Anyone have a cell phone provider they don't hate?

[gprsh924]

That's seems high stomachmonkey

We have 3 iPhones sharing 700 mins. Unlimited texting, 3 data plans (1 2gb, 2 200mb) and its $180 after taxes.

[GH85Carrera]

I have three iPhones on AT&T on my plan. I have unlimited data on my phone but the other two just have 200 mb per month. They never use more than 40 MB so it is not a problem. All three have 200 text messages each per month. We have the roll over minutes and we never use up what we have and some roll off after 12 months. We can text unlimited to anyone with an iTunes account. For that I pay about $160 per month.

[rnln]

T-mobile, I am paying close to what you are paying for voice only (old plan), and sometimes we do get data slipped in. Sick and tired of calling in and fight. But still, T-Mobile is the best in my experience. ATT&T is even worse, actually the worst regarding signal, billing, and customer service.

[stomachmonkey]

Hmm, seems last bill was still under the 1400 minutes a month.

So on 700 should be less but not going to get under $200.

[skunked]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

As long as you never go out of the country, thats correct. Verizon is terrible if not un-available out of the country in most places.

Only place outside of US I used it was Mexico and it was fine.

[GH85Carrera]

AT&T has been fairly easy to deal with. Several years ago I about fainted when I opened my bill and it was for over 800 bucks. I called them and they said for some reason all my roll over minutes had disappeared and in fact all the plan minutes disappeared. They had no idea how they all vanished. They put them all back, and fixed the bill. One year later all the roll over minutes vanished again. Un-used roll over minutes always go away after 12 months. I called them up and talked to several layers of supervisors and not one of them could understand the difference in some minutes going away each month instead of all of them going away in one lump.

I finally got the name and mailing address of the person in charge of billing. I mailed them a analogue piece of paper in a regular envelope. I explained the difference in detail and that one person at least was smart enough to see the difference. She finally fixed the problem. I have had no problems since.

[scottmandue]

We are on 750 shared and never go over (we text a lot) wife and daughter are on 200MB data and never go over.

I was thinking of trying AT&T but not getting the warm fuzzies form you guys about them.

Whoever I go with I am hoping to setup WIFI at home and run our cell phones through that (little or no AT&T signal, Verizon is weak, T-mobile OK, Sprint is strong).

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Hmm, seems last bill was still under the 1400 minutes a month.

So on 700 should be less but not going to get under $200.

So my dreams of getting under $150 for three lines are just that... dreams?

[porwolf]

I am paying $10.- a year for my T-Mobile prepaid plan! How? First year is $100.- for 1000 minutes. You are a GOLD MEMBER now. Any unused minutes are carried over to next year and you only have to renew for minimum amount = 100 more minutes: $10.-! I use an unlocked Nokia 3110 GSM phone I also can use in Europe with local prepaid plans over there.

When it comes to phones I am cheap! and it can't get any cheaper than that!

[dennis in se pa]

Smart Talk Unlimited $45 mth + fees = $48 mth unlimited everything. Have to buy your own smartphone. No contract. I like them.

[red-beard]

AT&T has helped me out with what we are doing cellwise. We travel to Mexico, and with my new plan, the minutes in Mexico just charge against out plan minutes, not $.99/min. The International data plan is also good. T-mobile was very expensive for international.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by porwolf

I am paying $10.- a year for my T-Mobile prepaid plan! How? First year is $100.- for 1000 minutes. You are a GOLD MEMBER now. Any unused minutes are carried over to next year and you only have to renew for minimum amount = 100 more minutes: $10.-! I use an unlocked Nokia 3110 GSM phone I also can use in Europe with local prepaid plans over there.

When it comes to phones I am cheap! and it can't get any cheaper than that!

Do you text or use data? I don't use data and could continue to live without.

Wife and daughter are texting machines... can't live without that.

[GH85Carrera]

Like many folks I resisted the smart phone. My dad gave me his old iPhone original to use as a music player and toy. I took a sip of the iPhone kool-aid and I was hooked. A smart phone is just too handy and useful to go back to a standard phone.

[flipper35]

We have no issues with US Cellular as well. Free nights and weekends, not contract and calls to other USC phones are free. None of us have smart phones and we don't text much and we use about 100 minutes of our 1000 shared between three phones since most of our calls are nights, weekends or to people that use USC.

[teenerted1]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

That equals $2580. per year.
Not counting increases that's $25,800. in ten years.
Over a 30 years, an average mortgage period (again not counting increases) that would be $77,400.

who are you obama? who pays their kids phone bill after they get a job?

[teenerted1]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

We are on 750 shared and never go over (we text a lot) wife and daughter are on 200MB data and never go over.

I was thinking of trying AT&T but not getting the warm fuzzies form you guys about them.

Whoever I go with I am hoping to setup WIFI at home and run our cell phones through that (little or no AT&T signal, Verizon is weak, T-mobile OK, Sprint is strong).

i think the wifi will only work on the data. not text or phone calls.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by teenerted1

i think the wifi will only work on the data. not text or phone calls.

You would need a picocell or femtocell for calls.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by teenerted1

i think the wifi will only work on the data. not text or phone calls.

Big advantage of my very old Nokia dumb phone... when I'm connected to WIFI the calls are free... another neat feature they took off "smart" phones

I'm also grandfathered in and get email without a data plan

[gprsh924]

On AT&T for sure (and I believe the other major carriers) all calls made on nights, weekends, and to ANY CELLPHONE are free. At least in my family (3 iPhones) that means that 85+% of the calls that we make are free. Keep that in mind when thinking about "minutes".

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by gprsh924

On AT&T for sure (and I believe the other major carriers) all calls made on nights, weekends, and to ANY CELLPHONE are free. At least in my family (3 iPhones) that means that 85+% of the calls that we make are free. Keep that in mind when thinking about "minutes".

^ this. That is how I get by with 700 min/month spread over 5 phones. Nearly all our calls are to other cell phones. We generally bank 100+ minutes each month on the plan.

My unlimited data plan was grandfathered in for $30/month. The other data plans are capped at 300 MB for $20. Truth be told most of the data usage occurs at home over our WiFi so not much of an impact using ATT's pipe.

Yes this is a pricy endeavor but we are at the point where smart phones have become a necessity. I would rather cut something else than give up wireless service. YMMV.