The 2019 cell/smart phone plan thread

[MichaelB]

Is this a grandfathered plan? A negotiation? I see nothing close on their website.

It's an "55 plus" plan for seniors. When I chose it there were two options, same price. One was the 10GB of data with rollover, the other unlimited data. With the unlimited data plan they have the right to throttle use if it is excessive, without defining excessive, so I declined that and chose the 10GB.

I see the "55 Plus Unlimited" on their website but it doesn't show on their plans overview page.

I had some doubts about the rollover but it works exactly as promised. DW's phone just consumed 19 GB and it was all included.

 

[aja8888]

Cricket. $100/month for 4 lines unlimited data taxes and fees included.

Yep, that's us too ($100 for 4 lines unlimited). Great service nationwide since they use AT&T lines.

 

[skipro33]

I pay $15 a month for Pure Talk (AT&T network) for two phones that has voice and data. One phone is $10 a month and the other piggy backs onto the first phone's minutes for $5 a month. Unused minutes roll over and are never lost. We have over 2,000 minutes accumluated.

No data plan on this, just voice and text.

I am so sick of seeing the 'walking dead' with their phones in their faces, ignoring even where they walk and stepping int danger, at restaurants ignoring the people they came with, driving, etc. that I am going to resist getting a 'smart' phone for as long as I can. We only have these phones for emergency and basic stuff, like, calling to let the other know we are heading home and do we need to stop at the store.

It's a grandfathered plan that I see isn't available on their site any more. But they still have other cheap plans. Oh, the phones we got cost $50 in July of 2015;
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YCTIPEI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[CoolRich59]

We are with Total Wireless, which is an MVNO using the Verizon network. (We need to be on Verizon because we travel a couple of times a year to rural Nebraska and AT&T has no coverage there.)

We pay $65/mo for 2 lines with unlimited talk/text and 15GB of data. We don’t use anywhere near that much data, but it’s the lowest 2-line plan Total Wireless offers. (On the plus side, I never worry about running out of data like we did when we were with Verizon. )

 

[braumeister]

T-Mobile One 55+ plan
We got in when it was new, so $60 for two lines.
Unlimited everything, no fees/taxes/etc.
A significant feature is that it just works like usual when traveling. We've used it in Ecuador, Iceland, and at least half a dozen European countries. There's nothing to do regarding setting that up, either. When your plane lands in whatever country, you simply get a text from T-Mobile saying "Welcome to Lower Slobbovia".

Then we added the "One Plus" option to just one line (mine) for another $10 so we could get higher data speed when traveling outside the US.

So total $70/month.
You do have to pay for phone calls when out of the country, but it's not bad at all. I think it's something like 20¢/minute.
Last year I used it quite a bit for calls to/from the US while we were in Sweden, and again in Scotland so those months had a few extra dollars added on. But almost all the time it's a straight $70/month.

 

[Gotadimple]

So most of us do not use the carrier directly, but an MVNO. An MVNO leases lines from a carrier and resells the line to the general public. Mint, Consumer Cellular, Tello are all MVNOs. The only disadvantage to them is that voice, and data do not roam outside of their native territory - so you get no coverage in a T-Mobile MVNO if you are travelling where T-Mobile has no towers. All MVNO's are pre-paid plans.

A good way to compare these plans can be found at https://prepaidcompare.net/
Select carrier, voice, text, data and see how prices compare. You still need to review coverage maps to assure you have coverage in the areas where you need it. What do I use? US Mobile for limited voice, text, data - $10 month pre-paid.

 

[FIREd_2015]

I use Straight Talk on Verizon towers. Unlimited talk/text and 25GB of 4G LTE per month. The cost $45/mon or $495/yr. I buy the annual plan so it comes out to $41.25/mon. I do a lot of hiking so I prefer Verizon towers since they have better coverage in remote areas. I don't use anywhere near 25GB of data on my phone so I've cancelled my home internet and tether to the phone when I'm at home on my computer. Technically tethering is a violation of the Straight Talk terms of use but I haven't had any issues or received any warnings from them.

 

[FreeBear]

We pay $81 per month, including all taxes and fees, for 2 lines with Verizon. Unlimited talk & messages, 10GB of data, unused data rolls over.

Have you ever thought about Verizon prepaid?? Might be able to save $10-20/mo unless you really burn 10Gb data/mo.

We ended up with consumer cellular (AT&T or T-Mobile), but was impressed with Verizon prepaid when doing tons of research. Decided had to stay on at least AT&T for coverage at home and on the road. Originally was with AT&T, so the goal was to keep the (nearly) same or better coverage, but cut the bill in half.

 

[JoeWras]

A good way to compare these plans can be found at https://prepaidcompare.net/

Very nice resource!

 

[JoeWras]

I see the "55 Plus Unlimited" on their website but it doesn't show on their plans overview page.

Yeah, these plans are not obvious and out front. I found them with a search, though. So you are saying taxes and fees come to about $1 for 2 phones?

Here's my taxes and fees per line on my current AT&T phone:

- Administrative Fee: $1.99
- Federal Service Charge: $0.74
- Regulatory Cost Recovery: $1.50
- Telecom Relay: $0.08
- 9-1-1 Service: $0.65
- State Tax: $0.68

Total 5.64 x 2 = $11.28

And then, just for fun, why not more? Group fees:
- Federal Service charge: $0.46
- State Tax: $0.43

So, total fees: $12.17

This kind of behavior from AT&T needs to be severely punished. In my case, that means I am dropping them cold.

Imagine going to Walmart and getting a "checkout fee" or some such. The $2 "administrative fee" per line might as well just say "PROFIT FEE".

 

[FreeBear]

Total Wireless, Straight Talk, and other Verizon MVNO folks: how’s the customer service?? Can you use your phone to tether or hotspot?

How do folks burn so much data (10Gb/mo +)?? Streaming vids, YouTube on the road? No internet at home??

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Hard to believe what I used to pay many years ago, before the MVNO's came along. I was shredding old paperwork recently and my 2003 Cingular cellphone bill for calls and text, (don't think I had data) was $120 a month for 2 phones and I'm sure I shopped around to get that price. My Verizon home phone was about $40 if I remember correctly.

 

[omni550]

Clark Howard mentions a Sprint Unlimited Kickstart deal for new customers only. $25/month for unlimited talk, text, and data.

https://clarkdeals.com/phone-plans/...ail&utm_term=0_afa92deb83-ade7d5fc9d-72329885

omni

 

[GenXguy]

So most of us do not use the carrier directly, but an MVNO. An MVNO leases lines from a carrier and resells the line to the general public. Mint, Consumer Cellular, Tello are all MVNOs. The only disadvantage to them is that voice, and data do not roam outside of their native territory - so you get no coverage in a T-Mobile MVNO if you are travelling where T-Mobile has no towers. All MVNO's are pre-paid plans.

Twigby is a native Sprint MVNO, but they actually contract to allow paid roaming of voice/text on Verizon. I actually considered Twigby before going with Tello for this specific reason, potentially having service, albeit at additional cost, vs. not having any at all in some areas. As it turns out, that hasn't been an issue for me on Tello, so I made the right choice. I'm not using a pre-paid plan though, I'm using "Pay as you go", which means I pay per minute/text/MB used.

From Twigby's site: Twigby customers use two of the largest nationwide cellular networks. Twigby’s wireless network services are primarily provided on the Nationwide Sprint® Network* for talk, text and data reaching more than 282 million people. However, if a Twigby customer is ever outside of the Nationwide Sprint® Network, the Verizon® voice network can be used for talk and text at no additional charge.

https://www.twigby.com/

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Total Wireless, Straight Talk, and other Verizon MVNO folks: how’s the customer service?? Can you use your phone to tether or hotspot?

How do folks burn so much data (10Gb/mo +)?? Streaming vids, YouTube on the road? No internet at home??

My son's company gives him $60 a month allowance for his business phone and he pays $45 with Straight Talk for unlimited calls and texts and tons of data and he's extremely happy with the service, he's had it for at least five years now. When he was a teenager he just about a heart attack when I gave him a prepaid cellphone from AT&T, prepaid was so uncool at the time and he acted like the word was stamped across his forehead for everyone to know. Strange how once he had to pay his own bills he quickly realized prepaid or no contract was definitely the way to go.

 

[gwraigty]

Another vote for the Tello PayGo service. Our household has 4 phones on their service.

 

[ncbill]

I've been on a roll lately, looking at all my media costs. I figured it was time to look at the cell plans out there. What are you all using? What do you like?

I currently have AT&T with an unlocked Moto phone. The monthly fee is about $90 for two lines. It is grandfathered, but pretty close to Mobile Share 3GB They say $40 per line "plus fees." The fees on my plan are $12 per month. Grumble.

I'm looking at T-Moble 55+. Any opinion? They list at $70 per month (2 phones), "including taxes and fees." Really? That isn't bad.

An outlier plan I'm looking at is Republic Wireless for about $40 to $50 per month for two phones (depending on data usage). Not sure it includes fees. A friend has it and likes it. I'm not sold. I decided to try it for a month on an older phone and just see how it goes.

The unlocked phones work on any and all of these carriers. I'm a huge fan of unlocked, customer owned phones.

Good2Go is another AT&T MVNO (all prices include $5/month autopay discount):

Unlimited talk/text is $10/month.
Unlimited talk/text with 1GB LTE data is $15/month.
Unlimited talk/text with 3GB LTE data is $20/month.
Unlimited talk/text with 5GB LTE data is $20/month.
Unlimited talk/text with 10GB LTE data is $40/month.

But no tethering officially supported, so you'd need a hack if you need that.

I have Cricket on 3 lines w/ hotspot on one line for $100/month, but I am considering switching to the above.

 

[Dtail]

Yep, that's us too ($100 for 4 lines unlimited). Great service nationwide since they use AT&T lines.

Same here, but might look at the @pb4uski plan reference.

 

[GenXguy]

Good2Go is another AT&T MVNO (all prices include $5/month autopay discount):

Unlimited talk/text is $10/month.
Unlimited talk/text with 1GB LTE data is $15/month.
Unlimited talk/text with 3GB LTE data is $20/month.
Unlimited talk/text with 5GB LTE data is $20/month.
Unlimited talk/text with 10GB LTE data is $40/month.

Interesting - 5 GB is the same price as 3 GB.

 

[omni550]

A word of caution. As I was just researching some of these MVNO companies, apparently they aren't exactly upfront about what they provide.

https://bestmvno.com/mvnos/airvoice/

For example, they had this about AirVoice Wireless...
One important thing to know about AirVoice’s monthly unlimited plans is that the included data that they show for each plan is a bit misleading. For most plans AirVoice Wireless only allows half the data at 4G LTE data speeds, while the remaining half is throttled to 128Kbps. For instance, on the AirVoice Wireless website, the $30 plan will show it has 4GB of data. However, only 2GB of data is at 4G LTE data speeds and the other 2GB is at 128Kbps. At BestMVNO, unless specified otherwise, only the amount of 4G LTE data is listed for each plan.

omni

 

[Golden sunsets]

Until last week we had 4 lines with AT&T, 20 GB of data, unlimited text and talk including free usage of the plan in Mexico, where we spend 2 months a year. The all in cost was $166. After reimbursement from our kids for two of the phones, the plan cost us $126. This included a 15% discount on the data portion of the plan due to DH's military service, but no discout for autopay even though we use autopay.

We just switched to the AT&T Unlimited Pus plan with:

Unlimited data, text and talk, and Watch TV which can be cast using the correct device like apple TV or fire stick. Free usage of the plan in both Mexico and Canada at no additional cost.

We get discounts of 25% of all charges due to DH's Military veteran status
Multi Line Discount of $35,
Auto Pay discount of $20.
Total cost before taxes is $120.

I've been told to expect taxes of $7 per line, so estimating $148. After reimbursement from our adult kids for two lines, net cost should be about $80.00.

 

[JoeWras]

I've been told to expect taxes of $7 per line, so estimating $148. After reimbursement from our adult kids for two lines, net cost should be about $80.00.

Yep. $7 per line is just about what I have, so that's a good estimate. It isn't all taxes, some of it is just mystery fees.

 

[davebarnes]

If you can get decent service at the important places in you life (e.g., home, gym), then T-Mobile 55+.
We pay $70/mo for 2 iPhones and 1 Apple Watch.
Worked great for us in UK, Portugal, España.

 

[GenXguy]

the included data that they show for each plan is a bit misleading. For most plans AirVoice Wireless only allows half the data at 4G LTE data speeds, while the remaining half is throttled to 128Kbps. For instance, on the AirVoice Wireless website, the $30 plan will show it has 4GB of data. However, only 2GB of data is at 4G LTE data speeds and the other 2GB is at 128Kbps.

Wow, that makes AirVoice Wireless a LOT misleading. Also, their "unlimited" data $50 plan only has 5 GB of full speed LTE! The rest is heavily throttled.

This makes Tello an even better deal by comparison. Tello's advertised GB is the actual LTE data, and you still get unlimited data at 2g speed after you use up your data allotment.

 

[cathy63]

For comparison, here's the "Taxes & regulatory fees" section of our bill (for 3 lines).
- CA Advanced Services Fund Charge: .17
- CA High Cost Fund Surcharge: .10
- CA Teleconnect Fund Charge: .20
- Local 911 Surcharge: 3.49
- Local Utility Users Tax: .75
- State 911 Tax: .20
- Telecomm Relay Systems Surcharge: .16
- Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Surcharge: 1.43
- Federal Regulatory Assessment Fee: .50
- Federal Universal Service Fund: 4.37 <-- this just went up by $1 on the most recent bill
- PUC Fee: .10
------------------
Total: $11.47, of which $6.56 (last 5 items) appears to be Federal, $4.24 seems to be local charges related to the person who lives in San Francisco, and $0.67 goes to the state of CA.

Back in December when I had only one line on this account, it was $0.28 to the state and $2.31 to the Feds.