phone plan tiem
midga
"There's so much hot dog in Rome" ~digi(> ^.(> O_o)> Icrontian
My parents would like me to be off their mobile plan soonish. I would like to have unlimited talk/text/data and good coverage no matter where in the country I am for a not-outrageous price. Is this a unicorn?
-edit-
I am aware there are some places that will not have good coverage no matter who I use. I'm ignoring that.
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Anything with unlimited everything is going to be really expensive.
You could go with Straight Talk, which says they give unlimited, but in reality will throttle at 2GB and WILL bounce you for streaming anything at all.
If you didn't need a high number of voice minutes, you could go with the T-Mobile prepaid 'nerd plan', which is unlimited text and data, but only 100 minutes.
Your best bet is to hit up something like that and buy extra minutes when you need them.
Personally, I tend to use less than 200 minutes total on my phone, but consume massive amounts of data (I average 6GB/month with peaks of 11 or 12GB).
It's THE unicorn.
I've found the best way to get good coverage is to find a way to do all your shit over Wi-Fi. I'm one of those dumb assholes patiently waiting til-the-grave for Google to release VoIP for Android (coming soon (TM)) so I can go back to talking on my G-voice enabled plan. Before they killed XMPP on May 15th, though, it was basically unlimited talk-text-web for $30 a month, plus the ability to do all of it on Wi-Fi... right now it's only text/web. I've resorted to outfitting a netbook with a really nice, streamlined Arch install and carrying it around (since you can still make calls on the gtalk app in gmail, I am currently turning my phone into a hotspot, connecting to it with the netbook, and making a call from the netbook. Highly, highly impractical, but hilariously fun. Mostly I just make calls from my home computer... people survived quite nicely with only land lines for a long time!)
If you have an iOS device, however, the iOS version of hangouts does support VoIP, so you could in fact make my dream a reality for yourself right now. Beware that Google is a fickle mistress... Hangouts is eating Voice soon (TM). Supposedly Hangouts is going to take care of Voice users, but after that, who knows... we may get grandfathered into something beautiful down the line, or we may get shut out.
If the VoIP update does finally hit, that's as close to the unicorn as I've found - find a provider that gives as close-to-unlimited data as possible, make all your calls/texts over data using Gvoice/hangouts, and use wifi whenever it's available. The drawbacks are those of working with Gvoice/hangouts as your primary number... and also most companies that give you unlimited data for cheap have crummy reception. But the 'make calls on wifi' shit is something we should have been trying to do YEARS ago.
And it shouldn't cost you 'plan minutes.' I'm looking at you, T-Mobile. wtb net neutrality 20g pst
$80 100% unlimited text+data+voice. T-Mobile.
Nobody has a better plan. Sprint charges $110. It doesn't exist on VZW or AT&T.
//EDIT: Unlimited texts and 2G data in 130 countries, plus 10 cent/min calls in 130 countries. Never pay for roaming again. Need Google maps when you travel overseas? Okay, it's free now.
IIRC, that also includes the 'no data charges for streaming' setup, too, doesn't it?
$40 a month with Wind will get you unlimited everything Canada Wide and in the US.
They're a Canadian Company but that's what they promise anyways, they also carry everything from Google Nexus phones to Samsung Galaxy sbillions. (Or whatever the current model is)
http://www.windmobile.ca/phone-plan-39
(They're partnered with T-Mobile so I guess you'd get coverage wherever they have towers or whatever)
Yes. Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Slacker, and iTunes Radio don't count against the cap if you have one.
You have two choices: T-Mobile for everything you want EXCEPT nationwide "good" coverage, or if "good" coverage is a must, you're basically going to be horking fistfuls of cash over to Verizon for what you want.
But it won't be exactly what you want, because you can't get unlimited with Verizon.
I did see the tmo unlimited plan. Did not see the tmo geek plan. Next question is, then, how bad is tmo's coverage?
Do you spend much time out of a major metro area? You're probably going to be hard pressed to get better than 3G. I can't even get that.
LMGTFY: http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage.html
Compare coverage maps and see if the areas you'll be going to have the coverage you're looking for. That's the objective answer.
I've called bullshit on their coverage map before. Still do.
They now have a 4g coverage map, a 3g coverage map, and a basic 2g or no g coverage map. They blend them into one map, color coded.
Stay away from tracphone, that's what I use and it SUCKS!
I quit them also, the phones they offer really do not do internets.
I went to rural iowa, full phone coverage: NO DATA.
They buy bulk rate blocks from carriers, they are not a carrier themselves like T-Mo is.
Walmart has a T-Mo prepaid $30/mo for 100mins, unlimited data/text. $.10/min if you go over 100mins.
I am on this plan, and find it quite useful.
Might try that for a bit just to see how they work out west.
So I just traveled across a bunch of states this month. I did this same exact trip two years ago, so I have objective comparison between the two:
The first time I went my phone was utterly useless when I left Wisconsin and headed west. Zero coverage in Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and northern Michigan. The only exception was Minneapolis (4G).
This time, I had LTE throughout all of Wisconsin and Minnesota and 3G in much of South Dakota and North Dakota. Still zero in Wyoming and Montana, but let's face it.... Those are some of the most rural parts of the country.
Point being: T-Mo is great in cities, but their corridor coverage in rural areas is either weak or non-existent. They're getting a LOT better, but there's still a lot of dead zones in rural areas.
Do y'all know whether I'd be able to carry my number over to that prepaid plan?
Yes.
I think you can check here:
http://www.t-mobile.com/switch/
That is a more reasonable approach than mine.
I'd suggest you take a look at how much talk/text/data you ACTUALLY use before you make a decision. It might not actually be as much as you think. It might be worthwhile just to take a look at non-unlimited options. If possible, get some of your numbers and go plug them in: https://ting.com/calculator You might find that you'd be better off just going to Ting and paying for what you use as opposed to paying into an expensive unlimited everything plan. When I switched from T-Mobile to Ting, my bill dropped by about $35/mo.
Also, they use Sprint's network which, while it isn't Verizon quality, is significantly better than T-Mobile (in my experience).
If and as T-Mo and Sprint merge, there will be interesting cost developments. I think Sprint is buying T-Mo or vice versa, thought I saw that on Icrontic and in the news.
Ardi, I break a gig in two days.
Also, phone-get.
T-Mo has been improving coverage and service by leaps and bounds the past 2 yrs now. I have had very good coverage in Washington, Oregon, Ca, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Arizona. The other western states have had decent phone only or 3G'ish coverage except areas where it is rather obvious that there wouldn't be much. Sometimes I am just flat surprised at where I do get 4G and even LTE. I do a lot with my phone with between 3,000 and 4,000 min ov voice and average 9Gig of data. I used to carry a Verizon flip phone for when I had no coverage and have now ditched it as the flip phone had spent the last 4 months of its live at the bottom of my briefcase. It will be Sprint that gets gobbled up in the end as they have been nearly bankrupt for almost 2 years now.