Switching cell carriers

[spicysalmonroll]

Interesting. I had not heard of the autopay change so I just googled it and found out it's happening on all plans other than their most current one in effort to get everyone to switch to the new plan (if you switch you get the $10/line discount). That is super shitty because I'm sure the new plans cost more in the long run and I def have an older plan.
I've tried switching us around over the years and it never went well in my area. I always had dead spots with other carriers. As much as I hate verizon prices I have never had issues with their service. One suggestion that I have done in the past is switch to their pre-paid plans. They are showing one right now with unlimited for $50 a month with either an autopay discount or loyalty discount that builds over a few months. (my company now reimburses for my line so I don't have the cheapest one)

[sweptaway]

Sept 17, 2024 8:36:08 GMT -6 Nota🎃 said:

I feel like a newb, but I really think I need to switch my cell phone carrier.
I've been with Verizon for 15 years! Actually I was first with Alltel who Verizon bought.

Well Verizon is reducing their autopay discount next month. I'll be paying over $210 for 3 unlimited phone lines! Along with everything else going up in cost and no "raise" I need to save somewhere.

I would prefer to keep our numbers and phones. Our phones aren't even 2 years old yet! Kids' are paid in full, but I still owe on mine.

We're also in a home internet dead zone. We only have one provider available (who also keeps increasing price) none of the cell providers have home internet available in my area. So reliable cell service is a must

Help! Ideas, advice, horror stories, good reviews? I feel trapped

I have Verizon and my bill for 3 lines plus H's watch is 300/month now, going up to 325. $210 sounds like a steal to me! Why, Verizon (I guess cause we're still paying for mine and H's phones) 
We've also had them forever and ever. 

[sweptaway]

spicysalmonroll, same. We left verizon a long time ago for t-mobile but the coverage was awful. Switched back.

[piratecat]

I switched to a prepaid Verizon plan and my coverage/cell reception is pretty terrible. I know regular customers have network priority but also I get switched to SOS only in more rural areas constantly so I think there is less roaming coverage. I imagine it depends a lot on where you are. My H has Google Fi and their plans are pretty affordable and he has much better coverage (T-mobile network I think) at least where we are. They do have some limitations on phone compatibility if you're bringing your own.

[leahcar]

We switched from ATT to Verizon in early aughts for better service. We wanted new numbers at the time.

ATT offered us a really good deal so we switched back in 2017ish. They let us keep our numbers even though we were in a different geographic area. Technically- they gave me a credit on my bill and I owed money to Verizon to pay off my phone that had a balance on it. It balanced out though. (But that totally depends on what special they are offering at the time. I don't think they always offer that)

I think you work for a college? ATT offers education discounts. We swapped our plans to MH's name because their teacher discount is significant. We added 2 lines and 2 watches and still pay slightly less than we were paying before the teacher discount.

[beersandweirs]

I've been happy with metro by T-Mobile, but I live in the city, so service is not a concern. $25/month for unlimited.

[thechickencoop]

I would check on your local town Facebook pages if you can to see what people say about coverage, I feel like it's a pretty common question I see on ours here.

Verizon had been the only carrier with reliable coverage in my area for forever it seems BUT last year my internet provider started offering cell coverage using Verizons network. I switched to them and have not looked back. I only pay $10 a line now (WTF RIGHT??!) For mine and DS1s phones.

Both our phones are paid off, mine was annoying to switch but was fine after the initial issue, DS1 used to have another carrier prepaid plan and I had to get a whole new phone for him though because apparently the new sim card was completely incompatable with it because of that prepaid status or something??? So, just something stupid to look out for.

It's all such a racket, I don't understand the price discrepancy. But I always had to look for any and every discount Verizon offered because they were so stupid expensive.

[spottedprincess]

Coverage is really going to be dependent on your location. I had Verizon forever until they installed their 5G towers. We completely lost service at our house. We weren't the only ones, and had to switch to AT&T. I hate it though. It's crazy expensive and some of our devices wouldn't work with their service.

[mapleme]

We switched to Cricket a couple years ago and it's been great. Cricket is the budget ATT service. I've heard of people having their service deprioritized on the budget services, but I've never had that issue. For two plans plus 15G/month of hotspotting and international coverage (we go to Canada a lot), we pay $90/month.

[bobyn]

We left AT&T for T-Mobile last year, saving over $100/month and we got to keep our old numbers. I don't know about their coverage though, I've never really had a problem in the city.

[Sweetjane]

Sept 17, 2024 9:42:37 GMT -6 sweptaway said:

Sept 17, 2024 8:36:08 GMT -6 Nota🎃 said:

I feel like a newb, but I really think I need to switch my cell phone carrier.
I've been with Verizon for 15 years! Actually I was first with Alltel who Verizon bought.

Well Verizon is reducing their autopay discount next month. I'll be paying over $210 for 3 unlimited phone lines! Along with everything else going up in cost and no "raise" I need to save somewhere.

I would prefer to keep our numbers and phones. Our phones aren't even 2 years old yet! Kids' are paid in full, but I still owe on mine.

We're also in a home internet dead zone. We only have one provider available (who also keeps increasing price) none of the cell providers have home internet available in my area. So reliable cell service is a must

Help! Ideas, advice, horror stories, good reviews? I feel trapped

I have Verizon and my bill for 3 lines plus H's watch is 300/month now, going up to 325. $210 sounds like a steal to me! Why, Verizon (I guess cause we're still paying for mine and H's phones) 
We've also had them forever and ever. 

We have a family plan with ATT and it's about $365 for 4 phones 2 watches and an iPad. I've been researching plans as well and can't seem to make a switch yet. We're linked in with my mom so that's a whole other layer of nonsense.

[angelashly]

Sept 17, 2024 12:05:29 GMT -6 Nota🎃 said:

Not asking on FB local pages, but searching through others, besides spectrum, tmobile seems to be popular.
We are no longer rural, but in the burbs now so that helps. But the kids might still have to go out to the townships.

I would suggest really checking into T-Mobile first. T-Mobile is the worst in our area. H is thinking of switching. He had Sprint and then T-Mobile took over. My mil can barely get calls in her apartment or it sounds like she is a robot a lot.

So far Verizon is the best around here but for sure I pay for it. But for me, dd, and dd’s iPad and we still owe on DD’s phone and I do the Disney+ through them and I think Apple Music and I pay about $240 and I don’t do the automatic pay so I think your price is going to be about the same anywhere

[McBenny]

I agree with others to check in your area.

I have learned that there are no pros to stay with a company forever. I am also not a person that is married to a cell phone number. I used to be that person, and it just caused me to stay longer and overpay. I am not doing that anymore. It's not really that big of a deal when I have changed my number either. Everyone doesn't need or get the new number.

[beenthere]

We just switched from Verizon to Google Fi. Were paying 210 now paying 80

[GhoatMonket]

Sept 17, 2024 12:26:57 GMT -6 McBenny said:

I agree with others to check in your area.

I have learned that there are no pros to stay with a company forever. I am also not a person that is married to a cell phone number. I used to be that person, and it just caused me to stay longer and overpay. I am not doing that anymore. It's not really that big of a deal when I have changed my number either. Everyone doesn't need or get the new number.

Now I want to know who in this the year 2024 is not porting over numbers? 

If you can't port my number in, I don't want your subpar technology. 

[GhoatMonket]

Sept 17, 2024 12:16:55 GMT -6 angelashly said:

Sept 17, 2024 12:05:29 GMT -6 Nota🎃 said:

Not asking on FB local pages, but searching through others, besides spectrum, tmobile seems to be popular.
We are no longer rural, but in the burbs now so that helps. But the kids might still have to go out to the townships.

I would suggest really checking into T-Mobile first. T-Mobile is the worst in our area. H is thinking of switching. He had Sprint and then T-Mobile took over. My mil can barely get calls in her apartment or it sounds like she is a robot a lot.

So far Verizon is the best around here but for sure I pay for it. But for me, dd, and dd’s iPad and we still owe on DD’s phone and I do the Disney+ through them and I think Apple Music and I pay about $240 and I don’t do the automatic pay so I think your price is going to be about the same anywhere

It's so very regional for this. I could switch, but I end up in the boonies and me and the other Verizon users are the only ones with a hint of a signal. 


I tether off my phone's hotspot to run events. Verizon it is. I've had others offer theirs and their data get throttled way too fast and the connection is slow even before then. So. I stay with my pricey overlord. 

[AmyG]

Check att in your area. We get pretty good att coverage unless we leave the phx metro area, then it's spotty.
But well, right now we aren't going anywhere very far lol
Right now we are running 5 phones unlimited for $250/mo.
Of that the boys pay their own as does sil so dh and I are the cheap ones on the plan
about $50 is 1 son and dil paying off their phones monthly.

We get $5 off per line for being paperless
and $10 per line credit for paying by our checking acct instead of on a card.
that pisses me off, but $50 credit a month is worth it.
I'd ask your company if they have any discounts for things like that.
they may have a customer retention discount they can find for you if you call and keep complaining about how loyal you've been and they are screwing you.

We all have pretty new phones even dh but att sent him a newer phone free cause his was sooooooooooo old. I hit the trade in ANY old samsung and get a brand new one for free--so I mailed in an S6edge and got the brand new one at the time S22 lol
they charge you the payment amount every month and then credit it right back.
then we gained dil on the plan and she did the same thing to get away from her parent's cell plan.
So ask if you wanna transfer if your phones will work or if they can be used to trade for an att phone. Dil phone was a verizon and att took it right away and gave her huge credit toward a new phone.

Every year I check around and haven't found anything that will be cheaper in our area and it sucks
we've done prepaid for a bit on the kids but they were hit and miss on coverage

[Sweetjane]

So nobody has mint?
Their pricing looks tempting but I'm still skeptical.

Sounds like I might not get much better than what we pay now with ATT.

Also, I've purchased my last two phones off Amazon's certified refurbished site. I'll never pay full price for a phone again.

[beersandweirs]

Sept 17, 2024 15:16:23 GMT -6 Sweetjane said:

So nobody has mint?
Their pricing looks tempting but I'm still skeptical.

Sounds like I might not get much better than what we pay now with ATT.

Also, I've purchased my last two phones off Amazon's certified refurbished site. I'll never pay full price for a phone again.

My husband does, they run off t Mobile here, so he gets the same coverage as me. No complaints from him.

[Sweetjane]

Sept 17, 2024 15:23:39 GMT -6 beersandweirs said:

Sept 17, 2024 15:16:23 GMT -6 Sweetjane said:

So nobody has mint?
Their pricing looks tempting but I'm still skeptical.

Sounds like I might not get much better than what we pay now with ATT.

Also, I've purchased my last two phones off Amazon's certified refurbished site. I'll never pay full price for a phone again.

My husband does, they run off t Mobile here, so he gets the same coverage as me. No complaints from him.

So they don't have their own network? Do they just piggyback off the nearest tower?

[origami]

Sept 17, 2024 15:25:57 GMT -6 Sweetjane said:

Sept 17, 2024 15:23:39 GMT -6 beersandweirs said:

My husband does, they run off t Mobile here, so he gets the same coverage as me. No complaints from him.

So they don't have their own network? Do they just piggyback off the nearest tower?

Yes. That’s typical of the budget carriers. They work on a larger company’s network. And no shade to that. I did prepaid budget carrier on T-Mobile towers for yearsssss. Now I’m on regular T-Mobile, 3 lines unlimited for $100.

[thechickencoop]

Sept 17, 2024 15:16:23 GMT -6 Sweetjane said:

Also, I've purchased my last two phones off Amazon's certified refurbished site. I'll never pay full price for a phone again.

Tell me more?? DSs phone that I had to replace to get him on my network is his dad's old OLD iPhone 6 something or other and it's about to bite the dust. But I'm not about to drop $$$ on a phone for a 12 year old.

[trueblue]

We have cricket which uses AT&T towers. $130 for 4
Lines, unlimited. We all own our own phones and buy refurbished ones as needed. We switched from AT&T proper and since the 2 companies are linked at some level the transition was easy, I think we just called up cricket customer service and asked to set up service. They took care of porting numbers and the like.

I think Verizon has a similar ‘off brand’ entity?

The only bad part about breaking up with Verizon is that you will need to pay off the phone before they will let you take your number.

[McBenny]

Sept 17, 2024 13:05:49 GMT -6 GhoatMonket said:

Sept 17, 2024 12:26:57 GMT -6 McBenny said:

I agree with others to check in your area.

I have learned that there are no pros to stay with a company forever. I am also not a person that is married to a cell phone number. I used to be that person, and it just caused me to stay longer and overpay. I am not doing that anymore. It's not really that big of a deal when I have changed my number either. Everyone doesn't need or get the new number.

Now I want to know who in this the year 2024 is not porting over numbers? 

If you can't port my number in, I don't want your subpar technology. 

Nowhere in my post did I say any company COULD NOT port a number. Re-read or stop being loud and wrong. 

You used to be sharper than this back in the day. Keep up with that or get it checked. 

[McBenny]

Sept 17, 2024 15:52:53 GMT -6 trueblue said:

We have cricket which uses AT&T towers. $130 for 4
Lines, unlimited. We all own our own phones and buy refurbished ones as needed. We switched from AT&T proper and since the 2 companies are linked at some level the transition was easy, I think we just called up cricket customer service and asked to set up service. They took care of porting numbers and the like.

I think Verizon has a similar ‘off brand’ entity?

The only bad part about breaking up with Verizon is that you will need to pay off the phone before they will let you take your number.

They all have a prepaid option. 

The paying off your phone thing before you can leave was the only reason why I mentioned leaving the number above (for the GhoatMonket). 

[elle]

So we were Verizon customers for umpteen years (15? 20?), I think before we were even married. We were grandfathered in to a good data plan, etc. Not cheap, but coverage in our area of SoCal was definitely the best of all available options.

And then we moved to Connecticut two years ago. Terrible coverage at our new house and surrounding areas. We switched over to Mint Mobile, which uses the T-Mobile Network, because it has the best coverage for our new area and we've been super happy. Especially because it's less than half the cost of our previous plan. So yeah, I recommend checking out Mint, though obviously coverage depends on specific locations and whatnot.

[McBenny]

When I had prepaid cell phones I had no issues. I paid 80 a month for 2 lines unlimited everything.

[Kenny1980]

Sept 17, 2024 15:16:23 GMT -6 Sweetjane said:

So nobody has mint?
Their pricing looks tempting but I'm still skeptical.

Sounds like I might not get much better than what we pay now with ATT.

Also, I've purchased my last two phones off Amazon's certified refurbished site. I'll never pay full price for a phone again.

Our family uses Mint Mobile. It's great, no issues at all. We have been with them for a few years. You can try before you fully commit too. I work from home so I don't need unlimited data, so a full year for me is very inexpensive. We also just buy refurbished phones every few years and it very easy.

[Sweetjane]

Sept 17, 2024 15:45:15 GMT -6 thechickencoop said:

Sept 17, 2024 15:16:23 GMT -6 Sweetjane said:

Also, I've purchased my last two phones off Amazon's certified refurbished site. I'll never pay full price for a phone again.

Tell me more?? DSs phone that I had to replace to get him on my network is his dad's old OLD iPhone 6 something or other and it's about to bite the dust. But I'm not about to drop $$$ on a phone for a 12 year old.

That's how it started, I got one for my kid. I think it was like $280? And it helps if you don't care about color too, especially since they all have cases anyway.

[thechickencoop]

Sept 17, 2024 16:49:20 GMT -6 Sweetjane said:

Sept 17, 2024 15:45:15 GMT -6 thechickencoop said:

Tell me more?? DSs phone that I had to replace to get him on my network is his dad's old OLD iPhone 6 something or other and it's about to bite the dust. But I'm not about to drop $$$ on a phone for a 12 year old.

That's how it started, I got one for my kid. I think it was like $280? And it helps if you don't care about color too, especially since they all have cases anyway.

Do I just search in Amazon? Or is a separate site?