Mint Mobile or other "budget" carriers?

[piratecat]

I've had Verizon my whole life and the reception and speed on my prepaid plan has not been great lately. I know that switching to one of their regular plans will probably help but I really don't want to spend that much more than what I pay now. Mint Mobile seems to have good prices and they're on the T-mobile network, which I've heard has good coverage in our area. Any experience with Mint or other smaller carriers?

[thechickencoop]

I've had Verizons regular plan forever and it was just getting too stupid expensive. I just switched to a local carrier that uses Verizons network and it's SO CHEAP and coverage has been perfect.

The switch itself was a huge pain in the ass though because something with samsung updates and causing issues with their Sim cards or some bs. It took a full 24 hours for my full service and data to be activates which was....not ideal. But whatever. All good now.

Only thing I would do is just check maybe on your local fb page or something for t mobile coverage reviews? Because like, in my town, t mobile has a crap ton a dead zones in places that I frequent so that would never work here.

[piratecat]

Jan 25, 2024 11:21:41 GMT -6 thechickencoop said:

I've had Verizons regular plan forever and it was just getting too stupid expensive. I just switched to a local carrier that uses Verizons network and it's SO CHEAP and coverage has been perfect.

The switch itself was a huge pain in the ass though because something with samsung updates and causing issues with their Sim cards or some bs. It took a full 24 hours for my full service and data to be activates which was....not ideal. But whatever. All good now.

Only thing I would do is just check maybe on your local fb page or something for t mobile coverage reviews? Because like, in my town, t mobile has a crap ton a dead zones in places that I frequent so that would never work here.

I did check our local FB group and there are a lot of complaints about Verizon coverage even with the regular plans and it seems T-mobile has the best reviews in our area. My husband has Google Fi, which he's been happy with, but I like the idea of diversifying coverage, especially in more rural areas. 

[piratecat]

They have pretty bad reviews online so I'm a little nervous about it.

[spicysalmonroll]

My husband lets me pick the cheap or generic version like 90% of the time in life, but he took a stand on cell phones and good coverage lol (so we have verizon regular). Not sure why you'd necessarily want to diversify when family and grouped lines are usually a little cheaper.

ETA my brother has some plan the he paid like $30 for an entire year and he never complains about it lol 

[piratecat]

Jan 25, 2024 12:19:57 GMT -6 spicysalmonroll said:

My husband lets me pick the cheap or generic version like 90% of the time in life, but he took a stand on cell phones and good coverage lol (so we have verizon regular). Not sure why you'd necessarily want to diversify when family and grouped lines are usually a little cheaper.

We’re in rural areas not infrequently so being on different networks can sometimes mean at least one of us has coverage while the other doesn’t and it’s not always the same person. Although I guess Google is also on T-mobile network so we wouldn’t be diversifying in this case. So maybe I should just get on Google.

[piratecat]

Jan 25, 2024 12:19:57 GMT -6 spicysalmonroll said:

My husband lets me pick the cheap or generic version like 90% of the time in life, but he took a stand on cell phones and good coverage lol (so we have verizon regular). Not sure why you'd necessarily want to diversify when family and grouped lines are usually a little cheaper.

ETA my brother has some plan the he paid like $30 for an entire year and he never complains about it lol 

I think AT&T has/had a deal like that but I hear their coverage sucks in our area too.

[beersandweirs]

I have had various budget carriers over the years and been mostly satisfied. I have Metro by T-Mobile right now and it's $25/month for unlimited.

My husband has mint mobile and also seems to like it.

If T-Mobile is good in your area, I think it would probably suit you just fine.

[elle]

We had been with Verizon for forever until switching to Mint this past spring/summer. Mostly prompted by Verizon having terrible coverage in the area we moved to (vs when we lived in SoCal) including at our new house. It just wasn't working at all and we were paying way too much for the "privilege" of crappy coverage. So far Mint has been great. Love the price and T-Mobile had the best network in our area so it's a win all around.

[trueblue]

We use cricket (who uses AT&T towers) no complaints apart from times of natural disaster (hurricanes) that take down the power grid and service gets real sketchy real fast.

Since there is a disclaimer buried deep in Cricket’s literature that AT&T will deprioritize cricket traffic in favor of AT&T customers when network congestion happens I always wonder whether that was the cause the sketchy post storm service or it was just normal storm aftermath stuff (towers went down without battery back up, first responders take bandwidth priority regardless of carrier around here (as they should) I don’t know.

But 364.75 days out of 365 I am very happy with our $30 per line unlimited everything with free HBO Max (with ads) access.

[miawallace]

I use ting. You bring your own unlocked phone and pay month to month for either unlimited or tiers for whatever you use.
I just like that there’s not contract. Fuck contracts.

[piratecat]

Jan 25, 2024 12:33:08 GMT -6 beersandweirs said:

I have had various budget carriers over the years and been mostly satisfied. I have Metro by T-Mobile right now and it's $25/month for unlimited.

My husband has mint mobile and also seems to like it.

If T-Mobile is good in your area, I think it would probably suit you just fine.

Are you able to use your phone as a hot spot on Metro? I didn’t see anything about that but it looks good otherwise.

I don’t get these budget carriers BY major carriers. What are you not getting and/or why can’t they make their service affordable for everyone?

[beersandweirs]

Jan 25, 2024 16:09:58 GMT -6 piratecat said:

Jan 25, 2024 12:33:08 GMT -6 beersandweirs said:

I have had various budget carriers over the years and been mostly satisfied. I have Metro by T-Mobile right now and it's $25/month for unlimited.

My husband has mint mobile and also seems to like it.

If T-Mobile is good in your area, I think it would probably suit you just fine.

Are you able to use your phone as a hot spot on Metro? I didn’t see anything about that but it looks good otherwise.

I don’t get these budget carriers BY major carriers. What are you not getting and/or why can’t they make their service affordable for everyone?

I have the ability to mobile hot spot, but I think it also depends on the plan you pick.

I think what you are missing with budget carriers is lack of physical stores and not as good customer service. Also, as mentioned above, your data can be deprioritized, but I've never had any issues.

[trueblue]

Jan 25, 2024 16:09:58 GMT -6 piratecat said:

Jan 25, 2024 12:33:08 GMT -6 beersandweirs said:

I have had various budget carriers over the years and been mostly satisfied. I have Metro by T-Mobile right now and it's $25/month for unlimited.

My husband has mint mobile and also seems to like it.

If T-Mobile is good in your area, I think it would probably suit you just fine.

Are you able to use your phone as a hot spot on Metro? I didn’t see anything about that but it looks good otherwise.

I don’t get these budget carriers BY major carriers. What are you not getting and/or why can’t they make their service affordable for everyone?

IMO it’s the same reason people buy brand name when product recalls have established the generic product is made in the same facility, presumably with the same ingredients. Status symbol? Perceived quality differences? Brand loyalty? Also the perceived hassles of porting your number over, even though it’s usually OK or the pain is short lived.

*based on a sample of 1: my mom who hates what she pays Verizon each month but won’t switch even with each of her kids having offered to handle it for her.

[origami]

I used T-Mobile prepaid for years and it's great if there's coverage and if mint is on that I'd think it would be just fine.

I'm on T-Mobile family plan now and three lines is 90 bucks before taxes so I can't complain.

[Yogurt]

I pay 120 per YEAR for my husband and I on Mint. I don't get great service in my house on the t mobile network, but for $120 per year I nocurrr

[thechickencoop]

Jan 25, 2024 15:24:29 GMT -6 miawallace said:

I use ting. You bring your own unlocked phone and pay month to month for either unlimited or tiers for whatever you use.
I just like that there’s not contract. Fuck contracts.

Oh That's funny, ting is what I just switched to too but I didn't name it because they're only local to a few spot I thought.

My fiber internet is through them and so my phone is only $10 a month per line for unlimited everything. I have a Hotspot too but it toggles down at a certain usage point.

[fatpony]

We switched to Ting based on Mia's recommendation. We pay about $100/month for four lines. No service issues.

[beatch]

My husband had a cheaper carrier (not Mint, I forgot the name), but he had constant issues and in the end he could NOT port out his number. We tried for hours and just gave up. He finally went back to a regular carrier (T-Mobile) and his coverage/service has been fine.

[piratecat]

Oh I guess T-mobile is buying Mint and others so I don’t know what that means.

[piratecat]

Jan 26, 2024 5:34:54 GMT -6 beatch said:

My husband had a cheaper carrier (not Mint, I forgot the name), but he had constant issues and in the end he could NOT port out his number. We tried for hours and just gave up. He finally went back to a regular carrier (T-Mobile) and his coverage/service has been fine.

I’ve heard that happening with others and that’s probably my biggest concern if I were not happy with it and couldn’t leave with my number. So he just had to get a new number??

[cnf]

We switched from Verizon to Google Fi about two years ago. It's significantly cheaper and they utilize like 3 or 4 different networks. We get way more, like unlimited data and hotspotting, than we got on Verizon for way less money. We cut our bill in half and that was with us having a capped data plan previously.

We've had zero issues with service, the coverage is great. It was an easy switch, though there is a slight delay when you do switch. They say up to 24 hours, but I don't think we had more than a couple hours of lag time. Not long enough for me to remember, so it must not have been long.

I don't know if they're budget per say, but they are way cheaper.

Because it's Google it comes with 100gv of Google cloud storage and YouTube Premium.

ETA I was curious and looked. We pay $110 a month for two phones (and our watches too at no additional cost, ie we don't need our phones to use our watches for calls, texts, whatever) and we have the most expensive plan they offer. For context.

[beatch]

Jan 26, 2024 6:16:31 GMT -6 piratecat said:

Jan 26, 2024 5:34:54 GMT -6 beatch said:

My husband had a cheaper carrier (not Mint, I forgot the name), but he had constant issues and in the end he could NOT port out his number. We tried for hours and just gave up. He finally went back to a regular carrier (T-Mobile) and his coverage/service has been fine.

I’ve heard that happening with others and that’s probably my biggest concern if I were not happy with it and couldn’t leave with my number. So he just had to get a new number??

Yep. We were in T-Mobile for hours and it couldn't get resolved. The biggest PITA is all of his accounts were tied to his old phone number so when they send out texts to authenticate it's an issue. The service he had was Visible.

[GhoatMonket]

Jan 25, 2024 16:09:58 GMT -6 piratecat said:

Jan 25, 2024 12:33:08 GMT -6 beersandweirs said:

I have had various budget carriers over the years and been mostly satisfied. I have Metro by T-Mobile right now and it's $25/month for unlimited.

My husband has mint mobile and also seems to like it.

If T-Mobile is good in your area, I think it would probably suit you just fine.

Are you able to use your phone as a hot spot on Metro? I didn’t see anything about that but it looks good otherwise.

I don’t get these budget carriers BY major carriers. What are you not getting and/or why can’t they make their service affordable for everyone?

Same reason hotel chains have different levels of room types. In the end you are still staying at a Marriott, but there's differences between a Fairfield, Renaissance, or Sheraton. It's diversification and being able to provide to multiple consumer groups.

[gimmeaQ]

I used Consumer Cellular for YEARS with no complaint.

The only reason I switched was bc they didn't support the Apple Watch cellular when I got that. I now use Xfinity mobile (I know) but I pay $30 a month for both phone and watch service.

[piratecat]

Jan 26, 2024 6:32:17 GMT -6 cnf said:

We switched from Verizon to Google Fi about two years ago. It's significantly cheaper and they utilize like 3 or 4 different networks. We get way more, like unlimited data and hotspotting, than we got on Verizon for way less money. We cut our bill in half and that was with us having a capped data plan previously.

We've had zero issues with service, the coverage is great. It was an easy switch, though there is a slight delay when you do switch. They say up to 24 hours, but I don't think we had more than a couple hours of lag time. Not long enough for me to remember, so it must not have been long.

I don't know if they're budget per say, but they are way cheaper.

Because it's Google it comes with 100gv of Google cloud storage and YouTube Premium.

ETA I was curious and looked. We pay $110 a month for two phones (and our watches too at no additional cost, ie we don't need our phones to use our watches for calls, texts, whatever) and we have the most expensive plan they offer. For context.

My husband switched to Google many years ago and has been happy with them. It’s not cheaper than my prepaid plan with Verizon but I would love better service.

[McBenny]

Jan 25, 2024 16:09:58 GMT -6 piratecat said:

Jan 25, 2024 12:33:08 GMT -6 beersandweirs said:

I have had various budget carriers over the years and been mostly satisfied. I have Metro by T-Mobile right now and it's $25/month for unlimited.

My husband has mint mobile and also seems to like it.

If T-Mobile is good in your area, I think it would probably suit you just fine.

Are you able to use your phone as a hot spot on Metro? I didn’t see anything about that but it looks good otherwise.

I don’t get these budget carriers BY major carriers. What are you not getting and/or why can’t they make their service affordable for everyone?

I was able to with Metro but I was paying a $60 a month plan for 2 phones and mine was hotspot. This could vary by area. 

[McBenny]

I had only used budget and prepaid plans with probably every company by now. I never had issues. I loved the no contract. I loved the no commitment. MH made me get on a plan and a contract. I am also not a person that marries a cell phone number. I will switch that bitch like nothing. Shit, I have switched my number even when I stayed with the same company and stuff. Once I get too many spam calls and too many numbers to block I will switch.

It's been like 5 years since my last number change but I would do it again. I am not married or loyal to no number or carrier. I used to be. That was younger me. Verizon fucked over me and never again. I shop plans and deals all the time. I have been with AT&T for a minute now.

The worst company I have to say I have been with so far was Sprint. Just sucked and customer service was no help and like "oh well."

[robotsvswrestlers]

I switched from Verizon to our internet company (Spectrum) and it's been fine. They use Verizon's network, so coverage is the same. And the price was less than half what I was paying. For $30/line/month, I get unlimited data. Catch is I have to keep them for my internet, but I don't have many options where I live, so that's not an issue.

[piratecat]

Jan 27, 2024 6:02:01 GMT -6 robotsvswrestlers said:

I switched from Verizon to our internet company (Spectrum) and it's been fine. They use Verizon's network, so coverage is the same. And the price was less than half what I was paying. For $30/line/month, I get unlimited data. Catch is I have to keep them for my internet, but I don't have many options where I live, so that's not an issue.

We have spectrum for internet and it’s garbage but no other options. I’m excited for fiber optics at the new house.