.