Phone plans and cellular Iwatch

[tb001]

I’ve been trying to sort through the various options for cell service. Right now we’re doing the worst thing possible. DH has a full AT&T plan and I have a full Verizon plan, left over from our working days. After a bad experience porting a phone number, he doesn’t want to move to Verizon.

Ideally I’d like to upgrade my phone and get a cellular Apple Watch, but every plan I can find that allows an Iwatch means you pay full freight on your monthly plan in order to be able to add the watch. Do any of the low cost plans let you have both, or am I stuck with a more expensive plan?

If the latter, I’ll probably just buy an unlocked phone and go for one of the prepaid plans. I’d be willing to pay a little more, but I don’t want to be stuck with an extra $100! It’s hard to beat $25/mo when that’s the comparison!

 

[OldShooter]

... It’s hard to beat $25/mo when that’s the comparison!

Actually not. We have Google Fi and for two phones, unlimited text and talk, it's $18 each per month plus taxes. With more phones, the price/each goes down slightly. Data is $10/gig, paying for only what you use. Use an aggregate 100Meg in the month, they bill you a buck.

International coverage, no SIM changes, is like 200 countries both talk, text, and data. Talk IIRC is 20c/minute, data is the same $10/gig.

Taxes are extra. We use almost no data, so our total bill is usually around $46. Maybe $55 when we're traveling.

There are cheaper plans elsewhere. The international travel feature and the data pricing are the hooks for us. We have Google phones; a Nexus 5X and a Pixel 3a XL. You'll have to check what phones can be used on Fi. Not your iWatch probably.

https://fi.google.com/about/plans/

 

[braumeister]

I would recommend T-Mobile. If either of you is 55 years old, you can get their unlimited plan which costs $70 for two lines. Then add another $10 for the extra line for the watch. No fees or taxes added to those amounts. There are other benefits as well, but you should at least check it out.

https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/unlimited-55-senior-discount-plans

 

[tb001]

I would recommend T-Mobile. If either of you is 55 years old, you can get their unlimited plan which costs $70 for two lines. Then add another $10 for the extra line for the watch. No fees or taxes added to those amounts. There are other benefits as well, but you should at least check it out.

https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/unlimited-55-senior-discount-plans

That’s a great rate!! Unfortunately, t mobile service in our area is really bad so we’re stuck with something that can use either att or Verizon network.

 

[tb001]

Actually not. We have Google Fi and for two phones, unlimited text and talk, it's $18 each per month plus taxes. With more phones, the price/each goes down slightly. Data is $10/gig, paying for only what you use. Use an aggregate 100Meg in the month, they bill you a buck.

International coverage, no SIM changes, is like 200 countries both talk, text, and data. Talk IIRC is 20c/minute, data is the same $10/gig.

Taxes are extra. We use almost no data, so our total bill is usually around $46. Maybe $55 when we're traveling.

There are cheaper plans elsewhere. The international travel feature and the data pricing are the hooks for us. We have Google phones; a Nexus 5X and a Pixel 3a XL. You'll have to check what phones can be used on Fi. Not your iWatch probably.

https://fi.google.com/about/plans/

Ah yes, I should have mentioned that we both use a decent amount of data... The $25/mo was for an att prepaid plan with a bunch.

 

[OldShooter]

I would recommend T-Mobile. If either of you is 55 years old, you can get their unlimited plan which costs $70 for two lines. Then add another $10 for the extra line for the watch. No fees or taxes added to those amounts. There are other benefits as well, but you should at least check it out.

https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/unlimited-55-senior-discount-plans

FWIW in the past T-Mobile has lied to me about coverage.The instances were several years apart and I was shopping for a carrier that covered our city (easy) and our lake home (not so easy). In both cases I had paid for a month, had no service, and they refused to refund the charge. In both cases, I had to reject the charge via my Visa card issuer.

For me their coverage maps were not optimistic; they were fraudulent. YMMV.

 

[OldShooter]

Ah yes, I should have mentioned that we both use a decent amount of data... The $25/mo was for an att prepaid plan with a bunch.

Fi still might not be your answer, but they do have an unlimited plan you can check out. My son has that one and I think he has shopped fairly aggressively.

 

[braumeister]

That’s a great rate!! Unfortunately, t mobile service in our area is really bad so we’re stuck with something that can use either att or Verizon network.

Understood. But AFAIK they have been expanding their coverage faster than any of the others over the last several years, so if you haven't looked into it lately it might work for you.

 

[tb001]

Understood. But AFAIK they have been expanding their coverage faster than any of the others over the last several years, so if you haven't looked into it lately it might work for you.

Interesting. We used to always know who had t mobile because they would get lost about a mile from our house when their service cut out, but realizing that hasn’t happened recently. Will definitely check it out.

Eta, it looks like it’s definitely improved. Our neighborhood is generally good for 4g, with a few pockets of 3g and no service. It shows us as having good 4g signal at home, but there’s no service right next door, which makes me a little nervous. Still maybe worth a try.

 

[Cobra9777]

DW and I have been using Redpocket for over a year. We are very happy with the price and service. They provide access to all 4 major networks. From my research, they have the best prices and the most options.

Our combined rate for 2 phones is $36.50/mo. She's on Verizon with 3GB of 4G LTE data. I'm on AT&T with 5GB. We both get unlimited talk/text and 2G data if we exceed our monthly 4G allotment.

 

[youbet]

Actually not. We have Google Fi and for two phones, unlimited text and talk, it's $18 each per month plus taxes. With more phones, the price/each goes down slightly. Data is $10/gig, paying for only what you use. Use an aggregate 100Meg in the month, they bill you a buck.

Talk and text seems to always be cheap. Data is the issue for many, including me. $10/gig is very expensive!

 

[OldShooter]

... $10/gig is very expensive!

Yes, if you use a lot. I can't remember the last time we used even one gig in a month. Typically, we pay about a dollar or two a month for all the cellular data we need. That is very cheap.

Easily 99+% of the data our phones and tablets consume comes via wifi. We don't avoid the cellular data, but we rarely need it. About the only time we don' have wifi is traveling in the car. But then we are mostly using Copilot for navigation and its maps are stored locally. The nice thing about Copilot is that you don't have to be in cell coverage to navigate. It's only when we use Google Maps that we are paying for map data coming in and then really not a lot of bytes.

Quicken tells me that our last 5 months' bills for our two phones (and two tablets also using cell data) were:
$44.33
$44.37
$47.51
$45.94
$46.70
Obviously, YMMV.

 

[tb001]

DW and I have been using Redpocket for over a year. We are very happy with the price and service. They provide access to all 4 major networks. From my research, they have the best prices and the most options.

Our combined rate for 2 phones is $36.50/mo. She's on Verizon with 3GB of 4G LTE data. I'm on AT&T with 5GB. We both get unlimited talk/text and 2G data if we exceed our monthly 4G allotment.

This looks like a great plan, but unless I’m missing something, you can’t add the Apple Watch.

 

[OldShooter]

Interesting. We used to always know who had t mobile because they would get lost about a mile from our house when their service cut out, but realizing that hasn’t happened recently. Will definitely check it out. ...

I use an Android app called Network Cell Info. It shows strength meters for the three strongest signals available under my plan. It also shows a map with the location of the cell tower my phone is talking to. Quite slick actually. Lots of other features too. If you loaded it on a phone that was connected to T-Mobile you should know pretty quickly what you have.

 

[braumeister]

On my iPhone I use this method to see the signal strength from where I am.

Dial *3001#12345#*
Tap LTE Serving cell meas.
Signal strength (dBm) is read as "rsrp0"

-50 is very good
-120 is very poor
Your signal will most likely be somewhere between those, depending on how close you are to a tower.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I tried Mint Mobile a few months back. They use the T-Mobile network. The network just didn't work well in my home town. Multiple dropped and missed phone calls. I ended up on Verizon's 5GB Pre-Paid plan for $40 that drops to $35 if you sign up for autopay. Then it drops to $30 after 3 months. Then drops to $25 after 9 months. I'm at the $30/month level now. Verizon is the best network in my location. Previously had an AT&T work plan, which had good-enough coverage. But Verizon has just been more reliable for me. I'm happy.

 

[braumeister]

Everyone has a different reason for their cell phone plan, which makes perfect sense.

Beyond the T-Mobile ""over 55 unlimited" plan cost, I especially like the fact that it includes all taxes and fees, so what you see is what you pay. Another nice benefit is being able to use the GoGo wifi connection on airplanes for free.

But I have to admit that the biggest reason I stick with T-Mobile is free unlimited everything (although data is a bit slower) in pretty much every country in the world I'm likely to travel in. It is such a nice thing when I turn my phone on as the plane lands to get that text message "Welcome to Lower Slobovia. Your phone plan is now active." Sure, the data isn't as fast as it is at home, but not having to worry about buying a local SIM and getting connected is just priceless (to me). I used to consider that a major hassle (or in some cases (AT&T) a major expense) involved in traveling overseas. I've used it in a great many countries, and it has always been flawless.

 

[tulak]

On my iPhone I use this method to see the signal strength from where I am.



Dial *3001#12345#*

Tap LTE Serving cell meas.

Signal strength (dBm) is read as "rsrp0"



-50 is very good

-120 is very poor

Your signal will most likely be somewhere between those, depending on how close you are to a tower.

Cool!

I didn’t know this existed. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Katsmeow]

I know you said T Mobile has been bad in your area but you might try it. We have the T Mobile (switched from Verizon) and it is so much less expensive. Also I was able to get Netflix from which saved us $14 a month just on that. The Apple Watch adds $10 to the monthly price (no taxes on it). I like how T Mobile gives you an actual price that is the total. Verizon always quoted prices before taxes and interest. We are saving a lot using T Mobile over Verizon.

Oh -- wherever you go check for specials. When we switched to T Mobile I found online that we would get back $200 per line that we transferred to them! They give it in the form of a debit card. We've mostly used them up but have a tiny amount left on one. We will use that to buy Amazon gift card balance. Anyway, that extra money had no strings attach. I just had to apply for it.

 

[tb001]

Thanks katsmeow. That’s a great tip to look for the sign on bonus. I showed DH and in spite of having just had a nightmare scenario trying to transfer his mothers phone, the price is good enough we’re considering it.

I wish there was an easy way to test it out first, without going through the hassle of switching! The coverage map looks pretty good for our area generally, but our neighborhood itself has a few dead zones. And we would need to figure out an alternative when traveling through some areas where coverage is poor. Still the price is tempting!!

 

[Ready]

I have a cellular Apple Watch. I was previously on the AT&T network and they charge an extra $10/month for the watch, although with the junk fees they add on it really came out to $14.

We switched to the TMobile 55+ plan and now we pay exactly $80 for two unlimited lines and one cellular watch, taxes and fees included. Their coverage is not quite as good as AT&T but coverage only matters when making phone calls. For web browsing, email, and apps it really is not that important as long as you have some coverage.

 

[audreyh1]

We had terrible cell reception at our house. Switching to T-mobile solved the problem for us because they were the earliest to implement WiFi calling. What a relief that was! We don’t have reception issues running around town or outside. It was specific to our neighborhood. So WiFi calling was a great solution. Dropped Verizon like a hot potato! Their cell reception was even worse at our house, and they would occasionally charge us as if we had called from Mexico and be uncooperative when we called to complain.

We had already tried out the T-Mobile international capability on a trip and loved the hassle free nature of it. So we were favorably disposed. DH switched permanently when he bought a new phone, and then I moved over when I upgraded.

Glad to know the Apple Watch cost is $10 no fees, but we never enabled it because we felt our use would be way too low for the monthly fee. We had hoped eventually it would be more like $5, but cell phone companies have clung to that higher price.

 

[tb001]

Wow, after a bit of searching, I found a link that lets you test drive the t mobile network with your current phone free for 30days! No switching, just paid your phone to their test device and use for 30 days or 30gb of data. Will try it out. Would be great if it will work for us!!

 

[Ready]

Now that I’m retired I have no interest in talking to anyone on the phone. Text me if you need something, or come and visit me if you want to spend time together. Talking on the phone feels like something from the 1980s. So it’s not that important to me to have perfect cell phone reception. If I’m browsing the web or reading emails and occasional glitch in service will have little effect.

And as others have stated, if I’m home my cell phone is going to use WIFI for phone calls anyway so cell reception at home is irrelevant. That’s why we switched to the T-Mobile plan for seniors. At $70 for unlimited everything on 2 lines it’s the best deal out there from a major carrier.

 

[braumeister]

Now that I’m retired I have no interest in talking to anyone on the phone. Text me if you need something, or come and visit me if you want to spend time together.

I'm sure many of us feel the same, but I have old friends and old neighbors who not only have no email but don't even own a smartphone or a computer. So phone calls and snail mail are their only links to the rest of the world. I'm certainly not going to just write them off because of that.