Cell phone providers
2So... I'm looking to you guys again for some assistance.
I live in Vermont, where there aren't too many choices for cell phone, it's mostly Verizon or AT&T. Sprint is here but we've had issues with reception....
There is technically no T-Mobile locations up here, but if you look at their coverage map it's here. I had an iPad that I set up with T-mobile for cellular coverage and it seemed to be pretty good LTE coverage, about the same as my AT&T service which makes sense as it should be using roaming agreements. Looking at the plans however, it looks like T-mobile I'd lose my 2 year discounts on phones, but save more than that on the plan costs and not have to worry about going "over" on minutes and/or data. I'm not looking into the AT&T next plan as that's still $175 over T-Mobile's $110.
Thoughts on T-Mobile? I'd try the test drive but I have to make it to a store which again there aren't any nearby...
- 23 comments, 88 replies
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Verizon by far has the best coverage.
Prepaid offers 2gb of data with prepaid with autopay. 3gb more that is usable up to 90 days for 20.
Can get a certified preowned s4 for 200 on their site.
I use mostly wifi, so it works for me. Fantastic coverage, although T-Mobile has better data speeds, coverage is the most important thing to me.
As long as you are covered where you go, you're covered. T-Mobile works great for me because it is everywhere I go. I have had fantastic customer service experiences (relative to the industry), and really good speeds. Also, the price can't be beat. I would recommend getting a t-mo pay as you go phone, or data plan for your ipad or whatever, and try it out for a while. they have a money back guarantee.
As you note, first the carrier has to cover where you go. Most carriers will not let you roam excessively onto other networks - it costs them too much - and they'll drop you.
After that, be careful when comparing plans. The US is in transition from carrier-subsidized phones to bring your own phone or pay full price. The monthly cost difference can add up. There are lots of options for buying used phones as long as you don't care about changing phones every 2 yrs. Save a lot of money by selecting a bring your own plan and using a phone longer than 2yrs. Smartphone technology is maturing and stabilizing.
If you don't want to mess with prepaid, the post paid plans can be reasonably priced if you size the plan to the data you actually use. It is very common for folks to think they need more than they actually use.
Going over one month can be a lot cheaper than overpaying every month and leaving data on the floor. In fact, if you call your carrier when you are approaching the limit, you can resize the plan on the fly.
And with rollover data at some carriers, you are protected for a typical surprise month. (T-Mo and AT&T?)
Regarding mobile/cellular data capable tablets (built in cellular radio), adding it as another device to your plan is more expensive than tethering it to your phone via Bluetooth or wifi.
Of course with tethering you must have the smartphone in the same room and tethering can chew thru the phone battery. But with a decent sized external USB battery pack that is a non issue.
@RedOak Yeah I don't suggest adding a tablet on unless you use it frequently. But it isn't too expensive. Verizon and T-Mobile both charge just $10/mo to add a tablet onto an existing plan. Of course with Verizon you don't get anything for that - it shares your existing data bucket, and with T-Mo it gets you additional data for the tablet.
@RedOak T-Mobile will give you 200MB/month for free on a tablet.
@j8048188 yep. But unfortunately for us, the places we typically go away from wifi have very poor to non-existent T-Mo coverage. Traveled with folks on T-Mo and they've had to tether to our AT&T service.
BTW, as long as you're not streaming, 200 MB goes further than many think.
I can't speak to Vermont but have to say that here in Chicago I've been a very happy T-Mobile customer until very recently. I suspect it's having capacity issues as more customers join the network faster than the company builds it out, but I'm finding lots of dead areas right in the downtown area that weren't there, say, a year ago. Over the years, I've had fantastic experiences with it (and agree with @marklog about the excellent customer service), so I'm hoping this is just a blip.
Also, I'm on the Really Freakin' Unlimited plan, and have seen them throttle my speeds. The FCC seems to be taking a dim view of this and I hope it does to TMo what it's been doing to the other carriers that throttle.
So I'm a fan, if it can give you the coverage you need, but I have to put these grains of salt out there so you can consider the factors if you need to...
@editorkid T-Mo doesn't "throttle" the unlimited high speed plans, but they do "de-prioritize" customers who use a lot of data. Meaning if a cell tower is congested, "heavy users" don't get priority. Their disclaimers seem to imply you need to use ~20GB/month for this to happen: t-mobile.com/OpenInternet
@Collin1000 Well, huh. Thanks for the clarification; I'd generally seen it referred to as throttling. And in practice, I suspect they're pretty similar. I'm nowhere near 20GB/mo but I routinely have static, all-text pages fail to load during rush hour, for instance.
@editorkid I'm assuming "de-prioritize" is legal jargon for "throttle" but to me, throttle is something that happens always, and de-prioritize is only peak traffic. Likely a legal excuse because yes, the FCC does not like throttling.
@editorkid I'm fan of full and transparent disclosure (not false advertising like they do), but you probably realize the result of the lawsuits and FCC/FTC clamp downs will not be true unlimited at what you're currently paying.
Either "unlimited" will disappear or the price will go up dramatically.
The - challenge - a lot of people think they need unlimited but use less than 3-5 GB/mo. Carriers love charging the premium for "unlimited". And they plain and simple don't like customers who really use "unlimited".
@Collin1000 I think it's 21GB according to the linked page. " Based on network statistics for the most recent quarter, Unlimited high-speed data customers who use more than 21GB of data during a billing cycle will be de-prioritized for the remainder of the billing cycle in times and at locations where there are competing customer demands for network resources. At the start of the next bill cycle, the customer’s usage status is reset, and this data traffic is no longer de-prioritized."
@RedOak I completely agree with you, however My wife had been (up until the bay came into the picture) 8-10 GB of mobile data a month, and I used anywhere from 3 to 6 a month. It was cheaper to get unlimited... now on the other hand, Tmobile has the unlimited 3G but limited LTE, I'm ok with that. 99% of the time I'm in wifi spots, I tend to disable wifi to save battery, or when the wifi is spotty but Cellular isn't.
"Looking at the plans however, it looks like T-mobile I'd lose my 2 year discounts on phones" -AT&T too.
They just dropped subsidized iPhones last month and likely all smartphones will follow shortly, and I'm sure Verizon isn't far behind.... The WSJ predicts that all carriers will soon follow suit. I wouldn't switch carriers based on a discounted phone price because realistically that isn't going to be around 2 years from now, in my opinion.
Personally, if the coverage in your area is good between T-Mo and AT&T/Verizon, I'd go with T-Mo unless you aren't a heavy data user. I strongly dislike the way that Verizon charges "overages" for use, and I like T-Mo's system of paying for high-speed access instead, and then getting slower speeds if you go over. I'd prefer slow speeds to getting billed overage charges, but that's a personal preference.
Also with T-Mo, once you pay off the phone, they drop your monthly bill. With Verizon, if I keep using my phone after the 2 year subsidized time, they don't lower my bill - I keep paying the same rate. T-Mo gives you an incentive to stick with your phone by reducing your rate once the phone is paid off. AT&T may do the same, I am not sure.
One last thing to consider, have you looked into the off-brand options? StraightTalk and Net10 both use AT&T or Verizon's cell towers (depending on the phone and your zipcode) and are significantly cheaper than the name brand carriers. I have family members who use Net10 and they are very happy with how cheap it is. Yes, you have to buy your phone up-front at full price, but it pays off in the long run typically. The service is cheap and it runs on the same cell towers as AT&T or Verizon. StraightTalk is $45/month for unlimited talk and text and 3GB of high-speed data.
@Collin1000 With Verizon, if I keep using my phone after the 2 year subsidized time, they don't lower my bill - I keep paying the same rate. This isn't true. My wife and I are both past 2 years on our phones, and we get a $25/phone monthly discount. I don't know if they do it automatically, but when I contacted them it wasn't a problem. We were on a 4GB shared data plan, and the discount was $15/phone/month.. But I needed to bump to a 6GB plan after 4 consecutive months of overages, and found out that the discount increased enough that I actually saved $10/month after bumping up the data :)
@kadagan That's Verizon Edge. It typically isn't a better deal, although it depends on your budget and the particular phone. http://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/a-guide-to-verizons-edge-early-upgrading-plan
@Collin1000 Nope.. I don't have verizon edge, I'm just a normal verizon customer. Here's the majority of the email I received earlier this week when I changed my plan:
@Collin1000 Shit, I've been buying from apple using the discount price for a while now... I'm really pushing for T mobile now. @juststephen I don't like Verizon and my grandparents live over by Saranac where there is 0 verizon coverage, but AT&T is ok, they're on the plan also. Sprint is a no go, same reasons.
@Collin1000 I just went to the att website, and it still offers me iphones at cut rate with 2 year contract. I think that article you are pointing to is talking about in apple stores... AT&T, in their stores and website, will still sell you an ETF for a low upfront cost if you want them to ;) There is not much point in it, however, as the "per line" discounts wont apply, so you are basically paying an extra $15-$25 per line, that you wouldn't be charged if you went with the payment plan or purchased up front. AT&T does indeed offer "per line" discounts once you meet the terms of the contract.
@Collin1000 I don't understand folks' love for subsidized phone plans. It is buying a phone over time - a loan from the carrier. The carriers used to love customers who didn't upgrade on their 2-yr anniversary - all cream for the carrier.
Those days are soon to be over - now that the carriers have plans with the subsidy stripped out.
This makes it more of a challenge for carriers to play games making it difficult to compare plans across carrier.
We recently compared plans and I hated the way Verizon displayed their alternatives - clearly intended to obfuscate their higher prices vs the others. I detest Verizon for that and personal experience with them.
@thismyusername not everyone is on the new family data shared plans. With the employer discount and the old grandfathered plans it's cheaper to keep my plan than it is to move to the other kind of plan. By about $10, and I have 2 unlimited @ $30 - employer discount.
@sohmageek yup, we don't have the option for per line discount because we're still on the grandfathered $30 unlimited with employer discount, so we upgrade our iPhones every 2 years to avoid paying money into a black hole. It is sad to see them remove the option from Apple Store, since AT&T's pre-order system has not worked for me during the first hours of the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 preorders.
Cricket wireless is owned by ATT so same coverage you have now but generally cheaper. $35/45/55 for 2.5/5/10GB of high speed data with reduced speed after and unlimited talk/text. $10 off each additional line. Works great for us but I'm not in Vermont.
@unksol and if you want personal hotspoting (or tethering) you have to go with att go-phone service, as one of the tricks with cricket is... no tethering or personal hotspots. You get it with go-phone branded, but they charge more per month for comparable "high speed" data.
@thismyusername
huh I thought we had finally moved past all that stupidity since its internet you pay for. I'd have been really annoyed if I ever needed it since the setting is right there in the quick menu of a brand new cricket phone but it doesn't work. Oh well, only took 10 minutes to fix.
@thismyusername I don't have tethering right now due to unlimited data.
@sohmageek Cricket is also what I've been looking at for taking out of contract lines out of my AT&T account
@sohmageek that was how they got me off of unlimited ;) Bastages. For others just reading radomly: cricket for the best price and no hotspot / att go-phone for higher price but yes hotspot. (both are owned and operated by att)
Just curious about what devices you have... what I would do is:
get at&t to unlock my devices (details here: https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/ )
grab a tmobile sim kit (or any "virtual" tmobile reseller) ... pop it into the device you have that also supports tmobiles frequencies... and start up a month of tmobile contract free service.
(optional make sure no additional charges apply) forward the at&t number to your tmobile test number.
That way you can actually test the tmobile before you do anything... worst case you are out the cost of the sim and the month of pre-paid service.
Tmobile is great when it is great... they really do have a nice network these days in many locations... but when they are not so great... they are really bad... like 2G service for thousands of miles bad. ;) If you long for the internet in the early 90's 2G on tmobiles network might be for you.
@thismyusername if the phone was subsidized by AT&T they will not unlock it until they have their beans paid for.
I believe that means 6 months for a g-phone. And whatever they have in their system for a contract phone.
@thismyusername also, can't speak for the other carriers but AT&T Go phones work fine right out of the box on a standard post-paid account. If you watch Amazon they can be really inexpensive.
@thismyusername 3 iPhone 6 plus, 1 iPhone 5S, 1 iPhone 4S 2 aren't locked anymore as the contract is up on them, but the other 3 are still locked. I can't get them unlocked until the contract is up or I terminate and pay the ETF. I'm thinking what I will do if the coverage works out is wait out the contract that ends in November (not saving anything by moving it early) and then transfer all. Pay the $370 in fees for the 2 iPhones and call it a day. I know Tmobile has a trade your phone and they will pay of the contract if you buy a new phone from them... However doing the math, it's not going to save me any money by trading in the phone and getting a new of the same phone, just getting what I have unlocked will work just fine.
@sohmageek Yea if you decide to switch just make sure to get them unlocked before you kill off the att account, makes it easier.. and if you don't end up using them they hold their value pretty well you can always sell them (and they will be worth slightly more since they will show to be unlocked in the apple database at that point.) but I am pretty sure the 5S and 6 are universal in the us (for tmo and att at the very least).
@thismyusername its hard to do that in that order. To get them unlocked j have to fulfill the contract by paying eta or wait another year. I can't pay etf till its on the account it won't hit the account until the port transfers service.
@sohmageek I understand, I also now know where the 370 is coming from! Yea it should still let you after you finalize everything, youll notice at the unlock portal one of the customer type choices is "previous". Just keep your old att sims handy in case you need them for unlock (not sure you do but better safe than sorry ;) )
@thismyusername I've unlocked a few but I am still a customer. Plus there are still 2 people that I know of that I used to work with that would get me sim cards no problem. I may go get a few just to have on hand in a day or two. Inventory cost on a sim card is $0 for AT&T. I may keep one of the lines active and transition that line after however just to make sure it's not as bad of a problem. Also depending on the reception by Saranac I may end up doing a transfer of responsibility so that my grandparents can get on one of the AT&T MVNO's that would be cheaper for them if they don't get reception. Just doing that a month later may be better.
@sohmageek I mean the specific at&t sims that are/were in the phones when the account was active (this is assuming you simply pop in tmobile sims when you switch), in other words just keep the old att sims safe incase they give you any hassle for unlocking (I doubt they will but they will have database records of the phones serial number AND the sim serial numbers). Good luck to you!
@thismyusername oh wait.. since they will be locked.... you wont be able to pop the tmo in... oh well... this is way to complicated for me... in any case... save the sims incase they give you any issue, and worst case you can sell the unlocked iphones on ebay :D Have you talked to att cancellations? Wonder if they will match the tmobile price (or close to it?)
@thismyusername I'm going to get temp phones for a month or so... That or I don't know yet...
@sohmageek Wow, my FAN stops after the first 2 lines...you have it active for 5?
@Odi it works on parts. Not a lot on the lines. It gives me discounts on voice part of all lines. Data for the unlimited lines and a 2 GB data but not the 3 GB data lines. Plus the 30 unlimited text plan. I'm on basically unlimited minutes. (Mobile to any mobile plus 10 a-list #'s 1400 roll over minutes. We use about 300-600 mins a month that aren't "free") it comes out to $300 for the 5 lines. I was pissed when AT&T stopped giving me an upgrade every year on my line (3GS to 4 to 4s) for the 2 year pricing each time.
@sohmageek Heh it seems our situations are very similar. I did a comparison a few months ago when one line came out of contract. My verdict was to keep all other lines as is, and move the out of contract line to Cricket. I value the 2 year subsidy as $400, so that's $16.67 per month. Once out of contract, that $16.67 goes to AT&T's pockets, so if you don't upgrade again, it's cheaper to move it out. (Cricket is $35 which is more than $9.99 access + $30 data - $16.67 interest free loan, but once you've fulfilled the contract, Cricket is cheaper). My suggestion is to look at each line's usage. If one of the out of contract ones are a high minute / text user, then you can move it to Cricket and downgrade the family minutes or text plan. But if not, then your choice becomes save $5 by switching or upgrade to a new 2 year contract. The one phone I moved out was not, but I opted for saving $5 because it will leave my options open to switch everything to Cricket when the contracts are done. I would advise against canceling the contract, since the ETF prorating is favorable to AT&T, not the customer.
@Odi I'm probably going to wait till all but 2 lines are due up. If I switch now it won't be cheaper. If I cut down minutes I lose a list. Losing a list makes it a bad plan. (I had increased minutes which has the discount and saved due to the a list not counting against minutes. ) the fan on 5 lines helps. ($10+25 data - 3.25) only 1 line is out of contract currently. 1 comes up in 3 months 1 more in November. The last 2 end 9/2016 so it pays to terminate those lines or move them to the family share. But one of the lines uses 3-10gb of data a month. On unlimited it's not bad. But if it weren't for unlimited...
@sohmageek i feel so clueless in this thread..what is an a list and a fan??
@mikibell a list was one of the features they pulled from one of the purchases of a smaller cell company. I think it was my favs or something like that. A list was what they renamed it to. Fan is the # for the discount that you get from an employer discount on ones not paid by the employer. There is an algorithm but depending on how many lines are on the cru (corporate paid by company) and the iru (individual responsible lines) = a % off discount. Depending on what plan you are on and what the terms were when you signed the contract make up what parts of the plan. Usually only the primary line and the data plans certain features were discounted also.
@mikibell A List is an AT&T feature that makes calls to / from that number not count against your minutes. FAN is a foundation account number that a company or school has with specific carriers, the discount depends on the contract that the carrier and the company has negotiated.
@sohmageek Yup, what to do is very dependent on usage. My suggestion above can be rephrased as the following: check the 2 accounts that expire in 9/2016. If they don't use many minutes, you could downgrade to the 550 minutes plan, while the other 3 go to Cricket.
@Odi They have unlimited or pay per text last I checked... My wife does the most on her phone, with her Job requiring her to be on the phone a lot... I can understand how the A list saved us (she's on her phone about 4-5 hours a day for work... So minimum of 4,800 minutes in work usage alone.... It's all to a teleconference bridge however so we put the bridge on the A list. Free minutes now... So we're on the lowest plan. i get what you're saying, but I think the best course would be to break contract and do it all up at once. Then again if there are issues The other 3 could come back only 1 has a discontinued data plan, which is funny 3 GB for $5 less than 2 GB, but it has a fan discount where as the discount makes it $.50 cheaper to stay with 3 GB rather than 2...
@sohmageek @odi thank you both.. We have had sprint for soo long that I was interested in reading what you all were saying but I couldn't decrypt it :) we are grandfathered in their 1500 minutes free program, with all sorts of free calls. They WISH we would change plans!!
@mikibell not a problem. There is another option for people if they don't care about losing the phone number. There are sites where you can offer up your plan and phones the phones are optional but it's basically selling off your remaining time on contract. It involves a transfer of responsibility.
@sohmageek heh I ninja edited the $5 for 200 text part because I realized it was a grandfathered plan and no longer available. I also just realized why it is worth it for you to pay the ETF on the 2 lines, I just saw that cricket makes the 5th line free, and the 4th line $10 for their basic plan. I didn't remember seeing this before, I only saw the $5 autopay credit. Here's a suggestion on how to deal with ETF + porting + unlocking of iPhones. Just swap sim cards on your already unlocked phones, and port the number over to Cricket. Then once you have paid the ETF, you can ask to unlock the iPhones.
@Odi cricket is an AT&T mvno. I see that most locked AT&T locked phones work on it. Also I've seen if you port to some AT&T mvno you aren't breaking contract cause you are still on an AT&T Mvno. Only issue is T-Mobile directly will roam on AT&T. Cricket won't roam off at&t.
@sohmageek This sparked me to do some searching, it used to work from AT&T to Straight Talk http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1789743-Looking-to-port-from-AT-amp-T-to-Straight-Talk-without-ETF/page17 but that ended in 2014. You break contract when switching to prepaid https://forums.att.com/t5/Wireless-Account-Questions/ETF-if-switching-to-cricket/td-p/4162775 I didn't think about that, but yes, you can used AT&T locked phones on Cricket heh.
@Odi So this may Sway my decision... Get my ETFs paid off (reimbursed 2 months later), PLUS get $125/line by paypal for switching deal... http://slickdeals.net/f/7938571-t-mobile-125-back-w-new-line-activation-from-50-mo-via-paypal?page=21&rpid=76734561&rp=22#comments So... I'd get a gift card for 720 back from ETF's and a paypal transfer of 625 after 75 days. That's a lot of money to get me to switch... Plus depending on if I can use the prepaid phones and just unlock my phones... This could get interesting quickly, Even if the ETF reimbursement fell through for not trading in the specific phones on the lines, it'd still almost pay for the ETF and I'd have unlocked iPhones from it...
@Odi So I know you've been saying Cricket a bit... but Is there a reason to go Cricket over Tmobile. T mobile will roam off to At&T towers and make phone calls, but from what I'm reading Cricket won't roam off of AT&T as it's a prepaid service (also from working at AT&T I know that they put preference to postpaid AT&T accounts over other accounts, even the go phone had less coverage than the post paid accounts.)
@sohmageek AFAIK, ETF would only be paid by T-Mobile if you trade in your current phones and buy new ones at full price from them. So there's a workaround of buying a cheapo phone to trade in http://www.cultofmac.com/276628/hack-t-mobile-breakup-plan/ I'm not sure about the roaming because I live in the SF Bay Area where T-Mobile doesn't roam onto AT&T. Hence I've only looked at Cricket because the coverage would be the same, while friends with T-Mobile perpetually have to run outside to make phone calls.
Yeah, that's all great, but I still have to set up Ooma.
@OldCatLady nice set up!
@OldCatLady I wish they would offer coma again... Wife and I said no last time but we had to think about it... Now we are looking at fair point... :(
Net 10 $50/mo unlimited, no throttling (that being said I buy $30 for 2 months 300 minutes), to a low of $25 if you need less data, . They use whatever network is handy. They are owned by T-moble (bought them) but for reasons unknown are a better deal. You can buy a SIM card to put in your phone. What they sell themselves phone wise is limited.
@Kidsandliz unless they got bought this week, Net 10 is owned by Tracfone.
@WTFhqwhgads Opps you are right - but it still starts with a T - that has to count for something LOL. It seems to operate independently as phones are different, terms are different, as far as I know they don't throttle and tracfone does... at least I think it does.
@Kidsandliz they (tracphone) own a lot... TracFone, NET10 Wireless, Total Wireless, Straight Talk, SafeLink Wireless, Telcel América, Simple Mobile, and Page Plus Cellular... Carlos Slim has to make his money somehow ;)
@thismyusername Hmm well all I own is a 5 year old $10 clamshell. He won't be making much of his money off of me.
@Kidsandliz they could give the phones away, the real money is in the service.
Another thing to check - employer discounts. All major carriers offer them if your employer's mobile management team was smart.
Those discounts can be up to 30% in my experience.
And if your company is large enough they'll have discounts with all the major carriers. Their primary carrier discount will typically be largest.
Note they want you to provision thru your company's intranet but will also add the discount with a call and proof. (Fax of EE Id.)
@RedOak I believe TMobile no longer offers employer discounts. They used to and we got a message from the company stating the discount is going away. Then, all of a sudden, there was a last minute negotiation between my company and Tmobile to continue the discount but people had to sign up for it within 30 days. Anyone that got Tmobile after that will not get the discount. This was to grandfather people into the discounts if they already had it but to prevent new employees from benefiting from it.
@cengland0 I used to manage mobile services for our company and that is exactly the kind of hokiness we came to expect from T-Mo.
@RedOak Biggest one I saw at AT&T was 50%, but that was the AT&T corporate discount. BTW it took them a year to figure out I no longer worked with them to remove the discount!
@sohmageek hah! That doesn't count. I'm surprised they didn't give you free service! ;-)
Other employer discounts never come off. If you think about it, what employer in their right mind would regularly share their active employee list with their carrier?
I'm getting a 22% discount and left that employer 3+ years ago. Also, if you think about it, the carriers know if they poke at your discount you'll go shopping. And the old employer loves you staying on their FAN (AT&Ts term) since you add to their volume and help them hit contract numbers.
You likely lost your discount because obviously AT&T knows who they employ.
@RedOak It still took them a year to figure it out... and technically I wasn't supposed to have it as it was the "manager" fan... Anyway, very true that padding the Fan's bring bigger discounts. I think there was another large one I saw in the 30's, but I don't work there. T mobile still looks cheaper than when I had AT&T employee discount though, cause they don't discount the whole plan, only parts qualify for the discount.
@sohmageek I knew this stuff pretty well but detest the comparison process when you have more than a single line. The carriers make it such a pain to compare.
I think you have to be the size of GM or the Federal govt to get to the 30 level. I recall if you knew the link for your own company's FAN info you could guess others by swapping in their company name. That's how we learned what to target for our discounts. We had some fun one afternoon.
Cricket owns, I get unlimited text, talk, and 2.5gb LTE internet, all for $35 a month. Technically the data plan is unlimited so if you go over your cap there is no charge.
I can tell you, that T-Mobile Coverage simply does Not exist here (NW Buckeyeland). My Brother has his phone with them, and when he comes to visit, unless we are within a very narrow corridor along the interstate/4 lane divided Hwys, he has no service. once, for a few minutes, he connected to EDGE, but normally, nothing.
So, Today was the day that I went to Albany to get my screen for my iPhone fixed... It was a very long day and lots of delays (show up early to see if they can take me, no too busy and running behind. show up 5 minutes before my appointment, wait for 10 in a line to get into another line for 5 minutes before they diagnose it as it needs a screen replacement and there is os corruption, restore your device as a new device, the backup is corrupt.
Come back in 2 hours to get it... Come back 2 hours later, it's not done yet, let me verify when it will be done. 5 minutes later, go wait by the sign, 20 minutes later here it is... So all in all kind of like magic...
Anyway, In the 2 hours I had to kill, I stopped by T-mobile, and picked up a prepaid phone for one month, 1 GB LTE unlimited 3g, unlimited talk/text, Nokia Lumia 530 Windows 8.1 phone. Not quite an iPhone, but it will serve it's purpose, to test reception/service. We shall see if this fixes it.
The whole purpose is trying to cut down my $300/month (5 lines) cell bill to something more reasonable, but at the same time I am on call every 3 weeks and need reliability. T-mobile while I don't know how much is in tax and government fees, can cut it down to $120 or so (depending on how much LTE data people want, I think $160 is more like what we will have)
@sohmageek I'm about an hour north of Albany. Can you tag me with how your t-mobile experiment goes? How much was the phone/plan? I'm jumping ship from Sprint in October and it's between T-mo and AT&T.
@Thumperchick sure can. I've had AT&T for a while 6 years or so. Prior to that I had Verizon. I didn't have any issues with them for 3 years. Then 1/2 way through my 2nd phone I started having issueS with phones and insurance wasn't wanting to resolve.
Other than expensive. AT&T has been great for me.
@Thumperchick I didn't answer 1/2 the questions. I got a prepaid. It was $40/month 1 GB lte data. Unlimited talk/text. Unlimited 2/3 g data. $30 for the phone. Throw away smart phone.
@sohmageek did they cut your bill in half? http://www.cnet.com/news/boost-promises-to-cut-cricket-metropcs-bills-in-half/
@bludgeon sprint reception isn't the best around here. But I'm finding a few dead spots in T-Mobile that were fine in AT&T. So I'm not sure if it will work. One is right along the road we travel daily.
@sohmageek When we lived down in Malta I had to drop t-mobile because of so many black holes, our apartment being one of them. I was really hoping they'd improved since then.
@Thumperchick the wifi calling solves most of it. But it's the driving around I'm worried about. It's a poor AT&T location due to geography too but still it doesn't even try to roam there. I'm hoping it's the phone it's self. I just hate to switch then have to go back and have no unlimited again.
I like tmo's plans, and wifi calling too, but I'd base my choice on coverage. And tmobile's coverage outside cities is generally weak.
@zippyus so far, once I figured out the wifi calling settings, I've loved the reception. Granted it's 2g where I work. But there is wifi. I'm really tempted to switch to save 720/ yr for the wife and I. Whole plan wise 1800 less a year on cell service. Quite a big number right?
I had at&t for over 10 years. I just dropped them and went with Straight Talk thru Wal-Mart. With their byop bring your own phone plan I get unlimited everything but the data gets throttled down after 5gb. Cost is 45 a month. After a month and realizing I still connect to at&t towers, I just went with the $495 for a year(=41.25 mo). I have had zero service issues and I have no monthly phone bill for the next year.
@sohmageek During all the ski trips I've taken throughout Vermont (and New Hampshire), I've typically had excellent service with my AT&T phones. Quite often I've had to lend my phone to friends who have Sprint, Verizon, or T-Mobile just so they could call home. It's been this way all over the country. Not once have I ever had to borrow a friend's phone because they had service and I did not. Verizon customers will scream at you that they have the best coverage, but from my personal experience their coverage map is essentially full of crap. I too receive a 22% work discount and I've held on to a grandfathered plan. I use an old $5 texting plan (200 texts, $.10 extra for each overage) as I really don't text much and when I do it's usually to family or friends that are also on iMessage. 2GB of data, I'm usually on wifi. I have an old bonus minute plan giving me free nights and weekends and 750 minutes during the day (which I NEVER come close to using as I pretty much hate talking on the phone). My bill is around $63 a month with my subsidized iPhone 6+.
@cinoclav Just think, you could be paying $35 a month with Cricket if you give up the subsidy. That $28 per month over the 2 year contract is $672. And Cricket uses AT&T towers. I had that $5 texting plan on each phone but went to the family unlimited when I went from 2 to 4 phones. I just realized yesterday that I can't go back to it anymore :(
@cinoclav The only carrier at Sea Ranch in California is Verizon. No AT&T.
@SIMBM If you're at Sea Ranch you're probably on vacation and you should put away your cell phone! ;)
@SIMBM Btw, after the storms rolled through the area last night I got to work this morning here in South Jersey to find out that everyone that has Verizon here has no service. My AT&T is working just fine.
I just did it... I ordered T-Mobile service a few minutes ago. Phones should be here within a few days... now I need to purchase some phones to trade in to try to get ETF reimbursed... :)
@sohmageek Wishing you the best. I'm sooo not a fan of their service. Like I said above, friends with T-Mobile have had to use my phone up there. Hope it's better for you!
@cinoclav I hope so too. I don't ski and pretty much stay in chittenden county. So the coverage should be good. Occasionally I will venture out on a beer run to breweries. But that's rare and 2g service should be good. Now on the flip side. My grandparents in Redford, across the pond. Get better service on T-Mobile than AT&T at their house. 0 Verizon/sprint coverage.
By better coverage I mean 4 bars instead of 2 on same device :) all 2 g service. They live on the outskirts of civilization.
Ting.com Not sure of the data coverage cause I don't use it. My cell bill for 2 lines is now 1/3 -1/2the cost I paid before. You pay what you use. Novel idea. No phone subsidies. BYO or they have some decent deals on refurbs.
I ported existing phones over, and then eventually bought an iPhone off ebay for one of the lines.
Looks like you made your choice, but it's still worth a look.
GREAT CS. You get live native english speaking people every call. ( ok they are Canadian so there is the occasional "eh" thrown in : )
@ceagee with their estimator it seems T-Mobile is cheaper. They estimate my bill would be $239.70/month(before taxes) AT&T with taxes is $300/month
T-Mobile before taxes is $120/month.
But thank you for letting me know about them!
@sohmageek Wow. My jaw dropped. My bill for 2 lines is usually $30 a month. Was $65 on "big" use month. Lucky I don't have your bill !! Sounds like you got a deal w/ T-mobile then.
@ceagee we're high use (data mostly) cord cutters for cell phones in 4 locations. :)
@ceagee I just checked... AT&T has great tools to tell you... Our worst usage has been (on 5 lines total) 7221 minutes of talk time, 16.1 GB data, 1411 texts... So... A lot of usage... Again it's the only phones in 4 households.
@sohmageek You have 4 houses ? Can I stay at the one on the Cape for the weekend ? lol
Assuming you have other family members on your plan. But if not..... I sure do love the Vineyard this time of year : )
@ceagee my wife,myself 1 smallish apt. With baby. My mother 1 smaller apt. My sister- smallish apt. Grandparents 1 line house in the boonies. 4 households ;)
@sohmageek well keep me in mind for the future. You never know when you might get a place on the cape: ) Or maybe I'll win the lottery and invite you and yours to my place on the Vineyard ?
BTW. very nice of you to take care of everyone's phones !
This thing is TL:DR - but check out Republic Wireless if it hasn't been mentioned prior. We save thousands with Republic at the office and we are delighted.
So... To let people know about the end result... I'm very very happy with T-Mobile. I love the cellular continuity features that it has with iPhone/Mac. So much I can't wait for iOS 9 & El Capitan to be GM released. (Watch os 2 also but I don't know about either watch os yet.)
AT&T overcharged me by $450... Which they promptly fixed... by giving me credits of $7xx.xx (a hell of a lot more than 450 huh?) But.. either way, They screwed up and I may have to fight with T-Mobile to pay the ETF fees... AT&T has sent me surveys asking why I've left them, and sent me 3 e-mails thus far... Come back and we'll give you XYZ.... :( I feel bad that they are trying so hard... But couldn't make it work with the cost/features I've gained.
Alright! so Long story short... the above ETF fee issue got resolved. Still had to pay out more than I had wanted to switch (buying a new phone) But it should have been ok, as I was going to save money in the long run with being on T-mobile and 1/2 a bill payment... Except now I see I have hardly any service on my way to get my son from Daycare, and if I go visit my wife's family. So... It's not really ideal... Looking at going back to AT&T possibly... Or looking at Cricket. Does anyone here currently have cricket, preferably that had AT&T and can talk a little about it?
Also does anyone know if AT&T micro cell works with cricket phones? My gut guess is no... but I am thinking of contacting support on that one. I'm glad I didn't sell the micro cell yet...
@sohmageek have several friends using cricket on iphones, always have coverage when I do on my normal att, they have no complaints, especially at the $35 price (with autopay).
The only drawback to cricket is tethering/hotspot... they just don't offer it, although there is rumor they will add it as an option soon. If you need tethering/hotspot go with the Go Phone brand... they are all owned by att anyway (cricket/gophone/att).
edit: looks like they are slowing adding it
https://www.cricketwireless.com/support/plans-and-features/mobile-hotspot/customer/mobile-hotspot.html
https://www.cricketwireless.com/support/plans-and-features/mobile-hotspot/customer/hotspot-compatible-phones.html but not many devices yet.
@thismyusername is go full AT&T post paid again if I went with go phone. I used to work at AT&T before they owned cricket. I'd be looking at a 5line family plan on cricket. (5 line family plan =$100 off the bill) the would be about the same cost as T-Mobile but more coverage. I only worry about the roaming. Occasionally I hit a Canadian tower. Im 2 hours or so away from the Canada border. With AT&T they have a flag for certain towers that they would know I'm in the us. T-Mobile roaming is covered in Canada. But from what I read cricket would give no service if hitting a Canadian tower while in the us.
@sohmageek yea I can't speak to international (grin), here in the middle you never leave the domestic coverage.
@thismyusername Nice... I don't leave the country... I've been to Canada once. :) I see it a lot however... There is actually a town that is 1/2 in Canada and 1/2 in Vermont... it's weird.
AT&T Owns Cricket. their stuff should work anywhere AT&T Does.
My brother is currently going through the what provider to switch to...thing....
he's Currently on T-Mobile(GSM), down in the DFW area.
He's Looking to Move up back up here to NW Buckeyeland. when he's here, unless we are within a mile or so of the interstate, he has ZERO service.
T-mobile's maps show at least 3G coverage here, but there's NONE.
Verizon(CDMA) is the main player with the best coverage around here, but he wants to keep his handset (Amazon Fire Phone). the Number 2 player was Alltel(also CDMA), they got Mostly bought by Verizon, except where they had significant market share(like here). after a year or so that remaining portion was purchased by AT&T, and all their customers had to change phones (CDMA to GSM)
I'm leaning towards recommending Cricket to him, they are just opening a store here locally.
@earlyre Have him contact them... they offer credits eventually if you aren't getting service or at minimum they fix their map.