Any regrets switching to a cheaper cell phone company? I am cost focused (obviously since I member of this sub Reddit) but hubby is worried about coverage (even though we never go anywhere 🤷♀️)
tempted to change from V—-zon to M-nt.
Has anyone else made this change? Any regrets? (300 characters minimum so apparently I need to add more so hhhhhhhhheeeeeerrrreee)
I’m thinking about switching cell phone companies
byu/Mediocre-Goal1040 inFrugal
Posted by Mediocre-Goal1040
17 Comments
I can’t believe you almost said the V word gross
I switched to m—t on their cheapest plan and have no regrets but I never go anywhere outside of work or home where Wi-Fi is readily available. On the off chance I do im generally not on my phone a whole lot
We made this switch and will never look back. Don’t have any problems with reception, but we are not in a rural area. Saves us a ton.
I switched to the $35 prepaid plan from T-Mo—-
It’s been fine for me for like 5 years now. The only time I had an issue, was when I took a 10 day vacation. I was using maps constantly and ran out of data. So I bought a one time top-up and was fine. Check the built in data tracker on your phone to see how much you REALLY use. Change settings so that anything data heavy only runs on wifi.
I have Cr——t and have for years. I looked into M—t and did not want to risk the rural area coverage.
I use Visible and I’ll never, ever go back to major carriers! I pay $32 for unlimited everything. I own my phone outright. I have amazing cell service and even stream. Switch. The amount that we (husband and I) were paying for two cell phone lines per month was a little over $223 using AT&T. Now, literally, $64 for BOTH. Make the switch!
Change to Visible. Cheaper and you will still be on the same towers as the big V. The big V is the owner of the Visible MVNO.
Make sure you separate your phone purchase from your plan payments. These days you can buy an unlocked phone from manufacturers and finance it if you need. That allows you to switch carriers without worrying about whether the phone is paid off or unlocked.
Switched from Vzn to Mt and absolutely no regrets. I get solid connection in places at work and school where I used to lose reception constantly. The app is super simple and you can easily see if you’re using way less data than you signed up for if you’re thinking of downgrading the data plan for the next cycle. I got the 12 month unlimited and I have nothing but good things to say about the switch.
M!n+ is on T+m0b!L’s network. So as long as they have good coverage in your area, you’re good.
I have the ay tea and tea $300 yearly plan which works out to $25 a month. I’ve had it for three years now and I’m happy with it, no issues and i have abundant mobile data.
Do it! I switched from Vzn after 17 years. Bill went from 130ish to $40. I was so apprehensive but haven’t noticed any change in my service. Switched to Spectrum which is supposedly on Verizon towers.
I cut $175/month by switching from V… to Spec. Our iPhones 13 have been paid off for years and we thought our bill would go down but it didn’t. Went from $225 unlimited to $50 unlimited and still have great service!
Edit-removed brand names
I went from V to M*nt and am in the process of moving my whole family. Way cheaper and coverage is the same. No difference at all.
The provider you’re planning to switch to should (I assume) have a coverage map, which you should definitely check before switching to make sure it at least covers the places you spend most of your time.
I’ve had an excellent experience switching from a regular plan to a cheap ($15/month) prepaid plan from a smaller company that’s a subsidiary of a large company. Since it’s using the same infrastructure as the big company, coverage is excellent, and I’ve had zero regrets switching. I actually love the prepaid more than a regular plan because if I hit my limit for data (which rarely happens) it just gets cut off and I get a text that I can respond to if I want to add more data just for that month. No more need to keep super careful track of my data usage to make sure I don’t go over, and I can add a little extra just when I need it.
On the other hand, a friend of mine in university once went with a small independent company offering prepaid plans really cheap, but their access to infrastructure was much more limited. Might be fine if you lived your life entirely in one of the major cities where they had actual coverage, but was a crap shoot the farther away you got from one of those cities. She had no coverage at all when she went home for holidays holidays and over the summer (small town in a rural area) and it sucked. She dropped them pretty quickly.
As well as checking the coverage map, check what the laws are around emergency calls. I’m in Canada and here it’s required for all providers to allow 911 calls regardless of what carrier the phone is with – so even if I’m in a part of the country where my particular provider has no service, as long as there’s *a* cell tower in range, I can still make emergency calls. That may help with concerns about coverage if it’s the same wherever you live.
Switched from Tmo($140) to M🌱($25) and love it! Same towers but somehow have better signal. I live in the city but work in a metal building out in the country and finally have service inside!
M!nt uses t-mob!le network. US Mob!le has options for the ATnT, ver!zon, and t-mob!e networks. Both are reliable and very affordable.
I switched to US M_____, which uses V______ towers. The switch was seamless on my P____ phone, but people in my household with S______ phones had a bit of a hassle switching over.
Edited to remove brand names.