Seems all these advertised phone plans that start out cheap morph into $40+ in a couple months. Ideas welcome. thanks.
Depends on your usage and where you are as not all carriers are as good in some areas while better in others. Have you looked into TING? I know someone with 2 lines and they haven’t complained about coverage even though in a more terrain challenged area. Again, depends on usage needs and their costs go up on cross country trip where their usage pattern changes to more data, but they still find it a great value and say that the customer service is great. I have other friends on Consumer Cellular and are happy with that.
TELLO !!
I have my 2nd/emergency phone with them. I brought my own unlocked phone which I got on a good sale at Best Buy.
You can customize your talk minutes and GB of data.
Text is unlimited, but you need some level of data to do MMS/pictures/group texts (and that’s true with almost any carrier).
My plan is 100 minutes talk and 500 GB data per month and I pay $6/month. Yes. Six Dollars.
But wait – there’s more!
If you renew early (manually, online), your unused minutes + GB roll over, though it will alter the new renewal date. If you check off the reminder box when you renew, they will send you a reminder of when your renewal comes up so you can do this.
If you just allow auto-renew, there’s no rollover. I don’t understand it, but it’s easy enough to manually renew.
You can change your plan at any time, which has +/- .
If I suddenly needed to use more minutes and data, I can change the plan which would take effect immediately.
But you don’t get refunded for any of the unused minutes/data, and you lose your rollovers from the old plan, though you may have already used them before changing. (you can then get rollovers with your new plan).
Of course, some people will complain, but to me, it’s the price I pay for having flexibility and rolling over what I don’t use – I can change my plan, then change back if I no longer need that amount. How many carriers allow that?!? I’m not going to complain if part of my $6 isn’t refunded because I decided to change my plan !!
Take a look at Tello!
I had Ting years ago, loved it — they were great for low-usage folks. But my usage went up and I found better pricing with Republic Wireless.
BUT – both Ting and Republic Wireless were bought by DISH (which also owns Boost). I can tell you that the Republic has gone downhill since then.
Ting may be better off because from what I’ve read, the original owners are still providing support for it, not DISH.
Dish buys Ting Mobile to expand its wireless business | Engadget
Very helpful. Thank you
| NancyM
March 4 |
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TELLO !!
I have my 2nd/emergency phone with them. I brought my own unlocked phone which I got on a good sale at Best Buy.
You can customize your talk minutes and GB of data.
Text is unlimited, but you need some level of data to do MMS/pictures/group texts (and that’s with almost any carrier).
My plan is 100 minutes talk and 500 GB data per month and I pay $6/month. Yes. Six Dollars.
But wait – there’s more!
If you renew early (manually, online), your unused minutes + GB roll over, though it will alter the new renewal date. If you check off the reminder box when you renew, they will send you a reminder of when your renewal comes up so you can do this.
You can change your plan at any time, which has +/- .
If I suddenly needed to use more minutes and data, I can change the plan which would take effect immediately.
But you don’t get refunded for any of the unused minutes/data, and you lose your rollovers from the old plan, though you may have already used them before changing. (you can then get rollovers with your new plan).
Of course, some people will complain, but to me, it’s the price I pay for having flexibility and rolling over what I don’t use – I can change my plan, then change back if I no longer need that amount. How many carriers allow that?!? I’m not going to complain if part of my $6 isn’t refunded because I decided to change my plan !!
Take a look at Tello!
I don’t have a particular recommendadtion, only a comment.
I had to purchase a cellphone and decided to get something close to current. I ended up with a reconditioned Samsung S21-FE which looked new. I chose the unlocked phone because it had 2 SIM card slots. I swapped in my Verizon one but am toying with the ida of trying service through Mint mobile which uses T-Mobile. With the second slot I can just switch between carriers to test coverage.
Regardless of the carrier, if I can get data through them or can use WiFi, then I can use a cheap per-minute carrier. Using Zoiper or similar program and a provider like Voip.MS or CallCentric I can make calls for perhaps a penny a minute, including calling Internationally (England is actually 8/10’s of a cent per minute). That way I don’t have to subscribe to a cellphone carrier International plans.
You said phones and plans. You don’t say what kind of phone you want, but take a look at HSN.
Samsung Galaxy A03s 6.5" HD+ Tracfone Bundle with 1500 Min/Text/Data $59.99
TCL A3 Tracfone Bundle with 1500 Min/Text/Data $39.99
TCL Alcatel My Flip 2 T408DL Tracfone with 1200 Min/Text/Data $39.99
These phones (and many others) purchased from them include the minutes listed & are good for a year. Keep in mind the minutes/texts/data are TOTAL, not every month. TracFone unlocks all newly purchased phones after 60 days on their service. After the phone is unlocked you can port out to any carrier that will work with your phone.
RedPocket Mobile has a plan 200 talk/1000 texts/ 200 mb
EVERY MONTH for $30 & is good for a whole year so it’s only $2.50 a month (it’s with T-Mobile). That is where I have my second emergency/backup phone. I’m using an old unlocked TracFone.
I have Consumer Cellular and love the service. I see that they offer two lines of Unlimited Talk, Text, and Data for $55. The offer is for new customers.
Consumer Cellular is a shared data plan where multiple lines share a “bucket” of data. I don’t know what other services do that. I don’t use much data, so I like the idea of a shared data plan. I think many people overpay for data that they don’t use. Consumer Cellular allows you to start small and work up, if necessary. Of course, with the $55 plan that would not be a consideration.
I have a 2nd emergency/spare phone with Tello. I brought my own phone (make sure it’s compatible with Tello).
I don’t use lots of data – less than 1 GB/month, but I want the option to purchase more data if needed.
My plan with Tello is $6/month. I get 1 GB data, 100 minutes of talk, and unlimited text.
It auto-renews each month, but there is an option if you renew early manually, the unused data/minutes roll over and accumulate --when you renew, there is a little check-box to notify you 48 hours in advance so you can renew manually if you want this option. So I have a pile of data and minutes!
One thing that is important to know – if you purchase more data/minutes before your renewal, they basically start you on a “new plan”, so I think you lose the accumulated data (I haven’t tested this out). But the price is so low, and the flexibility is something I haven’t seen in other plans. So I’m fine with it.
The neat thing about Tello is that you can choose how much data and how many minutes you want, and the pricing is still low!
Tello is on T-Mobile, which is good because my main phone is on US Mobile with Verizon. This comes in handy if I’m going to rural places where I don’t know the signal strength of each carrier - so I bring both phones in those cases, and one or both will get a good signal.
I did have some questions at first, and customer service was responsive, and I have had no issues at all.
This is exactly what I wanted in a spare phone. I had considered a burner phone, but those expire and they cost more than $6/month.
So look at Tello and see if there is a combination of data/minutes that works for you.
I use a couple of free phone services like TextFree for texting) and 2ndLine for free calls.
Free phone number and uses existing data or wifi connection.
Try it for free before buying service from someone.
Also, if you don’t mind Google, get Voice from Google and use the app on your phone to make and receive free calls to the U.S. and Canada.