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Save $ on cell service -- Ting Mobile / Solavei (+ other MVNOs) (1 Viewer)

Hulk,

Hoping you can recommend a plan for Mrs Paz...

Smartphone or Dumbphone? Smart

LTE or Fastish or Don'tcare? Fastish(not nec. LTE)

Roaming Free or Don'tcare? Roaming available, hopefully free or at least not highway robbery

How many minutes? 250

How many texts? 500

How much data? 1 GB? She likely won't use much, wifi at home, etc.

Any price limitations? Would like to be at about the $30/mo range or less

Zip is 54476.

I was looking at Ting because I'll probably need to add another line in the not to distant future.

I'm on V Mobile's $25/unlimited(no longer available at that price). It uses Sprint towers which can be spotty here, most notably at our house, but for the price I'm ok with it.

Thanks for the thread, research, time and help!
Interestingly enough, according to Cell Reception, T-Mobile is the highest rated carrier, and Sprint 2nd. That almost never happens. So, for this one, I'll look at all carriers to see what's best.

Unfortunately, I'm not seeing jack squat @ $30 or less. Its that 1 GB of data that is pushing you higher. Cheapest is $35 at Red Pocket Mobile (on their Sprint coverage).

If she can keep it to < 500 MB, then both Ting and Zact come in around $30. Zact is 29.09, Ting is $32. Both are very similar, use Sprint, have LTE, have plans that flex up and down based upon usage each month. Main difference is that Zact is a tad cheaper and Ting has a much wider phone selection. Both are good options IF you intend to add a line later, and that line isn't going to be used heavily (this seems to be your circumstance).

Alternatively, there are several AT&T MVNOs (no LTE though, HSPA+22) that come in @ exactly $30. AirVoice Wireless, Black Wireless, H2O Wireless, Jolt Mobile, Skyview Wireless all offer the exact same plan, $30 for unlimited calls/texts + 500 MB of data. There isn't much to distinguish one from another, but if one doesn't pan out and you've bought an unlocked phone seperately, you can easily hop from one to another if there are any issues. With Ting and Zact, you could hop back to Sprint, but thats it, you can't easily move around.

Given that you're going to be adding a line, I'd probably go with Ting or Zact. Your wife's data usage might be less than we're estimating. If so, those companies will charge you less. Plus, adding a phone is going to be cheaper than adding a second $30 plan.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

 
Alright Bweiser, I'm going to make 2 plans for you, and you can just choose whichever works best. Really, it'll come down to how much video you want to stream, because 1 plan will have LTE and the other won't.

You're close to Philly, so I'm assuming you have decent coverage with all carriers, but also that Sprint is the worst and should probably be avoided due to the ammount of streaming you intend to do.

PLAN A: LTE

Buy this phone, the Nexus 5: Right Here Buy the 16 GB verison for $349. Comes in black, white, or red... you can pick a color without getting your head hurt ;)

Buy this plan: T-Mobile Unlimited Data for $80 a month. For the easiest experience, wait for your Nexus 5 to get delivered, then walk into a T-Mobile store and have them activate it. You can also set it up for yourself via their website, but if you want less muss and fuss, just bring it to a T-Mobile store and say, "I want this Nexus 5 set up on an $80 unlimited data plan, thanks."

Plan B: HSPA+ (will stream audio great, but might be choppy when you do video over the cellular network)

Buy this phone, the Moto G: Here Buy the 16 GB verison for $199. Choose "USA GSM". You don't need to choose fancy color shells and earbuds unless you feel like spending extra money.

Buy this plan: The same one as above. For true unlimited data at fast enough speeds, your choices are only T-Mobile or Sprint (and Sprint MVNOs). Since we ruled them out due to coverage issues, your only choice is T-Mobile.

Good luck.
Thank you. That's exactly what I needed.
Went with the Nexus. Will take it to the T-Mobile store and ask for the $80 plan when I get it.

Thanks for your help.
Congrats. Jealous. I'm probably waiting for the Nexus 6 to upgrade my phone.

 
Alright Bweiser, I'm going to make 2 plans for you, and you can just choose whichever works best. Really, it'll come down to how much video you want to stream, because 1 plan will have LTE and the other won't.

You're close to Philly, so I'm assuming you have decent coverage with all carriers, but also that Sprint is the worst and should probably be avoided due to the ammount of streaming you intend to do.

PLAN A: LTE

Buy this phone, the Nexus 5: Right Here Buy the 16 GB verison for $349. Comes in black, white, or red... you can pick a color without getting your head hurt ;)

Buy this plan: T-Mobile Unlimited Data for $80 a month. For the easiest experience, wait for your Nexus 5 to get delivered, then walk into a T-Mobile store and have them activate it. You can also set it up for yourself via their website, but if you want less muss and fuss, just bring it to a T-Mobile store and say, "I want this Nexus 5 set up on an $80 unlimited data plan, thanks."

Plan B: HSPA+ (will stream audio great, but might be choppy when you do video over the cellular network)

Buy this phone, the Moto G: Here Buy the 16 GB verison for $199. Choose "USA GSM". You don't need to choose fancy color shells and earbuds unless you feel like spending extra money.

Buy this plan: The same one as above. For true unlimited data at fast enough speeds, your choices are only T-Mobile or Sprint (and Sprint MVNOs). Since we ruled them out due to coverage issues, your only choice is T-Mobile.

Good luck.
Thank you. That's exactly what I needed.
Went with the Nexus. Will take it to the T-Mobile store and ask for the $80 plan when I get it.

Thanks for your help.
Congrats. Jealous. I'm probably waiting for the Nexus 6 to upgrade my phone.
Should I upgrade to that when it comes out?

 
(HULK) said:
Hulk,

Hoping you can recommend a plan for Mrs Paz...

Smartphone or Dumbphone? Smart

LTE or Fastish or Don'tcare? Fastish(not nec. LTE)

Roaming Free or Don'tcare? Roaming available, hopefully free or at least not highway robbery

How many minutes? 250

How many texts? 500

How much data? 1 GB? She likely won't use much, wifi at home, etc.

Any price limitations? Would like to be at about the $30/mo range or less

Zip is 54476.

I was looking at Ting because I'll probably need to add another line in the not to distant future.

I'm on V Mobile's $25/unlimited(no longer available at that price). It uses Sprint towers which can be spotty here, most notably at our house, but for the price I'm ok with it.

Thanks for the thread, research, time and help!
Interestingly enough, according to Cell Reception, T-Mobile is the highest rated carrier, and Sprint 2nd. That almost never happens. So, for this one, I'll look at all carriers to see what's best.

Unfortunately, I'm not seeing jack squat @ $30 or less. Its that 1 GB of data that is pushing you higher. Cheapest is $35 at Red Pocket Mobile (on their Sprint coverage).

If she can keep it to < 500 MB, then both Ting and Zact come in around $30. Zact is 29.09, Ting is $32. Both are very similar, use Sprint, have LTE, have plans that flex up and down based upon usage each month. Main difference is that Zact is a tad cheaper and Ting has a much wider phone selection. Both are good options IF you intend to add a line later, and that line isn't going to be used heavily (this seems to be your circumstance).

Alternatively, there are several AT&T MVNOs (no LTE though, HSPA+22) that come in @ exactly $30. AirVoice Wireless, Black Wireless, H2O Wireless, Jolt Mobile, Skyview Wireless all offer the exact same plan, $30 for unlimited calls/texts + 500 MB of data. There isn't much to distinguish one from another, but if one doesn't pan out and you've bought an unlocked phone seperately, you can easily hop from one to another if there are any issues. With Ting and Zact, you could hop back to Sprint, but thats it, you can't easily move around.

Given that you're going to be adding a line, I'd probably go with Ting or Zact. Your wife's data usage might be less than we're estimating. If so, those companies will charge you less. Plus, adding a phone is going to be cheaper than adding a second $30 plan.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.
Thanks Hulk, much appreciated!

 
Thanks for running this thread, Hulk! Can you give me a recommendation?

I'm looking for something cheap. I want to get a new smartphone & plan for about 150 minutes, 15 texts, and 250mb per month (probably a bit less on average). Slight preference for Verizon based on the network in my area & for traveling within the US, but all the main carriers seem to be at least passable in my area.

I've looked at a few of the options you mentioned, and so far it looks like Zact is the best deal (with Ting not too far behind, especially if my usage dips below 100min or 100mb). What does your massive spreadsheet say?

 
Thanks Hulk for all the help. The only part I don't get is the 25 for her off- contract iPhone mainly because it is their phone. I mean she doesn't have an iPhone that she is moving onto the plan. At least today when I asked, the representative made it sound like that 25 would not be part of the monthly charge but I will double check before signing anything.
Correction. You were right. After triple checking with them their is an addtional cost per month of $25 for the smart phone which brings the total to at least 87.40 per month. There is a $100 credit per line added just for this month so there's that.

 
Thanks for running this thread, Hulk! Can you give me a recommendation?

I'm looking for something cheap. I want to get a new smartphone & plan for about 150 minutes, 15 texts, and 250mb per month (probably a bit less on average). Slight preference for Verizon based on the network in my area & for traveling within the US, but all the main carriers seem to be at least passable in my area.

I've looked at a few of the options you mentioned, and so far it looks like Zact is the best deal (with Ting not too far behind, especially if my usage dips below 100min or 100mb). What does your massive spreadsheet say?
Ring Plus Mobile will get it done for you for just $9.99. Its Sprint coverage w/ LTE. They have a somewhat limited phone selection but a couple decent options.

For Verizon coverage you'd be looking at Ready Mobile for $25, and it would only be 3G, no LTE.

PS: Its not 1 spreadsheet anymore. Its a database built from over 100 spreadsheets. Sheesh, need to get this website up and running already.

 
Thanks for running this thread, Hulk! Can you give me a recommendation?

I'm looking for something cheap. I want to get a new smartphone & plan for about 150 minutes, 15 texts, and 250mb per month (probably a bit less on average). Slight preference for Verizon based on the network in my area & for traveling within the US, but all the main carriers seem to be at least passable in my area.

I've looked at a few of the options you mentioned, and so far it looks like Zact is the best deal (with Ting not too far behind, especially if my usage dips below 100min or 100mb). What does your massive spreadsheet say?
Ring Plus Mobile will get it done for you for just $9.99. Its Sprint coverage w/ LTE. They have a somewhat limited phone selection but a couple decent options.

For Verizon coverage you'd be looking at Ready Mobile for $25, and it would only be 3G, no LTE.

PS: Its not 1 spreadsheet anymore. Its a database built from over 100 spreadsheets. Sheesh, need to get this website up and running already.
Thanks!

It looks like Ring Plus doesn't sell any phones - you have to bring your own Sprint device. Do you know where a good place is to buy Sprint phones without a contract? Ring Plus has a lookup tool which shows all of the phones they'll accept, but it doesn't make a very good starting place for a phone search.

 
Hey Hulk, just checking in. My daughter's been on Ting with her new iPhone for about 3 months now with 0 issues. I just purchased 2 older model android phones for the wife and son to migrate them shortly. Ting will pay 25% of the ETF that I'll incur on one of those, and again when I migrate myself. Worth it for the savings, for sure.

Even buying new phones and paying the ETF's, the move will easily pay for itself within 6 months or so.

Thanks for all the help, bud!

 
Maybe Glyde?
Is this reputable?

A friend of mine bought a used Nexus S for his wife from Glyde and so far she loves it.

For $56 I think I'm going to get one for my wife too.

Going to make the jump to TING in the next week or so. How easy is it to switch from Sprint? My daughters iPhone specifically. I'm buying my wife the Nexus S, and myself the Nexus 5.

Is the process fairly seamless and quick? Daughter at college and needs her phone.

 
Mr.Pack said:
Maybe Glyde?
Is this reputable? A friend of mine bought a used Nexus S for his wife from Glyde and so far she loves it.

For $56 I think I'm going to get one for my wife too.

Going to make the jump to TING in the next week or so. How easy is it to switch from Sprint? My daughters iPhone specifically. I'm buying my wife the Nexus S, and myself the Nexus 5.

Is the process fairly seamless and quick? Daughter at college and needs her phone.
I've never used glyde and I think if you dig back through the thread someone had an issue but they resolved it.Switch to Ting is pretty straight forward. Call them if you have any questions, they pick up right away.

 
Mr.Pack said:
Maybe Glyde?
Is this reputable? A friend of mine bought a used Nexus S for his wife from Glyde and so far she loves it.

For $56 I think I'm going to get one for my wife too.

Going to make the jump to TING in the next week or so. How easy is it to switch from Sprint? My daughters iPhone specifically. I'm buying my wife the Nexus S, and myself the Nexus 5.

Is the process fairly seamless and quick? Daughter at college and needs her phone.
I've never used glyde and I think if you dig back through the thread someone had an issue but they resolved it.Switch to Ting is pretty straight forward. Call them if you have any questions, they pick up right away.
It is very easy. Should be a breeze.

 
Anyone here on AT&Ts $65/month Mobile Share plan? Im wondering what the total cost per month is, on the website it says $65 excluding other account charges.

 
Bought the wife a used Galaxy Nexus. Seemed to get good reviews, anyone have any experience with it?

Planning on making the switch to TING on Friday if everything goes as planned.

 
kudos to hulk.

love my nexus 5. got the plan for $80 at t-mobile (plus $10 for a sim card)

a lot of $$$, but happy with the results.

thanks again hulk.

 
Maybe Glyde?
Is this reputable?

A friend of mine bought a used Nexus S for his wife from Glyde and so far she loves it.

For $56 I think I'm going to get one for my wife too.

Going to make the jump to TING in the next week or so. How easy is it to switch from Sprint? My daughters iPhone specifically. I'm buying my wife the Nexus S, and myself the Nexus 5.

Is the process fairly seamless and quick? Daughter at college and needs her phone.
I'm a complete moron when it comes to cell phones, and even I was able to switch from Sprint to Ting easily.

 
so what's the best of the cdma prepaid providers these days? for a few years, i was with PagePlus and liked it well enough. i made the switch to Solavei last year and it's alright. i want to get a different phone (ditching my Nexus 4) so that i get a different device. battery life is now more important to me for whatever reason. i've already bought a replacement phone for the cdma network service. if any of those prepaids offered 4g then i would go to there but, if not, i'll go with cheapest.

unlimited text/talk/2+ gb data plan currently. 60618.

 
so what's the best of the cdma prepaid providers these days? for a few years, i was with PagePlus and liked it well enough. i made the switch to Solavei last year and it's alright. i want to get a different phone (ditching my Nexus 4) so that i get a different device. battery life is now more important to me for whatever reason. i've already bought a replacement phone for the cdma network service. if any of those prepaids offered 4g then i would go to there but, if not, i'll go with cheapest.

unlimited text/talk/2+ gb data plan currently. 60618.
Question: Is your phone returnable? You really put the cart before the horse on this one.

Anyways, in terms of what you're looking for, cheapest you can do w/ LTE is Voyager Mobile. Sprint coverage, unfortunately no roaming. Unlimited calls/texts + 5 GB of data (LTE) is $45 a month.

There is no Verizon MVNO offering LTE, so if you want LTE and Verizon coverage, you must go w/ Verizon itself. Which would cost you $90.

If you forgo LTE there are other options... but I don't recommend. As someone who is also currently using a Nexus 4 on Solavei, I know what kinda data speeds you're seeing. I'm usually hovering around 12 MBps. Switching to CDMA 3G, the data would be about 12 times slower on a good day, 20 times slower on a bad day. You'd drive yourself nuts, don't do it.

FYI, you may not be able to bring your particular phone to Voyager. What phone is it? Theoretically you may not be able to bring it to any CDMA carrier other than Sprint and/or Verion themselves. These guys have weird weird rules governing which phones can and cannot access their network. It was probably a bad idea to get the phone first.

Good luck!

 
Why did you buy a CDMA phone?
i was looking for the phone with a better battery to it. i knew the phone that had the best and it was not able to run on att/tmobile network. it's exclusive to the cdma.
Is it a Droid Maxx?

You're really screwed if so. That will ONLY run on Verizon. You'll be paying through the nose.

ETA: You could also consider a phone w/ a removable battery and an extra battery. Or keep a spare phone charger @ work like I do.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Why did you buy a CDMA phone?
i was looking for the phone with a better battery to it. i knew the phone that had the best and it was not able to run on att/tmobile network. it's exclusive to the cdma.
Is it a Droid Maxx?You're really screwed if so. That will ONLY run on Verizon. You'll be paying through the nose.

ETA: You could also consider a phone w/ a removable battery and an extra battery. Or keep a spare phone charger @ work like I do.
Yeah the Maxx. I should be able to use it on a service like PP though since it is Verizon network.
 
Why did you buy a CDMA phone?
i was looking for the phone with a better battery to it. i knew the phone that had the best and it was not able to run on att/tmobile network. it's exclusive to the cdma.
Is it a Droid Maxx?You're really screwed if so. That will ONLY run on Verizon. You'll be paying through the nose.

ETA: You could also consider a phone w/ a removable battery and an extra battery. Or keep a spare phone charger @ work like I do.
Yeah the Maxx. I should be able to use it on a service like PP though since it is Verizon network.
Yeah, but its 3G only. I'm not sure on PP's rules as for which phones they can take or not. On Sprint, I know the phone has to be at least a year old for them (Sprint MVNOs) to do it.

Whats a Maxx cost off contract?

I dunno, I just wouldn't do this myself.

Other options for unlocked phones that are GSM and excellent values:

-Nexus 5 obviously.

-Moto X is just $299 unlocked now.

-Moto G is just $179.

-Oneplus is releasing their new phone, the One next week. They're a new company and the phone is supposed to be AWESOME and cost < $400. Its also got a huge battery. 3100 mAH. Nexus 4 has a 2100 mAH battery for reference. I'm really interested in what this phone will be... its going to run Cyogenmod out of the box.

 
i'm not bothered by the 3G speed honestly. it's the battery life that I find bothersome. i shouldn't have to plug in my phone during the day, switch a battery or to some powersaving mode during normal usage. i'm interested in the phone that gives me the battery life and if i can pair it with a 4G/LTE/HSPA+ provider then great but that's not entirely necessary.

 
Hulk thanks for the info supplied in this thread

I’m pretty sure I going to move my Galaxy S2 and my daughter’s phone over to Ting once my Sprint contract ends in three months or so.

My wife however isn’t happy with the Sprint network and I think she wants a new phone.

Our home zip is 27571 and her work zip is 27615. Which carrier has the best coverage in those zip codes?

Which MNVO and phone would you recommend for the wife? She also has a Galaxy S2

 
Ok, here we go. Just ported my old Verizon # to my prepaid $30/month T-Mobile 5GB, unlimited text, 100 mins talk plan. Only texts I've received so far are from T-Mobile, waiting for my fiance to respond to one I sent her a few minutes ago, but seemed to go through fine. Talk seems to work but have only called my voicemail to set it up.

Now, on to the major issue, NO data connection so far. Literally zero. Phone says no data used so far as does the website. Is it the area I work in? Kinda hard to believe as I'm very close to Ralph Wilson Stadium. Not like I'm in the middle of nowhere, but I have heard T-Mobile's coverage is so-so here, while AT&T and Verizon are very good.

If this keeps up I'll quickly be switching from T-Mobile to Straight Talk (AT&T). Yeah, it's $15 more per month, but I'm likely to go over 100 minutes anyway which will get me close if not over the $45 mark with T-Mobile.

 
Hulk thanks for the info supplied in this thread

I’m pretty sure I going to move my Galaxy S2 and my daughter’s phone over to Ting once my Sprint contract ends in three months or so.

My wife however isn’t happy with the Sprint network and I think she wants a new phone.

Our home zip is 27571 and her work zip is 27615. Which carrier has the best coverage in those zip codes?

Which MNVO and phone would you recommend for the wife? She also has a Galaxy S2
Well, for the Raleigh area, looks like Sprint is rated the worst on both cellreception and rootmetrics. It looks like that rating is mostly driven by data speeds... call quality/drops may be slightly worse with Sprint, but that is probably a minor difference.

If she were to leave Sprint coverage, she would require a new phone.

What are her usage requirements? (minutes/texts/data)

 
Ok, here we go. Just ported my old Verizon # to my prepaid $30/month T-Mobile 5GB, unlimited text, 100 mins talk plan. Only texts I've received so far are from T-Mobile, waiting for my fiance to respond to one I sent her a few minutes ago, but seemed to go through fine. Talk seems to work but have only called my voicemail to set it up.

Now, on to the major issue, NO data connection so far. Literally zero. Phone says no data used so far as does the website. Is it the area I work in? Kinda hard to believe as I'm very close to Ralph Wilson Stadium. Not like I'm in the middle of nowhere, but I have heard T-Mobile's coverage is so-so here, while AT&T and Verizon are very good.

If this keeps up I'll quickly be switching from T-Mobile to Straight Talk (AT&T). Yeah, it's $15 more per month, but I'm likely to go over 100 minutes anyway which will get me close if not over the $45 mark with T-Mobile.
Hmmm. You should have decent T-Mo coverage in Buffalo according to what I see. Maybe it hasn't activated fully yet or something?

 
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I just put $ into my account earlier today and it's still pending on my credit card. I imagine once it goes through I should be good? If not, then I don't know what the deal is.

Ok, here we go. Just ported my old Verizon # to my prepaid $30/month T-Mobile 5GB, unlimited text, 100 mins talk plan. Only texts I've received so far are from T-Mobile, waiting for my fiance to respond to one I sent her a few minutes ago, but seemed to go through fine. Talk seems to work but have only called my voicemail to set it up.

Now, on to the major issue, NO data connection so far. Literally zero. Phone says no data used so far as does the website. Is it the area I work in? Kinda hard to believe as I'm very close to Ralph Wilson Stadium. Not like I'm in the middle of nowhere, but I have heard T-Mobile's coverage is so-so here, while AT&T and Verizon are very good.

If this keeps up I'll quickly be switching from T-Mobile to Straight Talk (AT&T). Yeah, it's $15 more per month, but I'm likely to go over 100 minutes anyway which will get me close if not over the $45 mark with T-Mobile.
Hmmm. You should have decent T-Mo coverage in Buffalo according to what I see. Maybe it hasn't activated fully yet or something?
 
Ok, here we go. Just ported my old Verizon # to my prepaid $30/month T-Mobile 5GB, unlimited text, 100 mins talk plan. Only texts I've received so far are from T-Mobile, waiting for my fiance to respond to one I sent her a few minutes ago, but seemed to go through fine. Talk seems to work but have only called my voicemail to set it up.

Now, on to the major issue, NO data connection so far. Literally zero. Phone says no data used so far as does the website. Is it the area I work in? Kinda hard to believe as I'm very close to Ralph Wilson Stadium. Not like I'm in the middle of nowhere, but I have heard T-Mobile's coverage is so-so here, while AT&T and Verizon are very good.

If this keeps up I'll quickly be switching from T-Mobile to Straight Talk (AT&T). Yeah, it's $15 more per month, but I'm likely to go over 100 minutes anyway which will get me close if not over the $45 mark with T-Mobile.
Hmmm. You should have decent T-Mo coverage in Buffalo according to what I see. Maybe it hasn't activated fully yet or something?
Did this myself last week. Works fine at home in NOVA; on a trip to beautiful, sunny Green Bay, WI and not getting great service. Took the train to Chicago and had stretches without any service at all (thru western PA).

On my phone in the upper left corner I have two dots colored in and a capital A.

Any thoughts?

 
Ok, here we go. Just ported my old Verizon # to my prepaid $30/month T-Mobile 5GB, unlimited text, 100 mins talk plan. Only texts I've received so far are from T-Mobile, waiting for my fiance to respond to one I sent her a few minutes ago, but seemed to go through fine. Talk seems to work but have only called my voicemail to set it up.

Now, on to the major issue, NO data connection so far. Literally zero. Phone says no data used so far as does the website. Is it the area I work in? Kinda hard to believe as I'm very close to Ralph Wilson Stadium. Not like I'm in the middle of nowhere, but I have heard T-Mobile's coverage is so-so here, while AT&T and Verizon are very good.

If this keeps up I'll quickly be switching from T-Mobile to Straight Talk (AT&T). Yeah, it's $15 more per month, but I'm likely to go over 100 minutes anyway which will get me close if not over the $45 mark with T-Mobile.
Hmmm. You should have decent T-Mo coverage in Buffalo according to what I see. Maybe it hasn't activated fully yet or something?
Did this myself last week. Works fine at home in NOVA; on a trip to beautiful, sunny Green Bay, WI and not getting great service. Took the train to Chicago and had stretches without any service at all (thru western PA).

On my phone in the upper left corner I have two dots colored in and a capital A.

Any thoughts?
No idea what that is. I didn't even see that when I went to look up 'E' on my data indicator...

Turns out it stands for 'Edge', which is like 2.5G. That's what I had when I just went home for lunch. I'm guessing I wasn't getting great signal strength in the office at first and I had to go outside for it to kick on. Anyway, after a few minutes at home it switched to H (HDPSA or whatever) with 2-3 bars, which I've heard is like 3.5G. Good enough for me. I'm back at the office now and am getting H with 2 bars. I opened Vine because that usually requires a decent data connection, and it ran fine.

So far so good. I'm probably going to test out this T-Mobile plan for 2-3 months to see how many talk minutes I end up using on avg. If it's costing me more than $45/month it's a no-brainer to switch to Straight Talk.

 
By the way, the Nexus 5 is AWESOME! I have barely used this phone but it's extremely fast and smooth. I bought the bright red version, which is actually more of a neon red. Very cool looking. Throw in the fact it'll be the first to get the latest Android updates = $$$

 
Just checking in. I got my son and wife each a Kyocera Rise and switched them over to Ting. Only 3G but as you know I don't plan to use the data at all if I can help it. I realize I'm a cheap ******* but heck there's wifi everywhere so shouldn't be a need to use data generally. Seems to be working just fine with my daughter and her iPhone that we got at Christmas.

Fyi, twice now I've jockeyed around numbers at Verizon to avoid or minimize etf's. I'm very pleasantly surprised at how well their service area has done working through these requests on the phone simply to make it cheaper for me to cancel service. They're a class act - too bad they're so darn expensive.

I'm the last to move and will take my time on that so I get what I want. The Kyocera's were easy choices with the Android 4.04 that I wanted and the good reviews. Same size screen as the iPhone/iPod touches plus the qwerty keyboards :thumbup: .

 
I couldn't deal with the camera lens sticking out of the back of the Nexus 5. Loved the phone otherwise, but that damn little annoyance was enough for me to return it.

 
Hulk thanks for the info supplied in this thread

I’m pretty sure I going to move my Galaxy S2 and my daughter’s phone over to Ting once my Sprint contract ends in three months or so.

My wife however isn’t happy with the Sprint network and I think she wants a new phone.

Our home zip is 27571 and her work zip is 27615. Which carrier has the best coverage in those zip codes?

Which MNVO and phone would you recommend for the wife? She also has a Galaxy S2
Well, for the Raleigh area, looks like Sprint is rated the worst on both cellreception and rootmetrics. It looks like that rating is mostly driven by data speeds... call quality/drops may be slightly worse with Sprint, but that is probably a minor difference.

If she were to leave Sprint coverage, she would require a new phone.

What are her usage requirements? (minutes/texts/data)
She doesn't need too much data because we have wifi at home and in the building

We currently have a Sprint plan that gives us 1500 anytime minutes and we almost never go over that

Text messages I would guess in the 300 range

I will double check all this later tonight when I can get a hold of her phone to check the usage

She seems to like the deal that verizon is offering now. The buy one Galaxy S5 get another free

Our company doesn't give us cell phones but gives us a $70 stipend per phone so that helps

 
Hulk thanks for the info supplied in this thread

I’m pretty sure I going to move my Galaxy S2 and my daughter’s phone over to Ting once my Sprint contract ends in three months or so.

My wife however isn’t happy with the Sprint network and I think she wants a new phone.

Our home zip is 27571 and her work zip is 27615. Which carrier has the best coverage in those zip codes?

Which MNVO and phone would you recommend for the wife? She also has a Galaxy S2
Well, for the Raleigh area, looks like Sprint is rated the worst on both cellreception and rootmetrics. It looks like that rating is mostly driven by data speeds... call quality/drops may be slightly worse with Sprint, but that is probably a minor difference.

If she were to leave Sprint coverage, she would require a new phone.

What are her usage requirements? (minutes/texts/data)
She doesn't need too much data because we have wifi at home and in the building

We currently have a Sprint plan that gives us 1500 anytime minutes and we almost never go over that

Text messages I would guess in the 300 range

I will double check all this later tonight when I can get a hold of her phone to check the usage

She seems to like the deal that verizon is offering now. The buy one Galaxy S5 get another free

Our company doesn't give us cell phones but gives us a $70 stipend per phone so that helps
You each get $70 a month from work to cover your phone plan?

Yeah, just go to Verizon then.

Unless you can bank the extra cash if you do it cheaper?

 
Hulk thanks for the info supplied in this thread

I’m pretty sure I going to move my Galaxy S2 and my daughter’s phone over to Ting once my Sprint contract ends in three months or so.

My wife however isn’t happy with the Sprint network and I think she wants a new phone.

Our home zip is 27571 and her work zip is 27615. Which carrier has the best coverage in those zip codes?

Which MNVO and phone would you recommend for the wife? She also has a Galaxy S2
Well, for the Raleigh area, looks like Sprint is rated the worst on both cellreception and rootmetrics. It looks like that rating is mostly driven by data speeds... call quality/drops may be slightly worse with Sprint, but that is probably a minor difference.

If she were to leave Sprint coverage, she would require a new phone.

What are her usage requirements? (minutes/texts/data)
She doesn't need too much data because we have wifi at home and in the building

We currently have a Sprint plan that gives us 1500 anytime minutes and we almost never go over that

Text messages I would guess in the 300 range

I will double check all this later tonight when I can get a hold of her phone to check the usage

She seems to like the deal that verizon is offering now. The buy one Galaxy S5 get another free

Our company doesn't give us cell phones but gives us a $70 stipend per phone so that helps
You each get $70 a month from work to cover your phone plan?

Yeah, just go to Verizon then.

Unless you can bank the extra cash if you do it cheaper?
I can bank the extra cash

 
Hulk thanks for the info supplied in this thread

I’m pretty sure I going to move my Galaxy S2 and my daughter’s phone over to Ting once my Sprint contract ends in three months or so.

My wife however isn’t happy with the Sprint network and I think she wants a new phone.

Our home zip is 27571 and her work zip is 27615. Which carrier has the best coverage in those zip codes?

Which MNVO and phone would you recommend for the wife? She also has a Galaxy S2
Well, for the Raleigh area, looks like Sprint is rated the worst on both cellreception and rootmetrics. It looks like that rating is mostly driven by data speeds... call quality/drops may be slightly worse with Sprint, but that is probably a minor difference.

If she were to leave Sprint coverage, she would require a new phone.

What are her usage requirements? (minutes/texts/data)
She doesn't need too much data because we have wifi at home and in the building

We currently have a Sprint plan that gives us 1500 anytime minutes and we almost never go over that

Text messages I would guess in the 300 range

I will double check all this later tonight when I can get a hold of her phone to check the usage

She seems to like the deal that verizon is offering now. The buy one Galaxy S5 get another free

Our company doesn't give us cell phones but gives us a $70 stipend per phone so that helps
You each get $70 a month from work to cover your phone plan?

Yeah, just go to Verizon then.

Unless you can bank the extra cash if you do it cheaper?
I can bank the extra cash
Galaxy S5 is pricey unlocked. How do you feel about a Nexus 5?

If you're looking for 1500 minutes (shared), 300ish texts, and not too much data since you have wifi everywhere (call it 500 MB?), then you could save a LOT of money.

For example, on Ting you could have 2100 minutes, 1000 texts, and 500 MB to share between you guys for $64 a month total (plus taxes/fees). On Zact something similar is even cheaper @ $53.89, but no Nexus and your phone options are more limited.

 
Porting complete to TING.

It was painless, and only had to call once because of a small problem porting my Photon, but it took them less than 5 mins to get it straightened out.

I will call one more time, to get a referral in, as I forgot about that, and to find out if they will cover any of the $100 I will have to pay in ETF's

iPhone4

Galaxy Nexus

Motorola Photon

All 3 ported and working fine in less than 24hours. And 95% of it done by following their online instructions and emails.

:thumbup:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Porting complete to TING.

It was painless, and only had to call once because of a small problem porting my Photon, but it took them less than 5 mins to get it straightened out.

I will call one more time, to get a referral in, as I forgot about that, and to find out if they will cover any of the $100 I will have to pay in ETF's

iPhone4

Galaxy Nexus

Motorola Photon

All 3 ported and working fine in less than 24hours. And 95% of it done by following their online instructions and emails.

:thumbup:
they should cover 25% of your ETF. Definitely call them if you didn't sign up for that prior to porting.
 
Porting complete to TING.

It was painless, and only had to call once because of a small problem porting my Photon, but it took them less than 5 mins to get it straightened out.

I will call one more time, to get a referral in, as I forgot about that, and to find out if they will cover any of the $100 I will have to pay in ETF's

iPhone4

Galaxy Nexus

Motorola Photon

All 3 ported and working fine in less than 24hours. And 95% of it done by following their online instructions and emails.

:thumbup:
they should cover 25% of your ETF. Definitely call them if you didn't sign up for that prior to porting.
 
Porting complete to TING.

It was painless, and only had to call once because of a small problem porting my Photon, but it took them less than 5 mins to get it straightened out.

I will call one more time, to get a referral in, as I forgot about that, and to find out if they will cover any of the $100 I will have to pay in ETF's

iPhone4

Galaxy Nexus

Motorola Photon

All 3 ported and working fine in less than 24hours. And 95% of it done by following their online instructions and emails.

:thumbup:
they should cover 25% of your ETF. Definitely call them if you didn't sign up for that prior to porting.
 
I am set up with Consumer Cellular now. I had lots of issues trying to transfer my government number, and they really did a nice job talking me through. Then there was some stuff that needed to be done to set up data on my phone, and they called me three times to assist. Will report back on the service and pricing after I have it for a few months, but the customer service is really top-notch.

 

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