Wireless phone providers

I am trying to make a decision if I want to continue my contract with Verizon or go with another provider. I have been with Verizon for 10 years, and since moving to a smartphone (Iphone 4) my bill has doubled. I have been looking at other providers even the non-contracted providers, but am having difficulties in making final decision. Requirements are that I must have a smartphone with internet capabilities. The Pros of continuing with Verizon is that I can get the Iphone 5s cheap or close to free and I receive a corporate discount. The non-contracted providers are cheaper monthly but then I would have to buy a smartphone outright $600!!!! Those who have smartphones who is your provider? Is your bill under $70? Are they reliable?

Motorola G is $190 Google Nexus 5 is $350

Or use your iPhone 4 on a prepaid system.

We just switched from AT&T to Consumer Cellular but we don't use smartphones. I am not sure how their smartphone plans compare in price, but the regular usage was cheaper. All US call enter, too.

I recently saw this... if you want to stay on the verizon network and a pretty nice phone http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/consumer/devices/moto-g.html not the most amazing phone but super amazing for the price... and 70 a month for unlimited talk/txt and 4gb data $60 with 2gb... if I traveled a little more I'd highly consider this option.

that being said, I'm still quite pleased with tmobile, unless I travel and then it drops to edge/2g suck... but the value is still there for me so I stay.

buy a phone use don craigslist. Then Go to a cheap non contracted provider. The smartphone arms race is driving prices sky hihg on the latest and greatest. Youre only on top for a limited time, so todays badass model is next weeks bargain basement find. Just like new cars, let some other assh○le take the depreciation hit, and get the bargain of the century on the used market.

I'm going through this as well. I've been with Verizon (or its previous iteration) since 1994. Its flippin expensive. The cheapest plan I could negotiate was $60 with a teeny little bit of data. Try Net10 or Straight Talk. They buy time from Verizon, AT&T, etc in bulk and sell it cheap. You can get an unlimited anything plan with either one for about $45.

I actually called Verizon and asked them why I shouldn't do Net10 or Straight Talk figuring they would have the sales pitch memorized. The only thing he could come up with was that the available lines on each tower are given to actual Verizon customers first, so you might get bumped. I'm not sure that's an issue, because how many times do you actually encounter a tower that is "full" and isn't taking calls?

I'm going to try Straight Talk. If I don't like it, there is no contract so I can ditch it.

I have an iPhone 5S with AT&T and my bill is a little above $100 a month and that's with a corporate discount. The problem is, AT&T charges iPhone customers more than other smart phone customers.

I've got straight talk with a samsung galaxy Centura. So far no problems.

With the contracts they are able to offer the free phones or reduced rate, if I trade in my iphone ($200 value) I can get a Iphone 5S 32GB for $100. If I go to Bestbuy they will take trade-ins but will only give me $50. Has anybody been able to keep there number when they made the change?

trigun7469 wrote: With the contracts they are able to offer the free phones or reduced rate, if I trade in my iphone ($200 value) I can get a Iphone 5S 32GB for $100. If I go to Bestbuy they will take trade-ins but will only give me $50. Has anybody been able to keep there number when they made the change?

I kept my number and my old phone (both are AT&T based) and I buy my phones on ebay for $30, but they are not smartphones.

SWMBO has the "grandfathered" Unlimited Data through ATT on her iPhone 4. She's currently at $88/month with a 20% university employee discount, which only applies to the base charge of $60, unlimited text, and ~700 min with rollover.

I've recently been trying to get a Smartphone for myself, and consolidate our bills. Trick being SWMBO not losing her Unlimited Data. Switching her to a "Family Talk" adding a second line, and paying for the 4Gb/month data on second line was going to work out to $138-ish/month with the same 20% discount on the base charge, keep the same number of minutes, and not lose SWMBO's Unlimited Data.

That's the route we're headed, I think.

• Lee

Make sure you have genuine unlimited data. We have a grandfathered unlimited data plan with Verizon and the rep mentioned to me that it's not true unlimited anyway, the start throttling at about 5GB/month.

trigun7469 wrote: With the contracts they are able to offer the free phones or reduced rate, if I trade in my iphone ($200 value) I can get a Iphone 5S 32GB for $100. If I go to Bestbuy they will take trade-ins but will only give me $50. Has anybody been able to keep there number when they made the change?

Keep in mind that you tend to end up paying dearly for that subsidised phone compared to paying for the phone up front and paying for a non-contract service. The big three aren't in the business of giving away phones.

tuna55 wrote: I kept my number and my old phone (both are AT&T based) and I buy my phones on ebay for $30, but they are not smartphones.

I've done this since ~'04, even with Smartphones, but they've always been older phones, my last Smartphone was a HTC Fuze, WM 6.5, I used it for a few years, when it died, I attempted to use a Galaxy Note II that was, "mine as long as I wanted," but it required a smaller SIM card. I went to ATT to get a new smaller SIM, and was told that, "I HAD TO HAVE A DATA PLAN" to use that phone, I rebutted with the fact that I've yet to need a data plan, I turn data off, and use WiFi when/if needed. ATT dude said that if I use that phone on their network, my plan would have a data plan added whether I wanted one or not, so I went back to a dumbphone.

Hence why I'm considering getting a current generation smartphone and data plan, since it appears I must have one to have a Smartphone on ATT now.

• Lee

How is Sprint in your area, and are you ok with Android? If the answers are "good" and "yes", Republic Wireless is your ticket.

szeis4cookie wrote: How is Sprint in your area, and are you ok with Android? If the answers are "good" and "yes", Republic Wireless is your ticket.

http://network.sprint.com/search/16508/

I have 28 upgrades, not sure what that means, but $40 through republic sounds good. I wonder if I can keep my number and I am sure I could find a cheaper moto phone. One thing I did not like is that it said that 4G coverage is spotty.

Honestly I do not need unlimited everything I prefer reliable and cheap, heck I usually don't reach 10% of my data. I am usually on my wireless.

The only hitch with Republic is that you have to buy your phone from them. They have special firmware that allows handoffs of voice calls between WiFi and the cell network. Otherwise though, the coverage map looks pretty good for you. I'd think it's worth a shot.

szeis4cookie wrote: The only hitch with Republic is that you have to buy your phone from them. They have special firmware that allows handoffs of voice calls between WiFi and the cell network. Otherwise though, the coverage map looks pretty good for you. I'd think it's worth a shot.

They're basically using Sprint or Verizon's network, so the coverage would be the same as that. If I could bring my 4S (and future iPhones) over to there to Ting (they're adding support, but I'd have to have a Sprint iPhone and not an AT&T ones...). It's $105 for my 4S & cellular iPad on the family plan with like 4GB or so of data shared between them (the iPad is only like $5 of that), I'd LOVE to be able to have one of the much cheaper Republic or Ting plans, but I'd have to both get a new phone AND almost certainly not have an iPhone, which I'm rather attached to.

trigun7469 wrote:

szeis4cookie wrote: How is Sprint in your area, and are you ok with Android? If the answers are "good" and "yes", Republic Wireless is your ticket.

http://network.sprint.com/search/16508/ I have 28 upgrades, not sure what that means, but $40 through republic sounds good. I wonder if I can keep my number and I am sure I could find a cheaper moto phone. One thing I did not like is that it said that 4G coverage is spotty. Honestly I do not need unlimited everything I prefer reliable and cheap, heck I usually don't reach 10% of my data. I am usually on my wireless.

It means that Sprint in your area is crappy.

In fact, i drove through over half of the US in 2013, and Sprint everywhere is berkeleying awful, regardless of what any website says.

That said, my contract with them is finally up in 2 months, and i'm considering going with Ting anyways, despite staying on Sprint's garbage network.

Why? Because when your "4G LTE" download speeds test in major metropolitan areas at 0.09mbps, you can't possibly rack up enough data to get bumped into the next bracket.

$40 phone bill for two smart phones here i come!

I don't have a smartphone yet. But I've been happy as can be with Virgin Mobile for the past couple of years.

Dumb phones are CHEAP. $15 cheap. Service is cheap. My $30 plan (1,500 minutes and 1,500 texts) is $32.40 per month total...taxes and all. I don't know what my usage is, but it's not close to the limit.

One refreshing thing about it is that if you don't make a payment...they just turn off your service (I haven't done this, but if I wanted/needed to...). No worries, no fees, no attitude. Just go online or call and pay and they'll start you right back up and thank you for your thirty-two bucks.

One downside is that I imagine my coverage is not as good as it would be on the name brand carrier (Sprint, I believe). For someone who's a "digital native" that might be an issue. I don't panic when I can't make a call.

When I step up to a smart phone, I will likely be using virgin mobile.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

IDK, they never throttled me when I had unlimited data during my 16GB month of october in 2012........24/7 streaming of IheartRadio.

Since then, I consistantly conserve myself to within the 6GB plan I now have.