Cell Phone / Internet Input Requested

[OldShooter]

We're on a $35/month promotional rate from Comcast that will go to IIRC $55 next year sometime. 100 down, 5 up. Works for us. So our total internet + Google Fi phone will be about $90 but that is not unlimited cell phone data. Our bill would climb to equal @Chuckanut's if we used over about 2.6gig which I know for some people is not much.

"Landline" is VoIP Ooma at about $10month/premium plan.

 

[tb001]

We ditched an expensive Cox plan for home internet over the summer. Switched to spectrum for $55/mo. It’s their 200 speed with unlimited data upload. We watch streaming shows and have a bunch of nest cams that use a lot of upload data. It’s been far better than Cox.

Now in the process of canceling our $$$ Verizon/att plans. I’m moving to prepaid att for $300/yr with 8gb/mo of data. DH had to do the $30/mo option because he was a current att customer.

We tried like crazy to get t mobile to work, but reception just wasn’t good enough in our area.

 

[TrvlBug]

I'm on the Peninsula and we pay $80 for highest speed fiber internet (will increase to $90 after promo ends) and $115 for cell...2 phones & one Apple watch. We don't use a lot of data so at lowest level.

We also have AT&T landline and their DirecTV and could save $10/month if we bundled . Told them thanks but no thanks, I've heard too many horror stories about bundling.

Unfortunately we live in an area that's always last to be upgraded and Comcast service sucks big time as they're beyond capacity in our area.

 

[pb4uski]

... This is for 30/30 service, which is slow according to many, but completely adequate for me. I am not a gamer nor do I download/stream video 24/7. ...

Ditto here. 30 mbps has been plenty for us and we frequently stream on one tv and have no buffering at all.

I suspect that when the kids visit for a few days before Christmas it'll put a strain on that 30 mbps connection... they have to live with it or use their cell data.

As I recall it saves us $20/month over the internet that they give you if you just ask for internet without asking about speeds and prices.

 

[tulak]

I got lucky at in my new townhouse: unlimited gigabit for $65/month.

I WFH and it helps to have a quicker connection (we are high bandwidth users). I agree that most people are fine with lower speeds and anything over 100Mbps is overkill.

 

[rt-texas]

I think the "best" carrier depends on your specific needs. Do you use a lot of data or not? Do you travel outside the US often enough that always having a reliable phone is important?

In our case, we use very little data and (until recently) traveled internationally a couple of times a year. For us, Google Fi is a good fit. Data is $10/gig but you pay only for what you use. Many months our data bill is under $1. International coverage is about as good as it gets. 200 countries +/- with calls mostly at 20 cents/minute and data at the same $10/gig.

Our Google Fi bills typically run about $45 for two lines, unlimited talk and text. Here is the most recent one:

Flexible Plan $35.00 ($20 for first line, then $15/line)
Last month's data (Used 0.14 GB at $10/GB) $1.39
Taxes & regulatory fees $8.84
Total $45.23

If you use a lot of data, though, that $10/Gig can start to look expensive. I am not hampered by any facts, but my guess is that Google will be reducing that number in order to remain competitive, but it doesn't matter much to us anyway.

HTH

We're in Costa Rica where we stayed when covid started. Put our two iPhones on Google fi to keep in touch with the family and I was doing some remote work when we came down here.

Works great, 90% of the time we're on wifi and our bill runs $48-$52 a month for both of us.



If you do any international it's about the best plan I have found. Also great to get off the plane in the states and turn my phone on and it works with the number I have had for 20+ years.

 

[youbet]

We have 3 tmobile phones on an old people plan. Costs us about 90 a month for unlimited everything including hotspot and international data. If we didnt want the international data we would be with one of the discount companies. Googlefi/Republic/Redpocket etc. They just buy cheap airtime from sprint and verizon and pass along the savings. Dont be afraid of discount carriers. House internet is 59.99 a month, up from the discounted introductory rate.

Are you sure you get unlimited hotspot? I didn't see that offered and that's what I'm looking for. Sometimes they offer some amount of hotspot service at high speed, say 10 or 20 Gig, and then switch you to a much lower speed. That's far from "unlimited" and wouldn't work for us.

If it is full, unlimited high speed (4G) hotspot, where did you see it. I'd jump on that.

 

[Major Tom]

If you don't need much in the way of speed i.e. you just want to check email, browse websites, and are happy streaming movies at low image quality, then look into Visible. Visible is owned by Verizon and operates on the Verizon network. For $40/month, you get the usual cellphone deal of unlimited calling and texting, as well as truly unlimited data. The only catches to the data plan are that your speed is prioritized. When the network is busy, your speed goes down. At night, it gets faster. I use the phone as a hotspot. When used in this way, the speed is capped at 5MB/S. Occasionally, the speed gets unbearably low (<1MB/S). When that happens, I reset the network connections, and the speed improves.

If you team up with 3 other people, in what they call a "Party Pay" arrangement, your monthly bill goes down to $25. It is easy to find people to go into this arrangement with you. There are FB groups for the purpose of finding people to do this with. It took me a few hours to populate my group with 3 other members.

Some phones limit hotspot use to one connected device, in which case, you can use a WIFI router to connect multiple devices. My monthly bill for cellphone and home internet is $25 inc taxes and fees. I have an extra cellphone, by choice, for backup, which costs me $185.45 a year for unlimited calling and texting, but no data. I get the data via the hotspot on the other phone.

 

[gayl]

So far I adjusted my cell phone plan with ATT and it dropped $30 month. I typically use 4GB a month. Will look into bundling internet with cable (xfinity) next. It's not entirely the cost, it's also charging a late fee which was caused a ding on my credit report. Got that corrected this morning too.

The strange thing is that it looks like my cable bill would only go up about $10 month to $105+ taxes / fees if I move my internet there. That can't be right

 

[tulak]

The strange thing is that it looks like my cable bill would only go up about $10 month to $105+ taxes / fees if I move my internet there. That can't be right

Why not? Bundling is a great way to save money. I don't have cable, but $95 for cable only seems high. I'm not surprised it's only $10 more to add internet.

 

[cathy63]

Yes, if you add Internet to your existing cable, you should get a discount on both, so the $10 introductory price could be right. It'll probably go up to $30 or so in a year.

Also, one thing I don't think anybody has mentioned is if you use an email address that's connected to AT&T's ISP service (e.g. @sbcglobal.net), you'll lose that if you move your service. If that's the case, switch over all your email and account logins to something like gmail before you disconnect the AT&T Internet.

 

[pb4uski]

^^^ Yes, I did that years ago so now I can change ISPs if I find a better deal and there is no disruption to my email service.

 

[rk911]

Not exactly. It's 1 cell phone + home internet. And I think I'm paying too much

you are. check pricing with your local cable provider. you may be surprised.

 

[Murph]

Not exactly. It's 1 cell phone + home internet. And I think I'm paying too much

You are.

 

[maestro]

With more alternatives to services, competition increasing, I'm thinking unbundling is the way to go. I have Consumer Cellular for unlimited voice and text and 2gb data for 35/month. Very happy with service, and thinking time to cut cable cord, too, as I still have that bundled with internet.

 

[ZachTB]

I've been on Republic Wireless for about 2.5 years. It worked well from Ohio to Arkansas to Pennsylvania, and continues to work well. Including tax, I pay about $23/month for unlimited talk + text, and 1 GB of cellular data.

You should check the coverage maps before doing any switching, but I would recommend Republic. If you have wi-fi at home, you'll probably use very little cell data.

 

[rayvt]

We don't use our cell phones very much, and because of our location we get NO cell signal at our house, not from any carrier.
We use Tracfone, paid on sale $30 for a year of service and 1500 min/1500 text/ 1.5GB data. Bought 3 of them for each phone, so 3 years of service for under $100 per phone.

At the house we have AT&T U-verse bundled TV, internet, landline phone (voip thru Uverse). The phone costs us $48/month.
We are in the process of switching to voip.ms for the landline phone, A voip provided that will cost us about $3/mo. Only had to buy an OBI200 for $40 (Amazon on sale), one-time purchase.

No cable or fiber in our area, not yet. it's all DSL. Max internet speed is 25Mbps.
But there are crews on the major roads laying orange cables, so we're hoping that they are laying fiber.

 

[ddoorn]

Cricket: ATT Pipes Minus the Cost

I love Cricket prepaid wireless. Same towers & data connectivity with far less cost & headaches.

Don

 

[Global Wizzo]

I used ATT for years for the international coverage since I traveled worldwide. A few years before I retired the company migrated to TMobile. I currently used the military rate since I need three lines/phones. The senior plan limits you to two lines.

We still travel internationally regularly (Pre and post COVID) for fun. Free international data is great and I upped the service to the Plus account which gives us faster data (needed for translate and some mapping). Calls when needed are reasonable, I also use a VoIP with the phone data when needed for long calls.

The Netflix subscription is a real plus for the wife and I moved that to the 4K version.

In flight WiFi is no cost with the plus account in the Delta/GOGO system. The is is mostly worldwide in their network.

Phones switch to WiFi when available in hotel or home network.

The negatives. 1. minimal coverage at my house 2. switching between towers while driving drops calls. 3. The overall national coverage doesn’t seem to be as good as ATT network.

BUT, for a total of $105/ month for three phones with unlimited everything as well as option to use the phone as a hotspot. It is the best value I have found.

If you don’t travel, only need two phones, don’t use a smart phone , you may find lower prices, but lots of the others have some hidden charges.

 

[pb4uski]

With more alternatives to services, competition increasing, I'm thinking unbundling is the way to go. I have Consumer Cellular for unlimited voice and text and 2gb data for 35/month. Very happy with service, and thinking time to cut cable cord, too, as I still have that bundled with internet.

I've been on Republic Wireless for about 2.5 years. It worked well from Ohio to Arkansas to Pennsylvania, and continues to work well. Including tax, I pay about $23/month for unlimited talk + text, and 1 GB of cellular data.

You should check the coverage maps before doing any switching, but I would recommend Republic. If you have wi-fi at home, you'll probably use very little cell data.

Check our airvoicewireless, an AT&T MVNO... unlimited talk and text, 3GB data (1.5 GB high speed and 1.5 GB reduced speed) for $18/month on autopay. DW and I have used them for years... good service including good customer service and the AT&T network.

 

[FIREarly]

That sounds like a lot! I pay $180 to Verizon for 5 unlimited lines, including charges for handsets!

How do you get 5 lines with Verizon wireless for $180?
That's great!

DW and I have 2 lines with Verizon and unlimited data for $191.

 

[teetee]

I use Tello for two lines totaling $12/mo. The Verizon FIOS internet is $45/mo. I work from home and have my company pay for both of them so I don't have expenses for any of my communication needs. With google voice and being home all the time I hardly use the cellular (voice and data) but I still need them for emergency events.

 

[meleana]

I use Straight Talk unlimited $45 per month.

 

[pb4uski]

I use Tello for two lines totaling $12/mo. The Verizon FIOS internet is $45/mo. I work from home and have my company pay for both of them so I don't have expenses for any of my communication needs. With google voice and being home all the time I hardly use the cellular (voice and data) but I still need them for emergency events.

That Tello has really good rates... unfortunately "This zip code is not on our coverage map yet."

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Tello (Sprint) is in process of moving all customers over from Sprint 3G CDMA to T-Mobile 4G/5G LTE service as part of the merger. You may want to check them after the first of the year if still interested, coverage may be available then. Been with them since 2017 and their customer service is great as well as super low pricing which we've been told we will be allowed to keep.