Best Cellphone Plans (Archive)

[kaw2zach]

I agree with Gerry Allen -- where's Consumer Cellular? We've used them for several years without difficulty.

 

[fcorona55]

The problem is everyone is captive to the carrier that doesn't drop reception, be it Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile or Sprint. If that were not the case, no one would be paying an arm and a leg to Verizon and AT&T.

 

[profperez1]

Consumer cellular offer 4GB at $55 not great plan---same money at Cricket gets you 8 GB

 

[Gary_98]

Update. Starting February 2017 the T-Mobile ONE plan rate, and only the ONE plan rate, will include all taxes and fees. In my situation the switch to the ONE plan makes sense. Under my current 6GB per month plan, I will pay $150 per month for four lines, $120 for the actual service plus $30 in taxes and fees. By switching to the ONE plan I will pay an extra $10 per month but will get "unlimited" data.

In your article, you quote T-Mobile "Another factor that makes T-Mobile's plan attractive: the carrier says the price takes fees and taxes into account, so the price it advertises is the one you'll see on your bill at the end of the month." This is not correct. The $40 per month does not include fees and taxes. I signed up for T-Mobiles 6GB plan when it was offered and was told the $35 per line price included all fees and taxes. But when I got my first bill I realized this was false information. You will be charged fees and taxes on top the monthly charge. And the fees and taxes are quite high.

 

[Gary_98]

Your article says about T-Mobile, "For families, the carrier charges $70 for the first line, $50 for the second and $30 for each subsequent line up to eight lines. That would mean a family of four would pay $160."

But, $70 + $50 + $30 + $30 equals $180; NOT $160.

I have T-Mobile, and under the ONE plan rate structure four lines ends up at $160. What T-Mobile does is discount the first two lines after the third and fourth lines are added.

 

[llabreell]

I am a current tmobile customer, and I can tell u that the tmobile 4 line family plan with "no hidden fees or taxes" is simply not true. I had 4 lines for 6 months. During that time, my bill kept inching upward even though I changed nothing on my plan. When I called customer service, all I got was the runaround. They finally began bIllinois me the same amt each month and for 4 lines, you will actually pay $201.66. They also switched my acct from a prepaid to a postpaid acct without myknowledge, not consent, so when I tried to cancel one of my lines due to zero usage for 2 months, I was still required to pay an extra month for that line. When I inquired what happened to the extra payment I had made when my acct was switched to post paid, they couldn't give me answer and refused to refund it. When I first started with tmobile, customer service was great, but now, they behave just like at&t: "give me your $, we couldn't care less if we deliver what your contract promises." When I told them I was going to get my atty involved for breach of contract, their response was, "go ahead, we have provisions in place from that." So, boys and girls, caveat emptor..

 

[Gary_98]

According to T-Mobile, all current customer not on the ONE plan can switch to the ONE plan starting Jan 22, and will receive unlimited data at $40 per line for four lines, which includes all fees and taxes.

 

[JoeyTH]

Mobile data in some countries in Europe have dropped to $40 per month unlimited data.

In Japan, voice + 3GB of data for iPhones and most cell phones has dropped to $15 a month, more than adequate for most people. Residential optical fiber has dropped to $30 a month.

US carriers are going to resist this as long as possible even though the cost of mobile data has dropped to nearly zero.
They should be terrified of huge rollout of wifi everywhere and the fact that Netflix and others allow downloading at home over wifi, drastically reducing the need for mobile streaming.

 

[David_594]

Cricket wireless uses AT&T towers 65.00 plan truly unlimited tether use data as much as u like no caps..second choice is eBay red pocket can,pick from 4 carriers Verizon,att,T-Mobile or sprint 200.00 for the whole year unlimited talk text and 1 gb of data each month ..last total wireless uses Verizon towers 35.00 unlimited talk and text with 5gb of data and for 10.00 add extra 3gb data that rolls over each month

 

[X_____]

I don't see where my last comment posted but anyways, you may be misinformed about Straight talk. I was with Page Plus for over 2 years (until Dec. 2016), I had the $55/month unlimited everything plan (data slows down after 5gb), good price, great coverage (they use Verizon towers), brought over my previous phone number, activated my own phone, & the couple times I called customer service, they were "ok" at best. As with a lot of companies, you get an agent who is overseas & it really sucks because English always seems to be their downfall, but that's a whole different conversation. So I shattered my phone's screen during the day while I was working (again) & I needed a replacement phone right away because I didn't have time to get it fixed. That's when I came across a great sale on phones Straight talk was having. To make a long story short, I bought a phone from Straight talk, transferred my phone number (through their same crappy overseas customer service) & got on their $45/month plan, which comes with unlimited calls, unlimited texts, & 5gb data per month. All in all, other than the $10 a month I'm saving, I can't tell any difference, their service isn't any better & it isn't any worse, I really don't even notice the switch, they use Verizon towers too & my coverage is the same. Hope this helps somebody, happy shopping!

 

[Mark_300]

With all the unlimited changes recently( Feb 2017) what is the best plan for mobile hotspots?

 

[Weggman]

All this talk to total BS... unless you have specific numbers on the speeds. My ATT high speed is 16MBPS up to 1 Gig. I can burn that up
in one day. Then it slows to a stop at 128 KBPS, which is real bad, but ATT has, 3 days in a row, slowed much less than that, which
I considered stopped. This is no mistake on there part. They intentionally did this.

I can live with 3 MBPS easily, but most of these providers are F'ing around with the numbers to screw over
as many people as they can.

 

[Kaylee_2005]

im doing a school project and i need a phone plan without unlimted data

 

[Jason_292]

I've tried all of these prepaid plans. Cricket is by far the best, for price and data. I have one line with unlimited data and another with 4GB (the wife works from home, so she uses wifi mostly) for $90 a month. A lot of people are turned off by Cricket's 8Mbps throttle, but it's a cell phone, you're not going to notice. I stream music, video, everything, all the time and I'm completely satisfied. Oh yeah, Cricket also has cricket rewards. You download there app, play little games, get exposed to a couple adds, and get discounts on your account. I got $20 off this month just by playing games every once in a while.

 

[joat__]

This idiot never even compared Net10 into the mix! Net10 just upped its data to 8 gigs for $45 per month if you enroll in auto-pay. Why this moron never even mentioned Net10 must mean that they're getting kickbacks from the other companies!!! I've had Net10 for 6 years now and have my entire family with them as well.