Is it cause of coverage, download speeds, was it cheap, did you trust them more, do they have some bonus on top of phone data, or was it just what your family had and you got it too?
Aldi Talk. Mainly because it was cheap, prepaid and I used to buy my groceries at Aldi anyways. I don’t need an expensive contract.
Cricket here. The service is relatively cheap, they offered a bunch of phones for cheap/free (with a new account), and I’ve never had any issues with the quality of the service/signal. I like not being locked into anything. The monthly bill hasn’t changed in years, and that’s nice too.
Tmobile because I’m not going to ration my phone use like some kind of third world country farmer. They have been on unlimited everything since forever.
I’ve had many carriers going back all the way to PrimeCo… I’ve been with AT&T for a few years because they seem to be the least shitty (in terms of coverage and customer service) of all the carriers I’ve tried.
I’m glad that’s your experience! It’s probably regional or whatever but I have att and coverage is awful for me almost everywhere lol.
Really? I have had so many fights with them over the phone from myself and my parents, that I will never willingly use them again.
Yeah, for me it’s been smooth. I have had coverage problems and C/S problems, but they’ve been minor compared to the others I’ve tried.
May you never have the same experiences I had, fr. I’m glad it’s going well for you.
I’ve had them for a few years as well because their coverage is rock solid.
However their backend is a serious wreck. I had an Apple Watch for about a year but it never worked due to janky NumberSync. I went through it over and over with customer service but the watch never had cellular service longer than a few hours; never had crazy problems like this on other networks.
I found out recently that for about the past six months all incoming calls went to voicemail with no indication whatsoever the calls were coming through (no ring, no missed call notification).
And at one point I had to completely pay off a device just to port a number in to replace the existing number. Apparently their database is so fucked that they use the number as the database primary key.
On AT&T, you have to put in work to keep your devices on network.
2 Reusable cloth bags and a backpack
Switched to ATT from Verizon because I couldn’t get cell service in my house with Verizon (not in the boonies, just a weird dead zone) and because they just installed ATT fiber, and they were doing crazy offers last year so ended up getting two new iPhones, and ~$200 to switch to their wireless and internet. No problems so far, but I know they’re not the most savory.
Currently Verizon, because my work pays for it. Previously Visible. Because it’s cheap.
Visible wireless because they use Verizon towers and it’s $30 a month unlimited.
$30?
Thought it was $25?
Mint because it works well and is super cheap. We pre pay for 5GB/mo for a year and only once have gotten close to using it all. We are just always near Wi-Fi anyways. Their international plans were reasonable as well when we were in Europe for a week last summer.
I thought about mint, but living in a smallish town of this god awful state of Texas, good internet is rarely available and I would easily use up that 5gb
I’d still suggest checking them out, they offer larger plans as well that are still great value ($15 for 5GB, $20 for 15GB, $25 for 20GB, and $30 for unlimited which is 40GB of full speed, $40 gets you 60GB of full speed data; all those are per month when pre paying for a year).
I second this. I was previously an AT&T user and have found Mint to have better coverage especially in the boonies. I wouldn’t go back. I’m on $30/mo unlimited yearly. It’s just not worth what the bigger companies are charging at all.
Oh and Mint offers a free 7-day trial that includes an eSIM so you don’t have to wait for something to come in the mail. I did the eSIM on a second line for the trial and literally never went back to AT&T’s line. I just called them up and cancelled.
I think it depends on where you live but mine is ATT Prepaid. I pay $300 a year for 16gb, though I only use <5GB month. I have tried:
- RedPocket (Verizon) - Depolarized too much for data
- Google Fi - Might be better now but when it switched from a Sprint and TMobile tower it used to drop the call… I havent tried it in many years
- Verizon - My favorite but I wanted to stop paying so much $$$ Mint - Cheapest plan I had because of sale ($7/month for 6 months). But TMobile service for me where I am isn’t great so wasn’t worth.
- Cricket - Loved it but just a little more expensive than ATT Prepaid
US mobile. The data pool pricing model works out to be pretty price competitive among the mvno’s for the way we use two lines. They also claim to be the only mvno that doesn’t get low priority on congested towers.
First hand I can tell you that isn’t true, even with the claims that it doesn’t happen (which specifically are only for Warp/Verizon btw). Every band they buy from the carriers technically has congestion and stream saving (480p streaming) for non postpaid customers. You can pay extra for prioritized on dark star but ATT is so congested where I live already it’s awful even if you do.
Most days I am barely getting above 10Mbps on 5G+/UW on any combination of 5G from them. Can’t wait to leave when my year is up.
Google Fi because I got it many years ago and I have 3 lines with unlimited everything for $45. Plus no contracts so if I ever want to cancel that’s no problem. Coverage has always been fine for me. Not sure what the current prices are but if anyone is interested I have referral links and we both get bill credits I think.
I really wanted to like it, but the data speeds felt so slow for some reason. I was with T-Mobile and Spectrum before and after them and never had the same slow speeds I did with Fi.
I really liked the option to have two SIMs on the same line so I could have an included mobile hotspot wherever I went without having to rely on my phone.
I haven’t noticed slow speeds personally but I don’t do much data intensive things anyway.
This is my exact situation lol Google Fi is just simple and cheap!
It’s not cheap, unless you count the international service that is included and use it. Compared to the price a US prepaid plan like mint or visible, it’s perfectly cromulent.
T-Mobile because we’re grandfathered into a $100 unlimited everything plan. We could go cheaper and such, but for now it’s okay.
Same. I pay “$70 a month” for my unlimited plan from them. Because it’s part of a family plan it only actually costs $30 a month more.
Yeah, I know recently, they’ve been trying to move peeps over from these GFed plans to their current Magenta, and that failed spectacularly as fuck (damn that was Oct '23?!). From what I can see, outside of 5G, it’s the same, just ~$20 more. Le sigh.
outside of 5G, it’s the same, just
I already get 5g which doesn’t make any sense to me. Like there’s one place I can go to and consistently and easily get gigabit download speeds. It would have literally just been paying more for the exact same service. The only up side would be more hotspot data.
Yeah, and for me, 5G is a moot point. I have a decent wifi network at home (get 300-600mbps on 5G wifi), and my workplace has a reasonably okay wifi system too, albeit they firewall a lot of social stuff because work things. Outside of a random road trip for podcasts and maps use, I don’t see my needs changing anytime soon. As for the other person on the plan, they are WFH and almost purely utilize wifi anyway.
Hallon because it is cheap and it works.
AT&T. I had never had them before and been with all the other big names. They’re okay, not as great as some have said. I’ve been lucky to not experience the most recent outages and I also joined after the leaks occurred but the service is still the same as the others, in my experience.
But I am looking to leave them soon and possibly go with Helium or another small time carrier. $80 a month (more like $100 after all the bullshit fees) is absurd no matter how you slice it. And the other two are charging the same so you really have no choice anymore except the smaller carriers that run off the same networks.
I’m at $50 with Verizon, 5g, how are you paying that much?? Is that like the top tier ultra wideband whatever?
I have 2 lines on Verizon for like $35/ea, but we’re also on a family plan with 5 lines, and I buy my phones online outright instead of through Verizon. My mom and brother pay like $60/$70 because they buy their phones on payment and can’t figure out why my bill is so cheap.
