I had another thread asking best service in MS, I appreciate the responses. I now ask about the month to month plans. Anyone know a good one? I've been looking into Visible by Verizon, but I can't seen to find cost. All I've seen is "as low as $25/month", but I'm sure my bill would be more. Any experience with these type plans?
Ot: Another cell service thread
- Thread starter tired
- Start date
I’ll say this,I’ve had AT&T,C Spire and now Verizon and of course they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I’ve had Verizon now for over ten years and they are absolutely getting worse! Nowhere near as good as they use to be but yet they keep talking how good their coverage is. Anytime my wife,kids and I are out in just about any small town or rural area our coverage sux.
Visible is $40/mo flat rate. You can join a “party” of up to 4 people. Each person that joins makes the bill for each line drop by $5/mo. Each line is it’s own bill in cases of family “plans”. Basically if you have 4 lines, you, spouse, 2 kids, you’ll have 4 bills each month.
1 line: $40/mo
2 lines: $35/mo each
3 lines: $30/mo each
4 lines: $25/mo each
Service uses Verizon towers but it is lowest on the priority list.
1 line: $40/mo
2 lines: $35/mo each
3 lines: $30/mo each
4 lines: $25/mo each
Service uses Verizon towers but it is lowest on the priority list.
I wouldn’t say a “no go”. I’m just explaining how it works. I had it as a 2nd line sim in my iPhone 3-4 years ago. It worked ok. I had times when I had full bars but couldn’t make a call but it was less than a year old I believe when I tried it. Have family that have it and they get by on it.
Cricket service works similar on AT&T network. I don’t know their billing though.
It really depends on where you live, where you go as to what service meets your needs.
Cricket service works similar on AT&T network. I don’t know their billing though.
It really depends on where you live, where you go as to what service meets your needs.
I just changed 1 phone of our 3 phones from AT&T to Puretalk. I plan on testing my phone before swapping all three over. Puretalk uses the AT&T network.
I think they will slow your speed down a little in congested areas. With just my 1 plan I get 4gb data for $26 per month. We'll see how it goes.
I think they will slow your speed down a little in congested areas. With just my 1 plan I get 4gb data for $26 per month. We'll see how it goes.
My past experience with Verizon coverage in rural areas of central MS was ****, to say the least. A complete no go for me.
I'm on AT&T and the coverage is much, much better.
I'm on AT&T and the coverage is much, much better.
I've tried several prepaid services - Long story about why I switched to this model, but I'm glad I did.
Cricket: great service on AT&T towers. Only reason I changed was because they limit data speeds (data throttling) I think they have a $60 plan that no longer throttles data
Visible: Great idea of using cloud/software based switching instead of physical equipment. Join a party pay account from Reddit and you only pay $25 per month. Also get referral codes to get discounts each month. You get others to join and in theory can pay $5 per month. I changed from this because I travel a lot and sometimes the phone would have issues and say "no service". I would have to cycle airplane mode off/on to get signal back. They have been working to correct it and my daughter is still using Visible in Denver area (this is where one of there "cloud switch" nodes is located).
Straight Talk: Same issue as cricket except they seemed to be further de-prioritized.
US Mobile: Uses T-mobile and Verizon networks (you choose one in the beginning, not both). One of the best MVNOs with 50 GB of data before throttle.
AT&T prepaid: this is what I am using now. Getting monthly service directly from the carrier solves several issues with de-prioritization and data throttling. Currently have the $65 unlimited plan with $15 discount for using autopay and I have my wife on the $300 yearly plan. (Tip: If you use a $300 AT&T gift card to pay for service you don't pay tax)
Go check out bestmnvo.com for great info.
Cricket: great service on AT&T towers. Only reason I changed was because they limit data speeds (data throttling) I think they have a $60 plan that no longer throttles data
Visible: Great idea of using cloud/software based switching instead of physical equipment. Join a party pay account from Reddit and you only pay $25 per month. Also get referral codes to get discounts each month. You get others to join and in theory can pay $5 per month. I changed from this because I travel a lot and sometimes the phone would have issues and say "no service". I would have to cycle airplane mode off/on to get signal back. They have been working to correct it and my daughter is still using Visible in Denver area (this is where one of there "cloud switch" nodes is located).
Straight Talk: Same issue as cricket except they seemed to be further de-prioritized.
US Mobile: Uses T-mobile and Verizon networks (you choose one in the beginning, not both). One of the best MVNOs with 50 GB of data before throttle.
AT&T prepaid: this is what I am using now. Getting monthly service directly from the carrier solves several issues with de-prioritization and data throttling. Currently have the $65 unlimited plan with $15 discount for using autopay and I have my wife on the $300 yearly plan. (Tip: If you use a $300 AT&T gift card to pay for service you don't pay tax)
Go check out bestmnvo.com for great info.
I’ve had Verizon for years after years of ATT. Our cell service has deteriorated tremendously in the past 9-12 months. The is the reason I was given by a friend that works for ATT but not the cellular side. The government mandated that cell service was a god given right and different carriers has to share their towers and provide roaming coverage in order to better serve rural areas. That mandate expired about a year ago so the carriers have shifted all their service to their own customers due to the increase in data usage. So if you are Verizon and are close enough to a Verizon tower but closer to a ATT tower, your phone is trying to get the strongest signal and is pinging the ATT tower. Being a rival customer you are waiting in line for diminished service and vice versa. No idea if this is true but it makes some sense. Each carrier is providing substandard service to other carriers in hopes you swap services. All I know is my Verizon service has gotten sketchy in places I’ve always had great service.
Unfortunately this is not how it works. Different carriers use different bands and frequencies and your phone is only going to pick up your carrier. What can change over time is the addition of new towers and vectored antennas that can change coverage area. Check out cellmapper.net, select provider (scroll down to United States) and then you can see the towers on the map. Click on a green dot and you can see the vectored coverage area.
I do work in engineering for a major wireless carrier, and this is all complete and total hogwash.
I'm a firm believer in "you get what you pay for", these discounted phone services are cheaper for a reason. I'm always looking for a better deal but not at the expense of poor coverage, poor phone selection, poor customer service, throttled speeds, no local location for service, etc. I've been w/ ATT for about 8 years I guess now after being w/ CSpire for 14. Not once in the past 8 years have I had to call customer service and gripe or complain about any of the above, our phones all just work. That's well worth a few extra $$ to me. I'm amazed every time I read the threads on Reddit about SIM swapping, porting to another company for 30 days then moving again, getting a Google Voice number to forward to, etc, etc, and then they complain because they are having issues and can't find a store to go to or anyone that speaks good English to help them.
I had cricket for a while but recently switched to get on a company plan.
Cricket was 60 a month, completely unlimited, and I always had the same service as people with Verizon and AT&T.
Cricket was 60 a month, completely unlimited, and I always had the same service as people with Verizon and AT&T.
If the discount services ever don't work, it's pretty easy to move to a major carrier. Unless you choose to buy a phone that is not compatible with a major carrier, you just cancel your discount carrier and pop in a new sim card and you're good to go. I have had as good as service as when we had Verizon and save around $500 dollars a year for basically zero effort. We do have IPADs through work, so that makes it easier to rely on the budget phone personally. But if we ever have a problem, we'll just move over to a work plan then.
Just from observations on all my various social media feeds, they ALL suck eventually. People switch and then eventually get pissed off all over again. That's the main reason I've just stuck with ATT all these years. It's just not worth the hassle of changing just to eventually run into the same problems. Has ATT royally pissed me off, absolutely, more than once. We just had another episode with them.
It's amazing what people say about this again and again. It's like there are little independent sales guys coming on here trying to sell ****. It's never true
My Verizon service in Starkville has been getting worse and worse over the past 2 (if not 3) years. I’m hoping it’s because they’re getting ready to flip on the 5G around here, but I highly doubt it and am about ready to switch the family to another service. Service definitely used to be great, but now having a signal is hit and miss just driving around town.
It's amazing the garbage I've heard about our own network from our own sales people. Just no idea what they're talking about.
I've had Puretalk now for 6 months and it's working well and I cut my cost in half. I had Verizon before and I don't see any difference in service. I do the 6 GB plan for $30 and with 2 phones and 10% discount, my bill is $60 including tax. ATT did away with Uverse in my area and installed fiber cable at the same price but that killed my home phone (they installed the modem on second floor and my phone system answering machine had to plug into modem...which I couldn't do. Who wants to go upstairs to check messages?)
We have two phones on Verizon. Recently, we both got new iPhone 13 Max and changed plans to one that Verizon has for seniors (55+). My total bill, including all fees, both phones, unlimited talk, text, and data (we have 5g here) is about $121. I think that's pretty good.
Before, it was about $96 for one iPhone 7, one iPhone 8 Plus, with 2 GB data and unlimited talk and text. So basically, I get unlimited data and 2 new phones for $25/month additional.
No trouble at all with Verizon here. On a trip, there will be occasional very rural areas where there's no service, but those areas are few and far between.
Before, it was about $96 for one iPhone 7, one iPhone 8 Plus, with 2 GB data and unlimited talk and text. So basically, I get unlimited data and 2 new phones for $25/month additional.
No trouble at all with Verizon here. On a trip, there will be occasional very rural areas where there's no service, but those areas are few and far between.
Not to highjack, but at one time Ceasefire Phones would not work on other networks. Is that still the case, or can I easily move my iPhone 12 to another carrier?
Verizon started limiting old plans more in their high volume congested areas unless you pay for a premium plan. So they say anyhow. Mine hasn't been to bad unless I'm jumping between 5g and other towers.
I would rather have better nationwide coverage than coverage in the middle of nowhere. Being reliant on another companies tower in high contested area sucks when you need the data coverage.
Never had a problem with Verizon costumer service. Att always sucked and the way they do their sales pitches are terrible. Verizon had bad salesman too but it hasn't been near as bad. Bill is exactly the same every month also
I would rather have better nationwide coverage than coverage in the middle of nowhere. Being reliant on another companies tower in high contested area sucks when you need the data coverage.
Never had a problem with Verizon costumer service. Att always sucked and the way they do their sales pitches are terrible. Verizon had bad salesman too but it hasn't been near as bad. Bill is exactly the same every month also
It's amazing to me that people will act like their time is worth several hundred dollars an hour or that a potential 1,000%+ return isn't worth shelling out under a $100. My phone works exactly the same way now. I just pay half of what I was paying before. I'm sure there would be locations where it wouldn't do that, but it seems pretty low risk to try. I paid like $10 for two SIM cards and put them into phones we already had and paid $60 for one months service. After a few days of confirming it worked, we cancelled our verizon service. So for about 15 minutes of time and $70, we saved $720 a year, now going on three years (although I think the verizon plans may have come down some since then, so it may not be $60 a month savings now). That's certainly not life changing or anything, but it's so easy, why not?
I'm certainly just as irrational on other things, but for ongoing expenses at least, I try to optimize them. And cell service seems like the best bang for your buck out there. Unlike with say TV/internet service, you don't have to call and haggle or change plans every year or so.
If you're over 55 T-Mobile has some great plans my wife and I have a $35 a month plan and if I had no problems so far here in Texas.
https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/unlimited-55-senior-discount-plans
https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/unlimited-55-senior-discount-plans
Not trying to change subjects but two years ago my family went to Arizona and Utah. We decided to travel through NAVJO Reservation to MOAB Utah. We all have Cspire. My wife and two kids have iPhone. I have Samsung Galaxy. I never lost cell service but all three of them did and didn't get it back for three hours.
When I recently got a new phone, the guy at the C Spire store said Apple has quit trying to improve their antennas/reception at all and instead strictly focus on features and a better camera, so this checks out to me.
It makes me wonder if that why it seems every time we have one of these threads all anyone seems to say is that whatever carrier they're with has bad service.
Can confirm, i have a iPhone 12 and son has an android. At deer camp I get zero reception, but he can still text and surf the web.
Both my kids have iPhones and I have had Samsung Galaxy's for the last 10+ years and I always have better service than my kids do no matter where we are
Latest posts
Get unlimited access today.