Time to Break Up With Your Phone Company? - Comments Page 1

I think I had Verizxon for 20 years. My wife, daughter and I have had Consumer Cellular for several years. I love them. I even added roadside assistance through them. They are the best value!

The only annoyance I have with CC concerns the autopay option. I do not leave my bank or credit card information in the hands of most businesses. IMO many of the credit card breaches result from 3rd party billing services. (I don't know if CC uses such a service.) I have an excellent credit score and no history of missing utility or credit card payments. Yet CC insists I pay $5/mo extra for the privilege of using my bank's bill payment service. BTW I am a recent convert from Verizon. My CC bill is nearly 1/2 for the same level of service.

Some friends had to talk me into trying CC. I was in such a habit of Verizon. Oh boy. Wish I'd switched to CC from their beginnings! Flawless, great service in every way. I've now had them for 11 yrs & would never change. Ppl using other services are throwing money right out the window.
As for auto-pay, I use that convenience, & never have I ever been charged for that service. The person that said they have to pay $5/mo extra should ck with their bank to see if the bank is the culprit -- it is not CC.

JennyD: You misread my comment. I am charged $5/mo for the privilege of NOT using CC autopay. I use my bank's bill payment service.

Longtime Tracfone user here. Very happy w/ Tracfone. My monthly cell phone bill is less than $24 taxes & fees included. I use an Apple phone which I purchased from Tracfone for less than $150.

Bob, I don't know who you've been talking to, but I've been a very unhappy Consumer Cellular customer for about a year now, and I will soon be jumping to Google Fi. The only flip phone CC offered me was the "Link II", and it has proven to be a piece of s#!t. Instead of geezer-friendly, it is very nearly unusable. The "Pure Talk" plan has proven to be a liability; many on-line security protocols assume everyone has text messaging. My roomie agrees. We're looking forward to Moto G Power phones on Google Fi.

We just switched to them last month after decades with Verizon and a year with T-Mobile for one phone and Verizon for the other. Contrary to their ads, no local Target or other stores represent them, so we had to wait for sim cards, call our carriers, and switch ourselves. However, the phone support to do this was great. Readily available and very helpful. Of course we had to have another phone to use their help while changing our cell phones.
Phone service has been good and so has customer service. The iPhone automatically had the visual voicemail that we grew accustomed to, but the Android did not. Two calls to Customer service, both very short waits, and we have it again.
I thought "they use AT&T and T-Mobile" would automatically switch us to whichever network was strongest at that location, but have read that one must request the appropriate SIM card for the preferred network and then access is only to that one network.

We've been satisfied Consumer Cellular customers for several years and just had nother pleasant and successful customer service contact last week. When we realized we could save money, we switched our land line to a third CC line and thereby kept a number we'd used for decades. This is the way to go.

The rate you're paying may sound atractive to you but compared with what I pay in Spain for a virtually identical service is way less. I pay EUR 6.9/month which workes out to around $7.15 US

I had CC for a very short while. It may be that they didn't have AT&T at the time, but I couldn't get any service unless I went out a 10th of a mile to my mailbox.
The phone was way too simple for me, and at the time not that many options were available.
I do admit this was some years ago. I am sure, from reading the comments here and from your article, that things have changed over time. And for the better.

I have been with Verizon for many years. I would have switched to CC had they bought the coverage from Verizon. Where I live, only Verizon offers coverage.

I have been using Teelo.com for several months and I am very happy, I am a casual user. $10.00 (plus tax - $.09) for FREE telephone calls and FREE texting plus 1 GB of data. Could not be better!!

Hubby and I switched to Consumer Cellular about 5 years ago after a few decades with Verizon... small monthly bill by comparison and only wish is that I had made the change sooner... so appreciate AT&T championing CC in their offers for a 5% discount for members. I ignored those offers for too long!!! The only place that I could not get service was when we traveled to Kimball, Nebraska for a celebration of life for hubby's brother... local family and friends had service on their phones but Jimmy and I did not, we picked it back up again when we entered Colorado on the return trip.

Nothing is getting me off RedPocket (see ebay)using Tmobile service. $30 per year for 200 min, 1,000 texts, 200mb data per month. We use iphones also bought on ebay.

I have switched from Verizon to Ting and have not missed a call yet. The big consumer magazine rates them on the same level with Consumer Cellular.

I helped my elderly brother get his 1st smartphone. I waited 40 min for the service agent to return from a "break". Then once we had the service a customer service call was necessary. We were on hold 55 min before giving up. I wrote a letter to the main office in Oregon...never got a reply. Customer service is B.S.

I've read an article about all these discount phone service providers. And after having two months of service by Twigby, he had zero issues with it. Twigby uses Verizon towers, no charge for texting or phone calls, and includes three Gigabytes of data, all for under $15/month. After switching from Verizon to Twigby, I could not tell the difference in the quality of service.
-Bob K

I started out with US Cellular with a "bag phone" when cell phone service was inaugurated and updated the phones over the next 20 years. When I bought an "Essential" phone on the internet. I had to spar with them for 6 months to try and get them to pair-up the phone with their system. They insisted I had to buy one of their phones instead of using my phone. I gave up and went to a Target store to sign up with CC and the tech changed the sim card and had my phone on their system in 10 minutes. I didn't want to leave US Cellular but I realized they were more interested in selling phones than customer service. CC's phones were also cheaper when it came time to upgrade and I never looked back. CC customer service and prices keep me staying with them.

Have been on Consumer Cellular for several years. Have had great coverage.

My only problem is that their group text messages are limited to 10 individuals. I confirmed this with their customer service. And they confirmed that they knew of no App to overcome this limitation. I read that Verizon's limit is 20 individuals.

I'm switching to Twigby. Just waiting for the SIM card.

We have been saving 50% on our cellular costs for years with Consumer Cellular. Great coverage, and customer service. I find sometime that there is along delay getting texts or voicemail, but this is minor compared to the cost savings. We have 5 lines - the 4 lines added share the unlimited of the main line, and for us, only $10 a month extra per line. How silly to pay one of the biggies double to use the SAME cellular system!!