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I was happy with Verizon's reception, but not the price. So, based on Consumer Search's high marks, I went with T-Mobile pay as you go $100 phone card 1,000 minutes.
I cannot believe how bad the reception is, even when I'm outside. I live in Bayport, I'm sure the areas vary, but can people say which carriers have the better reputation? Thanks.
I know that Verizon is a bit more but I've had Verizon for a few years, and it really beats out the other companies in terms of service and reception. My husband has AT&T now through work and the reception isn't as good as my phone. It tends to drop calls. I rather just pay more and stick with Verizon.
I hear the same thing--T-Mobile sucks--but I never had great reception with Verizon either.
I moved to Virgin Mobile because my kids 'needed' phones. Originally it was $27.50/mo per line, taxes, fees and surcharges included. The downside is the reception was so-so, they used the Sprint network. But I don't think they had full bandwidth, reception was less than Sprint. But service was ACCEPTABLE! So you save a bundle, have so-so reception and pay retail for last year's cell phone models. Not great, but fairly cost effective. The rates have gone up, so new accounts are around $35/mo. That includes unlimited internet (now capped), unlimited text and 300 mins voice. There are other tiered plans for more talk time.
I recently got awesome deals on the Galaxy with Sprint, so I moved three lines to Sprint. Now we get 1500 mins of talk, unlimited text and internet, all for $190/mo. The service is actually pretty good, but the cost is ridiculous. There's a two year contract, but does the contract really matter? I ended up going off contract after two years with Verizon and it wasn't like I saved any $ or had any other advantage other than I could switch carriers. In the end, my employer reimburses me anyway.
Two take-away points of cell phone use in the US are (1) don't go to T-Mobile, they suck and (2) Consumers in the US pay more for cell phone service than almost any other country in the world.
Have you had a look at ting.com? They are a Sprint MVNO, so you get Sprint's network as well as Verizon's voice network, with whom Sprint has a roaming agreement. Sprint and Verizon have excellent coverage, no need to speak of that here.
They sell a variety of phones that you pay up front for, and there's no contract whatsoever - cancel anytime. You can bring old Sprint devices to their network. Devices are provided nearly at cost.
The plans are pay as you go - minutes, texts, and megabytes are shared in a pool among all of the phones on the account. Each phone on your account only costs $6/month to keep the line active, then you pay for actual usage. If you pre-order too many minutes, megabytes, or text messages, they will actually refund you the difference! Who else does that? If you go over the plan you signed up for, they'll just bump you up to the next category, so no overages either.
You can even order extra phones for guests to use, and only pay for when they're activated. You can replace your home phone line with a Ting line and only pay $6/month for it. So many possibilities.
The only drawback is you're limited to Sprint's network for data, and there's little to no 4g service in our area at this time. For most users, 3G data is perfectly fine. 4G LTE phones are available for when the network is launched through the end of 2013. Also, if you absolutely require completely unlimited usage, an unlimited plan with a different carrier is probably better for you.
So lets say you have four smartphones in a family, and use 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and 1 gig of data, your phone bill would be $74/month! Try their calculator out for yourself, and compare it to what you actually use, not the extra high limits that you sign up for just in case. https://ting.com/plans
I have a pay-as-you-go plan with Straight Talk (sold at Wal-Mart), and my phone operates on the Verizon network, so my reception is just as good as it was when I had Verizon, and I only pay $45/month ($50 after taxes) for a nationwide unlimited plan. My phone is an off-brand Droid, but so far, it functions just as well as my old HTC did. Also, if you're willing to shell out a decent chunk of change up front, they had some of the fancier Samsungs available as well.
I was happy with Verizon's reception, but not the price. So, based on Consumer Search's high marks, I went with T-Mobile pay as you go $100 phone card 1,000 minutes.
I cannot believe how bad the reception is, even when I'm outside. I live in Bayport, I'm sure the areas vary, but can people say which carriers have the better reputation? Thanks.
I did the same years ago. I liked Verizon but not the price. Ever since i've been with Sprint and I pay $120 (after my company discount) total (after taxes) for 2 phones, "unlimited" data, text, email, web, 1400 minutes shared. Their customer service is also very helpful and nice which can be rare in the telecom industry.
Same here. Virtually no difference in service vs AT&T but cheaper price.
Same. $30/mo for 100 minutes + unlimited data + newest unlocked Galaxy Nexus = win.
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