I'm out of the cell market. What's the cheapest provider/plan for my parents?

[Zeze]

To have smartphones?

They currently have a really old Sprint family plan with traditional flip phones at $60. That's pretty good at $30pp.

Now they want to give smart phones a try. But monthly plans are pretty expensive for them. What's the cheapest option/provider? They're currently contract-free, so they can go anywhere.

As for phones, they'd really like an Android or iOS. I know you can go really cheap with cheap smart phones with unknown platforms.

Thanks in advance.

 

[HeXen]

I had an Android Tmobile pre pay, Now I use a trac phone with triple minutes which has some type of custom Android OS..great if they don't need to use it all the time. I rarely use mine but texts is like half a unit. Last time I got a $100 year long card, I still had over 800 minutes lol

 

[RossMAN]

Ask them to check their last 3 monthly statements, how many minutes did they actually use?

 

[jagec]

Cheapest smartphone will be one of the pay-as-you-go providers, but coverage and speed won't be as good.

Might not matter to older people.

 

[Zeze]

Ask them to check their last 3 monthly statements, how many minutes did they actually use?

Not much. I would venture... 300-400 minutes among 2, if that.

So 150-200 mins/pp.

 

[lxskllr]

I was happy with my Net10 service. 10¢ per minute talk, 5¢ per text. They also have smart phone plans that look reasonable, but I've never used those. They could do what I intend on doing. Getting an Android, but no data plan. That'll give me a computer in my pocket, and I can get on wifi when I can.

 

[blinblue]

I would go with Page Plus's $30/month plan: 1200 minutes, 3000 texts, 250MB of data on Verizon's network. You can bring in just about any Verizon phone. You can get the refill cards for about a 5% discount

Other good option if there is decent coverage where they are is Virgin Mobile. Used to be $25/month for 300 minutes and unlimited text/data, now it is $35/month. It's on Sprint's network, so coverage isn't as great, but it is pretty decent where I am. And unlimited data is nice (and I'm grandfathered in on the $25/month).

T-mobile has a $30/month plan with 100 minutes and unlimited text/data

Those are the cheapest ones I know of that have decent amounts of data. Once you get into the $45/month+ there are some more options

 

[Thump553]

Another vote for PagePlus TNT1200 plan-but it only supports 3G phones.

BTW ask them if they really want a phone they have to charge every other day (as opposed to once a week or more) and whose "smartness" makes you feel dumb? If I didn't need mobile access to email for work I'd go back to a dumb small clamshell in a heartbeat. Today's smartphones are like the massive boomboxes of the 1980s.

 

[Anonemous]

I would go with Page Plus's $30/month plan: 1200 minutes, 3000 texts, 250MB of data on Verizon's network. You can bring in just about any Verizon phone. You can get the refill cards for about a 5% discount

Other good option if there is decent coverage where they are is Virgin Mobile. Used to be $25/month for 300 minutes and unlimited text/data, now it is $35/month. It's on Sprint's network, so coverage isn't as great, but it is pretty decent where I am. And unlimited data is nice (and I'm grandfathered in on the $25/month).

T-mobile has a $30/month plan with 100 minutes and unlimited text/data

Those are the cheapest ones I know of that have decent amounts of data. Once you get into the $45/month+ there are some more options

And also you have to buy the respective smart phones which can range from 25-50 used to 200-300 new. I remember a month or two ago people were still able to get on the 25/month on virgin mobile with some online trick but it was only for certain 3G phones. http://slickdeals.net/f/5141374-Virgin-Mobile-users-Switch-back-to-the-25-grandfathered-plan

 

[vailr]

A new Palm Pixi Plus (for Verizon) phone can still be found for under $40. Works fine on PagePlus with their minimal (voice only plan) for $10/100 minutes every 3 months. Wi-Fi also works at home or at free hotspots.
A good upgrade for under $10 is the cordless charging stand.
Screen size is fairly small. An HP Palm Pre would have a bigger screen, if you can find one for a decent price.
Other brands of used smart phones can be researched at cowboom.com.
Not sure if you can get away with using a PagePlus voice-only plan with some of those other smart phones.

 

[Leros]

Republic Wireless is $19/mo and there is no contract.

You get a decent Android phone. The idea is that your phone uses wifi most of the time and you fall back to the Sprint network when no wifi is available.

There are limits to how much of the Sprint network you can use, but they're pretty reasonable. I think they average your use over a 7 day period and give you a few months to get back under the thresholds if you go over. They explain more in this blog posting: https://community.republicwireless....2/15/the-cellular-usage-index-how-youre-doing

I have a few friends who use it and are very happy with it.

 

[RossMAN]

As others have suggested I would consider PagePlus and T-Mobile via Walmart B&M.

--

If they can live with 250 minutes and almost no data, the best deal is PP's "The 12" plan:

$12/mo - 250 Minutes, 250 Text/Picture Messages, 10 MB of Data. Buy a used cell phone from your local Craigslist/eBay/Cowboom.com, make sure it has a clean EISN or whatever it's called.

--

T-Mobile via Walmart B&M has two plans, the 100 voice minutes/5GB data for $30/mo is the most popular. The other not-so-popular plan offers 1,500 voice minutes and 30MB data at the same price $30/mo.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans
http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/wal-marts-unlimited-t-mobile-data-plan/
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1764671-30-Prepaid-plan-with-T-Mobile

 

[bigrash]

Go with Sprint.

 

[Destiny]

If your parents got addicted to YouTube and PPLive like my parents did with their iPad, get them an unlimited data plan... just saw my bill today and my dad is a data hog and my mom texts like every minute!D:

I got Sprint unlimited Family data with 3 x iPhone 5

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Go with Sprint.

Yes, Sprint via Virgin Mobile @ $35/month and no contract.

 

[SAWYER]

Straight Talk unlimited everything for 45/month and you can use ATT and Tmobile phones

 

[DaveJ]

If your parents are light data users, check out Ting Wireless. $6/mo for each device plus a-la-carte pricing for voice/text/data. If they don't use any of the above in a given month, all they pay is the $6/mo base price. I have an SGS 3 on Ting and my bill last month was $26. They're a Sprint MVNO so I get 4g data here as well (for what little I use).

 

[RossMAN]

If your parents are light data users, check out Ting Wireless. $6/mo for each device plus a-la-carte pricing for voice/text/data. If they don't use any of the above in a given month, all they pay is the $6/mo base price. I have an SGS 3 on Ting and my bill last month was $26. They're a Sprint MVNO so I get 4g data here as well (for what little I use).

Never heard of Ting, checking it out for my wife who uses around 200-500 minutes per month with 0 data. Thank you for the suggestion.

She's probably going to switch to PP's "The 12" or Ting.com, I love their à la carte pricing.

 

[DaveJ]

Never heard of Ting, checking it out for my wife who uses around 200-500 minutes per month with 0 data. Thank you for the suggestion.

She's probably going to switch to PP's "The 12" or Ting.com, I love their à la carte pricing.

Sweet. PM me for a referral if you want.

 

[jupiter57]

I'm thinking of switching to Straight Talk myself.
They use AT&T's towers here, which is my current provider. Good coverage & signal.

I would stay with AT&T, but switching to a Data plan is prohibitively expensive (I don't "surf the net", nor do I text often, on my phone, but there are times!).
Straight Talk gives you Unlimited Talk, Text, and (supposedly) Data (You will get throttled after ~2 GB) for $45 mo.
Or, for $30 mo., you can get 1K Min. talk, 1K Texts, & 30 MB Data.

http://www.walmart.com/browse/cell-p...r5StraightTalk

My current AT&T plan is like 500 minutes mo., (+ $0.20 per text, and ~ $1.00 MB Data), for $50 mo.
I'm Getting an HTC Inspire this week, if I went with AT&T's cheapest "Data" plan for Smartphones, my cost would go up to ~ $80 mo.

ST has some inexpensive Smartphones for starters, or if they prefer a higher-end phone, you could pick up an AT&T phone off CL or AT FS/FT & get an ST SIM Card for $15.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm thinking of switching to Straight Talk myself.
They use AT&T's towers here, which is my current provider. Good coverage & signal.

I would stay with AT&T, but switching to a Data plan is prohibitively expensive (I don't "surf the net", nor do I text often, on my phone, but there are times!).
Straight Talk gives you Unlimited Talk, Text, and (supposedly) Data (You will get throttled after ~2 GB) for $45 mo.
Or, for $30 mo., you can get 1K Min. talk, 1K Texts, & 30 MB Data.

http://www.walmart.com/browse/cell-p...r5StraightTalk

My current AT&T plan is like 500 minutes mo., (+ $0.20 per text, and ~ $1.00 MB Data), for $50 mo.
I'm Getting an HTC Inspire this week, if I went with AT&T's cheapest "Data" plan for Smartphones, my cost would go up to ~ $80 mo.

ST has some inexpensive Smartphones for starters, or if they prefer a higher-end phone, you could pick up an AT&T phone off CL or AT FS/FT & get an ST SIM Card for $15.

Ya know what would be grand? Sliders on the talk/text/data, where you could customize exactly what you want. Pick a plan at whatever price you want, then tweak the services to reflect your uses. I guess that would be too customer-centric though, and we couldn't have that...

 

[jupiter57]

Ya know what would be grand? Sliders on the talk/text/data, where you could customize exactly what you want. Pick a plan at whatever price you want, then tweak the services to reflect your uses. I guess that would be too customer-centric though, and we couldn't have that...

QFT!
I use less than 100 minutes talk per month.
I average MAYBE 1 text per month, so that $0.20 each month is negligible.
I typically use Data for 5 min. once every 6 months, if that.

If I could customize a plan for say, 200 minutes talk, 5 texts mo., and a decent Data Plan (I have no earthly idea how much I would ever use), for around my $50 mo., I would be happy with that.
That's why I'm going with the $45 mo ST Plan. If I find that I use less than 30 MB Data, I'll drop back to the $30 mo. plan.

My Daughter & her husband use a local carrier, Bluegrass Cellular, they both have totally unrestricted, Unlimited talk, text, & Data.
They never get throttled, and I know how they use their phones, streaming videos, movies, music, & sports, plus constantly surfing the net, they gotta be using some major GB's of Data!

 

[KeithP]

Ya know what would be grand? Sliders on the talk/text/data, where you could customize exactly what you want. Pick a plan at whatever price you want, then tweak the services to reflect your uses. I guess that would be too customer-centric though, and we couldn't have that...

That is pretty much what Ting does. https://ting.com/plans

Unfortunately they are on the Sprint network and as of right now, although they don't subsidize the phone, you still have to but it from them.

-Keith

 

[disappoint]

<3 My DroidX on Page Plus. They should get (if they don't have already) a Wifi router so they can download updates and apps at home off the network.

 

[drebo]

We use MetroPCS. If you can deal with getting TB every time you have to go to one of their stores, it's great and cheap.