Discussion Mobile Providers

[bob4432]

Tired of paying the outrageous price that GoogleFi charges (2-3 phones, only use 2) for $90/mo - have tried other plans and they get you on the data even though I am on Wi-Fi 90% of the time.

Started looking around at carriers like Boost Mobile and for $15/mo per line I can get unlimited talk/text & 5GB of data. That amount of data is more than enough since I am on WI-FI most of the time.

Question is how is Boost Mobile? I understand they use T-Mobile & AT&T for their network and support 5G so coverage should be good as I am covered by both T-Mobile & AT&T heavily, but how is it for those that actually use it?

Phones that would be used would be a iPhone SE 3rd Gen & either a iPhone XS or 13.

Appreciate your responses!

 

[Tech Junky]

Tello is my next venture to switch to esim. $15/mo for 5gb and none of the other fees or taxes to deal with. You can go as low as $5/mo with limited data and unlimited talk/text but add the fees and taxes back. The key to a flat rate is data only

I use one plus and get great speeds normally 600/100 in my market. I've had the op6/8/11 and they all work great on T-Mobile network. I've tested them on VZW as well and that just sucked in terms of speed

I even use TMO for home internet and cut all cords at this point.

Boost is under dish now and was using TMO during the transition period while they setup their own network but, I think they made agreements with att for the time being.

Wikipedia has a list of mvno carriers and which network they use. In terms of speed TMO wins hand down though unless you're in a small pocket where you might get mmwave signals from either att or VZW.

 

[BoomerD]

Consider Visible as well. $25/month (IIRC) and runs on the Verizon network.

 

[biostud]

I pay ~$21/month for unlimited speech, 40GB data, 5G and Tidal subscription with CBB.

 

[lxskllr]

I had Boost in the past, and now have Walmart(tracfone) with no complaints regarding either. I liked Boost cause you paid the sticker price. If your plan was $50, you paid $50. My $50 walmart plan is $54 and some change due to taxes/fees.

 

[manly]

Like many MVNOs, Boost Mobile has a pretty bad reputation for customer service.

I use and recommend T-Mobile Connect's $15 plan. The refill cards go on sale 8 times a year at Target for 10% off, so your net monthly cost becomes $13.50 all-in. 3.5GB of monthly data, plenty for the OP. It's a hard limit (it won't just degrade to a slow rate).

https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans/connect

 

[snoopy7548]

That looks pretty good. I currently have Tracfone but wanting to switch to US Mobile for their $12/month plan (unlimited talk/text and 2GB of data), but that T-Mobile Connect looks good too.

A plus for US Mobile is they give you 100 days of free service when you port in a number.

 

[Tech Junky]

A plus for US Mobile is they give you 100 days of free service when you port in a number.

Yeah, BUT, it's on the VZW network only.

Tello Mobile | The mobile carrier you deserve | No fees, whatsoever

Build your own plan with minutes, texts and data starting at only $5/month. No contract, no hidden fees! You can also buy a new phone from Tello or bring your own mobile. It's all up to you.

tello.com

You can slide things around depending on what you want to use / pay for.

If you need data for a sudden trip you just buy a new plan and it's effective immediately for a new billing cycle. Then you just select the original again before the plan month ends.

0 mins / 0 SMS / 0 data is even an option as well you can do PayGO for $20+ and get billed per min / MB / SMS

 

[soulcougher73]

I’m on Mint which uses tmobiles network. $180/year, or $15/m. It’s been good. t-mobile just bought Mint though. didnt like the competition i guess.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I do TF. I've tried various plans. Currently using one at $18 for three months. All I need.

That Tello thing looks interesting for the DSL backup I've been wondering about though. Have a connection available and just activate when needed. Do they do tethering or similar to run a PC?

 

[bob4432]

Thanks for the suggestions, think I am going to go with the T-Mobile Connect plan as it has more than what I need and can get rid of this GoogleFi rip off. Just need to move my numbers over to T-Mobile.

I have not done prepaid before, so can you add additional months worth of payments at once so I don't have to worry about it monthly?

 

[manly]

Thanks for the suggestions, think I am going to go with the T-Mobile Connect plan as it has more than what I need and can get rid of this GoogleFi rip off. Just need to move my numbers over to T-Mobile.

I have not done prepaid before, so can you add additional months worth of payments at once so I don't have to worry about it monthly?

If you don't mind, you can set up automatic payments to your credit card. Unlike some postpaid plans, the added fees are minimal, but for argument's sake let's say they'll charge you $17 per month.

Alternately you can buy refill cards at Target (or other retailers) and preload to your account. About 8-9 times a year, Target will discount these refills (for many carriers) by 10%; last time was a month ago:

Prepaid Wireless/Airtime Cards (Email Delivery): Spend $50, Get $5 Off (AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket & More)

Target is offering $5 Off $50 Prepaid Wireless/Airtime Cards (Email Delivery). Thanks to community member hmrambling for finding this deal Note, discount will appear in cart; must purcha ...

slickdeals.net

So you would pay Target.com $45 for a card that loads up $50 to your T-Mobile account. In effect, your monthly cost then becomes $13.50. You can preload as much value as you want; for my dad, we do a year at a time so he doesn't have to think about it. And with preloaded value, they will deduct a flat $15 per line monthly (no added fees).

My porting experience from Red Pocket to T-Mobile prepaid was smooth; it took a couple hours. I have in my notes that when you choose your T-Mobile account PIN online, make sure it's 6 digits. I have no idea why this is needed, but I read that somewhere. If you run into a porting issue, they have a dedicated porting department that seems to be U.S. based and more capable than your typical MVNO customer support (this was a top 2 reason I left Red Pocket).

As a complete aside, Spectrum Mobile is being very aggressive with trade-in deals for Pixel 7a or Samsung phones. I was mildly curious of taking up their offer, but I don't need a new phone at this time. Will probably just stick with T-Mobile Connect. Note that in March 2024, the monthly data cap goes up to 4GB (for the $15 plan). Then in 2025, it'll increase to 4.5GB (this was part of the deal they made with regulators when purchasing Sprint). Unfortunately, T-Mobile has gone from the Uncarrier to the top 5G network operator in the U.S. Despite consumers losing Sprint, MVNOs have helped drive prepaid plan costs down. We may look back in 5 years and see higher prices across the board.

 

[Muse]

Thanks for the suggestions, think I am going to go with the T-Mobile Connect plan as it has more than what I need and can get rid of this GoogleFi rip off. Just need to move my numbers over to T-Mobile.

I have not done prepaid before, so can you add additional months worth of payments at once so I don't have to worry about it monthly?

I do a yearly and no issues so far except it's for 360 days, not 365, so not forgetting the date to renew can be a problem (I had to change my number once). I renew at Ebay. I'm on Red Pocket, using Verizon transmission but it's an MVNO. I don't use data often, am on Wifi most of the time, never had an issue running out of data that I remember. I pay $100/year. Around the house I use 3 different android phones, just one is activated.

Mostly I limit phone to my landline (free with my ISP), unless I'm away from the house. It's partly because mobile reception in my neighborhood sucks, partly because everybody I care to hear from has my landline number, so...

 

[Tech Junky]

just activate when needed. Do they do tethering or similar to run a PC?

Tethering is available if your phone supports it or you have a fancy dongle. The issue then becomes unfettered data on a PC.

Unlimited data will get you 25GB of 5g/LTE speed and then drop off to 128k. On the other hand if you went pay go them you pay more per GB. In this case a 5G FWA plan would make more sense for $50/mo with literal unlimited data.

 

[bob4432]

Can you keep track of the data used in the T-Mobile app?

 

[Tech Junky]

Can you keep track of the data used in the T-Mobile app?

Each option has their own app for seeing data used. The FWA option has a measurement but, since it's actual unlimited data beyond the mvno soft caps it's irrelevant.

 

[nisryus]

Me and my kid are on Mint. Its $15 for 5 GB data a month. Since I refer my kid to join, I got a discount applied to my renewal.

So far connection has been good since its on T Mobile network. There is only one spot in my area that i got low connection, the Harley Davidson that is next door to the kid's school.

 

[manly]

Can you keep track of the data used in the T-Mobile app?

Yes either via online account management (OLAM) — Web site or mobile app — or by dialing #WEB#

I set up a warning on my device if it hits 3GB in a billing cycle, but because I don't stream video over mobile data, the warning has never triggered.

 

[bob4432]

Anybody familiar with T-Mobile Connect - If I was going to be out of town for a few days and know I was going to be using more data than normally on the $15 program, could I move to the $25 program just for the short time I need it & not the entire billing period, just the portion I need more data being prorated?

 

[Tech Junky]

Anybody familiar with T-Mobile Connect - If I was going to be out of town for a few days and know I was going to be using more data than normally on the $15 program, could I move to the $25 program just for the short time I need it & not the entire billing period, just the portion I need more data being prorated?

This is where Tello would accel. Just upgrade for the time being w/ a new plan period immediately and then switch plans back when done. Or add a bucket of pay as you go to fill the void and have that pay/go rollover when the new period starts.

 

[bob4432]

According to the T-Mobile site, it is a cap, so whenever I go over I am out of luck on the data and just have a talk/txt phone for the remaining time in that billing cycle. How would that work w/ a iPhone 14 with their SOS setup (I have not read the info re iPhone 14 SOS setup)? Could sh!t go so wrong you are out of luck on all data and really leave me screwed, granted a lot of things would have to go wrong, but my past has shown me they can.

I just put data counters on the 2 iPhones that will be going on T-Mobile so I can get a good ballpark where I am, but I have a pretty good idea as I am in WiFi 90% of the time easily.

 

[manly]

Anybody familiar with T-Mobile Connect - If I was going to be out of town for a few days and know I was going to be using more data than normally on the $15 program, could I move to the $25 program just for the short time I need it & not the entire billing period, just the portion I need more data being prorated?

No, you can't pro-rate a billing period like that. They do have a one week add-on data plan but I don't know what that costs (can't be too low). As noted, it is a hard cap so T-Mobile Connect isn't for everyone. I set a warning at 3GB on my Samsung Galaxy, and have yet to come close to it.

iPhone SOS utilizes some satellite infrastructure, so I don't think it relies on a cellular connection at all. There are many competitive MVNO plans these days; if a 3.5GB hard cap isn't right for you, there are other plans out there that will offer a lot more data.

 

[manly]

Prepaid refills $5 off $50 at Target:

Prepaid Wireless/Airtime Cards: Spend $50, Get $5 Off at Target $45

Target: Save $5 When You Spend $50 or More on Prepaid Airtime Cards. Tracfone Verizon Wireless Prepaid Total by Verizon AT&T Prepaid Cricket T-Mobile Prepaid Net10 Wireless Simple Mobile

slickdeals.net

Their fraud prevention system allows you to buy just two per day, but you have all week if you need to stock up.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

ChatBot say what?

 

[Tech Junky]

I started using circledin.com for my TMO plan and got unlimited everything plus 40GB tether for under $40/mo. They have groups for all carriers and different tiers of plans available. I cut my phone subscription as I use Google Voice and use the sim primarily for Internet which saves $15/mo off TMO home Internet as well. Plus I have faster speeds due to it being a phone sim with priority data. Cutting the phone plan is another $15/mo so, overall $70-80/no in savings.