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Buy your own phone like everyone’s saying, but also use an MVNO instead of setting money on fire paying the major carriers. The better MVNOs even have multiple

Buy your own phone like everyone’s saying, but also use an MVNO instead of setting money on fire paying the major carriers. The better MVNOs even have multiple carriers and allow you to switch at any time.

EvanAnderson 9mo ago
TracFone / Straight Talk was my MVNO of choice, then Verizon bought them. >sigh< (I wonder if this unlocking policy will retroactively apply to the locked Striaght Talk phone I bought back in October.)
- jkaplowitz 9mo ago
  From a different news story about this change, it doesn't apply to any phone activated before the government issued its approval earlier this month. So any phone which you activated in 2025 is not covered by this.
- mullingitover 9mo ago
  Same. I switched to US Mobile, which is cheaper than Tracfone, has all three carriers, and thanks to eSIM they allow you to switch carriers any time you want.
JCattheATM 9mo ago
Honestly everyone should just use T-Mobile Connect. They make it very hard to find on their site, but it's their true prepaid service, cheapest plan is 5GB of data and unlimited calls/texts, and it won't a lesser priority like MVNOs are. The fact that people pay over $100/month for a phone bill is truly a uniquely mind-boggling American thing.
- mullingitover 9mo ago
  > and it won't a lesser priority like MVNOs are. Depending on the MVNO you can get first-class priority data (my plan has it), but also this stuff has never made a difference in my experience. When I was on 'lower priority' data the differences in speed weren't noticeable if I had service at all, and in the cases where I was at some event where there was a lot of devices contending for access to the tower, nobody was getting service.
  - JCattheATM 9mo ago
    Why would you pay for a service with the potential to be worse when the same product is available for the same price without that potential?
    - timpera 9mo ago
      Because it's not quite the same price. If you need more than 5 GB, Mint Mobile is quite cheaper than T-Mobile Connect for example.

EvanAnderson 9mo ago

TracFone / Straight Talk was my MVNO of choice, then Verizon bought them. >sigh< (I wonder if this unlocking policy will retroactively apply to the locked Striaght Talk phone I bought back in October.)

jkaplowitz 9mo ago
From a different news story about this change, it doesn't apply to any phone activated before the government issued its approval earlier this month. So any phone which you activated in 2025 is not covered by this.
mullingitover 9mo ago
Same. I switched to US Mobile, which is cheaper than Tracfone, has all three carriers, and thanks to eSIM they allow you to switch carriers any time you want.

JCattheATM 9mo ago

Honestly everyone should just use T-Mobile Connect. They make it very hard to find on their site, but it's their true prepaid service, cheapest plan is 5GB of data and unlimited calls/texts, and it won't a lesser priority like MVNOs are. The fact that people pay over $100/month for a phone bill is truly a uniquely mind-boggling American thing.

mullingitover 9mo ago
> and it won't a lesser priority like MVNOs are. Depending on the MVNO you can get first-class priority data (my plan has it), but also this stuff has never made a difference in my experience. When I was on 'lower priority' data the differences in speed weren't noticeable if I had service at all, and in the cases where I was at some event where there was a lot of devices contending for access to the tower, nobody was getting service.
- JCattheATM 9mo ago
  Why would you pay for a service with the potential to be worse when the same product is available for the same price without that potential?
  - timpera 9mo ago
    Because it's not quite the same price. If you need more than 5 GB, Mint Mobile is quite cheaper than T-Mobile Connect for example.