Cell Carriers??

[Laura_A]

When we moved back to the States 3 years ago, we had to do some research to decide which cell phone carrier we wanted to go with. At the time, T-Mobile seemed our best option. I have been less than happy with them and, at times, down right furious with them. I'm not happy with their coverage, their lack of honesty/information when upgrading or changing our account and they even turned an early cancelation fee over to collection for a line we never had...and, of which we were never informed until we got a call from the collection agency...that was a mess.

I need to start thinking about switching plans/carriers and wanted opinions on who you all think is good. We have 5 lines (one we are about to get rid of) with unlimited talk & text on all and 2 with limited internet and 1 with unlimited internet. Our bill is nearly $200 a month. That's just too much for me to justify when I'm not even happy with the service. I've actually considered paying the early cancelation fees to get out of our contract with them.

Anyway, who do y'all have? Do you love them? What do your plans look like? Thanks for any advice you might have.

[Milmomma]

Honestly your price for all your asking isn't too bad.
We have Verizon and have for ages. Love that we can suspend our number/lines each time we go overseas. VZW has great coverage in this area, luckly. We have a family share plan, 2 iPhones with unlimited text and talk and insurance on both. 2 GB of data to share with his line currently suspended we are sitting at 100$ bill for mine alone. We will up the GB when he gets back and pay around $160 a month. Eventually we will up it again and add the kids on. Just not there yet.

[mariewilcox]

I have AT&T because it comes in best where I live in the boonies and they have a local store with very helpful and informative staff so I don't have to deal with anyone over the phone who barely speaks English.

We have a family plan with 4 lines (me, Cheyanne, my parents, and my sister). We have unlimited talk, text, and 10 GB of data as well as hot spot (not sure if it matters but we have 3 iPhones and a HTC One smart phone. We haven't come close to using up the data between the 4 of us. It costs a bit more than I would like but we don't have a land line and the bill is split 3 ways - total is $260 a month with all taxes and insurance on 1 phone. I would like to pay less, but it is what it is. It makes my work so much more flexible to be able to get emails and go on-line from wherever I am so I don't see me going back to no data ever again.

[Lyd]

We're Verizon here too. We have three lines on a family plan, unlimited text and talk and a shared data plan (I think it's 2 GB-might be 4 GB). We pay at least $200 a month, but I'm not completely sure right now, cause that bill gets paid automatically, and I don't pay attention. Lol. We do get a little bit of a break on DH's portion of the bill through his work, but it doesn't amount to a ton of savings in the grand scheme of things.

We have been with Sprint in the past, and we really liked them, but when we moved back to Utah, their coverage was a little spotty for DH cause he works up on the mountain. My hubby hates AT&T for some reason. I've never had a phone through them, so I couldn't comment.

[glumirk]

I think it mostly depends on where you live. When I lived in AZ, Sprint was by far the best. Here in NH, Verizon is the best. DH has TMobile and I have ATT.

Depending on how many minutes you actually use, you could look into prepaid plans. DH has a plan that is 100 minutes plus 4G data for $30 or $35 a month. I have 250 minutes for $25 every three months. We make it work by having an Ooma line and having people only use our Google Voice number that calls all three lines. If we are home, or want to make long calls, we use our Ooma line (which is like $3.50 a month simply for taxes). People can text us through Google Voice, and DH's phone is a Google phone, so he can give me a hot spot if necessary, and we don't have to pay extra.

It works for us because I'm home most of the time. Now that we have a second car things may be changing, but my kids aren't good at being taken places (I mean, it's a serious workout because of the screaming and fighting involved and I can only handle once a week aside from church...which is exhausting in itself).

[ripal]

I've been with Sprint for about 14 years. Right now, we have 5 lines, unlimited text, 1500 anytime minutes (free anytime cell-to-cell, not just Sprint-to-Sprint), unlimited data for all 5 phones. I pay about $230 per month that includes taxes and everything else. Since most everyone that we call have cell phones now, we hardly use any of our 1500 minutes.

[NeverendingJen]

we've got verizon with two smart phones, 4 GB of data on one, 2 GB on the other, and pay $160ish monthly.

[lingovise]

we have verizon too... 2 lines, unlimited talk/text & 4gb of data w/hotspots for $160ish/mo.

[clearskies]

We had AT&T for the last 12 years, but last week we switched to Verizon. We were only getting one bar in our house (in a large metro area) and AT&T was being less than helpful about it. Well now, we get a whopping two bars....grrrr.... Not super happy about the switch yet, I also need to go review my bill because the math isn't adding up... So the verdict is still out at this point.

[PeggyC]

We've had both Verizon & AT&T. I can't see much difference between the two cost wise. We were forced to change to AT&T when we moved to Texas and we lived in an area that had NO Verizon coverage. When we returned to IL we kept our AT&T and have good coverage. I know cost is important but because we live in the country and have 3G access, I'm very satisfied with AT&T.

[rach3975]

I've been using Cricket since I got a smartphone 1.5 years ago. I get unlimited talk, text, and internet for $55/mo. Since I'm home a lot and no carriers have great service in our house, I didn't want to spend a lot. It's been hassle free and works fine for me, but I don't know if a higher volume user would feel the same. I've generally been happy with the service, but not with my phone (way too little memory). Though DH has Verizon (on a work-provided phone), and he always has more bars than I do.

I want to get a new phone soon, and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to leave Cricket. Carriers like Verizon are more per month than I want to spend, but the prices for good phones are much better. DH and I need to have that conversation soon.

[Nettio]

When we lived in CO Springs, we had both Verizon & AT&T and never had problems with either of them. I only switched to AT&T because I wanted the iPhone and at the time they were the only ones that had them. We still have AT&T and we've been really happy with them. Make sure to ask for the military discount on your monthly service too.

[kscwgirl]

we have sprint.. been with them for 14 years. We have 4 lines, 1500 anytime minutes, unlimited data and texting and I think I pay $200ish a month

[Kara]

I have T-Mobile but my account is a prepaid one with unlimited data and 100 minutes for $30. I mostly use VOIP for phone calls so the 100 minutes usually is adequate. But if it is not, I pay 10 cents a minutes thereafter. Texts are free.

[ripal]

Originally Posted by kscwgirl

we have sprint.. been with them for 14 years. We have 4 lines, 1500 anytime minutes, unlimited data and texting and I think I pay $200ish a month

Yeap.. same plan as I have! I haven't found anything that matches this one. I have $25 extra.. because of one more line and then, I pay $5 for family locator.. so that I know where the kids are! Best $5 spent ever! It's not just for 'spying' on them. But, let's say, my daughter is gone to other city for the her soccer game, I can check her location how far she's from home so that I know how much time I have before I need to go and pick her up from school, etc... it's REALLY handy!

[britaneejean]

one thing you might want to check out is using Google Voice. it's an app that sends text messages through your data. we got rid of our unlimited text & just paid the data which makes our bill cheaper...about $115/month through At&T for 2 phones, 4 GB data, & some high amount of minutes.

[marnel]

We have Boost $40 Unlimited but they will throttle, This was my fav by far.
StraightTalk $45 not good in the boonies & they use att towers:/ I use them bc they offer sim cards and I save money than going with Att plan for my galaxy note. Virgin Mobile $30 300 mins unlimited text & web. ok but not thebest