Want to Reduce Your Mobile Phone Bill? - Comments Page 2

I moved from Consumer Cellular to AlticeMobile which I can highly recommend. Current price is $20 (Normally $30) per line for UNLIMITED minutes, text, AND data. Plus includes 35 countries to call from US and use of the service if you are visiting the country. No contract.

@J.R.: The $30 price I mentioned at Mint Mobile is for the iPhone SE and unlimited text/talk + 3 GB of 4G LTE data per month. (For a little more per month, you can get more data.)

I decided to give Mint Mobile a chance when they offered 3 months of unlimited talk and text plus 3 GB LTE data for free during the Super Bowl. Being able to use an unlocked phone is an advantage and I wanted to see if I got good coverage with the T-Mobile network. (I do.)

If you want to see all of their plans:

https://www.mintmobile.com/plans/

If you signup using my referral link, we both get a $15 credit. (And if you signup, you'll get a referral link you can use to get up to a free year of service.)

http://fbuy.me/oUTnC

I've been a Tracfone user for years and if you're not a user of cellular data, it's a great deal. Even with some recent changes in their plans, it's still not economical if you want or need to use more than a few MB of data each month. If you can use Wi-Fi data, you'll be fine. One problem with Tracfone is that it can be difficult to determine which network you'll be getting service on. For years I was on the AT&T network and got very, very spotty service. I found a deal on a CDMA Tracfone phone and switched to the Verizon network and haven't had problems since the change.

Beware Mint Mobile - the phones they sell come from a 3rd-party vendor, and the descriptions on the MM website do not always match the phones being sold by that vendor. I ordered a phone after carefully verifying the tech specs listed on the MM website that the ordered phone would work on the TMO network and allow wifi calling (and the receipt confirmed I ordered the right phone). However, the phone I received was NOT the one ordered (and for some reason was already provisioned for the Canadian telco Rogers). When I informed the 3rd-party vendor of the error and demanded they take it back, they had the nerve to charge ME a restocking fee for THEIR mistake! MM washed its hands of the entire fiasco, claiming they had no responsibility for a phone bought from THEIR vendor.

As I pointed out when this was the topic before, a Verizon reseller (MVNO) called Page Plus Cellular has had, since at least 2005, the lowest cost for people who are very light users. It was bought buy Tracphone a couple of years back, yet its prepaid rates and plans remain mostly better than even Tracphone itself. Any recent Verizon-compatible phone of your own can be used, or you can get one from them if you prefer.

While Page Plus also has pretty competitive no-contract monthly plans, what's special is their Pay-As-You-Go service that's designed for the lightest users, e.g., seniors, who only make occasional calls & texts, or who want a special emergency phone. Those people can get a phone number that uses Verizon towers for as little as $30 - for an entire year - in the form of $10 refills applied every 4 months (and your unused balance rolls over). More can always be paid if you need a larger balance to cover more usage, including a special $80 refill for which you get an extended expiration date of one year.

Keep mind that each text will cost a nickel, each minute of a call is 6 cents, and data is charged at 5 cents per megabyte. So, obviously, if you talk for hours on end, or need to use substantial cellular data (rather than doing Internet mostly on Wifi), or if you are the type of user who likes exchanging numerous texts back & forth (in place of a short phone conversation), then Pay-As-You-Go is definitely not for you.