Let's talk Cel Phone Companies please!

[Jim Bremner]

I've been using At&t for the last decade and I'm starting to look at Cricket and other plans to save some cash.

I travel from Orange County to Paso Robles out to Bakersfield on business 99% of the time.

Does anyone have any experience with the smaller companies?

[TimT]

Here in NY Cricket is on Att's network. Actually I think Att owns Cricket. The $50/mo Smart plan is $45/mo if you auto pay. My gf uses another prepaid plan that is $25/mo but she often runs out of data..

The Cricket smart plan is 5GB and you can buy more if you need it... I rarely come close to using that much data... I have tasker geofenced to turn on wifi, and data off at certain locations...(when I get to the office, when I get home)

[stomachmonkey]

ATT absorbed Crickett last year.

Will be their leading pre paid label.

The smaller pre paids, if they are not already a sub brand of, use major carriers networks.

[Arizona_928]

If you do not plan to go outside the city, and travel they are a good deal. However, once you leave the city service becomes spotty at best.

[rfuerst911sc]

My youngest son about 2 months ago signed up for Google Fi ( sp ? ). From what he has told me the phone senses and switches between wi-fi and cell phone depending on signal strength. It uses wi-fi as much as possible. He said he has yet to have a conversation dropped and can't tell much of a difference except on his phone bill ! He's averaging about 20.00 - 22.00 a month . Yes he had to purchase a phone but at his current savings it will pay for itself in less than a year. He just drove from FL. to GA. and he said he never lost a signal. I throw this out there just as another option I have no dog in this fight but I am seriously going to look into it as my AT & T bill is too high for what I need.

[Don Ro]

https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phones
.
I have their Basic Plan: $40.00/mo - $35/mo if on Auto Pay...which I have.
No complaints from me.
G/F pays close to $100/mo with Verizon.
.
2 GB Data - High Speed access
.

Plan Details:
.
- Caller ID
- Enhanced Voice Mail
- Call Forwarding
- Text Messaging
- Call Waiting
- 2.5GB Data Feature
- Three-Way Calling
- Picture Messaging

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Cricket is a PITA my experience (I dabbled with them a couple of years ago). If you buy "X" minutes if you don't use them in a certain amount of time you lose them. I eventually discovered Straight Talk (an offshoot of TracFone) and I think they're the best deal going (I have no affiliation, just one guy's opinion). I get unlimited voice & text (I can't believe we all used to have to nervously track these things against our plan "caps" all the time - it's really ridiculous). The data is 2GB at "LTE" speed which is plenty in a 30-day cycle. After that it's throttled. I use my iPhone a LOT for work and personal stuff and I've only hit that situation a handful of times in about three years. I think it piggybacks on the AT&T network; I had no issues connecting even in the Caribbean, Hawaii and a few remote places here and there in between. It costs $45 a month (keep in mind that a "month" is 30 days to them so you're paying 13 x $45 = $585 for a year plus five days) and there may be a couple of dollars more a month in taxes depending on where you register but there are ways to get around that if you're savvy (like get a phone # in an area code corresponding to somewhere with no taxes...) That's a heck of a lot better than comparable plans with name brand carriers ($80 to $100-ish a month). I buy my phones cash up front, unlocked and not on anyone's contract, then pop in my ST SIM and I'm good. My iPhone 5S cost (IIRC) $700 brand new so I made that back against the $110-a-month AT&T plan I used be on in about eleven months. Not bad. No discernable difference in service. None.

Some say "yeah well ST's customer service sucks" which is true but as a counterpoint I'll say I've only had to deal with them three times and frankly they weren't any worse than AT&T or Sprint or Verizon - they ALL suck. ST didn't ask to suck any worse.

Another thing I remember about Cricket was they had no real online presence to "re-up" and every single text or even balance check counted against your minute allotment - rounded up. It was very "nickel-dimey" and it turned me off. Maybe it's better now but I'd recommend giving ST a look.

All the best.

[Arthropraxis]

I am going to Google Fi or Republic wireless when my contract is up. My daughter uses Republic wireless the phone choices are limited but the bill is only $12 a month with taxes for unlimited talk and text with wifi internet. The internet is $15 a gigabite and will credit unused amounts to the next months bill, same as Google Fi. Google Fi's phones can transfer to any major carrier if you don't like the service and there is no contract.

[John Rogers]

This past spring I checked out Sprint and their "cut your bill in half" thing and darned if it did't work out. I had AT&T for years with unlimited data, texts and calls on two lines for $132 per month. The store manager said she wanted to run a credit check on me and I asked why and she said it might just make my new service better? So I said okay and after a couple minutes she wow and offered to replace my wife's old iPhone with a 5s or something and for me one of the large iPhone 6's for free if I turned in the old phones. Oh yeah, 50% cost reduction and no contract (I said I did not want a contract of any type) so I said okay and after unloading the old phones turned them in.

So far it has been great, $64 per month with no limits.

[VincentVega]

Anyone using googlefi? Suck of my ATT bill the google deal seems almost too good to pass up. Coverage in the sticks seems like the only downside, anything else I'm overlooking?

[legion]

Ting.

Ting.com

I pay $36 a month for TWO phones.

[edgemar]

google fi with a nexus 5x. It is awesome and i pay $30 per month...also have integration with my gmail account...

can't say enough good things about it.!!!

[Otter74]

I have an unlocked iPhone 5-something an T-Mobile service, runs about $72/month. Phone was free - my girlfriend gave me her old one when she got a newer used phone. I am often tempted by some of these other options like google fi, but what I like about my service is that when I travel overseas I have free text and data pretty much anywhere I go. I love this, as it was a giant pain to never have a usable phone when I traveled. Before I got this phone last summer, I had a Sprint flip phone for something like 12 years that was sort of a POS, but cheap (something like $3x/month total) If I could pay <$50/month and still have my international usability I'd be all over it.

[Corvus Corvax]

T-mobile for my phone, Ting for my wife's. Works fine for us.

[aigel]

I am in the boonies a lot. I have not been with anyone out in the boonies who had better signal than Verizon. It may make the difference between hiking 20 miles to town or calling AAA. Verizon is not cheap, but it has gotten better with a 120 buck family plan. I just pay it ...

G

[VincentVega]

Thanks, good info.

First I've heard of Ting, I like their basic pricing model.

I too was looking at the Nexus 5x w/ google fi, sounds like there are a few options.

Good point about network availability, I'm trying to figure out what consider good enough. I'm not too far out that much but I'm not sure I'm ready for so many areas of no coverage.

edit.

Tell me if this is a crazy idea. For the few times I am hiking or otherwise way out there, I could have a cheap verizon pre-paid phone for emergencies. Still $$ ahead to stash a burner in every glovebox for the AAA/emergency call where there is only Verizon service and use ting or googlefi for everyday.

[pcardude]

I have sprint. It's easy and it works good. Unlimited everything for 50/month. And when I'm in the middle of nowhere it's CDMA so I can roam on Verizon or US Cellular.

[island911]

Originally Posted by aigel

I am in the boonies a lot. I have not been with anyone out in the boonies who had better signal than Verizon. It may make the difference between hiking 20 miles to town or calling AAA. Verizon is not cheap, but it has gotten better with a 120 buck family plan. I just pay it ...

G

I'm also in this camp. Many Verizon phones have the addition of GSM (so-called 'world phones') which means that not only do you have the advantage of the longer reaching CDMA freq, (~800mhz) but also have the roaming on the GSM (~900mhz) signals, if really needed.

OTOH, if you know where you'll be 99.9% of the time, and a much cheaper carrier exists with coverage for those areas, then why not. --no reason to pay so much for what you don't need/use.

[edgemar]

it is my understanding that google fi phones jump networks for the best signal. They have agreements will all the big guys. Works as well as my old verizon service.

[scottmandue]

I'm always looking to save money (who isn't?) I have looked at cricket.

Anyone using Boost?

We have been on T-Mobil forever.