I have recently retired and will soon be having to give up my company phone line. I can keep my current phone (iPhone 6) and like the Verizon coverage but since I’m going to have to pick up the tab myself i’m looking for alternative carriers...

I don’t anticipate being a heavy data user (<5GB/mo) and so far the following MVNO carriers have piped up on my radar but I would like to hear the opinions of members here...

Straight Talk
Total Wireless
US Mobile.

Any one better than the other or is there a better alternative?
Thanks.

I've been a Verizon customer and have used them forever, and for my business. So I stay with Verizon for their service, but pay for it.

But, for your situation. It's really hard to beat T Mobile. Their price is around $50 for unlimited everything with taxes and all. Their quality is pretty darn good these days and there's no contract or anything.

Have a look at Consumer Cellular as well.

I had a giant disagreement with Verizon some years ago and switched to US Cellular. US Cellular was great, easy to deal with, and the coverage was good.

I recently switched to Consumer Cellular, and my plan and coverage are just as good but at half the cost. Most of my time is spent in VA and NC, and I haven't yet had a problem with coverage/service.

++++ Consumer Cellular.

I had page plus (Verizon MNVO) for years. I had a problem and their support was terrible.

I changed to Verizon Prepaid. A little more expense though. I priced Verizon post paid and even with veterans discount the prepaid was noticeably less expensive.

MNVO's usually have a discount for auto credit card renewal. $5-$10 discount per line.

If you have the time shopping for refill cards on ebay for MNVO's can save money.

By the way I traveled from Ohio to West coast and visited HI while having Page Plus MNVO. No problems connecting except in the middle of nowhere.

I'm a Straight Talk user, have been for ten years or so, I use a Samsung S5 phone on the Verizon towers. Have used it from Upper Michigan to Florida, over to Missouri and Kansas, in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Works great. I buy a yearly service card at Walmart every spring, so I only have a bill of $500 and taxes once a year. Just bought a Galaxy S7 phone at Walmart today, waiting for a case and screen protector to show up before I activate it. My wife and son have phones that use AT&T towers and they are happy with them.

Is there any difference *at all* in the coverage for these resale services? If they’re using Verizon’s towers, do they get all the same reception?

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
++++ Consumer Cellular.

Agree. I've been a customer since I bought my first personal use cell phone many years ago. Normally I was supplied a company cell phone for being on-call 24hrs. Consumer Cellular has stellar customer service and has told me ways of cutting my bills due to my usage. Hard to imagine a company that really helps out the customer cut their bills and happy to do it!

Spectrum cable internet customers can get a good deal on service using the Verizon network. We (wife and I) have been pleased with it, to date.

I think Charter, and maybe some other cable companies, have a similar deal.

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
Is there any difference *at all* in the coverage for these resale services? If they’re using Verizon’s towers, do they get all the same reception?

With few exceptions I have had good service on a mnvo using Verizon towers. When in the mountains of WV driving I have briefly lost service. I think a general rule is if you are on an interstate highway you will have service.

One area that I believe mnvo’s have fine print is data. They state something to the effect that if data volumes are high Verizon can assign priority to post paid customers. Also there is the possibility of a lower data speed for Mnvo’s. The data speed will still be LTE but not as fast. I never had issues with data priority or speed but I’m not on the phone all the time.

If you plan on using a “hotspot” on your phone check the mnvo. Page plus does not allow using the phone as a hotspot some mnvo’s do allow.

Thanks Guys-
I'll look into Consumer Cellular.

One question I have is how do you actually change carriers? Does the new company do it for you? Do you have to open up the back of your phone?

Stupid minds want to know..;-)

The new carrier will do the work, move the line and port it to your new phone.

Verizon has a senior program with unlimited data and voice/msg at a reduced rate, so you might check with them on prices.

T-mobile has good price per line as well, if you are a costco member, and you do the switch there you'll get a $$ costco visa sent to you for every line.

You might consider upgrading the iphone soon, the 6 is older, at some point the software updates will no longer be available, apps won't run, and issues will come up. Planned obsolescence and all, WOOT.com has deals on refurbished iPhones now, and generally anytime.

A potential problem with Verizon prepaid and its MVNO is that they run at lower QOS than Verizon postpaid. So on busy towers, the prepaid guys get deprioritized and throttled.

AT&T prepaid runs at same QOS as AT&T postpaid. Not sure with AT&T MVNO.

If you port in from other carriers, I believe it is 16 GB for $40 (after autopay and possibly even lower with CallingMart discounts).

these guys

https://www.visible.com

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

Thanks Guys-
I'll look into Consumer Cellular.

If you want the Verizon network, Consumer Cellular is not for you. They use the AT&T network.

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
these guys

https://www.visible.com

Review from Tom's Guide

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/v...ess,review-6036.html

We got on the T-mobil senior plan a few years ago and are very happy with it.
Unlimited talk, text, & data.
I believe current rate is $70 per month for 2 lines. when we started it was $60/mo (price locked for as long as we have it)

If you have Xfinity cable/internet, check out Xfinity mobil. Gets good reviews, uses Verizon towers.

Total wireless runs on the Verizon system. switched over recently and can't really tell the difference. Except the price.

quote:

Originally posted by cheni:

Total wireless runs on the Verizon system. switched over recently and can't really tell the difference. Except the price.

We used Total Wireless until we had a problem. Cost effective, yes. But trying to deal with the Customer NO-Service people in the Philippines was very aggravating. So much so, that we left for another provider. Getting Total Wireless to give me the PINs for our accounts so that we could port our numbers to the new provider was another adventure.