https://www.att.com/prepaid/multi-month-plans/
$25/month for unlimited talk & text + 16 GB of data each month that rolls over month-to-month.
AT&T's customer support is absolute garbage and migrating to them from T-Mobile was a pain in the ass, but since then it's been simple.
I rarely go over the data, but if I can pay less for 16GB of data if I pre-pay for the year... I might.
Although cricket is really all-inclusive, no additional taxes or fees, $30 is what my credit card actually gets charged. Is AT&T pre-pay the same?
That add also has "Reg. 8GB/mo" in grey text, which I don't know what that means... 16GB is promotional for first year, after which it's 8GB? Which would still be fine.
I kind of like having no contract and being able to switch carriers at any time... on the other hand, I literally never switch carriers cause it's a pain.
It would be cool to have Canada included for free again too.
Frankly, I think it's wonderful. I never have issues with the reception, service, or speed. I buy a new phone in full when I have to (4-5 years?), and just move the SIM over.
However, AT&T's commission-based store employees will provide dreadful service when they find out you're prepaid. Prepaid clients rarely buy anything. I recommend delaying sharing that knowledge as much as possible :)
Yes it supports wi-fi calling (my Pixel 6a defaults to that whenever I'm at home). And yes it supports tethering / hot spots.
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/oaophe/data_pri...
I think the biggest thing missing through pre-paid is the ability to finance devices through the carrier (if this is something you do). Additionally, something like the iphone upgrade program isn't supported if you are on a prepaid plan either. Also, if you ever travel internationally the pricing is absurd ($35/WEEK extra for 5GB of data).
That said, I get the feeling AT&T isn't thrilled about people that opt for their prepaid plans. Porting my number over required me to wait for hours on hold, their support is horrendous if you ever need to get in touch with them for something, and you have to manage your account through an entirely different website that frankly looks like one giant phishing attempt.
Absolutely. I had the same experience & got the same impression.
Honestly, when I'm getting indicators that I'm doing something that a horrible megacorporation dislikes, but enables because it lacks the will to go through the steps to end some particular line-of-business... that's when I feel like I'm doing something right.
But I think I'll stick with cricket after all. Still has discounted phone upgrades, still with no contract (although the phone can be unlocked from cricket until you've used it a year on cricket, I still prefer that).
(And, of course, to make things even weirder, cricket is owned by AT&T)
For example:
- 5G
- Visual voicemail
- Roaming (esp. international)
- Tethering
- Limited to lower video resolutions
- Spam filtering
That said, you can always just buy and pop in a prepaid SIM card if you're traveling for extended periods.
"Luddite", don't need it.
> - Visual voicemail
Built into Android.
> - Roaming (esp. international)
Estoy un gringo.
> - Tethering
Built into Android.
> - Limited to lower video resolutions
My eyes can't see 1080p on a phone screen.
> - Spam filtering
Built into Android.
But I don't play WoW or anything, so...
If it's first party prepaid, Cricket looks the same as AT&T for example. Some carriers do stuff like buy bandwidth.com numbers, these will show up as voip even if it's only usable from a phone plan.
I called support and they said the website just didn't like me and I had to sign up by phone, loosing the significant online signup discount. So I spent the next hour and a half repeatedly spelling things out with a phonetic alphabet to someone who only understood a specific kind of formal English before I gave up.
So you want unlimited data with your plan right? Well unlimited regular data or "premium" data, are you going to be streaming 1080p, because that only works on "premium" data. Oh and when we said unlimited data, we didn't mean unlimited "premium" data, no you only get 10GB of that before you get another 30GB of regular data and then after that and after that....well consumers with "unlimited data" only really use 30GB max so really "unlimited" is just 30GB plus the 10GB of "premium data" and then you get dial up.
Oh and you want hotspot too? Well for that we have several tiers of premium and non premium data types. Here are 10 more plans to choose from....
Meanwhile Crickets plan is: $50/mo for unlimited data period.
// This was the plan that was only around for a few months at launch:
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/02/atandt-replaces-ipad-un...
// And then sort of reintroduced in 2017, pulled in 2020:
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/gear/att-dataconnect-tablet...
https://cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans :
"Unlimited": $55/mo. Video streaming restricted to 1.5 Mbps. No hotspot allowed at all.
Add hotspot to your "Unlimited" account: $10/mo. 10 GB of hotspot data usage, after which it is slowed to 128kbps. "only available with Cricket Core and select grandfathered plans," of which I think "Unlimited" is one, but see how confusing this is?
"Unlimited Cricket More": $60/mo. Includes 15GB hotspot. Unclear what happens if you go over it, but "5GB and 15GB add-ons can be purchased separately". Also you can apparently only share the data allowance among 6 devices you're tethering to. Does include HBO max though. Video streaming still limited to 1.5Mbps.
"100 GB simply data": $90/mo. Not unlimited data, but they won't throttle you. Closest to your claim but note not unlimited. Also unclear if it comes with phone service or it's even allowed to be used on a phone.
I can't see how your post could possibly be more wrong.
And it's not like this is less confusing: Cricket's unlimited with hotspot plan has completely orthogonal features (cloud storage, HBO max, more high speed data) to what you get if you buy the unlimited plan, then add hotspot (more devices allowed, fallback to slow data when out of data allotment). There's at least three plans to choose from here.
The only simplifying factor is that Cricket doesn't even offer you the option to have 1080p streaming with any of these plans! Your premium data allowance is zero GB. How is that any better??
That said, I upgraded to the NETGEAR Nighthawk M6 Pro 5G hotspot and it is a piece of shit that overheats and gets poor performance all the time.
They lost the ability to go into a store for support, lost phone support, and get deprioritized but they use it for personal use and don't care.
I use my phone to run a business. I will spend the premium to have the best service I can afford to run my company. I pay for the top plan on Verizon as a result.
Choice is good. An MVNO is not for everyone but it is a much lower cost option for those who want the downsides.
It's just not worth the hassle when I can rely on a cell network that specializes in real-time voice communication.
Apps that pre-fetched a lot of data (like social media apps fetching a ways down your feed, music streaming apps that will fetch the next song, etc.) will operate somewhat okay but web browsing and map usage was pure hell.
The second I swapped my phone over to Verizon it was like night and day.
I might look into Mint again, now that I'm in a Verizion weakspot so to speak. Unfortunately, I took a BYOD rebate from them that they'd claw back if I left before April. :-/
I'm now on post-paid Verizon so I at least have a fighting chance in these permanently congested metros.
Amazing how much we depend on data!
Bundling is a pretty ingenious evil way to make it very painful for a customer to switch away, especially when you've got your teens on the plan.
I’ve wondered how much of a difference this actually makes. How often does a network get congested enough to impact MVNO users, but not congested enough to impact major carrier users as well?
I can confirm that an MVNO I was using in Tokyo barely worked during rush hour. It was like a 2g connection or worse
If I do a speed test in the city square near me late at night, I'll easily pull >100Mbit on my phone. Utilization at like 3:00 AM is next to nothing. All the bars closed over an hour ago, there's nobody out and about but me coming home from a late night datacenter run.
I go to the same public square at 3:00 PM and I'll likely get 10-20Mbit. More than enough for most things I need, but definitely nowhere near what I was pulling at 3:00 AM. Friends with T-Mobile postpaid plans with me will probably still be able to pull ~100Mbit.
At big crowd events especially in places where there aren't usually as big of crowds (balloon festival, airshow, etc.) connections can be anywhere from okay to next to worthless. Maybe I'll get a megabit, but chances are even Signal might have to retry every now and then to send a text message.
I did a trial before we switched from a regular AT&T plan and I had significantly faster internet at my office, on the subway, and at home than with AT&T. The AT&T service was typically useless at sports games and concerts and stuff anyway, so the concept of deprioritization didn’t really phase me. Saved us $1000/year and we got better service. Couldn’t be happier.
Also, Ryan Reynolds sent out a postcard once, and also a voicemail, if that's your thing.
Went with Ting mobile and it's been great.
I have no idea why anyone stays on the 'big' carriers these days.
I stick with one of the 3 mobile network operators because I do not mind the extra cost for being higher up in the priority chain (or believing that I am).
https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_leve...
Another handset has RP AT&T for incoming sim. Outgoing sim is T-Mobile starter ($23/mo unlim 10gb), good for 2 mos and then a new one arrives.
And does it work on multiple networks and globally?
Google Fi just seems like it's substantially better than any other carrier - at least in the US.
* $15/month 3GB
* $25/month 6GB
* $35/month 12GB
That is a bit more expensive that Mint, but not insane, and you don't have to prepay for 6-12 months.
https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_leve...
Basically, pay more and you get a higher probability of higher quality connection. Whether or not the difference in cost is worth the difference (real or perceived) in quality of connection is of course, unknown.
>Google Fi ... is an MVNO telecommunications service by Google that provides telephone calls, SMS, and mobile broadband using cellular networks and Wi-Fi. Google Fi uses networks operated by T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular.
> A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers.
T-Mobile owns the wireless network infrastructure, so an MVNO cannot be “by T-Mobile”, in any meaningful sense.
i.e. as opposed to consideration by you, me, or Wikipedia articles
* Base amount: $180
* "Recovery fee" (which they describe in [0]): $18.5
* "Taxes and Surcharges": $3.89
Renew 10GB 5G • 4G LTE Data Plan for 6 Months
Summary
10GB 5G 4G LTE Data 6 Months
$150.00
Recovery Fee
$11.50
Taxes & Surcharges
$2.05
It doesn't always get the best service (live in the Colorado mountains) but my phone is such a small part of my life, I don't really care if it is occasionally slow.
I have the massive privilege of working from home, where I have a consistent internet connection anyway. If I am out and sometimes can't look at HN while taking a shit... life goes on.
$10/mo Auto Pay discount on plans $45 & higher after the 1st month. $5/mo loyalty discount applies after 3 months of service; additional $5/mo applies after 9 months of service, for a total of $10/mo on plans $45 or higher.
"Once high-speed data is used (including Mobile Hotspot), you will have 2G speeds the remainder of the month. Your data experience and functionality of some data applications such as streaming video or audio may be impacted."
visible just recently added a higher-priced tier for 5G, but don't fall for it. the 4G tier is more than fast enough.
Also, it was pretty amusing to get a voicemail from (a recording of) Ryan Reynolds telling me I could downgrade since I'm not using my full data amount each month.
$25/mo and Apple Watch for $5/mo.
Visible or Mint is a good way to go.
For that I get…
* Unlimited voice.
* Unlimited SMS.
* “Unlimited” data. The first 5GB/mo is at 5G speeds, the rest at 4G speeds which I typically see between 60-110Mbps.
* Yes, tethering as well.
Post-paid from all carriers is vastly overpriced, and that’s what they push push push. Pre-paid is always cheaper, though you can’t bring some things like a watch along. Check the major carriers, and get over not being able to stream unlimited 4K video in the field.
I’ve been paying that $26.56 a month for years now, and that price has come down at least THREE TIMES since I switched to prepaid many years ago. Think I went from $45 -> $35 -> $30 -> $25 pre-tax over the years.
MVNOs are certainly an option, but just look hard at the major carrier prepaid offerings. They don’t actively advertise them, so, “It’s a secret to everybody.”
In comparison, Mint's plans are $15 to $30 per line if you prepay for a year at a time, and there's no extra activation fees. It's been working well for me.
If your phone has eSIM support you can probably install their app and run a free week trial alongside your current phone service if you want to test it out. For older phones they sell a $5 test kit with two SIMs, one for the trial and a second to activate a real account, and it includes a $5 discount to pay back the trial cost.<
Mint is nice in urban areas, but don't get it if you need roaming coverage or coverage in rural areas. You won't get it. SMS often breaks down as well when you're out of cell signal range. I've had a few important texts disappear due to that. Otherwise if you don't leave an urban area or deal with a disaster flooding cellular traffic, then Mint is a great, cheap, urban option.
Plans from the major carriers are insane, the price structure is always like $80 for the first line plus $10 per additional line, so unless you have four phones on your plan you're really getting screwed.
In comparison, Mint's plans are $15 to $30 per line if you prepay for a year at a time, and there's no extra activation fees. It's been working well for me.
If your phone has eSIM support you can probably install their app and run a free week trial alongside your current phone service if you want to test it out. For older phones they sell a $5 test kit with two SIMs, one for the trial and a second to activate a real account, and it includes a $5 discount to pay back the trial cost.