What is the best/worst deal you have finagled/bartered/brokered on a cellphone plan? All plan types are open for discussion - even those you’ve ditched.
This has broken off from a discussion at the Your Good Buy of the Day thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/599006-your-good-buy-of-the-day-p527.html
I’ve got a (grandfathered) Virgin Mobile (hereafter called VM) prepaid cellphone plan with unlimited data and text for $35.00/mo. When I first bought the phone it was for a Samsung Galaxy III, which has since died.
I moved over to a phone that is basically trash (Samsung Galaxy Reverb), and now need to move on. If I buy a new phone, change the number or the ‘eis’, VM will cancel the plan. Apparently this is the rule, as spoken by one rep. ( I have already changed the number and the phone type once, and a VM rep made the switch for me without a hitch. Maybe it is just who one speaks to at any given moment.)
I could add a line to a Sprint post-paid account I’ve got for two kids, which does not come close to matching the rate of the VM plan, but if you’ve got info on a GREAT plan, I’d love to know about it.
Look into Cricket. We get 5 lines for $100 2.5 GB data for each line unlimited talk/text. Never have had a problem with service either.
When I have seen commercials for Cricket, I thought I saw that it throttles its users depending on the need of the users of it “main,” or post-paid plan users.
Do you know if that is a feature AT+T (which owns Cricket) has the right to implement?
I purchased a Tracfone with triple data, minutes, and text. It has a 5 in screen and has all that I need from a smartphone. It came with 1350 minutes plus a free smartphone and charger all for $65. 8 megapixel camera and video capabilities along with gps. I don’t get a bill every month unlike my previous AT&T bill which included all these fees and texes. When I need to refill it I do it online with promo codes for discounts and additional minutes. So this year aside of the $65 I haven’t paid a dime. I can use it for international phone calls without having to pay anything extra. http://www.hsn.com/products/zte-quartz-55-android-tracfone-with-1200-minutes/8034972
I got a promotional deal which allowed me to get an extra $25 off by using my visa card. At that time there was a promotion of $85 for 1350 minutes/data/text for life of the phone. I also got some ebates credit back too.
@raclut: I have no idea how much data and minutes will be needed once this next kid comes on board, and I guess I need to figure that one out.
So you’ve paid $65.00 ONE TIME since the beginning of the year? Any issues with service? Can you get things like iTunes?
What was your plan like with AT+T?
AT&T is great but very expensive as we are a family of two.
Dd and I are not addicted to our smartphones so we manage to stay on plan.
She doesn’t go crazy on texts and data. She uses the public wifi in most areas.
It works for us. I will probably refill the card but it is still cheaper than paying 100 something a month.
Good for a high school kid so even if they lose it or break it it is not difficult to replace.
Dd phone is LG. So far no problems at all. I was able to transfer my old number…
It is something you can trial and if you don’t like it just stop using it once your minutes are over. There are no contracts.
I’ve never experienced slow LTE unless the service is really bad which it never is. Also there is no contract so you can drop them whenever you want that’s a plus.
Yes, I will think about that, @raclut.
I had not realized that my oldest would use public/school wifi and save his data (i.e., not use most of it), but he is in a tough program of study in college and (happily) he devotes far more time to his studies than to using his phone.
The next kid, a newly graduated/soon-to-be matriculated college freshman is probably the data/streaming/user hog.
I expect she will emulate her brother’s behavior once in college, though.
If I put another kid on the plan they are on with Sprint, it will either be a waste, or great, depending on whether I can wrestle one of those reps to the ground while my dragons fly overhead. (Thus my inquiry!)
So, looking into dropping this great VM plan (because they won’t let me change phones again) for another company is very much troubling me, but I am grateful for the info on Tracfone.
For someone who does not talk much, but uses a lot of text and data, T-Mobile has a $30/month plan.
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/other-prepaid-plans
That’s interesting, @ucbalumnus.
When I was shopping for a combo plan for the first two kids, I went in to the T-mobile store and talked about getting a family plan with an ultimate build on of up to 2 more people, at 6Gigs/piece of data/talk/text, at their 4G LTE speed.
For just the first two, I was looking at maybe $180/mo, once one included the phone leases. Adding onto that would have made my head spin.
I will have to put these things side by side and figure out the small print of it all. At first glance, the types of plans you, @kassh4, and @raclut have mentioned certainly have their upsides over the postpaid plans.
What I can’t figure out is how the other plans still seem to have a prime place in the market with all of these alternate plans around? I have to ask myself what am I not seeing…
We gave TMobile family plan–4 lines with 2.5gb data apiece for $100. With taxes, it’s $122+, which seems very reasonable. We also get unlimited data and text in many foreign counties at no extra charge.
I’m on Sprint but I plan on switching out next month. I used my kids to test out alternative phone plans.
I have my daughter on Google Project Fi (it switches between T-Mobile and Sprint, and now US Cellular has been added). At school she’s usually on wifi so her data plummeted from 3GB to 0.5GB. The monthly cost is around $25-$30. So far this has worked well but only two phones work on the network. I had to buy a new phone for D when she switched.
My 13 year old son is on Ting with a cheap smartphone (Blu). Ting has a bucket model where you only pay for what you use. I put him on a data diet (a max of one or two GB) and his monthly bill is under $20. Ting uses the Sprint or T-Mobile mobile (it doesn’t switch) so we can bring our Sprint phones with us.
Right now, I plan on moving my husband and me to Ting and hopefully cut our phone bill on half or lower. No one uses talk much and we can limit data to wifi.
The problem is- once you leave ATT or Verizon, you are making drastic coverage compromises- no matter what they try to tell you. I travel a lot and often to rural areas or less populated cities. If that doesn’t matter to you, you have more options.
We are not in a rural area but poor reception even for att. I plan to switch to Verizon when the contract is up in a couple of months. Verizon has a better coverage in my area. I also like that Verizon offers a cheaper plan when you bring your own phone.
We’ve had T mobile for quite a while, we’re pretty happy with them, especially when we’re on cruises-you can text and talk in the Caribbean for not a lot. We have either Samsung Galaxy phones or LG G series phones. No complaints.
Total Wireless. $25/month unlimited talk and text. Add a 3GB data card for $10 which lasts me forever, doesn’t expire. Or $35/month unlimited talk and text AND 5GB data every month. Runs on VZ network.
My current Verizon plan has 4 smart phones and a tablet, total cost with all the taxes and fees is around $175/month, which gives us 16GB of data to share. This plan is no longer available, the comparable plan now would cost either around $175/month for 13GB of data or $195/month for 19GB of data. Verizon does not throttle. And Verizon is required by the govt to allow your phone to be used as a mobile hotspot for free. This is a great feature we use quite a bit, not sure if other companies offer this.
Verizon has great coverage around here, which is very important to DW, who is a RE agent and spends thousands of minutes on the phone every month. So I don’t think we will ever be switching. Unlimited talk was a huge boon for us as well, although they all have that now.
Looks like Virgin Mobile’s current plan is $40/month* with 4GB of high-speed data, then they throttle you. The shared data plan with no throttling is a better option for us.
*How do they all get away with advertising a certain price, when the “fees” (which are added by the phone company, not required by the govt) can add 10% or more to the bill? This has always seemed deceptive to me. My bill contains about $5.00/month of “administrative charges”, they might as well just label it “extra profit”.
Page Plus is another prepaid company that uses the Verizon network:
https://www.pagepluscellular.com/plans/3995/
However, the Total Wireless $35 plan mentioned above may be a better deal.
https://www.totalwireless.com/wps/portal/home/shop/serviceplans
The above are less expensive than Verizon’s own prepaid plans.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/
I’ve been with VM for 6 or so years (that’s Sprint network) and I get terrific service in my fairly rural area. In fact I originally switched to VM because neither ATT nor Verizon phones work at the high school my kids attended, and I needed a plan where their phones would work where they were most of the day.
@notrichenough Google Project Fi includes hotspot tethering https://fi.google.com/about/ and I love the ability to get a refund for unused data. I think I’d do well a $30/mo plan there, maybe not even that. One of the phones available is $199.
I’m considering selling my VM phone (they sell for a lot since there’s no contract, which is a nice side benefit) and trying Google Fi. It sounds like coverage would be even better, and i don’t use much data despite using Nav and Pandora and such when driving. The hotspot feature sounds good too. @SlackerMomMD you are liking it, it sounds like?