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Seriously considering Charity Mobile. Actually called them recently before even ordering service, and quite impressed with their customer service (vs. considering the hours been on the phone a lot on hold with Verizon directly and other very large companies with reps sometimes not knowing what they are doing):
- By phone during business hours - person answers, no voice response menu. Kind, quick and helpful in answering questions, patient, no sales pressure, cared for needs and concerns.
- By email, additional tech questions thought of after on phone with them - helpful detailed response within hours, also concerned for communication needs.
What learned, not all on website:
- Most Verizon Wireless 4G phones, must be unlocked, and phone #s can ported to them. Most phone ports in 5 minutes to an hour (can be delayed much longer especially if not have your account # and password). Need also your phone's IMEI # which they can quickly check prior to ordering. Older CDMA phones cannot be activated. Charity Mobile also sells VZW phones listed on their website.
- Competitive prices I found some better than with Verizon directly - https://www.charitymobile.com/plans.html Also optional 5% of your bill can go to a charity of your choice, nearly all are faith based.
- They support call forwarding/busy no answer *72 to another number, and say on a flip phone (not smartphone, for an older or non techy relative) they can restrict data and even text messaging. Lots of other questions answered at https://www.charitymobile.com/support.html or can call or email them at https://www.charitymobile.com/help.html (note hours they are open and closed Sundays).
- Can pay online or if you prefer a paper bill mailed monthly.
- Been in business since the 1990's when company initially offered long distance service, and started offering cell phone service in 2006. No Better Business Bureau complaints for them.
Personal note, I have wait to sign up, they do not support Verizon network extenders I learned by phone, but I am expecting to move to a better Verizon signal area in the next months than what have in my valley. They were caring understanding of that and my need to do some home downsizing in the next months before moving and signing up with them. Here's one other positive user review of the service https://www.reddit.com/r/Catholicism..._find_reviews/
Also https://www.2ndvote.com/company-scores/ rates them a 5 out of 5, which there is some correlation here, among other factors, companies rated at this site with 3s, 4s, and 5s often have the better or best customer service.
your verizon phone is unlocked after the first 24 hrs of use on your acct!!! they do lock em while there in the store to prevent theft. but once it's on your acct for 24 hrs then it unlocks automaticly. the only time they lock em is when someone runs up a huge bill and they don't pay it.
Its on their home page https://www.charitymobile.com/ . Any website one gives me a link somewhere in the website, I check out other parts on their website, especially their home page, their policies, company background, etc. before spending money for their goods and services, and even more so, if a larger purchase. If a publicly traded company, I also check out their financials, such as a landlord, mortgage lender, computer seller, larger cell phone company, etc. as a company's financial health often results in good or bad service after the sale. The company background tells what the integrity of the company, are they going to be honest in their dealings? Also important is contact info - no phone is a red flag, email, or if chat is available (usually larger companies).
Also Charity Mobile currently give discounts on new phones https://www.charitymobile.com/phones.html - top of this page, though the offer may vary from time to may.
79.99 for unlimited that's not worth leaving verizon over unless your a light data user
Its on their home page https://www.charitymobile.com/ . Any website one gives me a link somewhere in the website, I check out other parts on their website, especially their home page, their policies, company background, etc. before spending money for their goods and services, and even more so, if a larger purchase. If a publicly traded company, I also check out their financials, such as a landlord, mortgage lender, computer seller, larger cell phone company, etc. as a company's financial health often results in good or bad service after the sale. The company background tells what the integrity of the company, are they going to be honest in their dealings? Also important is contact info - no phone is a red flag, email, or if chat is available (usually larger companies).
Also Charity Mobile currently give discounts on new phones https://www.charitymobile.com/phones.html - top of this page, though the offer may vary from time to may.
You might want to ask them what they cap the data speed at. All resellers do that because companies don't want resellers to be able to compete with them, so it's usually it's capped at 5-8 mbps, normally with Verizon you can get 30 mbps or more
79.99 for unlimited that's not worth leaving verizon over unless your a light data user
I am a lighter data user, as do not do videos and other like heavy bandwidth activity but mostly instead basic browsing, Google Maps (any sizeable downloads and updating of apps, I do on a Wifi connection which in most cases exceeds VZW direct 4G), so found my savings to be $15 a month https://www.charitymobile.com/plans.html , Monthly Plan Cost plus Monthly Line Cost. That's even with a BTB affinity discount I have directly with VZW. You need to add those two numbers and your current bill taxes and surcharges to fairly closely compare. I will question them about the data speeds, but given how I have used a smartphone over four years, not see myself as adversely affected as some data hogs. Even at 5-8 mbps, its still better than CDMA 3G speeds. On their Charity's plans link above, I see they do not offer an Unlimited Plan, but now as New a 15 GB data plan.
quote 2sleepy - You might want to ask them what they cap the data speed at. All resellers do that because companies don't want resellers to be able to compete with them, so it's usually it's capped at 5-8 mbps, normally with Verizon you can get 30 mbps or more.
It depends on your usage. If you need all-you-can-eat, then stick with Verizon or one of the other 3 carriers.
quote noodlecast - If you are a low to medium usage person, check out the MVNOs (resellers). You can still be using Verizon towers with its coverage and building penetration, but be paying far less. I use Verizon on Tracfone, and do pay-as-you-go with unlimited rollover of mins/texts/data, although they also have monthly "plans". My low usage costs me about $8/month.
So I contacted Charity Mobile, what said/emailed acceptable for my needs, but everyone's needs are different.
- Data speeds average 5 mbps using Verizon's 4G/LTE network. However, this is not much a factor for myself as I use Wifi for larger downloads and high bandwidth activities such as video, Google app updates, etc. on my current VZW limited GB plan.
- They do not throttle the data if exceed the monthly plan allotment; however, additional data is 4 cents per MB.
- Verizon direct customers get signal priority over their customers since they are a NVMO reseller. Not a big deal for me in an outer suburban area vs. someone in a densely populated city or one who goes to packed concerts, etc. frequently with lots of people with VZW phones in a small area.
Personally, I have to wait 2 or more months until personal factors sort out. Older relative on family plan good chance having two eye surgeries in the near future, so if that does not turn out so well, that relative may be better off with Jitterbug/Great Call, while I move to Charity Mobile.
Really at Charity Mobile, truly understanding reps, kind, upfront and honest, know the tech answers (if not know immediately by phone, they are back within 1-2 minutes with the answer), patient, listen to needs, no sales pressure and for self understanding need to wait to switch to them. Always exceptional reps with the other carriers who are the exception, but how many phone and cable reps you usually to talk to elsewhere having all of these great personal and customer service qualities? My patience is tested, say on phone hold much time directly with Verizon Wireless (difficult question not on Internet anywhere).
I signed up with Charity Mobile, a VZW MVNO reseller, earlier this month after personal factors above sorted out earlier than expected. So far, so good. Yes, there are even cheaper MVNOs out there, but with those budget ones you get what you pay for. Like many other MVNOs, Charity's speeds are capped by Verizon at 6 mbps so not to directly compete with them, but light to medium data user myself, so sufficient for my needs. If any video or large downloads/updating apps, I am doing that on Wifi. With all else considered, first monthly bill (30 days) $85 with taxes and fees included, 6 GB shared data, two lines, one smartphone line w/ data enabled and one flip phone line w/ data restricted and text messaging blocked on an up in years relative line vs. Verizon directly around $110 for same, a 20%+ savings. They answered my questions quickly upon sign up and porting done within 45 minutes and everything handled efficiently, and they are actually hiring more reps https://www.catholicjobs.com/job/107...medium=organic which reading the URL contents goes to show I did not only by chance get a couple of exceptional reps (larger tech companies, its sometimes hit or miss if you get a good rep if needed). Also Charity Mobile is ahead of the ball game, its baseball season, by being proactive with their customers about the year end VZW CDMA shutdown https://www.charitymobile.com/support.html and https://www.charitymobile.com/suppor...missioned.html , more than I can say than Verizon Wireless directly is doing so far (they have a knowledgebase FAQ posted last July buried).
Though was a direct Verizon Wireless customer for many years, they laid off up to 44,000 employees last fall and winter https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbap...urcer-infosys/ and their customer service/tech support has spent way too much time since later last year, overall 24 hours literally, on three issues not Googleable which two ended up getting escalated to the execs, because many less experienced/less trained/cheaper reps left, long story short, not know what they are doing whether by phone or online and local store was hardly any better, especially when more often than not tech stuff breaks, and I was paying more per month for that.
I still believe Verizon Wireless's network is very good, which is why went with a Verizon MVNO, but looking at lot of MVNOs, only one other I found US Mobile having a minimal of customer service issues with the Better Business Bureau, which says a lot to me, but US Mobile lacked the customization I needed. Likewise, when I make a say $25-50+ purchase on Amazon, I am looking for that product with a 4.5-5.0 rating and if use a 3rd party seller a recent better than 95% rating.
We have Verizon. $220 a month for 3 lines. 2 S10's and 1 new google pixel. Paid off devices. 16 gb data and unlimited talk and text. I think it's a lot of money though.
We have Verizon. $220 a month for 3 lines. 2 S10's and 1 new google pixel. Paid off devices. 16 gb data and unlimited talk and text. I think it's a lot of money though.
It is a lot. Old plan pricing. I don’t understand why some people don’t go with the current Verizon plans that are way less expensive, but just stay with some plan the’ve had for the last five years. I also don’t understand why people post and never return to a thread to read what is said. We pay $90 a month for two lines with VZ that meets our needs
They don’t offer a 16 gb plan any more, but have an unlimited plan with four lines for $160 a month
Last edited by Mr5150; 06-16-2019 at 01:15 AM..
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