We are in between of changing a cell phone provider. My husband had a contract with the Nextel, he provided a frequency some time ago, and we had free service for more than 10 years. Then the company was sold twice, and finally a new owner Sprint lost our information and shut us off the service. We are fishing around trying to find the most economical yet a good quality service. We need 5 phones total. If you are happy with your provider, can you please share your experience? Thank you:love:
I've had a Verizon family share plan for ... I dunno? 8 years, maybe? It's something like 4 phones for $100-ish, and then $10 for each additional after that? After adding the data plan for my dh's smart phone and stuff like that, it ends up being around $130-150/mo. We have unlimited calling to other Verizon customers, too. We don't have a texting plan because it's just me, dh, and the in-laws. No one cares about texting. I'll upgrade to something fancy soon for business, but I've always used whatever cheap phone they'd give me free.
We don't have one. We have a track phone for emergencies/traveling. Now that Rachael is driving, we were talking about getting another one. Well, she babysat for friends that don't have a land-line. They bought a cheap track phone for her to use if needed while she was there, and told us we could just keep in when done and buy minutes as needed, so that's what we did.
We have Verizon and are very happy. We have 2Verizon smart phones with unlimited everything, though, so our bill with all the taxes and such end up clos to $250 a month. You can get much cheaper plans of course. We have unlmtd because we don't have a landline. Their coverage and service are great.
We have US Cellular. We left awhile back, went to Verizon, realized how much more expensive they were than USC, and went back to USC. We both have smart phones/androids (me and DH), unlimited everything (texting, data/internet, etc.), and pay about $120 a month. With their new 'belief plans' it's really a decent package and you are not locked into contracts. We have never had any issues with their customer service. They are one of few companies that we praise for their customer service. We have had zero issues and wish we would have never left in the first place.
Really? You have never heard of US Cellular??? Girl, look them up to see if they are in your area. They are comparable to Verizon (only less expensive, I personally think)...they are everywhere and the coverage is wide as well.
Yes, $120 for both (give or take a dollar or two). I should add, that hubby does get a small discount through his employer, but even without the discount it would come to be about $135 a month once you add the tax and everything. That is for two andriod phones with texting/data/internet.
Ours is a local company well local to some states near us. It is Union Wireless, since Verizon, At&T, Sprint, and so on do not cover in my area. We have 3 phones with a shared 800 anytime min, unlimited nights and weekends, top 10 unlimited, unlimited texted, unlimited internet/data. We pay about $165 a month that also includes insurance on our phones too. The plan itself before tax is 100 a month.
Thank you Jen Pooh. We will check this one out today, and see if it will work for us Thank you Jo Anna
Having worked in the industry for a while, I can tell you that the coverage and reliability of AT&T and Verizon are by far the best. They are the companies we love to hate, because they are giants, but with their size comes the ability to invest. Sprint has really struggled, especially since the Nextel acquisition, and their coverage is a bit of an issue. Accepted wisdom is that Verizon is stronger in the north and AT&T is stronger in the south (representing their roots as companies). If you don't plan to use your phones outside the city in which you live, do consider one of the smaller companies. They stay close to the community and work hard to earn your trust. If you roam, though, you'd pay a high price if sticking with a local company.
The industry is broken up into tiers. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile are the Tier-1 operators and have a national presence. Then you have US Cellular, Cricket, and Metro PCS among the Tier-2 companies. They are big but don't have a national footprint. Then come some of the regional operators: CellSouth, nTelos, Appalachian, Bluegrass, and so on. Finally, there are some very small, local companies - especially in the rural areas. Among the specialty prepaid operators, the biggest are Virgin and Tracfone.
I don't know if I'd put USC in the same tier as Cricket or those other ones! Egads! :lol: They are aweful! LOL Ivanna, here is their website. You could probably check to see if they have a store in your area and what their coverage is like there to see if it would work for your area. http://www.uscellular.com/cell-phones/index.html
I actually have had both AT&T and Verizon, and Verizon has much better coverage here in the southeast US. Not that AT&T isn't good, but there are many places (esp in the more rural areas) that VZ picks up better.
We had a bit of a "problem" with AT&T few years ago, as our house phone providers. We have a summer property, where no one used to leave beofre we rented it. Our phone bill at that time will be screwed all the time - no one lived there yet they we had been charged monthly for the mysterious phone calls here and there. And find out anything, or argue with them was absolutely impossible for they would provide some phone ##s that we "called" from our phone - period. So we shut them off eventually, and that how our trust was broken. Still looking. Came across Boost, as the cheapest on in the area. Have anyone heard of it??
Boost is certainly on the rise. People love the idea of not having a contract AND getting more affordable service. I've yet to see ANY company that beats their prices (even US Cellular is at least $35 a month more expensive for the unlimited plans). However.... Their customer service seems to leave something to be desired. If you have a problem with your phone (if it's defective and you have to return it), it takes 8 weeks for a refund. You have to rebuy a phone. In other words, no simple exchanges. I've heard goodish things about Straight Talk.
Boost is the prepaid arm of Sprint. Incidentally, the old AT&T went out of business. The old Southwestern Bell group (which bought BellSouth, Cingular, and others) bought the name. Depending on how long ago was your bad experience, we may be talking a different company. For sure, the old AT&T (and the old AT&T Wireless) were as arrogant and unhelpful as they come. This little video will set you straight.
We had a LOT of issues with AT&T as well when we used them for our landline and internet. I refuse to go back unless I really 'have' to. Never heard of Boost.
Same here. Dh has a reloadable phone from 7-11. I have had several cell phones in the past and even went the route of Palm 360 for a couple years. I am so happy to be cell-free now. I just borrow dh's phone when I drive the car
