She’s moving off on her own and really doesn’t have any idea of what to get. My phone plan has been covered by my work for over a decade, so I am not educated about this either. I guess the basics are phone, text, and data, ideally no contract, and cheap.
She is not a luddite but neither is she a techie fanboy or a hacker, so the Jack Bauer solutions are not part of her consideration. Nothing involving ripping the back off and using paper clips and Chewing gum wrappers and thunderstorms are helpful solutions. She rarely uses the phone, texts a lot (200</month) but about half as much as her high school sister does, and she will not be downloading a library of feature films, although probably the occasional TV Show. I’m thinking 2gb/mo. will take care of it.
Anyone know of any off-the-shelf plans that would fit? Any other better ideas?
I used AT&T’s prepaid unlimited plan for 2 years, which was $60/month for unlimited texts and minutes. No data.
I switched to Walmart’s StraightTalk wireless which is a prepaid service. I get unlimited texts, minutes and data for $45 / month. MY Straighttalk phone uses Verizon’s network. Everything I read on the Internet said StraightTalk uses AT&Ts network but I can say with certainty that my phone does not.
Not to brag or anything, but I could easily afford to get a “real” plan. I have plenty of money and credit, but I refuse to get one because I’ve found every cell phone provider to exclusively hire incompetent dishonest crooks.
I’m going to resist the urge to exaggerate and say that when I had a “regular” family plan, they messed up my billing on average twice a year. Usually they’d add some service to my plan for $10/month and I’d have to call and argue that I very specifically declined the service when offered, and just generally be aggravated. Most of the time when i got my next bill it wasn’t really corrected so I’d have to call again and fight with them.
Finally I got fed up and got the pre-paid plan. The only thing that’s better about it is that you pay as you go - there’s no opportunity to incompetently mess up your bill. The no contract is fine, but I’m in it for the lack of hassle. If you need technical support it’s pretty hard to get, but you get essentially the same awful support you get with a regular AT&T/Verizon plan, so it’s not really a downside.
Incidentally the AT&T plan I used was actually $2/day for any given day you use it. So if you use your phone once every day it costs $60/month for unlimited texts and minutes. But if you don’t use it any given day you pay nothing. Not good for a young person (mostly because it lacked data), but fantastic for the right person.
The number one criteria in a phone plan is that it has to provide good coverage where the user wants to use it–and this varies considerably. For example I have a U.S. Cellular tower a mile and a half from where I live–and no other company has a tower closer than 9 miles.
The best discussion forum for these issues (where you want information for a specific area) is Howard Forums:
VirginMobile is $35 a month for unlimited text and 300 minutes a month (for an extra $10 a month, you can up that to 1200 minutes; and $55 gives you unlimited everything). You have to buy your own phone, which saves you money in the long run* There is no contract, so you can quit or get a new phone at any time.
The catch is that it has coverage gaps (it uses the Sprint network). They cover the cities well, but smaller towns are spotty. Their website has a coverage map.
*“Free” phones are paid for by higher monthly rates. Two years at $35, plus $309 for a Samsung Galaxy phone comes to $1149; Two years at $60 from AT&T is $1440.
Straight Talk uses both CDMA networks (of which Verizon is one) and GSM (AT&T and T-Mobile). If you have a GSM phone, you can buy a SIM card from Straight Talk. I use my iPhone with an AT&T-compatible SIM, but unlocked iPhones can also use a T-Mobile SIM.
If she’ll be in an area with good coverage, Virgin Mobile can be very good. I’ve been with them for nearly 4 years and have had no problems - I’m actually grandfathered into their $25 plan, but as RealityChuck said, that plan is now $35 and includes unlimited data, texting and 300 minutes. Unlike my former provider, AT&T, I don’t remember the last time I had a dropped call - I do live in a major metro area, though.
Thirding Virgin Mobile. I have this same plan and have for several years. I use the phone as much as I need to without worrying about the minutes, and 300 is more than enough.
I use Verizon’s $35/mo plan for non-smartphoneswith 500 minutes and unlimited text (also unlimited data but uh…you don’t want to use data on a dumb phone). It’s the cheapest I’ve found, and Verizon’s coverage has been 100% for me, even out in the boonies where my grandparents live.
It depends too on who services your area. Verizon and T-Mobile don’t service much up here but may do well here. Everything else is fair game. Sprint has a new unlimited plan with yearly upgrades, may be something to look into.