The 2019 cell/smart phone plan thread

[steelyman]

I'm now a big fan of just getting an unlocked phone from the start. Of course, you gotta pay up front.

I know what you mean. My current phone is still my first “smart phone” and replaced my first cell phone which was one of those Nokia clamshells that I got with an AT&T two-year contract in 2001.

I guess I got trained to think the contract was the only way to go back then. Now I think unlocked is best (regardless of upfront cost).

The automatic upgrade programs to get the latest phone aren’t too enticing to me. I’d prefer going with a recent phone, sort of like buying a late model car (although not used).

 

[statsman]

Anyone use Google Fi for their phone plan? DW and I are low data users. In the two years we've owned our smartphones, we have not exceeded 0.5 GB of data in any one month. My wife rarely if ever purposely uses data. I occasionally will have a map or Internet lookup while out and about. Even at 1 GB of data, Google Fi is $45/mo (plus taxes).

In addition, the Moto G7 is available for $149 if activated with Google Fi ($99 for the Moto G6, although out of stock at the moment). We're currently using Samsung S5 Actives (purchased as unlocked, new old stock). The S5 Active is only capable of Android 6 as its internal processor cannot handle Android 7 and above.

We're paying $79/mo (plus taxes) right now with AT&T. I cannot make the bill any smaller with them.

 

[pb4uski]

.... We're paying $79/mo (plus taxes) right now with AT&T. I cannot make the bill any smaller with them.

Check out airvoicewireless.com AT&T service. Unlimited talk & text and 1GB/month of 4G data for $18/month per phone with autopay, so $36/month for two phones. No taxes or fees... only $18 hits my credit card. We have used them for years.

And you can keep your existing AT&T phones.

 

[Cobra9777]

Anyone use Google Fi for their phone plan? DW and I are low data users. In the two years we've owned our smartphones, we have not exceeded 0.5 GB of data in any one month. My wife rarely if ever purposely uses data. I occasionally will have a map or Internet lookup while out and about. Even at 1 GB of data, Google Fi is $45/mo (plus taxes).

In addition, the Moto G7 is available for $149 if activated with Google Fi ($99 for the Moto G6, although out of stock at the moment). We're currently using Samsung S5 Actives (purchased as unlocked, new old stock). The S5 Active is only capable of Android 6 as its internal processor cannot handle Android 7 and above.

We're paying $79/mo (plus taxes) right now with AT&T. I cannot make the bill any smaller with them.

For such a small amount of data, you can do much better, cost-wise. PB4 already mentioned Airvoice Wireless, which is a good option on AT&T, but maybe more data than you need.

Red Pocket has a "basic plan" that includes 100 minutes, 100 texts, and 0.5GB data for $5/mo per line. If you need more talk/text, the "essentials plan" has 500/500 plus 0.5GB for $8.25/mo per line. You can activate those plans with any of the 4 major networks. Those prices are for a prepaid annual plan with no extra fees or taxes.

I ordered two Red Pocket SIMs as a result of this thread. But we're going with the unlimited talk/text + 5GB data for $20/mo per line.

 

[pb4uski]

Airvoicewireless does offer a plan of 360 days of service for $100... you get a balance of $120 for a $100 payment... talk is 10c a minute, texts are 10c each and data is 6.66c per mb... on the earlier of when your 360 days are up or your balance is nil, you refill. Good plan for people with low use but want a cellphone for traveling.

 

[statsman]

Airvoicewireless does offer a plan of 360 days of service for $100... you get a balance of $120 for a $100 payment... talk is 10c a minute, texts are 10c each and data is 6.66c per mb... on the earlier of when your 360 days are up or your balance is nil, you refill. Good plan for people with low use but want a cellphone for traveling.

While our data usage is low, our text messaging and phone calls are not. This probably would cost us more than the 1GB plan you mentioned earlier for $18/mo per phone.

Check out airvoicewireless.com AT&T service. Unlimited talk & text and 1GB/month of 4G data for $18/month per phone with autopay, so $36/month for two phones. No taxes or fees... only $18 hits my credit card. We have used them for years.

And you can keep your existing AT&T phones.

I will check them out. Thanks.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Anyone use Google Fi for their phone plan? DW and I are low data users. In the two years we've owned our smartphones, we have not exceeded 0.5 GB of data in any one month. My wife rarely if ever purposely uses data. I occasionally will have a map or Internet lookup while out and about. Even at 1 GB of data, Google Fi is $45/mo (plus taxes).

In addition, the Moto G7 is available for $149 if activated with Google Fi ($99 for the Moto G6, although out of stock at the moment). We're currently using Samsung S5 Actives (purchased as unlocked, new old stock). The S5 Active is only capable of Android 6 as its internal processor cannot handle Android 7 and above.

We're paying $79/mo (plus taxes) right now with AT&T. I cannot make the bill any smaller with them.

You can get a cheaper plan with Tello if Sprint is good in your area.
$10 month for 1GB plus unlimited Talk /text, no contract month to month or $9 a month for 500MB, unlimited talk and text. If interested PM me for a referral link that will give you $10 new account credit when you sign up for a plan so you could basically try it for free if you have a phone that works. I only pay $5 a month for 500MB data, free texts and just use pay as you go for any calls at a penny a minute since I rarely make or receive calls, texting is the way to go these days.

https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

 

[Gotadimple]

Or, you can tailor a plan for yourself. Use the website Prepaidcompare.net. Most of the plans mentioned are pre-paid plans. At the website, select the network (Sprint, AT&T, etc) the amount of calls, text, and data and it will show you the plans that meet your requirements with pricing (before taxes, etc.)

 

[ncbill]

While our data usage is low, our text messaging and phone calls are not. This probably would cost us more than the 1GB plan you mentioned earlier for $18/mo per phone.

I will check them out. Thanks.

Red Pocket is the better choice for such a low level of data & most important with them you can pick whatever carrier you want.

 

[frank]

these plans by tello and red pocket seem to be pretty reasonable. do they just ship you a sim card and you put it in your own phone? not familiar with this process as I have had us cellular for many years and not sure how sim cards work. can you move sim cards from phone to phone or do they have specific provider supplied phones? my samsung galaxy that I have I don't think has a sim card, but not sure. would anyone know? phone provided by us cellular as an upgrade to my old phone.

 

[athena53]

I'd do a Google search on your phone model to see if it has a SIM card.

When I signed up for Ting years ago you could input a particular serial number for your phone into their Web site (VERY user-friendly- they tell you how to find the number) and they tell you if it will work with Ting. The other services may be similar. I'd bought my phone from Verizon but apparently it was "unlocked" enough to use a Ting SIM card (which accesses the Sprint network).

I'm going through this process now; running up against storage limits in my 5-year old iPhone 5c and 3 days ago the Starbucks app wouldn't work. I had to download an "update" and the update wouldn't open. This isn't the first time an app update didn't work with my ancient phone but it's the first time I got completely shut out- and I have $40 in my Starbucks account. So, an iPhone 8 is on its way to me.

 

[pb4uski]

these plans by tello and red pocket seem to be pretty reasonable. do they just ship you a sim card and you put it in your own phone? not familiar with this process as I have had us cellular for many years and not sure how sim cards work. can you move sim cards from phone to phone or do they have specific provider supplied phones? my samsung galaxy that I have I don't think has a sim card, but not sure. would anyone know? phone provided by us cellular as an upgrade to my old phone.

If you have a SIM card for the network that the MVNO uses, I think you can call them from another phone and give the the SIM card number and they take it from there. Just going from memory as it has been years since we changed providers.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

these plans by tello and red pocket seem to be pretty reasonable. do they just ship you a sim card and you put it in your own phone? not familiar with this process as I have had us cellular for many years and not sure how sim cards work. can you move sim cards from phone to phone or do they have specific provider supplied phones? my samsung galaxy that I have I don't think has a sim card, but not sure. would anyone know? phone provided by us cellular as an upgrade to my old phone.

Most carriers will have a device check page where you can check the IMEI number of your phone.


https://tello.com/bring_your_own_phone


https://help.goredpocket.com/hc/en-...71-Will-my-phone-work-with-Red-Pocket-Mobile-


Another option is to buy a new unlocked phone, they are becoming really cheap these days on EBAY or Amazon. The Moto E's G6 and G7's are pretty popular in this group.

Some companies send a sim for free and some charge around $10(Tello) When I replaced my new phone recently I bought my Sprint sim on EBAY for $4. You do have to buy the correct sim for the phone and there is a chart available that I have somewhere, I will try and find it.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Most carriers will have a device check page where you can check the IMEI number of your phone.


https://tello.com/bring_your_own_phone


https://help.goredpocket.com/hc/en-...71-Will-my-phone-work-with-Red-Pocket-Mobile-


Another option is to buy a new unlocked phone, they are becoming really cheap these days on EBAY or Amazon. The Moto E's G6 and G7's are pretty popular in this group.

Some companies send a sim for free and some charge around $10(Tello) When I replaced my new phone recently I bought my Sprint sim on EBAY for $4. You do have to buy the correct sim for the phone and there is a chart available that I have somewhere, I will try and find it.

Here is the Sprints sim compatibility chart, you want the BYOD part number, EBAY or Best Buy are good sources


https://s4gru.com/forums/topic/7833-the-s4gru-aio-byod-sim-compatibility-chart/

 

[JoeWras]

I'm a big proponent of unlocked phones like the Moto G6 or G7. We have one of each. It has all the circuitry to work on the various carriers.

Like others said, check your targeted carrier's page for compatibility or call them up.

If you bought a phone through a carrier and have paid it off, it should be able to be "unlocked." Supposedly, there's a law. I haven't tried that since I now just buy free and clear phones. Some of the unlocking procedures require balancing a quarter during the equinox while tapping your foot. At least, that's the way they read.

Just a few weeks ago I was very much in the dark about all this too. I think the carriers want us to be in the dark, dutifully buying a new phone every 18 months and paying it off month by month so you are locked in.

I'm currently waiting for my FREE Consumer Cellular SIMs to arrive. Takes a few days if you order over the web or phone. When I get them, they'll initiate the port process. Looking forward to firing AT&T while still staying on their network.

 

[oldtrig]

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

I like you

 

[Marc]

We just made last payment on our iPhone7s (BOGO) with AT&T. Airvoicewireless sounds interesting; however, would like to have good international service. Doesn't one of the majors include international roaming? How about any of these third party companies. We use very little cellular data and also use wifi for a lot of our phone calls.

thanks,

Marc

 

[CoolRich59]

A number of folks mentioned Mint Mobile.

I just got an email from SlickDeals and Mint Mobile has a promotion: Unlimited Talk/Text + 8GB 4G LTE: Buy 3 months at $20/month and get 3 months free.

 

[Kroeran]

A number of folks mentioned Mint Mobile.

I just got an email from SlickDeals and Mint Mobile has a promotion: Unlimited Talk/Text + 8GB 4G LTE: Buy 3 months at $20/month and get 3 months free.

Hmmm, perfect snowbird deal

 

[camfused]

See https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/t-mobile-announces-new-wireless-plan-for-customers-55/

T-Mobile has announced a new plan, designed specifically for customers over age 55.

Starting Friday September 6, those 55+ can get the best price in the industry, according to T-Mobile, with the T-Mobile Essentials Unlimited 55 plan. The plan costs $55 per month for two lines, or $40 for a single line with Autopay, plus taxes and fees.

 

[MichaelB]

See https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/t-mobile-announces-new-wireless-plan-for-customers-55/

T-Mobile has announced a new plan, designed specifically for customers over age 55.

Starting Friday September 6, those 55+ can get the best price in the industry, according to T-Mobile, with the T-Mobile Essentials Unlimited 55 plan. The plan costs $55 per month for two lines, or $40 for a single line with Autopay, plus taxes and fees.

That's a good rate

 

[Cerys]

I had a t-mobile unlimited data plan, but they throttle you after a certain amount of data. Consumer Cellular is cheaper. One phone, unlimited calls and texts, 2G of data - 30 bucks.

Now, if you go over 2 gigs of data, they don’t throttle you, they bump you up to the next tier.

I’ve had my data throttled. Not cool. Not cool at all.

 

[CRLLS]

See https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/t-mobile-announces-new-wireless-plan-for-customers-55/

T-Mobile has announced a new plan, designed specifically for customers over age 55.

Starting Friday September 6, those 55+ can get the best price in the industry, according to T-Mobile, with the T-Mobile Essentials Unlimited 55 plan. The plan costs $55 per month for two lines, or $40 for a single line with Autopay, plus taxes and fees.

Interesting, Does anyone know how much the taxes and fees would be? My single line AT&T cell plan has $6.85 in taxes and fees per month. If T-Mobile fees would be that x2 for the 2 lines, Essentials 55+ plan is only about 1 dollar less than the Magenta 55+ plan which includes the fees. Magenta also gets 4GLTE hot spot, Netflix on us, data while traveling abroad, plus unlimited texting and 1 hour of data included on Gogo®-enabled flights. That is a lot to give up if the taxes work that way.

I'm about ready to switch. I'm just working out the details.

 

[calmloki]

We got our 3 new old stock 128GB Iphone 6S's today and I opened one and tried to get connected to Red Pocket with their CDMA sim. No joy. While I can see LTE in settings I can't get it to connect "data only", so Red Pocket won't activate. Their CS rep tried to get me going, but ultimately it is a recent rule from the service provider (4/30/19) and I'm out of luck. They did offer to take the other sims back and give me a GSM sim for this phone, but we are really trying to go with a Verizon provider and away from AT&T. The gal says visual voice mail and ability to use WiFi at home for calling is a line in the sand.

Sigh. doing this return won't be fun - and then we have to step further into the future, like I-7.

 

[camfused]

calmloki, maybe try one of the other Verizon MVNOs:

Affinity Cellular
Best Cellular
Boom! Mobile
Credo Mobile
Dataxoom
EcoMobile
GreatCall
Net10
Page Plus Cellular
Pix Wireless
Reach Mobile
Ready Mobile
Red Pocket Mobile
Selectel Wireless
Spectrum Mobile
Straight Talk
Total Wireless
Tracfone
US Mobile
Visible
Xfinity Mobile
Zing Wireless

Source: https://bestmvno.com/compare/verizon-mvnos/