Thinking of getting away from the big bad boys of cell phone service.
February 27, 2016 7:07 PM   Subscribe

I am thinking hard about leaving the world of Verizon. I am done with them and the other com bullies , sprint, t-mobile...etc. Are that alternativee that can offer the same? Phone and da I have an unlocked iphone 6 that i can just pop a sim card in. Looking for recomendations where to look
posted by citybuddha to Computers & Internet (21 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ting is great.
posted by geegollygosh at 7:13 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


I just started using Ting and it's great!
posted by ilovewinter at 7:24 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


As an alternative, perhaps consider going prepaid with one of the big carriers, which means no contract and thus no power over you. It's not really more expensive than the alterna-carriers, and probably more reliable in service.
posted by praemunire at 7:25 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm been using TracFone since December and have no complaints - it was $6 for the sim (which I picked up in Target) and then it's a minimum of $20 every 3 months to keep your service/ # active (IIRC, most prepaid plans on the big carriers require you to top up every month). I'm a very low calls/ data user - mostly use wi-fi for both - so not sure about costs if your usage is high. It runs on the ATT network.
posted by forallmankind at 7:34 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


Have heard good things about Ting, but if I were to leave T-Mobile (which I think personally is nowhere near in the same league of suck that AT&T and Verizon are in terms of being shitty to their customers), I'd go with Cricket. Good prices, but the part I love is that their advertised prices are their actual prices, unlike other companies which advertise a price and then tack on $15-20 in tax and bullshit fees onto your bill.

Cricket is a reseller (mobile virtual network provider, or MVNO) of AT&T, so you'd get basically the same signal quality as an AT&T customer, though not necessarily the same data speed. Ting is a Sprint MVNO. As far as I know, all the smaller service providers are MVNO's of one of the big four networks, Verizon, AT&T, TMobile, and Sprint. So a big part of the decision is making sure which networks provide you adequate coverage.
posted by skewed at 7:45 PM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]


I'd wanted an iPhone for ages but couldn't justify the $50+ mo bill vs. just getting an iPod Touch.

Very happy now on my $3/mo prepaid via t-mobile.

This gives me 30 minutes each month, use it or lose it. Add'l minutes cost 10c/each.

If I ever need a data plan, I can add a day or week for a nominal reasonable cost.

My iPhone 6s service has cost me ~$15 since I got the phone last Sept. SWEET!
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 8:14 PM on February 27, 2016 [3 favorites]


I'm using page plus, which is a verizon mvno. It was a pain to set up, but once I got going it's been indistinguishable from verizon. And $60/mo less.
posted by Dashy at 8:31 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]


I've been happy with Consumer Cellular. I used to use TracFone, which was cheap but horrible in every other way.
posted by Redstart at 8:32 PM on February 27, 2016


I've used Virgin Mobile for several years with no complaints. No roaming outside the USA, however, although you can tap into WiFi and use Skype.
posted by thomas j wise at 8:57 PM on February 27, 2016


I switched my 5-phone family over to Ting from T-Mobile hoping to save, but find the cost almost identical. If we all called less, texted less, and used less data, then it might have been worthwhile, but as things are I regret leaving TMo.
posted by anadem at 8:59 PM on February 27, 2016


I do the $3 Tmobile prepaid tactic as well. You can buy a daily or weekly data pass if you happen to need it. I think paying so little makes a stronger statement than using a MVNO.
posted by michaelh at 9:16 PM on February 27, 2016


Sorry, Heywood Mogroot pointed out the data pass as well and I didn't read carefully.
posted by michaelh at 9:17 PM on February 27, 2016


Are you looking to get away from the Big Four networks entirely, or just find a cheaper provider that still operates on one of them (MVNO)?

One thing to note with MVNOs is that some features available on the Big Four may not be available for the smaller guys. Visual voicemail is one of these features (although Cricket supports it), as is WiFi calling.
posted by curagea at 9:41 PM on February 27, 2016


Google's Fi gets good reviews but you need a newer Nexus to use it..
posted by tapir-whorf at 12:13 AM on February 28, 2016


A regional carrier may be what you're after. No idea if there's one where you are, and there's not many left anymore, but they do exist still. For example, I'm on CSpire, which is based in Ridgeland, MS. They're a for-real network: they have peering agreements with everyone (because otherwise you can't advertise nationwide coverage) but they're not an MVNO. They've put the money down into building out a network in Mississippi that also encompasses fiber to the home and business services and other things of that nature. Granted, the service where I am leaves something to be desired (no LTE service in Memphis), but I like that I'm funneling that bit of money into infrastructure and jobs that are in the local economy.

The problem with this is that it is pretty well dependent on where you are. There may be carriers that are out there that you may not know about. (Researching this question actually led me to a carrier that more or less exists in the more rural areas east of Jackson but west of east TN that I had no idea existed.) This Wikipedia list may be of use to you. These are not necessarily MVNOs - which are not always but often owned by a national carrier now, or are tied to one of the big four carriers - but instead are smaller carriers with service agreements to ensure you can at least get nationwide voice service, and fairly decent data service where you live.

The easier option is to use something like US Cellular, which is an independent carrier but is just outside of the big four carriers. Again, it's an option if you're in their service area, but then they do cover about half of the US.

It is worth noting that TracFone, mobilePCS, Cricket, Virgin, and Boost, among others, are all (now, if they weren't before, except for maybe mobilePCS) MVNOs, so you're essentially getting cheaper access to one of the big-4 networks. (This is not necessarily a bad thing.) Ting and Google Project Fi are very much tied to specific big-4 networks, and Republic Wireless is really cool as an idea but requires specific support from your device. It is also worth noting you also have to make sure your phone will work on the carrier you've chosen - I took my Verizon gold iPhone 6 Plus to CSpire and, lo and behold, they use totally different bands than what the Verizon phone uses, so I now have a Space Gray one. In my experience, it wasn't a bad deal but if you're really attached to your phone it is something to consider.
posted by mrg at 2:56 AM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


I use Cricket - aside from some weirdness in porting over my number from Virgin Mobile (I had to go to the store twice), it's been problem-free.
posted by Maarika at 4:27 AM on February 28, 2016


I would figure out which big carrier has the best service in your area and then choose the MVNO that has the best features for the best price (start with this list on Wikipedia). I have Cricket (AT&T) and have been happy with them; they had the best price of all the AT&T MVNOs that I looked at for a reasonable amount of data. I have friends who are happy with Ting (Sprint/TMobile), Airvoice Wireless (AT&T), and StraightTalk (Verizon).
posted by Betelgeuse at 6:37 AM on February 28, 2016


We've had Ting for a couple of years now, and are very happy with it. Our T-Mobile bill used to be $110 or so for two lines on a shared plan (and that included a preferred employer discount). I always felt vaguely cheated because I rarely make phone calls, and never text. Since Ting is based on paying for what you use, we don't pay anything for texts, and a bare minimum for phone use -- most of our bill is for data. We're usually between $35-45 per month for the same two lines.

We both only use our Google Voice numbers, which were a piece of cake to redirect. I know I got a new phone number with Ting, but I have no clue what it is.
posted by themissy at 7:09 AM on February 28, 2016


Seconding Consumer Cellular, they have been great for my family, low hassle and cost comes in exactly as I expect each month. They just resell AT&T and one other provider, so good coverage.
posted by nickggully at 9:21 AM on February 28, 2016


The Wirecutter just did a review of prepaid and alternative cellular plans and came out with Consumer Cellular as a leader, although it really does depend on your priorities. You're coming from Verizon which is generally the leader in mobile coverage (I just switched to Verizon for that reason). It's really hard to recommend anything without knowing your coverage / usage needs.

Most carriers are MVNOs which mean they basically resell the big guys' network at a slower speed with less customer service and marketing.
posted by meowzilla at 5:22 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have Net 10, which is one of the many sub-brands of TracFone. One thing to be aware of is that customers of these MVNOs will be lower priority on the big 4 networks. Which means in heavy use your data speeds may slow way down. I have noticed this once in the 8 months since I switched.

That being said, I am very happy so far, especially during billing. I am paying around 50 per month for 5GB of data, unlimited talk and text. I have heard that customer service is not good from these type of companies, but I haven't had to use that yet. Activation went smoothly and I have yet to run into problems other than the above mentioned temporary slowdown.
posted by weathergal at 6:44 PM on February 28, 2016


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