F150HD wrote:Phones are kinda like insurance plans in many ways. If you've ever stood in an ER or along the roadside frantically trying to call family/friends or doctors etc or access the Internet to look up X,Y or Z in an emergency, a 'cheap' plan isn't what you want that's for sure. In this regard, having something that works when you need it to work is easily worth more cost (to me personally).
Some cheap plans have the exact same service from the exact same towers. A Verizon pre-paid phone for $45/month (3GB, unlimited text & calls) is just as reliable as plans costing 2 or 3 times as much.
-Marylander1
Exactly. My $8.33/month Tracfone uses Verizon as it's service carrier. I have never had a problem with reliability of a call going through.
Bob B wrote: Exactly. My $8.33/month Tracfone uses Verizon as it's service carrier. I have never had a problem with reliability of a call going through.
Lol. Bragging about using Tracfone is akin to bragging about driving a 1973 Ford Pinto.
That's great if it suits your wallet. Enjoy.
Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.
Bob B wrote: Exactly. My $8.33/month Tracfone uses Verizon as it's service carrier. I have never had a problem with reliability of a call going through.
Lol. Bragging about using Tracfone is akin to bragging about driving a 1973 Ford Pinto.
That's great if it suits your wallet. Enjoy.
Well, if you need to get from A to B, in this case, placing a phone call, and you can do if for multiple times less money and get the same outcome ... that seems like the smarter way to go. Bragging or not.
Our current monthly bill from Consumer Cellular is $32.79. This is for two phones (my wife's non-smartphone and my iPhone at a $10 "additional line" charge), 250 minutes talk ($15) and 30MB data / 300 texts ($2.50), plus taxes.
The usage is probably ridiculously low for most people. My wife is not much of a phone-talker, and I'm not at all because of my hearing; my voice calls are routed to our landline where my wife can handle them (so far none!). We live in a small town and I use the Internet mostly at home where we have Wi-Fi. I use cellular data mainly when I'm traveling out of town on day trips or longer, in which case Consumer Cellular automatically bumps us up to a higher-level data plan as necessary. So far I've only ever needed to go as far as their 500 MB data plan ($10) once, on a 10-day trip.
Help save endangered words! When you write "princiPLE", make sure you don't really mean "princiPAL"!
t-mobile family plan, shared with 4 other 'family members'. My monthly payment is ~$22-$25.
unlimited text & minutes, 2GB lte, after that unlimited but slow (probably capped at 40Kbps or something). Only break that 2GB limit maybe once so not quite sure.
$94 for two of us thru att.
I need excellent service because my employer calls me when it's time to go to work. Could be at any minute of the day and if I miss the call I would be in trouble. Girlfriend needs it because she is basically afraid of not being able to make a call or use maps if she needs it.
We have two phones with Republic Wireless (uses Sprint service & wifi worldwide). $13 to $15 a month each line for unlimited text & talk and sparse data usage.
I am a volunteer mentor for an Afghan refugee family of 6 who just arrived to the US January 19. Their older children are 16, 14 and 12, and each go to separate schools. What would be the most economical way for the family to get a 5 phone plan, so they can coordinate plans with each other? Thanks for any help.
Boston Barry wrote:I am a volunteer mentor for an Afghan refugee family of 6 who just arrived to the US January 19. Their older children are 16, 14 and 12, and each go to separate schools. What would be the most economical way for the family to get a 5 phone plan, so they can coordinate plans with each other? Thanks for any help.
Contact ConsumerCellular.com
They may have a solution. They use AT&T towers.
“It’s the curse of old men to realize that in the end we control nothing." "Homeland" episode, "Gerontion"
Boston Barry wrote:I am a volunteer mentor for an Afghan refugee family of 6 who just arrived to the US January 19. Their older children are 16, 14 and 12, and each go to separate schools. What would be the most economical way for the family to get a 5 phone plan, so they can coordinate plans with each other? Thanks for any help.
You can put 5 phones on Cricket's $40 plan (unlimited call, unlimited text, 3GB LTE data) for $100/month. This takes advantage of their group save feature ($10 off for line 2, $20 off line 3, $30 off line 4, $40 off line 5). Fees and taxes included in that price. No overage charges if you exceed your data cap.
Boston Barry wrote:Thank you for the suggestions! Would anyone know the best way to get a hold of cheap / free functioning phones?
Cricket Wireless has dirt cheap phones in their available lineup. I see one for $9.99. Check out their website.
Also checkout Freedompop.com. They have free plans with free phones with a small amount of data. Check out their website as this family should not spend a dime more for phones and service than they have to.
T-Mobile 9 lines shared with another relative family
$18 per line
Unlimited calls and texting
4 GB/month per line. More than we ever need
Our family of 4 pay $72/month.
Mint Mobile annual plan. Each line $20 a month (unlimited talk & text, 8 GB of data a month) on an annual plan. With taxes comes to around $268 per line annually. They have other plans with more or less data. A great value if Tmobile service works fo you. These rates for individual lines are better than many large family plans.
The closest helping hand is at the end of your own arm.
Boston Barry wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2017 11:04 pm
I am a volunteer mentor for an Afghan refugee family of 6 who just arrived to the US January 19. Their older children are 16, 14 and 12, and each go to separate schools. What would be the most economical way for the family to get a 5 phone plan, so they can coordinate plans with each other? Thanks for any help.
I would get them started with Mint Mobile for the first year, unlimited talk and text with 3 GB of data for each line, assuming T mobile network works well in their area. You can get the SIM cards from Amazon to try it out for a week or so for 5 dollars and then get credit towards the monthly plan if they decide to go ahead and get the plan. You can also check to see how the network is in their neighborhood. Also they should take advantage of the referral bonus that Mint Mobile offers to get the cost down even further. You are looking at a cost of 15 x 5 = 75 per month + taxes and fees if you buy upfront for 3 months initially and then then after the initial 3 months you have to buy upfront for one year to get that rate. Long term the kids will likely need more data, but this is a good way to get them started I believe. Good luck!
- One line is shared with a relative who has 5 lines with Sprint for $125/mo, so I pay $30/mo (the $5 accounts for Sprint's "admin "fee and assorted taxes/fees). The promo includes the cost of leasing an iPhone 11 (covering 75% of the cost of the device over 18 months, so I just pay $175 at the end to buy the phone outright).
- One line on Red Pocket's 500 MB/500 minute per month plan, annual cost purchased from eBay was about $90, so about $8/mo.
- One line that almost never gets used, but to park the number I bought Red Pocket's 200 minute/200 MB plan for $30/year since it's basically the same cost as a service like Number Barn.
Total about $35/mo. After the Sprint iPhone lease is over, I'll probably use something like Mint Mobile for $15/mo per line.
pondering wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 10:34 am
Trying to get a 2020 update from people. My 3 line bill with Verzion for 8 GB of data is $139
Is the 8GB shared or per line? either way Mint Mobile is going to be cheaper, averages $15/mo per line for 3GB or $20/mo for 8GB, if you pay for a year in advance. Best Buy sometimes has the annual plans on sale for even less.
If you want to stick with Verizon, check out Visible, which runs on Verizon (it's actually owned by Verizon IIRC). $40/mo for unlimited, but you can easily drop that to $25 by doing "party pay" - just need to add one person. This can be a stranger on the internet, only that person is responsible for paying the bill.
Visible is capped at 5 mbps, reports differ online about actual experience (in some cases it's not actually capped).
neilpilot wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:05 am
Xfinity 2 lines
$6 per line ($8 including tax & fees)
Unlimited calls and texting
1 GB/month - more than we typically use
Note that (in addition to being limited to Xfinity cable/internet customers, otherwise there's a surcharge) this is grandfathered, not available if you didn't already have it.
For two lines and 6 GB of monthly 4G data on each, we pay $66/month, taxes and fees included. This is on Verizon's prepaid monthly plan. We're getting more data now than we were before on their post-paid plan and paying about $35/month less than before. It's worked very well for us.
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” J.R.R. Tolkien,The Lord of the Rings
Left AT & T in March for Consumer Cellular. Went from $96 to $42 for same plan - 2 lines, 3G data, calls and text. It uses AT&T network. Once we can travel again, will have to look into international addition as necessary.
Ron Ronnerson wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2016 12:20 am
Current Carrier: Cricket
Number of Lines: 2 (both are iPhone 6s)
Unlimited talk and text
2.5 GB Data/month
$70/month including taxes
I made the post above in this thread four years ago.
We still have two lines but on Mint Mobile now. It's unlimited talk and text, 8GB/month. The total comes to right around $40 for two lines (after accounting for tax and credit card rewards). We are still using the same phones as in 2016 (both have an iPhone 6s).
123 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:09 am
Mint Mobile annual plan. Each line $20 a month (unlimited talk & text, 8 GB of data a month) on an annual plan. With taxes comes to around $268 per line annually. They have other plans with more or less data. A great value if Tmobile service works fo you. These rates for individual lines are better than many large family plans.
22twain wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2017 1:23 am
Our current monthly bill from Consumer Cellular is $32.79. This is for two phones (my wife's non-smartphone and my iPhone at a $10 "additional line" charge), 250 minutes talk ($15) and 30MB data / 300 texts ($2.50), plus taxes.
Last month's bill was slightly higher, $35.77. Still 250 minutes of talk for $15, but now we get 500MB data and unlimited texts for $5.00. Still a $10 "additional line" charge, for a total of $30 before tax.
It looks like we're grandfathered into an old plan. Their site now indicates $20 per line for 500MB shared data, unlimited talk and text, and no additional-line charge.
Help save endangered words! When you write "princiPLE", make sure you don't really mean "princiPAL"!
What's shown now is a slightly different plan than when I first signed up.
This is a great plan. I just need to kick some kids out of the house to qualify and get my #ofLines down to 2.
If you can team up with 3 other numbers, you can join Visible $100 for 4 users. Visible is Verizion prepaid and also unlimited. I don't know about you but in my home, only Verizon and AT&T work. T-Mobile has no service.
Starfox wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 7:28 pm
$410/month at&t unlimited Elite
All devices paid in full- no contract
3 Apple watches
3 iPads
4 iPhones
Includes hbo max which we enjoy.
That’s nuts. You're paying a lot more for the most expensive unlimited plan, which gives you more hotspot data, but you're probably not using it since you have 3 cellular iPads. BTW HBO Max costs $15/mo.
Last edited by 02nz on Mon Jun 01, 2020 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
nalor511 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 6:50 pm
T-Mobile Connect $15/unlim talk/text/2GB data. Price is per line.
Same here. Two lines T-Mobile Connect for us. I did have to upgrade to the 5 GB plan for my wife. So two lines with taxes and fees = $45.70.
Was a T-Mobile postpaid customer before. Had to buy new SIMs when we moved to prepaid, $10 each.
-TheDDC
As long as you don't travel internationally and depend on Tmo postpaid roaming, their new Connect prepaid plans are very attractive!
T-Mobile Connect cuts off your data completely when you reach the cap, instead of throttling like Mint and most other carriers do. That's a deal-breaker for me (and a plus for Mint, which throttles your speed when you reach the cap).
$20/month for two lines with unlimited calling plus extra for Canada. We use Xfinity mobile. Now that we are homebound with the pandemic we don't use much data otherwise it would be around $50/month.
It uses Verizon towers and we have had no service issues since switching a few months back. Almost $100/month savings from our previous Verizon bill.
nalor511 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 6:50 pm
T-Mobile Connect $15/unlim talk/text/2GB data. Price is per line.
Same here. Two lines T-Mobile Connect for us. I did have to upgrade to the 5 GB plan for my wife. So two lines with taxes and fees = $45.70.
Was a T-Mobile postpaid customer before. Had to buy new SIMs when we moved to prepaid, $10 each.
-TheDDC
As long as you don't travel internationally and depend on Tmo postpaid roaming, their new Connect prepaid plans are very attractive!
T-Mobile Connect cuts off your data completely when you reach the cap, instead of throttling like Mint and most other carriers do. That's a deal-breaker for me (and a plus for Mint, which throttles your speed when you reach the cap).
I understand, it's not for everyone, but I find value being direct with tmo vs indirect with some mvno, when there is an issue, since they have the most info about what's going on. You can get the 10gb plan for a little more each month, or (as you already found) go with Mint and get more data for the same price, which is fine too. I use *maybe* 300mb on my worst month, so 2gb is way more than I need, but 500mb would feel cramped. I imagine there are a lot of users that can get value out of this plan and price point.
$3 a month, pay as I go with Pageplus on my Apple SE phone.
I live in an area which does not have reception and I go into town about once a week.
Sometimes when I go I don't use my phone, mostly for when I travel which is never right now.
96 a month all in (incl taxes and fees). 2 lines unlimited everything on Verizon. This was some kind of loyalty plan they offered when we called threatening to switch to xfinity.
Both our phones are 2 years old and paid in full. Luckily they still work fine so no need to make phone payments.
My company pays 60 a month toward my phone as long as the bill is 60+, so at this rate I have limited motivation to look for a better deal since it works.
I cross the border to Mexico and pay AT&T about $180 (in pesos) for 1 year of 10gb/month. However, I prefer to use a US number, so I have one through Google Voice. AT&T in Mexico has a plan that works in Canada, US and Mexico.
neilpilot wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:05 am
Xfinity 2 lines
$6 per line ($8 including tax & fees)
Unlimited calls and texting
1 GB/month - more than we typically use
Note that (in addition to being limited to Xfinity cable/internet customers, otherwise there's a surcharge) this is grandfathered, not available if you didn't already have it.
I think Xfinity ended the grandfathered plans and moved everyone to the new plans. The minimum bill is $12 for 1 GB of shared data for up to 5 lines plus tax. So, neilpilot‘s plan is still available for Xfinity customers.
$61.50
2 lines
Verizon auto pay, prepaid, 6 GB per line
Decent to great service most of the time, even in rural areas
"Your mind has a mind of its own. At the very moment when you are most convinced of your own rationality, you may be feeling rather than thinking your way toward a decision.” |
Jason Zweig
BrownEyedGirl_27 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:17 am
$61.50
2 lines
Verizon auto pay, prepaid, 6 GB per line
Decent to great service most of the time, even in rural areas
Starfox wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 7:28 pm
$410/month at&t unlimited Elite
All devices paid in full- no contract
3 Apple watches
3 iPads
4 iPhones
Includes hbo max which we enjoy.
How much they charge you for the iPads? Thinking of adding some forbthe kids.
Have an older ATT plan: 2 phones unlimited + HBO. Could go cheaper but we get a discount on a grandfathered ATT Now plan & only pay $10 per month for internet (fiber 50mbs) for being bundled so it is cheaper if we were to go with a cheaper cell plan.
