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Carrier What US carrier do you use and how much do you pay /mo?
- Thread starter backinblack875
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The prices for the major carriers are outrageous. Buy an unlocked phone outright and use a prepaid carrier.
Can't stand the little caveats with prepaid
Ex. Smaller coverage footprint, deprioritization behind main carriers customers, paying upfront, no perks, silly quirks like particular phones not being supported, etc...
I want it all, and I "guess" I'm willing to pay a premium.
Haven't seen any issues since I've been using mint mobile (T-Mobile). I get WiFi calling, hot spot support, LTE calling, etc. I can choose to buy one month at a time, or prepay for 3, 6, or 12 months. I paid something like $3.36 in taxes/fees for my 3 month purchase, and will continue with the service at the same $15 rate with a year purchase.
Customer support is 8am-8pm EST, Monday through Sunday, and they also provided me 2 sim cards in my activation kit.
Download speed is ~50mbps (upload ~30) vs the ~35mbps (upload roughly ~15) I had on AT&T network. Coverage is about the same for my area, building penetration is average to good.
I use my phone for reddit and social media throughout the day with no issues, and phone calls are very clear with LTE calling, and WiFi calling as well. On the way to and from work (peak hours) I use waze, or sometimes google maps, and simultaneously stream pandora, sometimes also loading a webpage, snapchat, or reddit (long red light). I've never had issues with slow downs, or lack of service during this "heavy" use, or "peak hour" time period.
I understand that my use is fairly minimal (I don't stream a ton of video), but knowing that you could get the same services (in some cases better quality services) for $15, $20, $25 urges me to provide full disclosure on what this kind of switch could be like. The "premium" of not choosing a prepaid provider is almost 3x the cost.
To clarify, one thing that I will say is that I have no experience with Verizon (I know they are best for penetration and sometimes coverage - although they also have the slowest LTE speeds sometimes due to the most congested network), so switching from them to a GSM network might be a consideration to begin with.
I'm using an unlocked iPhone 8 originally purchased through apple
Verizon Wireless:
3 lines (February Unlimited Plan) - The new Verizon Plan Unlimited
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 7
~$175 a month after $10 auto pay & paper-free discount w/ local taxes & fees.
3 lines (February Unlimited Plan) - The new Verizon Plan Unlimited
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 7
~$175 a month after $10 auto pay & paper-free discount w/ local taxes & fees.
As you can tell from various industries and services nowadays, we're also seeing the rise of discount providers at a considerable rate. I don't know if this is simply because markets are maturing (big corps are leasing out their services to these offshoot companies), or simply because profit from data harvesting (theory) allows for it, but it's clear that these options are now legitimate, and I think it's smart to take advantage of them as they're no longer really sub par services for half the price. They're now practically as good, if you don't mind the more simplistic approach.
ATT 5GB data, unlimited text and calls $67.33 total (includes fees and taxes) per month. I paid for my phone in full when I bought it.
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I use Mint Mobile and I get considerably less than that where I live.
On any network, speeds generally vary depending on location / signal strength, etc.
I highly recommend Mint Mobile but the individual's speed will differ (i.e. Don't assume you will get 50 mbps).
Of course. This was just an example to show that it's not half the speed of the full T-Mobile services, and additionally to show how it compares with a carrier like AT&T that is traditionally considered to be "better".
Some people can't get above 10mbps from any carrier.
Even though I highly recommend Mint Mobile, I didn't want to see people's expectations set too high
.People can order a $5 Mint Mobile starter kit from Amazon to check reception / data rates / etc. before switching to Mint Mobile.
I think it's a great idea since no network is great in every location (i.e. test before you buy).
The one thing that people should be aware of with Mint Mobile is that you can only port your old number when you first activate the Mint Mobile SIM.
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T-mobile
4 lines for $160
$250 all together including
2 iPhones XS Max
1 XR
iPhone 8+ is paid off
4 lines for $160
$250 all together including
2 iPhones XS Max
1 XR
iPhone 8+ is paid off
TMobile, 2 iPhones 2 iPads 2 Apple Watches Sync Drive and enhanced SCAM ID, TMobile Military One plan, all in $157/Month....
Sprint SWAC Plan - $30 for plan + $10 premium (Amazon Prime, Tidal, and 100GB hotspot) and $10 for Apple Watch Plan.
As shared in the other thread, I'm on Cricket at the moment with 3 family members (they're scattered elsewhere) and doing the 4/$100 unlimited plan (taxes/fees included, speed caped at 3Mbps, no hotspot, Canada & Mexico roaming included). Despite the speed cap, latency is really good and AT&T's network is pretty good where I live (I typically have consistently close to the top speed and only notice the throttle with downloading apps over the air).
Even though the cost per line is officially broken down as $55+$35+$10+$10, I basically treat it at most as $25/line/month. I buy refills when they're on sale at Target, Meijer, and Best Buy, and do their referral program, making the actual price less than $100/month.
Even though the cost per line is officially broken down as $55+$35+$10+$10, I basically treat it at most as $25/line/month. I buy refills when they're on sale at Target, Meijer, and Best Buy, and do their referral program, making the actual price less than $100/month.