iPhone X Carrier recommend: Time to give ATT the finger....

[TheKDub]

Do you use Comcast/Xfinity internet? If so, look into Xfinity Mobile - they're a Verizon MVNO and I haven't had any issues with them. Pretty competitive pricing as well ($12 / gig or $45 unlimited), with unlimited talk and text.

 

[jakeuten]

h2o wireless has a $20 plan that uses AT&T coverage with unlimited talk and text with 1 GB of high speed data for the first 3 months and 500 MB after that. Their $30 plan has 6 GB of high speed data for the first 3 months and then 3 GB after that. You can buy their SIM's at Best Buy.

 

[Nbd1790]

I live in NYC and had AT&T for about 8-10 years or so and was grandfathered into their original unlimited data plan (at the time when carriers started ditching unlimited). A rep made a mistake on my account when I was upgrading my phone / renewing my contract and moved me to a capped plan. Long story short, I left after they were unable to do anything about it. Went to T-Mobile and haven't looked back. It's been about 5/6 years now that I've been with them and haven't had any complaints. Reception here is great, and I normally travel to Chicago and Miami every other month or so for work. Coverage is great there too.

Aside from the coverage, the customer service is by far superior to any other phone carrier out there. Extremely helpful and no automated menus to try and get an actual representative on the phone. Not to mention I get unlimited international in a bunch of other countries (went to Jamaica for work recently and had full LTE service almost everywhere)

Just my two cents, but yes it's worth seeing what coverage is like in your area. But if you're on WiFi a majority of the time, you shouldn't run into many issues. The price is 100% worth it considering what you get (also much cheaper than any other carrier) My mom recently got fed up with Verizon and their prices and left them to join on a family plan with me which made my bill even cheaper. A lot of people knock their reception, but I've got to say it only keeps improving in terms of service. Being you live in whats considered a "major city" in the US, I would imagine your experience would be similar. Hope this helps!

 

[1rottenapple]

Good to know. I should've complained, but unfortunately, I already paid my bill so is probably a tacit acknowledgement/approval of my forced "upgrade." :-(

I've had my eye on Cricket--good pricing for light data users and bc they're an ATT MVNO, the switch would be relatively painless. But on the downside, I'd still be giving ATT my business/money (indirectly).

Hm.

Ya I know... they’re have best combo of price, data, and coverage. T-Mobile would be ideal but the coverage is an issue for me. Why not try a T-Mobile mvno?

 

[Attirex]

I've been a Comcast/Xfinity customer for years and didn't know about their mobile service until this thread, so definitely on the list (even though the only company more evil than AT&T is Comcast).

I haven't considered T-Mobile only because there's so much "OMG t-mobile network sucks" noise out there figured it wouldn't be a good experience. Is this FUD?

I had grandfathered unlimited data (my wife still does), but in one of the Bigger Mistakes of My Life, made a plan change without thinking about what I was doing, and lost it :-(

Adding H20 to list as well.

Thanks!

 

[Attirex]

Update: I called ATT and putting on my Nice Persona, explained to the rep that I've been a customer for years and was upset that they had changed my plan without my express permission. She acknowledged and said that "a lot of customers are unhappy" about the change, and that ATT hadn't had a chance to "send out emails and notifications" about it. I bet customers are upset. Anyway, she claimed that the 2GB plan is no longer offered (contradicts what a poster indicated in this thread), and gave my account a $25 credit.

SO--kind of a lame, token gesture which only reinforces my resolve to find a cheaper plan/better carrier.

 

[ggibson913]

You would have to unlock your phone. I went over to T-Mobile from AT&T and love it. BTW if you are a veteran you get a nice discount for that but you have to ask for the plan. I live in the Hudson Valley, NY I have few signal problems. I won't say they are non-existent, but I would say few and far between.

 

[Attirex]

Necroing thread for a quick update:

I decided to go with Verizon's 6GB pre-paid monthly plan (last month used a whopping 450mb of data). Unlocked ATT iPhone X via ATT site, and request was approved in two minutes. Went to local VZN store for the rest, number was ported in less than a minute.

So thanks everyone for suggestions and help, and note to ATT: a big fck you...abusing your customers is never good policy.

 

[BeeGood]

SO--has anyone had good experience with one of the cheapie MVNO plans? Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks so much!

We use Total Wireless and couldn’t be happier with them. Based on your data usage you could get their cheapest plan ($35). They’re a Verizon MVNO and, coming over from Verizon, we can’t tell the difference at all (other than it’s a fraction of the cost). The customer service isn’t great but as long as you can self-serve most of the time, then it works great.

If your phone is not CDMA, my niece is having a good experience with Cricket.

EDIT: I see you went with Verizon. Not a bad choice but if you want to go even cheaper check out Total Wireless.

 

[JBGoode]

Necroing thread for a quick update:

I decided to go with Verizon's 6GB pre-paid monthly plan (last month used a whopping 450mb of data). Unlocked ATT iPhone X via ATT site, and request was approved in two minutes. Went to local VZN store for the rest, number was ported in less than a minute.

So thanks everyone for suggestions and help, and note to ATT: a big fck you...abusing your customers is never good policy.

How much will the Verizon pre-paid cost with taxes and fees (if any)?

 

[Attirex]

It's around $37, I think? (with $5 discount if you enable autopay so VZN can recognize all of that delicious guaranteed income).

 

[M5RahuL]

If even considering TMobile, you may not good service inside buildings/home/apartment, even with the new bands. Of course, this is location dependent ( but it's a known issue with TMobile's penetration ) In Colorado ( Denver metro ) my 8+ and Note 9 flip-flop between LTE-4G-Edge-No Signal, all day. It got so bad, I ended up getting an ATT pre-paid line as a backup (which works great)

Had verizon for 10 years and got tired of their nickel and diming, so switched. Would never recommend Verizon to anyone, unless it's the only option.

GL in your quest! I wish we had more ( non MVNO) options in the US!
[doublepost=1564781317][/doublepost]Oh, Xfinity Mobile ( Verizon towers ) is worth looking into, especially if you have existing service(s) thru them ( otherwise it's an additional $10 per line/month ) They've recently restructured their by-the-GB plans ( all plans include unlimited talk and txt ), but it's still quite reasonably priced, and they have two promos on right now ( AFAIK )

1- $100 prepaid card ( Visa ) for BYOD and porting.
2 - $250 prepaid card ( Visa ) + $200 off iPhone XS/XS MAX and porting

Link: https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/

I'd check'em out!

 

[Wide opeN]

I've been a Comcast/Xfinity customer for years and didn't know about their mobile service until this thread, so definitely on the list (even though the only company more evil than AT&T is Comcast). I haven't considered T-Mobile only because there's so much "OMG t-mobile network sucks" noise out there figured it wouldn't be a good experience. Is this FUD?

I had grandfathered unlimited data (my wife still does), but in one of the Bigger Mistakes of My Life, made a plan change without thinking about what I was doing, and lost it :-(

Adding H20 to list as well.

Thanks!

My current setup is T-Mobile on primary (eSim); Xfinity Mobile (Verizon) pay $12 per GB as backup.

I don't use Xfinity for data, so I just pay taxes every month for unlimited voice and text. This setup is the best of all world's.

 

[Attirex]

Just to be clear, my quest is over--I signed up with Verizon (thus my follow-up post). My mobile data needs are very light/minor, so unless they do something spectacularly stupid (like, say, changing plan without my permission), I'm sticking with them.

 

[AZhappyjack]

Howdy:

I've been an ATT subscriber for years, going back to when I had a Cingular Wireless flip phone, ca. 2004 or so, and then the first iPhone and on up to my current iPhone X. I've had no real problems with ATT, but expected my bill would get raised at some point, and it finally has. I was on the 2GB/mo. plan, and apparently they bumped that to 4GB and raised my bill by $10/mo.

So....buh bye (at least until my kids are old enough for phones, then will prob have to go back to ATT for a family plan).

My profile/needs:
--iPhone X (ATT, paid in full, not unlocked)
--Very light data user (I typically didn't exceed 10% of my 2GB/mo plan), as I'm on Wifi 98% of the time and don't travel tons.
--Unlimited text (primary form of communication).
--Visual VM not a necessity.
--I live close to an urban area (Boston/Northeast US), but the ATT service in my immediate area/town sucks, so as long as I get one bar (what I currently get inside my house) or even more, I'm golden.
--Would like to get back down to around $50 or so a month. A little higher is fine.

SO--has anyone had good experience with one of the cheapie MVNO plans? Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks so much!

I've been with AT&T since about 1999... went through the at&T > Cingular > AT&T transitions, and survived them all. Currently have a 5-line plan with them (and DirecTV)... am actually quite happy with the plan, the service and even the price.

With that said, I have a couple of kids/grandkids who are on Cricket, which is an AT&T-owned MNVO and are happy there... it uses the AT&T towers, albeit at a lower priority, but I have never heard any of them complain about the service.

 

[bushman4]

More important than price is reception. Every carrier has areas where the service is good or bad. The only way to know for sure is to test the service at work, at home, and other places you frequent
Don’t let price be your main point of judgement. After all what good is a cheap plan if the reception sucks

 

[Newtons Apple]

Necroing thread for a quick update:

I decided to go with Verizon's 6GB pre-paid monthly plan (last month used a whopping 450mb of data). Unlocked ATT iPhone X via ATT site, and request was approved in two minutes. Went to local VZN store for the rest, number was ported in less than a minute.

So thanks everyone for suggestions and help, and note to ATT: a big fck you...abusing your customers is never good policy.

You will find any of the carriers can do things you hate, including Verizon.

ATT has never given me problems but seldom interact with them.

 

[Attirex]

I agree that they all probably suck, each in their own way. But I also had few interactions with ATT for 15+ years (other than paying my bill every month), and had no problems with them....up until the point they changed my data plan and increased my monthly bill without permission.

Buh.
Bye.

So sets the bar pretty low for everyone else, I reckon.