Phone carrier u use!

[Ynwdwndrr]

Hi there

Considering changing ,service' providers/carriers ☎️

Looking for some thing w good coverage coast to coast Feel folks who travel know best which works/gives service wherever u r (may be not in the stix 🤷🏼)

Looking for suggestions/folks experience:

What y'all use?

🙏

 

[TheUndeadPhoenix]

I use Ting and I have the 5gb data plan so I pay $25 plus tax a month. If you want a referral code I can get you one. The only issue with them is they're an online only retailer so you'll need an address to get the SIM card at


Edit: also they piggy back off of TMobile, they buy wholesale data, text and call time from them and resell it for dirt cheap.

 

[Glass Roads]

Im on US mobile. Also online only, so ya need an address to get the sim card.
I get unlimited calls and texts, plus 25gb of data with hotspot capabilities for like $32ish a month. Been satisfied with them so far.

 

[Tony G]

i use mint mobile its super cheap

 

[Sameer]

I use Verizon because of great coverage across the country. I get a signal in the middle of nowhere. Cheap plan$30 a month and no contract. Unlimited talk and text and 20 gigabytes of data.

 

[laughingman]

I was a trackfone purist for years and years. Then they got a lot harder to use. Oddly enough almost as soon as they were bought out by version. Not sure how that happened. Now I use Mint. There unlimited plan more or less replaces my need for home internet. 30 a month. Payed in one lump some for the whole year. I can also offer you a discount code if you would like it. As can any mint customer. I believe its a 3 months free thing.

 

[Crazy Hobo Johnny]

I have been using Boost Mobile since 2012. For $50 a month, I get unlimited talk and text and data of 35GB. They have lower prices too but less 35GB. They were bought out by DISH. I get good coverage.

 

[Coywolf]

Thread moved to the 'technology' section.

I'm a slave to Verizon again because of where I live when I work at my job...but if that weren't a factor, I'd probably go back to TracPhone or SimpleTalk. Cheap, unlimited data....usually uses Verizon towers, which has the most coverage. Like $35/mo or something.

 

[Coywolf]

i use mint mobile its super cheap

Ya, Mint is good. Its been recommended to me by a few people.

 

[Matt Derrick]

The two best options out there are mint mobile and visible. Visible runs on the Verizon network, and mint mobile runs on T-Mobile.

Mint Mobile is cheaper the more time you pay for, so if you pay for a year in advance, it's $360 or $30/mo for their 'unlimited' data plan.

Visible costs $30-45, depending on your needs. If you don't need international calling or roaming in Mexico/Canada, just stick to the $30 plan.

On a side note, EVERY carrier says 'unlimited data' and this is a bald face fucking lie. There is ALWAYS a data limit. The reason they can say 'unlimited' is that they 'throttle' your internet speeds down after a certain amount of data. The thing is they throttle it down so far, it's basically at dial-up speeds, making it completely unusable.

Mint Mobile's highest 'unlimited' plan cuts you off after 35gb of data, which is more than what most people will use and is the best deal out there other than...

Visible, which has 'theoretically' truly unlimited data, although even their small print says there is no data limit, some people say they start jerking your connection around after 40-60gb. I've been using visible for years and have only had issues in the most remote places and have done as much as 40-50gb in a month without problems.

The 'catch' with Visible is that they will 'de-prioritize' you for full-price paying Verizon customers if there's too many people connected to the same cell tower. This is essentially the same as 'throttling' but works slightly different on a technical level. I've only experienced this de-prioritization (very rarely) in very busy cities. If you're traveling in the USA, it almost never occurs.

Both carriers will let you bring your own phone if that phone is unlocked, or was previously activated on their carrier (i.e. an old T-Mobile phone on mint mobile, or an old Verizon phone on Visible) but Visible is much stricter on what kinds of phones will 'work' on their network. Unfortunately, this is mostly bullshit, as they just want you to use a newer phone or buy one from their store. You can get around this though by submitting a fake IMEI number when signing up, but that's a discussion for another time.

I use Ting and I have the 5gb data plan so I pay $25 plus tax a month.

Ting is no longer a good choice due to the options that Mint Mobile and Visible have been offering for years now. You can get more data/better service for much less money.

I have been using Boost Mobile since 2012. For $50 a month, I get unlimited talk and text and data of 35GB. They have lower prices too but less 35GB. They were bought out by DISH. I get good coverage.

Boost has always run on the Sprint network, which was bought out by T-Mobile a few years back. You're better off going with Mint Mobile if you want to stay on that network, you'll save yourself up to $20/mo.

I was a trackfone purist for years and years.

No offense, but tracphone has always been one of the worst options in the market. Very expensive, very few talking minutes, ridiculous data limits. Not sure if that's changed since they got bought out, but their reputation is so poor that I'm not even going to bother googling their latest prices.

Looking for some thing w good coverage coast to coast Feel folks who travel know best which works/gives service wherever u r (may be not in the stix 🤷🏼)

I've tested Visible in just about every part of the country and only had a major dead zone in eastern Utah on the South Wyoming border. So if you want most coverage, they got it. I have to say though, I've used Mint Mobile for years as well, and they're a very close 2nd in terms of coverage.

I think it's worth noting that Verizon/Visible in the past has pretty much given law enforcement unlimited access to their phone databases without a warrant. This means they can look up a record of where you've been and when and who you called/text at any time. They literally had a portal set up for law enforcement to log in whenever they want. I recall this being in the news many years ago, but I can't seem to find a reference article other than this one:

Here's the FBI's Internal Guide for Getting Data from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon

The newly obtained document shows in granular detail the sort of data that the country's carriers keep, and for how long.

www.vice.com

Which just lays out what information which companies save and for how long. I also found a page on Verizon's site stating they don't give that information out without a warrant, so maybe they changed gears on this, but it's something to consider.

Anyway, hope that helps!

 

[Jerrell]

Visible seems to be the best deal I've come across too.

Hands down, Verizon towers have the best coverage in the continental US.

I'm lazy and still haven't changed my service. Been on the same StraightTalk $45 plan since like 2018.
I don't know if I'm grandfathered in, but I have unlimited text, talk, and data.
Plus, I think I have a 12gb hot spot allotment. I use pdanet+ to hotspot my other stuff, so don't quote me.

 

[HitchHikeNameBobcat]

Hi there

Considering changing ,service' providers/carriers ☎️

Looking for some thing w good coverage coast to coast Feel folks who travel know best which works/gives service wherever u r (may be not in the stix 🤷🏼)

Looking for suggestions/folks experience:

What y'all use?

🙏

Greetings traveler,
Assurance Wireless is a cell phone carrier and it is a free government phone service. You only need to be with one government assistance like EBT food stamps or medicade for the government lifeline. I have used the phone service in the metro areas and the service I had was full and working without any glitches. I did get a problem of no service while hitching in rural areas. Assurance wireless will send you a free phone and free unlimited talk, web, and text and you get the phone and activate it yourself it's delivered by mail.

 

[laughingman]

No offense, but tracphone has always been one of the worst options in the market. Very expensive, very few talking minutes, ridiculous data limits. Not sure if that's changed since they got bought out, but their reputation is so poor that I'm not even going to bother googling their latest prices.

No offense taken at all. Per minute or text or gb of data used you are paying a lot for tracfone. When I started using the system I was grandfathered in on a few things. They used to sell a (doubling) or (tripling) card that once applied would double or tipple any future cards loaded onto the account. That plus almost never using my phone. And I was spending less then 100 dollars a year on it for years. So for me. At the time. It worked out well. The whole platform has drastically changed over the last 5 years to the point were what limited value was there to start just isn't there any more. It is sad. I valued it as a "pay for use" model as opposed to a "subscription" model. Unfortunately most things are moving to a subscription over ownership model these days. But ill rant about that another time.

 

[Coywolf]

No offense taken at all. Per minute or text or gb of data used you are paying a lot for tracfone. When I started using the system I was grandfathered in on a few things. They used to sell a (doubling) or (tripling) card that once applied would double or tipple any future cards loaded onto the account. That plus almost never using my phone. And I was spending less then 100 dollars a year on it for years. So for me. At the time. It worked out well. The whole platform has drastically changed over the last 5 years to the point were what limited value was there to start just isn't there any more. It is sad. I valued it as a "pay for use" model as opposed to a "subscription" model. Unfortunately most things are moving to a subscription over ownership model these days. But ill rant about that another time.

This is what I remember as well; the card gave you more minutes and text than you would ever need, plus like 5GB data, and you could buy 30GB for like 25 bucks. All of it would roll over every month if you didn't use it. Always used Verizon towers, and didn't throttle your data. That was before the strikedown of net neutrality by that moron Ajit Pai, tho. Still not sure if that had anything to do with it, but it all seems fishy to me...

 

[Matt Derrick]

i only had tracphone for about a year and a half where there was a hardware hack (on nokia phones) to disable the tracker that reports how many minutes you've used, essentially giving you unlimited minutes. oh those were the days (around 2006 i think)

 

[Ynwdwndrr]

I use Ting and I have the 5gb data plan so I pay $25 plus tax a month. If you want a referral code I can get you one. The only issue with them is they're an online only retailer so you'll need an address to get the SIM card at


Edit: also they piggy back off of TMobile, they buy wholesale data, text and call time from them and resell it for dirt cheap.

💓 Online

I use Verizon because of great coverage across the country. I get a signal in the middle of nowhere. Cheap plan$30 a month and no contract. Unlimited talk and text and 20 gigabytes of data.

See m8 was feeling that verizon brst coverage 🤷🏼 putting feelers out there see peoples experience ^-^ 🙏

 

[Ynwdwndrr]

Visible seems to be the best deal I've come across too.

Hands down, Verizon towers have the best coverage in the continental US.

I'm lazy and still haven't changed my service. Been on the same StraightTalk $45 plan since like 2018.
I don't know if I'm grandfathered in, but I have unlimited text, talk, and data.
Plus, I think I have a 12gb hot spot allotment. I use pdanet+ to hotspot my other stuff, so don't quote me.

Dang ^-^

 

[Ynwdwndrr]

Ya, Mint is good. Its been recommended to me by a few people.

Lolz this mints commercials why considering this. 15$/mo 🤷🏼

I have been using Boost Mobile since 2012. For $50 a month, I get unlimited talk and text and data of 35GB. They have lower prices too but less 35GB. They were bought out by DISH. I get good coverage.

Nice!

 

[Ynwdwndrr]

The two best options out there are mint mobile and visible. Visible runs on the Verizon network, and mint mobile runs on T-Mobile.

Mint Mobile is cheaper the more time you pay for, so if you pay for a year in advance, it's $360 or $30/mo for their 'unlimited' data plan.

Visible costs $30-45, depending on your needs. If you don't need international calling or roaming in Mexico/Canada, just stick to the $30 plan.

On a side note, EVERY carrier says 'unlimited data' and this is a bald face fucking lie. There is ALWAYS a data limit. The reason they can say 'unlimited' is that they 'throttle' your internet speeds down after a certain amount of data. The thing is they throttle it down so far, it's basically at dial-up speeds, making it completely unusable.

Mint Mobile's highest 'unlimited' plan cuts you off after 35gb of data, which is more than what most people will use and is the best deal out there other than...

Visible, which has 'theoretically' truly unlimited data, although even their small print says there is no data limit, some people say they start jerking your connection around after 40-60gb. I've been using visible for years and have only had issues in the most remote places and have done as much as 40-50gb in a month without problems.

The 'catch' with Visible is that they will 'de-prioritize' you for full-price paying Verizon customers if there's too many people connected to the same cell tower. This is essentially the same as 'throttling' but works slightly different on a technical level. I've only experienced this de-prioritization (very rarely) in very busy cities. If you're traveling in the USA, it almost never occurs.

Both carriers will let you bring your own phone if that phone is unlocked, or was previously activated on their carrier (i.e. an old T-Mobile phone on mint mobile, or an old Verizon phone on Visible) but Visible is much stricter on what kinds of phones will 'work' on their network. Unfortunately, this is mostly bullshit, as they just want you to use a newer phone or buy one from their store. You can get around this though by submitting a fake IMEI number when signing up, but that's a discussion for another time.



Ting is no longer a good choice due to the options that Mint Mobile and Visible have been offering for years now. You can get more data/better service for much less money.



Boost has always run on the Sprint network, which was bought out by T-Mobile a few years back. You're better off going with Mint Mobile if you want to stay on that network, you'll save yourself up to $20/mo.



No offense, but tracphone has always been one of the worst options in the market. Very expensive, very few talking minutes, ridiculous data limits. Not sure if that's changed since they got bought out, but their reputation is so poor that I'm not even going to bother googling their latest prices.



I've tested Visible in just about every part of the country and only had a major dead zone in eastern Utah on the South Wyoming border. So if you want most coverage, they got it. I have to say though, I've used Mint Mobile for years as well, and they're a very close 2nd in terms of coverage.

I think it's worth noting that Verizon/Visible in the past has pretty much given law enforcement unlimited access to their phone databases without a warrant. This means they can look up a record of where you've been and when and who you called/text at any time. They literally had a portal set up for law enforcement to log in whenever they want. I recall this being in the news many years ago, but I can't seem to find a reference article other than this one:

Here's the FBI's Internal Guide for Getting Data from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon

The newly obtained document shows in granular detail the sort of data that the country's carriers keep, and for how long.

www.vice.com

Which just lays out what information which companies save and for how long. I also found a page on Verizon's site stating they don't give that information out without a warrant, so maybe they changed gears on this, but it's something to consider.

Anyway, hope that helps!

Useful <3

Thks for all the info an consideration y'all ^-^ <3 helpful