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"With Android (and T-Mobile) I killed my contract. Now I pay just $30/month. For $30/month I have unlimited texts, unlimited data, free tethering, and 100 minut

"With Android (and T-Mobile) I killed my contract. Now I pay just $30/month. For $30/month I have unlimited texts, unlimited data, free tethering, and 100 minutes of talk" Anyone else have experience doing this? My monthly bill for an iPhone with AT&T is $76.40 which includes 300MB of data, 1000 messages, and a whopping 450 minutes (I do have ~2700 rollover minutes though). I don't feel strongly about Android vs iPhone, but $550/yr is nothing to laugh at. Edit: For comparison, T-Mobile http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans $30/mo: 100 minutes, Unlimited text/web (first 5gb at 4g) $70/mo: Unlimited everything Verizon http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/consumer/shop/share-everything.html http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/consumer/shop/share-ever... $100/mo: Unlimited minutes/text, 2gb data ($10/mo per 2gb data extra) AT&T http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans-new.html#fbid=hfBE29q87kr http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans-new.html#fbid=hfBE29q... $70/mo: 450 minutes, 1000 texts (plan not listed), 300mb $90/mo: 450 minutes, unlimited texts, 3gb data

dragontamer 14y ago
I use Ting, and hit ~$23 / month with my Android. I rarely go over 100 minutes / 100 texts / 100MB however, which is why I pay so little. They serve LTE phones now, and my area is serviced. Realistically, since Ting doesn't do weekends / nights, you'll probably fall into the 1000 minutes / 1000 texts / 500 MB bucket, which is still only $42/month. If you ever do a month with less minutes through, Ting will refund your money for the month you didn't use all of it. (IMO, better than "rollover". Its like if rollover minutes gave you money instead of minutes...) My friend uses a Nexus 4 on T-Mobile. He's doing fine on the $30/month plan as far as I can tell, with exception of the lack of LTE on the Nexus 4. He still gets HPSA+ however, and the first 5GB are not throttled. The 100 minutes / month is a problem for me however... their next plan is $50/month for unlimited minutes, but only 100MB of unthrottled data. After that is $60 / month for unlimited minutes / texts / 2GB throttled. I strongly recommend both Ting and T-Mobile. They're good services.
southpolesteve 14y ago
I have been on that t-mobile plan for the last year with an unlocked Galaxy Nexus. It has been awesome. Speed is actually better than it was on AT&T.
jrajav 14y ago
I have had the same T-Mobile plan for a while. I'm not sure what kind of information you want about it, but it pretty much works as advertised. The coverage and uptime is not as great as Verizon, but it's faster than AT&T (AT&T's network has been saturated since the iPhone lock-in). It's definitely not the worst choice for 4G data, and the price is obviously very competitive. Note that unlimited data is, as you probably suspected, not actually unlimited. The $30/month plan gives you 5gb free over 3G or 4G, and then it downgrades to 2G for the remainder of the month unless you refill. It never actually cuts off data, but 2G is too slow for pretty much anything but (slowly) getting your HN fix.
- masonhensley 14y ago
  Data point- I never have hit the limit on the $30 T-Mobile plan and use about ~3gb during an average month. I'm connected to wifi at work, home or friend's place ~18hrs a day. Most iPhone users are limited to 2Gb right?
saturdayplace 14y ago
So far, so good. I got my first-ever cell phone a couple weeks ago and am doing this exact thing: Nexus 4 + T-Mobile pre-paid plan. I'm on the $60/month plan on the page linked above by whichdan, but will probably drop to $30, because I just don't use many talk minutes. So far, I don't have complaints with the service. *edit DON'T have complaints. Accidentally an important word.
MattSayar 14y ago
I use this plan as well. I've never gone higher than 70 minutes, and the coverage and speed blow my previous Virgin Mobile service out of the water. I believe Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's towers. I broke my Nexus 4 recently, and I'm waiting for a new one in the mail (with a case this time). I hope Google/LG isn't still having trouble meeting demand.
justinph 14y ago
You can also move to TMO with an iPhone. They reframed their spectrum in many cities (such as Minneapolis where I live) and now 3G works on the iPhone. It's faster than AT&T by far. For the money I'm saving vs. AT&T, I can afford to buy unlocked iPhones new, or grab them off craigslist for cheaper.
bluedino 14y ago
The data isn't unlimited with T-Mobile, at least not usable speeds. You can run your AT&T iPhone on StraightTalk for $45/month and get unlimited calling. I don't use many minutes, butT-Mobile service is basically non-existent where I live.
masonhensley 14y ago
I use the $30/mo T-mobile plan with my Galaxy Nexus in conjunction with porting my original number to google voice. I use grooveIP to make VOIP calls with my google voice number (unlimited minutes) but will usually use ~70 of my 100 minutes a month when I feel the need to turn grooveIP off to save battery or if my data connection is spotty. I highly recommend the whole setup. The only downside I have seen is that group text messages/ MMS dont work with google voice. I just give my close friends my direct t-mobile number for that stuff.
chadcf 14y ago
T-Mobile is supposedly coming out with new plans at the end of the month. If you have a family plan, $80 a month will get you a postpaid plan with unlimited minutes and texts with 500mb of data per person (2 phones). 2GB overage is $10 a month or add unlimited data for $20 a month. Hard to beat on a family plan. Also as a contact free postpaid plan you get roaming (most prepaid plans like the current t-mobile $30 one do not include roaming). Also, unlike what this blog post claims, this is not an android feature, not sure why they throw that out there as an Android+. You can get an iPhone on t-mobile's $30 a month plan too...
Taylorious 14y ago
I would suggest going with straighttalk. $45 a month unlimited everything and it uses AT&T networks. I always have a signal. I would suggest going with a good unlocked smartphone to take advantage of it (I went with the Nexus 4). In fact, you can buy a whole years worth of service at a time and it averages out to like $42 a month... not a huge savings but I just like having my phone taken care of for the whole year. No bills or anything to deal with. It just works.
- joelackner 14y ago
  they have some devices that use the verizon network, too.
  - jdboyd 14y ago
    If you order just SIM card, it will be AT&T though, which is what I did. I was using T-Mobile, but their coverage just wasn't good enough (defined as not working at my desk at work).
agscala 14y ago
The Verizon plan is actually listed incorrectly. If you have a smartphone you have to pay an extra $40 for "line access", which brings Verizon to a whopping $100/mo.
- whichdan 14y ago
  Wow, and here I was considering switching to Verizon to save $10/mo. Fixed.
mattmaroon 14y ago
If I'm not mistaken, Verizon charges you that $60 + $40 for each phone. So for just a solo user, it'd be $100.
trotsky 14y ago
virgin mobile usa is $35 (-$5/mo for autopay) = $30 for 300 minutes/unlimited texts/2.5g data, sprint mvno, data speeds are rather poor though.
w33ble 14y ago
I was on Tmo's pre-paid plans for years. You can't beat their price. Their coverage left something to be desired though. If you're in city (for me, Chicago and later Phoenix), it works great. Once you leave that city though (ie, 15 minutes outside of Phoenix), you have no coverage. And of course, if you have an iPhone (or any AT&T phone), you're only going to get EDGE speeds. More recently, I switched to Straight Talk. $45/mo (plus tax), unlimited everything (warning unofficial 2GB data cap). They are an AT&T MVNO, so you get the same network at a reduced cost. Now when I leave the city, I still have coverage, and it's usually very good anywhere I go. The only catch is that you don't get 4G coverage, which if you're on an iPhone, doesn't matter. Of note, if you are on an iPhone, it will still activate on Straight Talk without any hassle. Setting the proper carrier settings for data and sms is another story though, and requires either jailbreaking or doing a swap trick with a Tmo SIM (you can get a pre-paid SIM for $4 though).
white_devil 14y ago
I couldn't resist the temptation to "brag" a little. Here's what you can get for 15 euros ($19.5) per month in Finland: - 2800 minutes. - 2800 texts (and MMS). - 1M bandwith with no traffic limit. - Month by month, cancel any time with no penalties. - No starting fee. (Bring your own phone) To be fair, this is a discount package from a subsidiary of a big operator, and it surprised me too.

dragontamer 14y ago

I use Ting, and hit ~$23 / month with my Android. I rarely go over 100 minutes / 100 texts / 100MB however, which is why I pay so little. They serve LTE phones now, and my area is serviced. Realistically, since Ting doesn't do weekends / nights, you'll probably fall into the 1000 minutes / 1000 texts / 500 MB bucket, which is still only $42/month. If you ever do a month with less minutes through, Ting will refund your money for the month you didn't use all of it. (IMO, better than "rollover". Its like if rollover minutes gave you money instead of minutes...) My friend uses a Nexus 4 on T-Mobile. He's doing fine on the $30/month plan as far as I can tell, with exception of the lack of LTE on the Nexus 4. He still gets HPSA+ however, and the first 5GB are not throttled. The 100 minutes / month is a problem for me however... their next plan is $50/month for unlimited minutes, but only 100MB of unthrottled data. After that is $60 / month for unlimited minutes / texts / 2GB throttled. I strongly recommend both Ting and T-Mobile. They're good services.

southpolesteve 14y ago

I have been on that t-mobile plan for the last year with an unlocked Galaxy Nexus. It has been awesome. Speed is actually better than it was on AT&T.

jrajav 14y ago

I have had the same T-Mobile plan for a while. I'm not sure what kind of information you want about it, but it pretty much works as advertised. The coverage and uptime is not as great as Verizon, but it's faster than AT&T (AT&T's network has been saturated since the iPhone lock-in). It's definitely not the worst choice for 4G data, and the price is obviously very competitive. Note that unlimited data is, as you probably suspected, not actually unlimited. The $30/month plan gives you 5gb free over 3G or 4G, and then it downgrades to 2G for the remainder of the month unless you refill. It never actually cuts off data, but 2G is too slow for pretty much anything but (slowly) getting your HN fix.

masonhensley 14y ago
Data point- I never have hit the limit on the $30 T-Mobile plan and use about ~3gb during an average month. I'm connected to wifi at work, home or friend's place ~18hrs a day. Most iPhone users are limited to 2Gb right?

saturdayplace 14y ago

So far, so good. I got my first-ever cell phone a couple weeks ago and am doing this exact thing: Nexus 4 + T-Mobile pre-paid plan. I'm on the $60/month plan on the page linked above by whichdan, but will probably drop to $30, because I just don't use many talk minutes. So far, I don't have complaints with the service. *edit DON'T have complaints. Accidentally an important word.

MattSayar 14y ago

I use this plan as well. I've never gone higher than 70 minutes, and the coverage and speed blow my previous Virgin Mobile service out of the water. I believe Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's towers. I broke my Nexus 4 recently, and I'm waiting for a new one in the mail (with a case this time). I hope Google/LG isn't still having trouble meeting demand.

justinph 14y ago

You can also move to TMO with an iPhone. They reframed their spectrum in many cities (such as Minneapolis where I live) and now 3G works on the iPhone. It's faster than AT&T by far. For the money I'm saving vs. AT&T, I can afford to buy unlocked iPhones new, or grab them off craigslist for cheaper.

bluedino 14y ago

The data isn't unlimited with T-Mobile, at least not usable speeds. You can run your AT&T iPhone on StraightTalk for $45/month and get unlimited calling. I don't use many minutes, butT-Mobile service is basically non-existent where I live.

masonhensley 14y ago

I use the $30/mo T-mobile plan with my Galaxy Nexus in conjunction with porting my original number to google voice. I use grooveIP to make VOIP calls with my google voice number (unlimited minutes) but will usually use ~70 of my 100 minutes a month when I feel the need to turn grooveIP off to save battery or if my data connection is spotty. I highly recommend the whole setup. The only downside I have seen is that group text messages/ MMS dont work with google voice. I just give my close friends my direct t-mobile number for that stuff.

chadcf 14y ago

T-Mobile is supposedly coming out with new plans at the end of the month. If you have a family plan, $80 a month will get you a postpaid plan with unlimited minutes and texts with 500mb of data per person (2 phones). 2GB overage is $10 a month or add unlimited data for $20 a month. Hard to beat on a family plan. Also as a contact free postpaid plan you get roaming (most prepaid plans like the current t-mobile $30 one do not include roaming). Also, unlike what this blog post claims, this is not an android feature, not sure why they throw that out there as an Android+. You can get an iPhone on t-mobile's $30 a month plan too...

Taylorious 14y ago

I would suggest going with straighttalk. $45 a month unlimited everything and it uses AT&T networks. I always have a signal. I would suggest going with a good unlocked smartphone to take advantage of it (I went with the Nexus 4). In fact, you can buy a whole years worth of service at a time and it averages out to like $42 a month... not a huge savings but I just like having my phone taken care of for the whole year. No bills or anything to deal with. It just works.

joelackner 14y ago
they have some devices that use the verizon network, too.
- jdboyd 14y ago
  If you order just SIM card, it will be AT&T though, which is what I did. I was using T-Mobile, but their coverage just wasn't good enough (defined as not working at my desk at work).

agscala 14y ago

The Verizon plan is actually listed incorrectly. If you have a smartphone you have to pay an extra $40 for "line access", which brings Verizon to a whopping $100/mo.

whichdan 14y ago
Wow, and here I was considering switching to Verizon to save $10/mo. Fixed.

mattmaroon 14y ago

If I'm not mistaken, Verizon charges you that $60 + $40 for each phone. So for just a solo user, it'd be $100.

trotsky 14y ago

virgin mobile usa is $35 (-$5/mo for autopay) = $30 for 300 minutes/unlimited texts/2.5g data, sprint mvno, data speeds are rather poor though.

w33ble 14y ago

I was on Tmo's pre-paid plans for years. You can't beat their price. Their coverage left something to be desired though. If you're in city (for me, Chicago and later Phoenix), it works great. Once you leave that city though (ie, 15 minutes outside of Phoenix), you have no coverage. And of course, if you have an iPhone (or any AT&T phone), you're only going to get EDGE speeds. More recently, I switched to Straight Talk. $45/mo (plus tax), unlimited everything (warning unofficial 2GB data cap). They are an AT&T MVNO, so you get the same network at a reduced cost. Now when I leave the city, I still have coverage, and it's usually very good anywhere I go. The only catch is that you don't get 4G coverage, which if you're on an iPhone, doesn't matter. Of note, if you are on an iPhone, it will still activate on Straight Talk without any hassle. Setting the proper carrier settings for data and sms is another story though, and requires either jailbreaking or doing a swap trick with a Tmo SIM (you can get a pre-paid SIM for $4 though).

white_devil 14y ago

I couldn't resist the temptation to "brag" a little. Here's what you can get for 15 euros ($19.5) per month in Finland: - 2800 minutes. - 2800 texts (and MMS). - 1M bandwith with no traffic limit. - Month by month, cancel any time with no penalties. - No starting fee. (Bring your own phone) To be fair, this is a discount package from a subsidiary of a big operator, and it surprised me too.