More Confusing Phone Plans - Comments Page 1

Bob, you know someone who says, ""I give a sales rep 30 seconds to explain everything he’s selling," he says. "If it takes a second longer I say, ‘NEXT, please!’ and cut him off. Life is too short to spend deciphering great deals."

That's great. ... Um, has he ever found someone who can explain it all in 30 seconds? Probably not. So what's his 'Plan B'?

Well, you haven't mentioned T-Mobile yet. They absorbed Metro PCS (I think), and are offering Simple Choice plans. The most basic is $50/month for unlimited talk and text plus 500 MB of data. They say they don't charge above that, they start throttling your data. However, most of the time I'm either at work or at home and have wi-fi both places, so don't actually need a lot of data. Include taxes, etc, and I still come out for less than $60 a month, compared to the $85 a month I was paying Credo Mobile which had unlimited data but not unlimited talk or text. I bought an unlocked Nexus 5 as soon as it was on the market and brought it to T-Mobile.

So far I've been pleased with T-Mobile. When I have had problems they held my hand through to a fix.

No, their coverage isn't great. I live in Metro Atlanta, though, so am overall pleased with it. Would like my brother to join, but he lives in a smaller city and the coverage there is only 2G.

I recently jumped from my old AT&T plan to their ever so sneaky and seemingly attractive family share plan. For three data phones it is $145/mo, sharing 10GB of data. Great, right? Yes, that is fine; however once it comes time to upgrade each device, I'm looking at adding an additional $30-35 on my plan amount, for each line, assuming I go with their next plan. If I pay that for their 20 month term, I'm now basically almost paying MSRP for the phone. So, my $145 plan is now at minimum $235 before taxes, if I want the latest devices. If I would rather have a two year contract, they will offer me up-front discounted device pricing, but will then change my $15 monthly access fee per line, to $40 per line, per month. So, it's a wash. After figuring this out, a few days after switching, I promptly contacted them and complained. They finally allowed me to switch back to my old non-existent plan, which I'm paying about $150/mo, with three data phones, and two-year contracts. So, in the end, they worked with me; but their new plans are not a good deal. They have just figured out how to make more money from people who prefer to pay for everything in life by the month.
They also claim, no contract on their new plans. However, once on their "next" plan, you have to pay either 20 or 26 installments for the phone. If you leave the plan early, the remaining months are due. This sounds like an early termination fee to me!

First Bob, I am an old guy of 73. My old cell phone was so old they do not make batteries for it any longer. Looked at all the plans and gave up with my eyes spinning and a big headache. Hello Tracfone! Got an Android phone which I had to learn to use and for $20 get triple everything with no limits. Tech Support was a ..... but once you get past all that.... not one single problem.

Like the famous line from 'The Graduate' wherein his uncle says to him 'Plastics!'... I will whisper in your ear ... 'T-Mobile'. Best deals around right now. I just switched and am über happy. All the others are scrambling like mad-men because T-Mo shook the very foundations of the other guy's gouging-fest of subscribers. Look into it, you'll see what I mean. Just to be clear, I do not work for, represent nor even want to 'push' any service provider on anyone. I just want to save my hard-earned doubloons.

I've had a ToGo Phone with AT&T since 1996. It suits me just fine, because I rarely make a call on the phone. In fact I had so much credit on the phone, I haven't made a payment since April, 2012. I will for the first time in June, 2014.

Bob...right again! When Sprint's lips are moving....RUN!!! So disappointed and angry, gotta wait it out....

Got the FreedomPop after you wrote it up. No complaints other than short battery life and no costs since buying the phone. hmmmmm.....

Great article Bob. I understand and agree with all your points. I have helped many people navigate these troubled cell plan waters. These companies make a lot of noise with their new offers, but I don't see the real savings for customers. I've recently been asked to look into Consumer Cellular as an alternative to the larger, more well-known, carriers. So far, I don't see any hidden "gotchas". You pay for the full price of the phone, you don't have to buy from them, the plans seem cheaper, and they use AT&T's network and hardware, so the service should be equal to that of AT&T. I like that they don't try to complicate things. Yes, you pay a lot for the phone since you probably have to pay full price (unless you can find a deal or used phone), but after that, you are in control. Month-to-month, no contract, easily adjust plan if/when needed. Sounds good. Do you know anything about this company and/or their plans? Am I missing something? Maybe you can add them to your comparison.

I went to the Sprint dealer I signed with because my phone was acting "hinky" and I still had 6 months left on a 2 year contract. His recommendation was to jump to a new "no-contract" plan (he said Sprint doesn't have contracts anymore). For a new phone, instead of a contract you pay a "small amount extra" (it added about 30% more) per month to pay off the phone. BUT he would have to "take" my old phone because the old contract was not paid up. I swear he held out his hands as if to take the phone from me and just then I felt like he was Rumplestiltskin and I was signing over not only my firstborn but every future child, as well. (Yes, I know one mustn't feel thus about mere "possessions" even if they ARE at your side 24 hours a day.) At any rate, I have paid $200, plus 18 months of a 24 month contract, but I own nothing. Of course I didn't do that. Point is...when deciding on a plan you also have to weigh the present and future value of the phone against the amortized cost of the phone and whether or not you will even be able to sell it to mitigate the cost of a new phone if you upgrade before your term is satisfied. More complexity.

Bob: Not a comment, but I think you meant "simplicity" in your sidebar.
Have enjoyed your columns for years.

I tried to switch my AT&T $40/mo unlimited phone service (voice only) to the new lower, 'senior plan' and the rep said it was $20, but the 'phone charge' was $20.00 MORE, giving me the exact same price...WHAT A RIPOFF! I laughed when she said consider the 'data package free' - when I said I wanted ONLY VOICE - no net access. What kind of savings for seniors is this?????????

I switched from Verizon to consumer cellular 2 months ago. From $37 to $18 month. Cellulars Bluetooth phone cost me $#35 and $18 month taxes included. Not text 200 minutes a month. All I need

I've used a Tracfone Motorola flip phone for years with a Double Minutes feature. Been looking at smartphones, bought a Tracfone Samsung Centura Android at Target, price $129 but at register was $80, which comes with a Triple Minutes, Text, and Data lifetime feature. Works for me as I try to use Skype as much as possible at home. Enjoy your articles.

Thanks for yet another timely article, Bob. My suggestion to everybody is to look at the various MVNO's out there. Same networks, lower prices. A few years back, after a LOT of research, my wife and I switched to Platinum Tel because of AT&T's bad service and pricing. P-tel's pre-paid prices were 2cents/text, 5cents/min talk and 10cents/picture message. They used the Sprint network and we NEVER had any problems with dropped calls, etc., unlike when we were with AT&T. A BIG PLUS - their customer service was exceptional. We ended up spending about $25/month total for our two phones. When our phone usages skyrocketed, I did my research again and settled on an unlimited-all plan for my wife - $45/month on straight talk using Verizon's network - and a $35/month Virgin Mobile plan for me that uses Sprint's network. We also bought our first smart phones via those providers - both perfectly adequate for our needs and bargains at only around $100 each. The absolutely only negative issue we have had was with Straight Talk's customer service. A minor billing problem became an ORDEAL to get corrected, though it was finally accomplished. My Virgin Mobile service has been good with no problems, technical or cost-wise. Sorry for the length of this but high-value and high-quality cell service IS available and it does NOT cost big $$$. Last thing, Bob. Thanks for years of keeping me informed and protected.

Check out ConsumerCellular.com for what I have found to be both an affordable and a reliable cell service provider. Its plans are simple and straight forward, with the option of adjusting your plan during any month depending upon your usage needs. Consumer Cellular offers the added benefit of a discount to AARP members on its services.

Very good and needed posting to open some people's eyes! You never mention Metro PCS and they have been supplying a great no contract plan before any of these abusive large companies ever thought about doing it. Simply they have no contract, no gimmicks and a straight monthly charge of $40 including all taxes and charges (just $40)that includes unlimited talk, text and 500 MB at 4G and after that you get unlimited 3G. You have to buy your phone and can buy a new one as many times and as often as you want. I got an LG smart phone for free after their promotion and have been paying $40 ever after. I live in Florida and the service is excellent. If you don't want 4G you can drop to a $35 per month with all unlimited. I'm so happy of having left ATT that every month my bill was a different amount. They always found a new charge to add some taxes and some their own charges. Now I pay $40 and it never changes. I don't know why people don't line up at their doors unless you want an I phone. We need to support companies that give us a fair value w/o the confusing mumbo jumbo. There are smaller companies like Booth Mobile that also will give you a fair deal unlimited all for $35 except data which is sometimes limited in 4G.

I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile about three and a half years ago. Now they're even better with the Simple Choice plans. I have a family plan that starts at $80 for two lines for unlimited talk, text and data. The data gets throttled to 3G speeds after 500 MB but you can bump that to 2.5 GB for an additional $10/month. I also added two additional lines at $10 each, so that's $100/month for four lines with unlimited talk, text and data. I did have to spring for the extra $10 to get 2.5 GB of data for my daughter, but the rest of us are usually well under the 500 MB.

Amen to all, Bob

Years ago, when we were traveling all over the country in our RV we went with Sprint. But hardly ever had any service except in major cities. So in '92 we switched to AT&T and have stayed there. We have two phones and we paid $69.95 per month. THEN we got new phones...iPhone for the wife....Android for me. Guess what. Up went our bill $40 per month....$20 for each phone because they were "smart" phones. Never mind that we never text...never use data...etc. If ya got a smart phone...it's gonna cost you that much extra. Now why did we get smart phones? Because, at the time, we simply could not find good quality "dumb" phones. They were all trash. So not our service costs us about $110 per month. But, at least, we did pull the plug on our old home phone & that saved us $30. Got tired of the blasted marketing calls. We registered our number on both federal and state "no-call" lists but the tele-marketers ignore that. We are about to start looking for a better deal.

Thanks for this article.

With Virgin Mobile, I get unlimited data, text, and email, and 300 minutes of talk for $35 a month.