Switching Cell Plans -Visible Wireless

[peakbagger]

Time to reduce my monthly bills. Phase 1 is switch out of Verizon cell plan. I am shareholder but $65 a month for basic service with limited data seemed steep. I needed a firm that uses the Verizon network that would let me use my phone. Red Pocket looked good but they say my phone will not work. I owned it and its not tethered plus fairly new so it should work. I tried Visible and they can use it so might as well give it try for $30 a month unlimited calls and data. Pretty painless once I figured out where my sim card was hidden. I ported the old phone number over to it, so in theory it should seamless. I will give it try for week or two and then phase 2 is forward my old land line number to the cell phone and cut the landline. I rarely if ever use the landline and have the barest of the bare measured use no long distance plan and its still $30 a month. Its $24 to forward the old number to the new one so I am ahead in about a month.

I used my Verizon account for business previously so I needed reliability in rural areas and Verizon had deals with other carriers while I think the Visible plan is strictly the VZ network. Its 5 G but I do not expect I will see 5G in my area anytime soon. I used to be on the fringe of no service but the cell tower network is now a lot more robust in the area.

The last hurdle is internet service, Spectrum just keeps bumping up the rates $5 a year. I currently pay $85 for cable modem service (no TV) and since the holidays, I have to rent a wifi router box from them instead of using my own as the new cable modem they forced me to upgrade to is not playing well with my old setup. Competition is slowly creeping its way into the area so there is hope but given the population density I am unsure if it will run down my street. Reportedly once there is competition they drop their prices.

 

[tlc1976]

I’d love $65 a month. I currently pay $107 a month for service on my fully owned iPhone. AT&T because that’s the only one that had even a shred of signal at my house, and I still needed a house antenna. That was the only way I could get better than dialup, and data was still very limited.

I waited my whole life for Spectrum (the monopoly for a long time) to run lines more than 4 miles outside of town but they never would.

Finally Truestream came along, which is fiber piggybacked with the electric coop. That was 2 years ago and it is amazing. So I only need cell service when away from home now. So I’m looking at options too.

 

[begreen]

We switched from AT&T to Xfinity wireless about 5 yrs ago. They use the Verizon network. We are a Comcast internet customer (no cable tv) which makes the pricing great. We chose the gig plan because we don't use the phone that much except at home where it's wireless. We share the data level with 3 phones. That costs us $15/mo. If we go over the 1 gig it goes up to $30. That only happens when were are traveling. They also have an unlimited plan at $45. The service is good and coverage in rural areas has been better than with AT&T.

Another good plan is T-Mobile, if they have good coverage for your area.

 

[festerw]

If you have a decent Verizon signal their 4G Home Internet works well if it's available. I think I pay $50/month.

I've been pretty happy with Mint Mobile, we spend most of our time on WIFI so we do 3GB 4G data/month with unlimited call/text. Prepaid for a year it's under $200, unlimited is around $375. Runs off of the T-Mobile network.

 

[peakbagger]

If there are local competitors for cable, most firms have deal. None in my area so pricing is ridiculous.

 

[mcdougy]

Phones here are about 65$ a month, they claim canada is #3 in the world for most expensive cell plans. The wife just switched to a 19$ a month plan that is unlimited text and 90mins of talk a month. She uses wifi for data since it's about everywhere now. She can voice call on wifi with whatsapp

 

[brenndatomu]

We switched from Verizon to Cricket about 4 years ago (IIRC) and was a bit worried about coverage, but we have traveled a lot and it seems to be at least as good as Verizon. (same towers, I dunno?) and Cricket is half the price.

 

[marty319]

Phones here are about 65$ a month, they claim canada is #3 in the world for most expensive cell plans. The wife just switched to a 19$ a month plan that is unlimited text and 90mins of talk a month. She uses wifi for data since it's about everywhere now. She can voice call on wifi with whatsapp

I'm in manitoba,I pay 89 a month taxes in for 100gb of data and unlimited text and long distance.i tether off my phone for internet so I'm okay with that.

 

[mcdougy]

@marty319 What provider gives you a plan like that? That sounds as good as it gets

 

[marty319]

Bell mobility,my friend has 100gb for 70 through koodo

 

[Dataman]

I pay about 65 dollar a year for my phone. QVC or HSN and get smartphone with 1500 minutes. I use my WiFi for Data at home. I also use Ooma for home calls (7 bucks month) because I live under metal roof. Tons better reception. I normally get new one every year. Cheaper than buying minutes/data. Throw it in drawer for backup. They have gone up since I last bought one. Now about 100 bucks.

(broken link removed to https://www.qvc.com/Tracfone-65%22-Moto-G-Power-II-Smartphone-with-1500-TalkTextData.product.E309440.html)

Signup and get 10 bucks off Code

(broken link removed to https://www.hsn.com/products/tcl-a3-tracfone-bundle-with-1500-mintextdata/20689899)

 

[ABMax24]

We get 40gb at 4G speed for $65/month through Koodo, which also includes the $15/month for the phone.

We never use anywhere close to 40gb per month, our internet at home is way faster at 350mbps with our basic package than 4G will ever be, and we can get up to 1.5gbps if we want.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Thought Visible was a part of Verizon.... I get discount from verizon through my company plus a stipend as I need my phone for work. So sticking with Verizon for now.

 

[peakbagger]

Thats the thing I do not understand, visible does claim to be part of Verizon. There are several firms that buy time on the Verizon network and sell their own plans for similar pricing as Visible so maybe Verizon just decided to cut out the middleman. If its teaser rate and they bump it up in the future there are plenty of competitors looking for my business. I own the number so its not that hard to swap carriers. Verizon advertises free stuff like Direct TV but my old plan did not qualify.