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Around the Internet => Continue the Blog Conversation => Topic started by: Daley on October 12, 2012, 11:47:55 AM

Title: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 12, 2012, 11:47:55 AM
Well, it's been a solid day since MMM posted this topic, and I've been lurking and posting more to that article comments thread than I've ever done with any other trying to help answer questions and clear up some confusion. Overall, I found some themes to the replies and I figured I'd help address them and try to answer any other questions that might be had for those who would like them as I've a fairly solid grasp of the MVNO wireless market in the US.

For those who missed the link in the article, he did link to the Communications Superguide (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/communications-tech-isps-voip-cell/) here in the forums. For those of you who haven't found it yet, you should give it a look. Good news is, for those who finds this enormous wall of text far too daunting to tackle, I'm actually in the process of re-organizing it into a very robust and complete wiki (http://wiki.techmeshugana.com/) as time permits. It's still very incomplete and a little rough as it only currently covers some of the larger MVNO and prepaid players on the market currently, but it will be expanding in scope and detail as I have the time to update and edit.

I also posted a first of three in-depth articles covering some of the biggest questions and comments I noticed come out of his thread to my newly launched blog. The first one addresses usage patterns, the term "unlimited" in packages, and terms of service agreements. You might want to give it a read (http://www.techmeshugana.com/2012/10/dial-s-for-savings/) if you've got a few outstanding and more technical questions.

Anyway, let's talk cell phones! Let this be an opportunity to have a more lively discussion and perhaps help pick out some of the information from the other threads that might have been lost in their thread length or post age.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: RusticBohemian on October 14, 2012, 09:15:06 PM
Question about this plan.

I am not a heavy cell phone user, and basically would only use this for emergencies. I probably wouldn't even bother if it was just the ability to call that I was getting.

However, the one "data element" I'd want to use is some variety of GPS/google maps service so I can get real-time directions while biking or walking around.

Does some sort of GPS app function with this plan?

If so, at what rate is data (in MBs) used up by the app?

How quickly would you go through your $10?

Thanks.

Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: arebelspy on October 14, 2012, 09:24:36 PM
Question about this plan.

I am not a heavy cell phone user, and basically would only use this for emergencies. I probably wouldn't even bother if it was just the ability to call that I was getting.

However, the one "data element" I'd want to use is some variety of GPS/google maps service so I can get real-time directions while biking or walking around.

Does some sort of GPS app function with this plan?

If so, at what rate is data (in MBs) used up by the app?

How quickly would you go through your $10?

Thanks.

Get this plan for your phone, then a cheap GPS on Craigslist for $20 or whatever.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: smalllife on October 15, 2012, 07:55:31 AM
That thread prompted me to think about actually entering the smart phone era.  I use about 300 minutes and 400 texts max per month (usually around 200 min and 200 texts on the high side if we're including all calls and both ways for texts) so I feel like I'm a good candidate for this kind of plan.  I just have no idea how much data I would use.  I haven't wanted to get a data plan with current big-plan costs so I've put it off.  I would only use a couple of apps - price checker, budgeting tool, e-mail, planner - most of which I can use on wifi only.  How can I get a good sense of how much data I would use? 
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 15, 2012, 09:10:20 AM
Question about this plan.

I am not a heavy cell phone user, and basically would only use this for emergencies. I probably wouldn't even bother if it was just the ability to call that I was getting.

However, the one "data element" I'd want to use is some variety of GPS/google maps service so I can get real-time directions while biking or walking around.

Does some sort of GPS app function with this plan?

If so, at what rate is data (in MBs) used up by the app?

How quickly would you go through your $10?

Thanks.

Data works with this plan from Airvoice at about 33¢ per MB, so $10 only buys you ~30MB of data. Fortunately, the data offered is network neutral so they don't block anything like Nokia or Google Maps access (or anything else for that matter). I've used Google Maps on rare occasion with both a Blackberry and an Android handset on Platinumtel and it's never really burned off more than about a half megabyte, but I've never used it for ongoing directions either... just quick references when lost to get un-lost. I would have to second Rebel's suggestion of getting a used offline Garmin or TomTom for what you're wanting to do.

If $10 a month still feels too expensive for you, you don't want to just stop carrying a phone, your phone usage is well under 100 minutes a month, and you're in a good Sprint coverage area, you might want to look into Platinumtel. You'd have to buy a new phone if you're currently with a GSM carrier (AT&T or T-Mobile), but Platinumtel is running a special currently on a refurbished Sanyo Mirro (dumbphone or feature phone) for $40 with a free $50/6 month calling card and free shipping, so the ROI on buy-in to switch is already $10 in your favor out of the gate and given their $10 refill cards last 90 days, you can skate by for as little as about $3.50 a month on average with the time rolling over for when you do need it.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 15, 2012, 09:27:31 AM
That thread prompted me to think about actually entering the smart phone era.  I use about 300 minutes and 400 texts max per month (usually around 200 min and 200 texts on the high side if we're including all calls and both ways for texts) so I feel like I'm a good candidate for this kind of plan.  I just have no idea how much data I would use.  I haven't wanted to get a data plan with current big-plan costs so I've put it off.  I would only use a couple of apps - price checker, budgeting tool, e-mail, planner - most of which I can use on wifi only.  How can I get a good sense of how much data I would use?

There's no simple answer to that question short of just doing it. Fortunately, most of what you're talking about as far as apps that need network access to work sounds like low-cost data traffic without much image/media traffic riding with it (e-mail, price checker). I use e-mail a fair bit on my own phone (K9 Mail (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fsck.k9)), and sync status usually isn't more than a couple kB at most unless there's a message. I can't speak to the data usage of a price checker, though. The biggest thing is just to make sure that the apps you install don't get network access on anything but WiFi connections or eat data unless you're actively using them.

For my primary usage (e-mail, Kik, light image-free internet browsing), I don't really use more than about 10-15MB a month on my Android phone (Samsung Intercept - rooted), and I consider that number heavy. But I also don't use my phone heavily when I'm out an about... it's a high-priority communicator first and foremost. I also don't mind as much about the usage level because my data's only 10¢/MB through Platinumtel.

You could certainly cut down on your texting habit by talking friends into using stuff like Kik (http://kik.com/) to help offset the data costs, though. Compared to data costs even at Airvoice's 33¢/MB, 2¢ an SMS message at a size of 140B is an absolute ripoff.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: RusticBohemian on October 16, 2012, 04:43:53 PM
Do you or anyone else have a suggestion for a small GPS that would be convenient to take on bike trips in my pants pocket or backpack?

The ones found in most cars tend to be pretty big. I'm looking for something roughly the size of a smart phone, and rechargeable via USB cable or wall plug (not via the lighter plug in your car, as most seem to be).



Question about this plan.

I am not a heavy cell phone user, and basically would only use this for emergencies. I probably wouldn't even bother if it was just the ability to call that I was getting.

However, the one "data element" I'd want to use is some variety of GPS/google maps service so I can get real-time directions while biking or walking around.

Does some sort of GPS app function with this plan?

If so, at what rate is data (in MBs) used up by the app?

How quickly would you go through your $10?

Thanks.

Get this plan for your phone, then a cheap GPS on Craigslist for $20 or whatever.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 16, 2012, 06:01:54 PM
Do you or anyone else have a suggestion for a small GPS that would be convenient to take on bike trips in my pants pocket or backpack?

The ones found in most cars tend to be pretty big. I'm looking for something roughly the size of a smart phone, and rechargeable via USB cable or wall plug (not via the lighter plug in your car, as most seem to be).

I'm not a huge GPS guy myself, as I tend to roll old skool with my maps: free paper maps from the local Chamber of Commerce and/or Rand McNally fold-ups. As such, take my following suggestion with a grain of salt and/or hold out for someone who owns a good GPS unit to reply. You'd probably want some sort of water resistant handheld hiking style GPS unit, and then find some sort of handlebar bike mount for the thing. I unfortunately can't recommend any particular models specifically, not that you'd be likely to find it cruising Craigslist anyway.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: arebelspy on October 16, 2012, 06:37:12 PM
Do you or anyone else have a suggestion for a small GPS that would be convenient to take on bike trips in my pants pocket or backpack?

I'd just keep checking Craigslist until you find one that fits that criteria.

If you live in an area where your CL isn't big enough, then you may want to research models and eBay a used one.

I have a Garmin Nuvi 275t that is fairly small, the wife and I took it with us when backpacking Europe, so I'm picturing something like that.  Just something to avoid the data plan on the phone, basically, since a GPS has free maps and turn by turn directions.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: N on October 17, 2012, 12:32:51 AM
this is my early report about using Airvoice:
I signed up my husband and myself a couple of weeks ago, and dropped our att plans. Combined we were paying 120$ for my husbands dumbphone and my iphone with unlimited talk,text and data. My kids used to stream stuff on my phone all the time and sometimes Id use 2-3 Gb (I think thats the terminology!) But my husband is a very light user of the phone and often his minutes would be under 20 per month.

So I got him the pay as you go for 10$, and 3 wks later, he is still ok, has minutes left.

I go the 10$ a month plan which is 4c/min talk and 2c/text.
I had to re-up once and again ran out today, at which I point I called and switched myself to the 40$ unlimited text and talk and 25 MB data.

We dont have a landline and no VOIP set up (yet). Trying to keep under my minutes was a nightmare. I guess I talk a lot! :) The other thing is, I am an at home mom, and we homeschool. Ironically, that means that we are not actually home much at all. We are always out and about, coordinating meetups and drop offs and confirming carpools and etc. Oh, and right now, I do work in the afternoons, with my kids, as a caregiver, so I do have to talk a few times a day with that. So, the minimal plan didnt work for me.

also, everytime Ive added minutes, there is a charge of some sort. online it was 50c a transaction. When I called today, they charged me 2$ as a phone fee for the refill. also, when I called today, I was on hold, the first time for 5 min. the second time for 13. frustrating, if you are paying by the minute!

also, I dont think the call quality is the same as when I had att. its not Horrible, but its not great.
Still a lot cheaper, but dont know if its going to be my plan forever.

N
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 17, 2012, 08:46:15 AM
this is my early report about using Airvoice:
.....
I go the 10$ a month plan which is 4c/min talk and 2c/text.
I had to re-up once and again ran out today, at which I point I called and switched myself to the 40$ unlimited text and talk and 25 MB data.

We dont have a landline and no VOIP set up (yet). Trying to keep under my minutes was a nightmare. I guess I talk a lot! :) The other thing is, I am an at home mom, and we homeschool. Ironically, that means that we are not actually home much at all. We are always out and about, coordinating meetups and drop offs and confirming carpools and etc. Oh, and right now, I do work in the afternoons, with my kids, as a caregiver, so I do have to talk a few times a day with that. So, the minimal plan didnt work for me.

This is why you should go through old cell phone bills before switching to see what your normal usage patterns are and selecting an MVNO provider and package that better fits that usage pattern if you can't do usage discipline or offload to a VoIP line at home.

also, everytime Ive added minutes, there is a charge of some sort. online it was 50c a transaction. When I called today, they charged me 2$ as a phone fee for the refill.

Are you purchasing your airtime directly from the Airvoice website? I triple checked with my mother on this and went through her Visa statements. She's only been billed $10 for all three of her $10 Talk & Text cards purchased off their website. If you bought from Airvoice directly, I'm guessing your 50¢ charge was either for sales tax for the state you're in (if you're in Michigan or another state where Airvoice has a physical presence or is required to charge sales tax) or it's some sort of oddball unrelated credit card charge. The $2 fee for airtime credit purchased over the phone doesn't surprise me as although they do not outline the specific charge anywhere, they do recommend against calling for airtime purchases, and in their Terms of Service they state there may be additional fees for "maintaining service" under the "Additional Charges (when available)" section. It was either a convenience fee (possibly) or a plan switch fee (more likely).

also, when I called today, I was on hold, the first time for 5 min. the second time for 13. frustrating, if you are paying by the minute!

Two things: 1) If you dial 611 from your handset instead of the 800#, you shouldn't be billed for airtime. 2) You called the fourth business day after MMM posted an article detailing how Airvoice Wireless is his new wireless provider. Odds are, they got hammered with an influx of new subscribers. Normal wait time isn't that bad.

also, I dont think the call quality is the same as when I had att. its not Horrible, but its not great.
Still a lot cheaper, but dont know if its going to be my plan forever.

They're reselling bulk AT&T service airtime, so there shouldn't be any call quality difference between domestic AT&T and Airvoice calls excluding international. I won't rule the possibility out entirely as AT&T can do some insulting things to their customers, but perceived call quality can be very subjective and is frequently linked with one's overall satisfaction... and this post sounds like you're just a bit frustrated.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: N on October 17, 2012, 11:35:55 PM
Im actually not really upset about anything...just reporting my experience.
Yes, the times I bought the refills it was directly on the airvoice site, they sent me a pin and then I had to dial that into my phone. It was 50cents per. Im in Illinois.
As for call quality, its been a little echo-y. Maybe I just never noticed it before.

I knew I used a ton of data, and I accepted I would be only using wifi for the near future. That part was ok. However, I do think a tiny allowance for data is going to be very helpful because Im out so much. to look up something or track a bus.

as for the minutes...well I did look at my history and saw my total minutes used was averaging about 200. I think, though, that was the total minutes used and on the prepaid,  a call that is 20seconds still uses up one minute of time. misdials, getting vm, my sister calling me 3 times in five minutes...all added up.

40$ is still better than what my plan was on att. and I dont mind trying to use it less, but trying not to use it at all was stressful.

N
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on October 18, 2012, 08:22:17 AM
40$ is still better than what my plan was on att. and I dont mind trying to use it less, but trying not to use it at all was stressful.

At $40/month you might be better off with one of the $30/month T-Mobile prepaid options (They have a low-minutes + unlimited text/data plan and a many-minutes/texts but low-data plan at that price point): http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans.  If you're on an iPhone you'd have to live with "2G" speeds until some time next year.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: yolfer on October 18, 2012, 05:35:34 PM
I created a google spreadsheet that helps you determine whether or not to switch phone plans. It takes into account the cost of a new phone and any early termination fees. Then it tells you the number of months before you'll break even on a new plan:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am8qaK8Qf80edGh1RzJrZFVwSUZZYVcyaUJVQkpfdnc

Let me know what you think, or if you have any problems using it.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 18, 2012, 05:41:46 PM
I created a google spreadsheet that helps you determine whether or not to switch phone plans. It takes into account the cost of a new phone and any early termination fees. Then it tells you the number of months before you'll break even on a new plan:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am8qaK8Qf80edGh1RzJrZFVwSUZZYVcyaUJVQkpfdnc

Let me know what you think, or if you have any problems using it.

Excellent and clever little tool there, Yolfer! Mind if I link the thing over on the wiki?
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: N on October 19, 2012, 12:13:41 AM
40$ is still better than what my plan was on att. and I dont mind trying to use it less, but trying not to use it at all was stressful.

At $40/month you might be better off with one of the $30/month T-Mobile prepaid options (They have a low-minutes + unlimited text/data plan and a many-minutes/texts but low-data plan at that price point): http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans.  If you're on an iPhone you'd have to live with "2G" speeds until some time next year.

but I have an att iphone. I went with airvoice since the phone transferred. my husband may be getting a free iphone from his brother soon thats also an att. we may still change in the future, I guess. Im new to all this!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Erica/NWEdible on October 19, 2012, 12:57:55 AM
I created a google spreadsheet that helps you determine whether or not to switch phone plans. It takes into account the cost of a new phone and any early termination fees. Then it tells you the number of months before you'll break even on a new plan:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am8qaK8Qf80edGh1RzJrZFVwSUZZYVcyaUJVQkpfdnc

Let me know what you think, or if you have any problems using it.
That's awesome! Hero points! Can I share this all over the place? If you turn it into a link from a blog post I can send people to your site first so the link-love thing happens. Let me know. Thanks.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on October 19, 2012, 01:38:17 PM
but I have an att iphone. I went with airvoice since the phone transferred. my husband may be getting a free iphone from his brother soon thats also an att. we may still change in the future, I guess. Im new to all this!

ATT iPhone is ideal for this.  If you're already using it on Airvoice I'm assuming it's unlocked (if you didn't have any problem setting up MMS it should be unlocked).  All you need is a T-Mobile prepaid micro-SIM ($0.99 directly from T-Mobile (http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phones/prepaid-sim-cards)).  You can get started by looking through the (officially) unofficial T-Mobile iPhone support documentation here (http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-4781), probably best to start with the "Setup Guide."
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: tracipam on October 19, 2012, 07:10:42 PM
Hey! 

I saw this post and resulting forum feed and wondered if anyone could give any suggestions. 

I'm in phone-transition and trying to figure out what to do with things: currently I'm on a voice-only plan with Sprint; $30/month, but it gives me unlimited talk time during evenings and weekends, which I use extensively and often for hours at a time to talk to family and friends.--I've never really gone the skype/etc. route, since I have a strange compulsion to walk while talking to people, and so generally take my evening/weekend perambulation while catching up with my family. 

However, I'm in the midst of moving.  Among other things, I'll need to set up internet in my house at some point.  I'm also working at a job that requires you to dress up in funny clothes and stand around in a sterile zone for hours at a time watching other people work: the only thing you can bring in with you (ironically) is a phone. 

So, for the first time in my life I'm considering buying a smartphone, mostly to be able to check e-mail/read MMM and other blogs/etc to alleviate boredom during work.  I was considering buying a data-only phone with a hotspot so that it could be a portable internet and also at-home internet, but the only package I found for that was AT&T and it was $50, AND the amount of internet you get is limited.  Argh. So I'm not sure whether it makes more sense to keep my cell phone plan, add on a bit of data for staving off boredom, and still set up a home internet, or whether I should go cable free.

 Do smart phones work OK for doing old fashioned things like talking on them for extended periods of time?  I don't really care about texting.   RIght now I don't really use the internet for watching...anything...I intend to just get local channels on the TV and otherwise use the library.  Any suggestions would be welcomed! 

Thanks, everyone!

Tracy
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: N on October 20, 2012, 12:58:23 AM
but I have an att iphone. I went with airvoice since the phone transferred. my husband may be getting a free iphone from his brother soon thats also an att. we may still change in the future, I guess. Im new to all this!

ATT iPhone is ideal for this.  If you're already using it on Airvoice I'm assuming it's unlocked (if you didn't have any problem setting up MMS it should be unlocked).  All you need is a T-Mobile prepaid micro-SIM ($0.99 directly from T-Mobile (http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phones/prepaid-sim-cards)).  You can get started by looking through the (officially) unofficial T-Mobile iPhone support documentation here (http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-4781), probably best to start with the "Setup Guide."

no, its locked still. didnt set up the MMS.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on October 20, 2012, 09:57:34 AM
no, its locked still. didnt set up the MMS.

IMEI unlocks are down to around $5 on eBay if you don't want to wait or are getting the runaround from AT&T on unlocking your iPhone.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: yolfer on October 20, 2012, 11:20:14 PM
I created a google spreadsheet that helps you determine whether or not to switch phone plans. It takes into account the cost of a new phone and any early termination fees. Then it tells you the number of months before you'll break even on a new plan:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am8qaK8Qf80edGh1RzJrZFVwSUZZYVcyaUJVQkpfdnc

Let me know what you think, or if you have any problems using it.

Excellent and clever little tool there, Yolfer! Mind if I link the thing over on the wiki?

Sure!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: yolfer on October 20, 2012, 11:38:22 PM
I created a google spreadsheet that helps you determine whether or not to switch phone plans. It takes into account the cost of a new phone and any early termination fees. Then it tells you the number of months before you'll break even on a new plan:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am8qaK8Qf80edGh1RzJrZFVwSUZZYVcyaUJVQkpfdnc

Let me know what you think, or if you have any problems using it.
That's awesome! Hero points! Can I share this all over the place? If you turn it into a link from a blog post I can send people to your site first so the link-love thing happens. Let me know. Thanks.

It didn't even occur to me to blog it! I guess I've been keeping my MMM life and my blog life separate. Time to change that....

Here ya go: http://foundryintheforest.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go/
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 21, 2012, 11:16:37 AM
For anyone interested, I brewed up a non-Google Spreadsheet version of Yolfer's calculator:

http://www.techmeshugana.com/tools/wirelessroi.html

Enjoy!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 21, 2012, 01:07:23 PM
For the Canadians looking for alternative carriers from Bell, Telus and Rogers:
http://www.techmeshugana.com/2012/10/dial-c-for-canada-eh/

It's not the greatest analysis of alternatives, but it's a start. Sorry I can't provide much better than I have yet.

Quote from: Dial C for Canada, eh!
So, what sort of options are there for you fine hosers? Well, there’s more than you think! Upon my cursory examination, the major prepaid players in Canada appear to be Solo Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Fido, NorthernTel, PC Mobile, chatr wireless, Koodo, Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Petro-Canada as the major players. I’m not too familiar with the landscape up there wireless telecom wise yet, so if you need details on caveats and issues with carriers and coverage, I would highly recommend a good long look at Howard Forums Canadian standard and prepaid wireless forums.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 26, 2012, 05:06:52 PM
As an unexpected extension to Yolfer's initial tool, I wrote a post analyzing and dissecting the possible costs of breaking contract and how to put those costs into perspective for the calculator... basically allowing you to work out the price of freedom that the contract has put on your head.

http://www.techmeshugana.com/2012/10/gotta-get-away/

Hope some people find it useful as a point of empowerment to face those Early Termination Fees without fear.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: PJ on October 26, 2012, 05:37:08 PM
@I.P. Daley , I posted a thread a while ago asking folks for advice about getting someone to assume a contract - not for a cell phone, but for my Samsung tablet. 

Here's the original post: 
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/selling-electronics-and-their-contract/msg28197/#msg28197 
 
I haven't done anything about it since then, but would still like to eliminate that monthly expense.  Reading the post on your blog, I see you mentioned the idea of trading off the contract to someone else and even linked to a website.  Can Canadians use those sites?  Can you use them for tablets as well as phones?  What about Craigslist or similar sites?
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on October 27, 2012, 09:09:41 PM
PJ: I've never used Cell Plan Depot (http://www.cellplandepot.com/) myself (for those wondering what she speaks of), but from what I know of it, should be a pretty low-risk venture. You'll note that they handle Canadian plans as well, including Rogers... and it handles all devices with a wireless carrier contract.

The only thing you really need to do is just find someone willing to take over the contract and have them sign the appropriate Transfer of contract Responsibility (TOR) forms with Rogers. You can do that through Craigslist, private party, Cell Plan Depot... whatever you like, it doesn't matter. You just need to find the initiative to do something about it and a pigeon with good enough credit and a case of technolust to take the device off your hands and sign their own soul away for the remainder of the contract.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: PJ on October 27, 2012, 10:02:10 PM
You just need to find the initiative to do something about it and a pigeon with good enough credit and a case of technolust to take the device off your hands and sign their own soul away for the remainder of the contract.
 
 
Perhaps I'll word it a little differently when I post on Craigslist though, eh?  LOL! 
 
Seriously, thanks for responding.  If my day tomorrow goes as planned, I'm going to stop off at a Rogers store on my way home from work to clarify the details of my contract and check out prices of the devices and so on, so that I can include all the relevant details in my ad. 
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: smalllife on October 30, 2012, 05:49:52 PM
FYI: Airvoice Wireless does not work with Verizon devices.  :-(  "It might, but we can't help you troubleshoot"
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: beecom99 on November 03, 2012, 11:24:14 PM
question on MNVO-suitable phones from a cell phone newbie.

i'm very excited about the affordability of MNVOs, but i find the number of brands, models and features of phones completely overwhelming.

i'm thinking these are the core features i would like and prefer Android: touch screen, wifi, 3G, decent battery life.

is a used or refurbed unlocked phone with those features for $100 or less feasible and what are some suggestions for a place to shop for one that would work with Airvoice?

thanks!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 04, 2012, 07:33:53 AM
question on MNVO-suitable phones from a cell phone newbie.

i'm very excited about the affordability of MNVOs, but i find the number of brands, models and features of phones completely overwhelming.

i'm thinking these are the core features i would like and prefer Android: touch screen, wifi, 3G, decent battery life.

is a used or refurbed unlocked phone with those features for $100 or less feasible and what are some suggestions for a place to shop for one that would work with Airvoice?

thanks!

The LG Optimus One (unlocked), officially supported by CyanogenMod (http://www.cyanogenmod.com/devices/lg-optimus-one) (if you want to bother updating the OS), currently running $115 on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LWZLWE/

Battery life is a whole issue unto itself with smartphones, and you'll never get as good as with a feature phone. The cheaper the device, the shorter the lifespan, too. You should be able to get a couple three days of standby with light usage off the LG, though.

As for Airvoice compatibility, any unlocked GSM phone on the 850/1900MHz (US GSM) bands should be fine. Remember though, if you're looking to start fresh with an equipment purchase, look at the CDMA/Sprint MVNO side as well with outfits like Platinumtel (https://www.platinumtel.com/). They don't have any Android handsets currently, but give them time. Give the Superguide (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/communications-tech-isps-voip-cell/) a read to see what options you have available, as with MVNO there's really no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone and some providers might be cheaper and more convenient than others for your particular usage patterns.



FYI: Airvoice Wireless does not work with Verizon devices.  :-(  "It might, but we can't help you troubleshoot"

Yup. CDMA phones are not compatible with the GSM network. Now, there's "CDMA world phones" that also have GSM support, but they're usually only very specific models of Blackberry devices (I've not seen many CDMA/GSM hybrid Android phones or otherwise) and they still require the original MNO carrier (such as Verizon or US Cellular) to unlock that feature. Unfortunately, Blackberries don't really work on MVNOs due to their need for BIS to enable internet functionality, and without internet, the Blackberry is just an overly complicated feature phone.

If you're coming from Verizon and you're out of contract with them, look into Page Plus (http://www.pagepluscellular.com/). They're the recommended option for Verizon refugees who don't want to invest in new handsets.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: N on November 04, 2012, 09:08:26 PM
40$ is still better than what my plan was on att. and I dont mind trying to use it less, but trying not to use it at all was stressful.

At $40/month you might be better off with one of the $30/month T-Mobile prepaid options (They have a low-minutes + unlimited text/data plan and a many-minutes/texts but low-data plan at that price point): http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans.  If you're on an iPhone you'd have to live with "2G" speeds until some time next year.

thank you for this. I got my phone unlocked and plan to switch over at the end of my current cycle!~
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on November 05, 2012, 08:21:16 AM
thank you for this. I got my phone unlocked and plan to switch over at the end of my current cycle!~

Awesome!  Good luck and happy savings...
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: trinny on November 05, 2012, 03:34:04 PM
Hello all,

I'm a novice at smartphone technology, so I have a few questions...

If you have an Iphone from Verizon that's still under contract, which prepaid carriers can you take it to if you break your contract?

Does this mean, it will have now have a BAD ESN?

If you have a phone with a BAD ESN, can you still activate it with a prepaid carrier?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 05, 2012, 05:08:12 PM
If you have an Iphone from Verizon that's still under contract, which prepaid carriers can you take it to if you break your contract?

Does this mean, it will have now have a BAD ESN?

If you have a phone with a BAD ESN, can you still activate it with a prepaid carrier?

1) None. Verizon iPhones are technically restricted to Verizon postpaid only due to a deal between Apple and Verizon, blacklisting all ESNs from activation through MVNOs.
2) It will if you break contract and you don't pay off your ETF (early termination fee).
3) No. Even if it wasn't an iPhone, the ESN will be blacklisted from activation on an MVNO like Page Plus if the ETF is not paid at point of departure, and would technically have to be resold as having a bad ESN.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on November 05, 2012, 08:38:01 PM
1) None. Verizon iPhones are technically restricted to Verizon postpaid only due to a deal between Apple and Verizon, blacklisting all ESNs from activation through MVNOs.
2) It will if you break contract and you don't pay off your ETF (early termination fee).
3) No. Even if it wasn't an iPhone, the ESN will be blacklisted from activation on an MVNO like Page Plus if the ETF is not paid at point of departure, and would technically have to be resold as having a bad ESN.

Mostly true but if its not an iphone 5 (no 4g phones) we can move it over to page plus pretty easily. It does have to have a good esn.

On another note page plus just upped the data on the $30 plan. Its now 1200 min 3000 texts 250mb data. Maybe not the cheapest but a good medium package.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 06, 2012, 06:28:25 AM
Mostly true but if its not an iphone 5 (no 4g phones) we can move it over to page plus pretty easily. It does have to have a good esn.

I'm guessing this happened right after the iPhone 5 dropped? Last I checked about two months ago, the iPhone 4 models were still verboten on Page Plus without jailbreaking and rewriting the ESN. Good to know.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on November 06, 2012, 11:03:34 AM
Not sure if I should post this here or in the guide, but a new T-Mobile MVNO "Ultra Mobile" (ultra.me (http://ultra.me) is the site) just debuted.  I'm personally very interested in their PAYGO plan (which is supposed to launch in the next few days) as it offers 4.9c/text, 4.9c/min talk, 4.9c/MB data.  For those using moderate amounts of data this would beat the pants off the Airvoice PAYGO (33c/MB).  Only drawback is that super-light users can only get the monthly cost down to $8.33/mo (versus $4.33/mo for Airvoice).

Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: N on November 12, 2012, 09:19:32 PM
doing research on plans. right now I have the airvoice 40$ unlimited talk and text, plus 25 mb data.
I havent been getting any texts lately-they are not coming thru and people have not gotten mine. Also, my data isnt set up properly so it still doesnt work. I tried to call av today but they said I have to call on another handset so they can trouble shoot my iphone. didnt have another phone handy, so I will try to do it tomorrow.

my alternative is to try t-mobile. the comparable plan is no contract, 30$ for 1500 talk and text (combined) and 30 mb data.
however, as far as I can tell, that is before taxes and fees. I dont know exactly how much those will be, Im guessing 20% or so.

I havent used non-wifi data in over a month now, but I do miss it. Im feeling tempted to upgrade, but am trying to quash those feelings.
if I did, itd be between AVoice 50$ unlimited talk n text plus 500 mb and TMobiles unlimited tnt plus 100mb "fast" and unlimited slow (not sure of the distinction, and I have a iphone 3Gs so I wouldnt get 4G anyway)

thoughts?

is it worth switching to tmobile for a savings of 3 or 4 $ a month (not sure what the extra fees are) if it were really 10$ cheaper, Id do it.

but the other question is why isnt my texts coming thru and can I really get data on it thru AV....

N


40$ is still better than what my plan was on att. and I dont mind trying to use it less, but trying not to use it at all was stressful.

At $40/month you might be better off with one of the $30/month T-Mobile prepaid options (They have a low-minutes + unlimited text/data plan and a many-minutes/texts but low-data plan at that price point): http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans.  If you're on an iPhone you'd have to live with "2G" speeds until some time next year.

thank you for this. I got my phone unlocked and plan to switch over at the end of my current cycle!~
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 12, 2012, 10:40:37 PM
Starting-

http://www.airvoicewireless.com/support/phone-support/iphone/
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/communications-tech-isps-voip-cell/msg16298/#msg16298

Start there. If your iPhone's not already unlocked, you may run into some problems configuring data. MMS messaging is dependent upon a properly configured data APN for the carrier and is usually used on the iPhone for multimedia messages (images, music, etc.) as well as for sending multi-recipient or longer SMS messages under iOS. Note too that MMS costs more to send via Airvoice (or any prepaid) than SMS does (about 5x the cost).

As for your question, you'll run into the same issues with TMo until you work out how to reconfigure your APN. Taxes normally aren't really very high on prepaid phone services.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: N on November 13, 2012, 10:37:49 AM
thank you. yes, its unlocked. I called today and they walked me thru setting up my apn. texting now works. texting worked fine before I upgraded to the data plan. they said it shouldnt use data to do normal texts tho. after setting up the data apn thing, I did make sure to turn off my data so its not continuously drawing.

I have one day left before my airtime runs out. guess I need to call tmobile and ask them how much the taxes are. their sim card is free when you sign up, so it shouldnt cost me to switch if I choose to.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on November 13, 2012, 01:27:12 PM
Note too that MMS costs more to send via Airvoice (or any prepaid) than SMS does (about 5x the cost).

Are you sure about that?  The Airvoice site shows 10c/MMS sent/received:

(live link):
(http://www.airvoicewireless.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/PlansV3-payg1.png)

Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 13, 2012, 03:27:32 PM
Are you sure about that?  The Airvoice site shows 10c/MMS sent/received:

Quite sure. You're quoting their flat pay as you go rates at 10¢ per anything but data, which not many people are likely using given the rates, especially given what's also available from them. Their $10 Talk & Text (http://www.airvoicewireless.com/plans-2/10-plan/) plan is five times the price, and you'll note that 10¢ an MMS is pretty standard with the other MVNO carriers (H2O, P'tel, etc.).
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on November 13, 2012, 03:38:25 PM
Ah, got it.  For my usage habits nothing but PAYGO makes any sense so I didn't pay much attention to what the monthly plan cost structure was like.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: EricR on November 13, 2012, 07:14:28 PM
Here's a suggestion for saving on your data plan:  install and use the Opera Mini web browser.  It uses compression to reduce the amount of data used as you browse the web.  You can read more about it here:  http://www.opera.com/mobile/
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 13, 2012, 10:02:36 PM
Here's a suggestion for saving on your data plan:  install and use the Opera Mini web browser.  It uses compression to reduce the amount of data used as you browse the web.  You can read more about it here:  http://www.opera.com/mobile/

Alternately, you can utilize the Dolphin browser (http://dolphin-browser.com/) and simply turn off loading images while on wireless data. Uses even less bandwidth and there's far less of a privacy concern with a data harvesting issue passing all your traffic through Opera Software ASA's servers. Better interface, too, IMHO.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: EricR on November 14, 2012, 01:24:14 PM
Alternately, you can utilize the Dolphin browser (http://dolphin-browser.com/) and simply turn off loading images while on wireless data. Uses even less bandwidth and there's far less of a privacy concern with a data harvesting issue passing all your traffic through Opera Software ASA's servers. Better interface, too, IMHO.

I think that if you are concerned about privacy you should use Opera Mini.  If you do, your ISP (which knows your identity), won't be able to track your browsing.  With respect to privacy I am much more concerned about my ISP than Opera.

Here's Opera Mini's privacy policy:  http://www.opera.com/privacy/#operamini
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 14, 2012, 11:59:51 PM
I think that if you are concerned about privacy you should use Opera Mini.  If you do, your ISP (which knows your identity), won't be able to track your browsing.  With respect to privacy I am much more concerned about my ISP than Opera.

Here's Opera Mini's privacy policy:  http://www.opera.com/privacy/#operamini

Let's agree to disagree as I don't see you budging, but let me at least lay out the logic to my thought process.

I try to pick my battles wisely, and governments will suss out whatever they want if it comes down to it. Opera has to roll over just as easily as your ISP does, they say as much in the very page you link. However, corporations that make money hand over fist selling your "anonymized" user information for the benefit of incredibly minor conveniences on the other hand... that is something one can have a greater control over. Why should a web browser even need a privacy policy unless there's potential data collection that one should think about the impact of participating in anyway? Unfortunately, it's a reality that's hard to escape with mobile browsers. Dolphin harvests as well, but they do detail how and why (http://dolphin-browser.com/privacy/privacy-policy-for-dolphin-browser/) and aren't analyzing every last bit of traffic you use through a proxy server for advertisers just to reduce a bit of bandwidth with GZIP and image resizing. The less thumbs in your pie, the better. The images, even in this case, are still the bulk of your data usage anyway... so why not use a browser that makes it easier to disable images, renders pages on smaller screens better, has a cleaner UI, and harvests less of your usage data as well?

It's just an alternate thought and equally valid approach to your proposal to reduce data usage.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on November 21, 2012, 10:58:00 AM
I re-reviewed the massive pre-paid thread and this is what I gather, correct me if I'm wrong.

If I have verizon phones now, and want to keep them, I need to go with a verizon compatible pre-paid service, and the phones may not be eligible to transfer over. (Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rhyme).

Given my plan $117 (drops to $107 next month) before taxes and whatnot, according to the spreadsheet below with $500 to cancel and a new phone cost of whatever defaulted in there ($300+), I break even in 12 months.  My contract expires in 13.

So I should probably wait?
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 21, 2012, 12:17:34 PM
I re-reviewed the massive pre-paid thread and this is what I gather, correct me if I'm wrong.

If I have verizon phones now, and want to keep them, I need to go with a verizon compatible pre-paid service, and the phones may not be eligible to transfer over. (Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rhyme).

Given my plan $117 (drops to $107 next month) before taxes and whatnot, according to the spreadsheet below with $500 to cancel and a new phone cost of whatever defaulted in there ($300+), I break even in 12 months.  My contract expires in 13.

So I should probably wait?

First, going from Verizon over to a prepaid carrier and keeping the phones only really leaves you one of two options: Verizon prepaid (which has customer support managed by America Movil, which is no bueno) or Page Plus (http://www.pagepluscellular.com/). Page Plus is going to be your best and only option if you want to keep your handsets. From preliminary research, it appears both the Nexus and the Rhyme should be able to be brought over to P+ so long as it has a clean ESN and hasn't been associated with a Verizon prepaid account. If you're unsure, contact Page Plus to ensure they'll be supported first.

As for break even, I ballparked the numbers you provided in the Wireless ROI calculator (http://www.techmeshugana.com/tools/wirelessroi.html) with a 12 month remaining contract for both phones and the pending drop in rates, the handsets kept with The 12 (http://www.pagepluscellular.com/Plans/12%20Plan.aspx) as the plan used for both devices ($24 total), and got a break even in buying out your contract and switching over at 5.5 months with a savings of $536.00 over finishing your contract by doing so. Double-check the numbers, but if you can keep the handsets, the sooner you pull the handle, the more you're gonna save.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on November 21, 2012, 01:09:56 PM
I re-reviewed the massive pre-paid thread and this is what I gather, correct me if I'm wrong.

If I have verizon phones now, and want to keep them, I need to go with a verizon compatible pre-paid service, and the phones may not be eligible to transfer over. (Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rhyme).

Given my plan $117 (drops to $107 next month) before taxes and whatnot, according to the spreadsheet below with $500 to cancel and a new phone cost of whatever defaulted in there ($300+), I break even in 12 months.  My contract expires in 13.

So I should probably wait?

First, going from Verizon over to a prepaid carrier and keeping the phones only really leaves you one of two options: Verizon prepaid (which has customer support managed by America Movil, which is no bueno) or Page Plus (http://www.pagepluscellular.com/). Page Plus is going to be your best and only option if you want to keep your handsets. From preliminary research, it appears both the Nexus and the Rhyme should be able to be brought over to P+ so long as it has a clean ESN and hasn't been associated with a Verizon prepaid account. If you're unsure, contact Page Plus to ensure they'll be supported first.

As for break even, I ballparked the numbers you provided in the Wireless ROI calculator (http://www.techmeshugana.com/tools/wirelessroi.html) with a 12 month remaining contract for both phones and the pending drop in rates, the handsets kept with The 12 (http://www.pagepluscellular.com/Plans/12%20Plan.aspx) as the plan used for both devices ($24 total), and got a break even in buying out your contract and switching over at 5.5 months with a savings of $536.00 over finishing your contract by doing so. Double-check the numbers, but if you can keep the handsets, the sooner you pull the handle, the more you're gonna save.

So that break even assumes $0 for new phones because my current phones should move over?  Where can I verify that? I didn't see a list on the P+ page.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 21, 2012, 01:17:28 PM
So that break even assumes $0 for new phones because my current phones should move over?  Where can I verify that? I didn't see a list on the P+ page.

Yup, assumption of a goose egg on the new phone front. As for verifying that the phones can transfer over, you'll have to contact Page Plus customer support and just ask them directly as there's no official list, but they'll be able to provide the definitive answer. However, my assumption is that they should be fine as there's a reasonable bounty of anecdotal evidence on the search engines about people using both the Nexus and the Rhyme on Page Plus.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on November 21, 2012, 01:26:38 PM
Hey Adam, in my experience they should transfer over just fine. They wont be officially supported by page plus but they should work just fine. My wife and I both have HTC Incredibles on page plus and I have activated a couple of those apple devices too.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on November 21, 2012, 01:34:50 PM
And just to be sure, assuming I pay the $500 ($250 per line) to legally cancel my contract with Verizon, my phone will be "clean"?  We got them both back in January and re-signed 2 year commitments for the subsidized price, so they are about to be 11 months into that 2 year commitment.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 21, 2012, 01:43:06 PM
And just to be sure, assuming I pay the $500 ($250 per line) to legally cancel my contract with Verizon, my phone will be "clean"?  We got them both back in January and re-signed 2 year commitments for the subsidized price, so they are about to be 11 months into that 2 year commitment.

Yes.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: tweedscholar on November 23, 2012, 02:02:24 AM
Per Verizon's calculations, I have used 132 MB of data...today. The hazards of working in a mobile office (read: ambulance) with no hot spots. So long as my data plan stays unlimited, I gotta stay with THIS pricetag.
<$150/mo, unlimited data (just me), more than enough talk and unlmtd txt. Talk/txt shared w 2 other people. One of them pays my car insurance in exchange for me managing the phone bill.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on November 23, 2012, 07:20:29 AM
Per Verizon's calculations, I have used 132 MB of data...today. The hazards of working in a mobile office (read: ambulance) with no hot spots. So long as my data plan stays unlimited, I gotta stay with THIS pricetag.

My question is, what was that 132MB of data in one day used on? Odds are, unless your employer is so cheap as to force you to use your personal phone for work related functions, you don't actually need any of that data. Outside of situations where your employer uses it as part of your job, cell phones are a convenience, not a necessity... and if it's work mandated, they'd better be supplying the phone and the plan, or at the very least paying you for yours. Otherwise, this level of data usage can be cured through a bit of self-discipline and badass resourcefulness like memorizing the street layouts of your service area instead of using the crutch of an online GPS or listening to the radio.

Even still, $150 a month for what you're getting is downright criminal.

Virgin Mobile has Beyond Talk plans (http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans/overview/) with "unlimited" text and up to 2.5GB of unthrottled data starting at $35 a month. Buying a mobile hotspot friendly phone (read most of their Android phones) and paying the extra $15 a month for that service bumps you up to 3.5GB of unthrottled data before cutting you down to at least 256kbps. 132MB x 30 = 3,960MB. If you get zero days a month off and speed on the connection is that important, certainly you could figure out a way to modify your usage habits enough to shave 15MB of usage off a day... otherwise, even if you worked six-on-one-off, 3.5GB is plenty of data. Even if you use more than 20 hours of talk time a month, the Virgin plan is still going to top out at $70 a month at most, less than half of what you're currently paying.

Then there's T-Mobile's prepaid Monthly 4G plans (http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans) with the same cost cap of $70 a month for "unlimited" everything and 5GB of data usage before throttling, with a package as low as $30 a month with the same text and data restrictions if you only need about 100 minutes of talk time. If you're fine with EDGE data speeds (128kbps), $50 a month would get you plenty.

There's also newcomer Ultra Mobile (http://ultra.me/plans), a T-Mobile MVNO. The deals aren't as great as their parent MNO's prepaid packages, but they're still a fair sight cheaper than Verizon. I am hesitant to recommend a new provider with "unlimited" offerings and no hard caps in a Terms of Use for determining cutting off service, but it is good to point out anyway as they are potentially viable.

Then there's Platinumtel (https://www.platinumtel.com/) who's announced they're launching an "unlimited" everything service with bring your own device support next month (December 2012) for $40 a month. I don't know what restrictions there will be with this plan before throttling or potential service termination yet, but it's still yet another potential option to be aware of.

Nobody truly needs these services, let alone needs to pay for "unlimited" versions of these services... especially through a mobile network operator on a postpaid plan. Stop making excuses for throwing away so much money for a convenience when you could cut your bill in half or more without even modifying your usage habits.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on November 23, 2012, 10:51:38 AM
Also Page Plus has there 55 plan with unlimited talk/tex and 2 gigs and soon to have a 70 dollar plan with unlimited text/talk and 6 gigs. Not the cheapest but 150 is crazy.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: iamlindoro on November 30, 2012, 07:48:50 PM
Well, I'm sold.  Switched to the AirVoice $35/month plan.  Now I'm irritated about paying the pro-rated AT&T bill next month :)
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: askew on December 03, 2012, 03:17:13 PM
Has anyone happened to do a speedtest on the airvoice network with an iPhone?
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 03, 2012, 03:26:38 PM
Has anyone happened to do a speedtest on the airvoice network with an iPhone?

HSPA+ 3G data throughput speeds on Airvoice with an iPhone shouldn't be any slower than data throughput speeds on AT&T with same said iPhone in the same coverage area. Same network, same bands, same protocol, same congestion. You wouldn't see a drastic data slowdown unless you switched to a T-Mobile MVNO with an iPhone due to HSPA/3G frequency incompatibilities, and that will only hold true until sometime next year.

Be warned, though... faster access speeds just mean you burn up data faster. Try to stick with WiFi where you can.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Mactrader on December 06, 2012, 08:24:38 AM
Growing disgruntled with my AT&T bill and highly considering dropping (at least myself, Wife and Mother on mobile share plan also) and moving to Airvoice with my iPhone 5. The ETF won't be as bad as I used my mothers to upgrade to the 5 (would pay her to leave the plan if she chose, it's only right) and it seems as if it just boils down to whether I can adapt to using as little data as possible and a slightly more cumbersome set up. I also am presuming that the main line at AT&T can drop and switch to another one of the plan, as I'm sure my wife isn't ready to make the jump right off the bat.

Has there been any word of the iPhone 5 working on Airvoice? Has anyone tracked the data usage of Maps? As it is what I believe the only possible data hog that I would still use. The MMM article talks about quite a bit of stress and delays in dealing with AV, has that gotten any better and should I prepare some sort of intermediary phone in the meantime? Lastly, what happens if the company goes belly up?
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on December 06, 2012, 08:40:45 AM
The MMM article talks about quite a bit of stress and delays in dealing with AV, has that gotten any better and should I prepare some sort of intermediary phone in the meantime? Lastly, what happens if the company goes belly up?

I just ported a number to Airvoice, it took less than 36 hours total.  As for them going belly-up, they're one of the older MVNOs out there. 

With a GSM phone like the iPhone 5 you can still get unlimited data with the T-Mobile prepaid $30/month "Monthly 4G" plan--you will need to get the phone unlocked, but that's no longer the hurdle it once was.  Depending on where you live the data may not be all that speedy (until next year) but for a heavy user it may beat $.33/MB.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 06, 2012, 09:00:26 AM
Has there been any word of the iPhone 5 working on Airvoice? Has anyone tracked the data usage of Maps? As it is what I believe the only possible data hog that I would still use. The MMM article talks about quite a bit of stress and delays in dealing with AV, has that gotten any better and should I prepare some sort of intermediary phone in the meantime? Lastly, what happens if the company goes belly up?

You'll need to carrier unlock the iPhone in order to use MMS/data services... this requires paying the ETF fee or jailbreaking the phone. Even then, the iPhone 5 is so new there's no guarantee that AT&T will carrier unlock it for you yet. If you don't do this, it'll be voice and SMS only.

There's offline GPS maps available for the iPhone, and with far fewer problems than the native app for directions. Check out Sygic (http://www.sygic.com/en/ios).

No need for an intermediary phone if your phone's already unlocked. Most of MMM's reported problems with Airvoice were due to changes in the plans and billing, and have since been straightened out.

Airvoice is one of the oldest MVNOs in the country outside of Platinumtel, have been around since 2001, and have a pretty large user base. They might appear disorganized and a bit rinkydink, but they're well established and have great support which makes up for the shortcomings. But you've highlighted why I'm hesitant to just recommend any old MVNO, especially newer boutique ones as the MVNO market can be a bit cutthroat. If you want to know what happens to an MVNO that goes under while you have service? Hit up Howard Forums (http://www.howardforums.com/forums.php) and do some searches on Zapp Wireless (http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/08/sprint-mvno-zapp-unlimited-shuts-down.html), TúYo (http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/04/t-mobile-mvno-tuyo-shutting-down-april.html) and Mingo Wireless (http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/11/mingo-wireless-appears-to-have-gone-bust.html). Mingo's still a pretty fresh failure at under a month at this point, but the worst part is their lights are still on with the website still taking orders but nobody's home. Reminds me of my time with ITMom web hosting nearly a decade ago. Lost a good domain with that charlie foxtrot, and learned never to register domains through your rackspace provider.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Mactrader on December 06, 2012, 09:13:09 AM
Has there been any word of the iPhone 5 working on Airvoice? Has anyone tracked the data usage of Maps? As it is what I believe the only possible data hog that I would still use. The MMM article talks about quite a bit of stress and delays in dealing with AV, has that gotten any better and should I prepare some sort of intermediary phone in the meantime? Lastly, what happens if the company goes belly up?

You'll need to carrier unlock the iPhone in order to use MMS/data services... this requires paying the ETF fee or jailbreaking the phone. Even then, the iPhone 5 is so new there's no guarantee that AT&T will carrier unlock it for you yet. If you don't do this, it'll be voice and SMS only.

There's offline GPS maps available for the iPhone, and with far fewer problems than the native app for directions. Check out Sygic (http://www.sygic.com/en/ios).

No need for an intermediary phone if your phone's already unlocked. Most of MMM's reported problems with Airvoice were due to changes in the plans and billing, and have since been straightened out.

Airvoice is one of the oldest MVNOs in the country outside of Platinumtel, have been around since 2001, and have a pretty large user base. They might appear disorganized and a bit rinkydink, but they're well established and have great support which makes up for the shortcomings. But you've highlighted why I'm hesitant to just recommend any old MVNO, especially newer boutique ones as the MVNO market can be a bit cutthroat. If you want to know what happens to an MVNO that goes under while you have service? Hit up Howard Forums (http://www.howardforums.com/forums.php) and do some searches on Zapp Wireless (http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/08/sprint-mvno-zapp-unlimited-shuts-down.html), TúYo (http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/04/t-mobile-mvno-tuyo-shutting-down-april.html) and Mingo Wireless (http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/11/mingo-wireless-appears-to-have-gone-bust.html). Mingo's still a pretty fresh failure at under a month at this point, but the worst part is their lights are still on with the website still taking orders but nobody's home. Reminds me of my time with ITMom web hosting nearly a decade ago. Lost a good domain with that charlie foxtrot, and learned never to register domains through your rackspace provider.

Wonderful, great information. I am unconcerned about carrier unlocking as eBay provides that service quite efficiently and inexpensively. I recently unlocked a 4S for $4.50 and a coworker for $6. I hadn't considered offline maps, that's how inundated I am with my iPhone and massive data usage. This is a big leap for me, but I've recently been modifying many non-financial aspects of my life and this is another one I can add to the list, hopefully. I'll circle back when I'm ready to do something further with this. I'm running an experiment to see how much data I use, and to use as little as possible to see what I'd be "missing".
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Mactrader on December 06, 2012, 09:18:09 AM
The MMM article talks about quite a bit of stress and delays in dealing with AV, has that gotten any better and should I prepare some sort of intermediary phone in the meantime? Lastly, what happens if the company goes belly up?

I just ported a number to Airvoice, it took less than 36 hours total.  As for them going belly-up, they're one of the older MVNOs out there. 

With a GSM phone like the iPhone 5 you can still get unlimited data with the T-Mobile prepaid $30/month "Monthly 4G" plan--you will need to get the phone unlocked, but that's no longer the hurdle it once was.  Depending on where you live the data may not be all that speedy (until next year) but for a heavy user it may beat $.33/MB.

Ah, that is another great option. I recall years ago that the best speed you could get was EDGE, is that still the case or has it moved up to 3G? I could live with that...
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: CB on December 06, 2012, 09:59:45 AM

Ah, that is another great option. I recall years ago that the best speed you could get was EDGE, is that still the case or has it moved up to 3G? I could live with that...

If you're in Ann Arbor it's likely you're still limited to EDGE speeds.  Here's a recent update from BGR (http://bgr.com/2012/11/07/t-mobile-hspa-iphone-compatibility-three-u-s-cities/):

Quote
There’s only five markets with 1900MHz HSPA+ live right now including Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas and Washington D.C, but T-Mobile also says it’s also working on advancements in “Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York metro area, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle” to provide iPhone coverage beyond Edge speeds.

Supposedly TMo is shooting for HSPA+ nationwide by the end of next year...
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 06, 2012, 10:27:54 AM
Wonderful, great information. I am unconcerned about carrier unlocking as eBay provides that service quite efficiently and inexpensively. I recently unlocked a 4S for $4.50 and a coworker for $6. I hadn't considered offline maps, that's how inundated I am with my iPhone and massive data usage. This is a big leap for me, but I've recently been modifying many non-financial aspects of my life and this is another one I can add to the list, hopefully. I'll circle back when I'm ready to do something further with this. I'm running an experiment to see how much data I use, and to use as little as possible to see what I'd be "missing".

Keep in mind the Ebay unlocking option is only going to be legal to do with phones purchased on or before January 31, 2013 as the Library of Congress changed the carrier unlock policies with their latest ruling. Even though it only impacts phones purchased after a certain date, I'm sure this is going to heavily impact the availability of these services for newer model phones still on sale after that date as carriers can claim these providers are aiding customers to break the law.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/jailbreaking-now-legal-under-dmca-for-smartphones-but-not-tablets/
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: aclarridge on December 11, 2012, 02:11:59 PM
This was a great post by MMM which pushed me to optimize my own cell plan situation last month. For those of you mustachians in Canada living in major cities, I've found a $10/month solution through WIND mobile that works quite well for my usage habits, and I'm sure it applies to quite a few others.

I used to be on the $40/month "holiday miracle" plan because I thought it had great value, but found I wasn't using the data, and >95% of my outgoing calls were to my wife who is also on WIND. Turns out their prepaid plan has a $5/month add-on for unlimited WIND-to-WIND calling, and another $5/month add-on for unlimited texting. Incoming calls are free. Outgoing local calls are 20c/min, which I almost never use (maybe 1-2 calls a month).

Of course, you must live/work in a WIND-Home zone. For me this is not a problem. Also, you must own your phone outright - I own an LG Optimus T I bought a couple years ago. Anyway it looks like this is going to save me almost $30/month (plus 13% tax) and in my opinion I'm hardly sacrificing anything with this plan.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: ginamwalker on December 20, 2012, 12:47:56 PM
I.P. Daley, you are rockin' it! 

So, I really hope you might be able to help.  My husband really wants an iPhone 5.  We still have dumbphones from 4 years ago.  We are with Verizon, but are more than OK to jump ship.  This is what I'm thinking of doing:
1. Get the iphone 5 through Verizon for $300 (32GB), cancel and pay the $350 etf.  Saves $100 if it works like that.  I'll keep my old phone and just use talk/text.
2. Sign up with Page Plus.  We'll have Verizon unlock.

Do you see anything wrong with this idea? 
Gina
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on December 20, 2012, 01:44:49 PM
I.P. Daley, you are rockin' it! 

So, I really hope you might be able to help.  My husband really wants an iPhone 5.  We still have dumbphones from 4 years ago.  We are with Verizon, but are more than OK to jump ship.  This is what I'm thinking of doing:
1. Get the iphone 5 through Verizon for $300 (32GB), cancel and pay the $350 etf.  Saves $100 if it works like that.  I'll keep my old phone and just use talk/text.
2. Sign up with Page Plus.  We'll have Verizon unlock.

Do you see anything wrong with this idea? 
Gina

I'm I.P. but I can give you a little feedback. You are not going to be able to activate and Iphone 5 on Page plus. You can not without lots of effort use a 4g phone on Page Plus. Even if you do get it  to work you can't get 4g speed on page plus so its not worth the expense of activating on PP imho. You can get a used 4s for about $300 and activate on PP without any problem. You dont need them unlock it as PP uses V network.

There is only one place I now that will flash a 4g phone over to pp and thus far they are not doing Iphone 5.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: ginamwalker on December 20, 2012, 01:53:38 PM
I.P. Daley, you are rockin' it! 

So, I really hope you might be able to help.  My husband really wants an iPhone 5.  We still have dumbphones from 4 years ago.  We are with Verizon, but are more than OK to jump ship.  This is what I'm thinking of doing:
1. Get the iphone 5 through Verizon for $300 (32GB), cancel and pay the $350 etf.  Saves $100 if it works like that.  I'll keep my old phone and just use talk/text.
2. Sign up with Page Plus.  We'll have Verizon unlock.

Do you see anything wrong with this idea? 
Gina

I'm I.P. but I can give you a little feedback. You are not going to be able to activate and Iphone 5 on Page plus. You can not without lots of effort use a 4g phone on Page Plus. Even if you do get it  to work you can't get 4g speed on page plus so its not worth the expense of activating on PP imho. You can get a used 4s for about $300 and activate on PP without any problem. You dont need them unlock it as PP uses V network.

There is only one place I now that will flash a 4g phone over to pp and thus far they are not doing Iphone 5.

This explains why when I called PP today they said they don't connect iphones at all.  I was really confused  by that for sure!  The two sites that do "flash" (whatever that means) I've found are: beigephone.com and freemobiledataplans.com

Looks like in order to do this I have to convince my husband to go the 4S route.  I really appreciate any help/insight into this people can give! 
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on December 20, 2012, 02:09:16 PM
Hey ginawalker. Flashing is basically the process of a phone onto a CDMA network.  So you really only need to flash a Sprint phone onto PP. They aren't really flashing 4g phones onto page plus they are just activating it but its easiest to just flash. Its complicated and requires some software.

If you get a Verizon 4s you shouldn't need to flash it. It should activate pretty easy (I think). I have never done a 4s but I have done a couple 4 with no problems.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: ginamwalker on December 20, 2012, 02:34:46 PM
Thanks TheDude!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 20, 2012, 04:11:36 PM
I.P. Daley, you are rockin' it! 

So, I really hope you might be able to help.  My husband really wants an iPhone 5.  We still have dumbphones from 4 years ago.  We are with Verizon, but are more than OK to jump ship.  This is what I'm thinking of doing:
1. Get the iphone 5 through Verizon for $300 (32GB), cancel and pay the $350 etf.  Saves $100 if it works like that.  I'll keep my old phone and just use talk/text.
2. Sign up with Page Plus.  We'll have Verizon unlock.

Do you see anything wrong with this idea? 
Gina

Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it... but you're probably not going to like much of what I have to say.

You've pretty well nailed it down already it looks like, and you are correct in that there's very limited ways to get iPhones onto P+. Technically, they're not permitted to be ported over at all (Verizon and Apple rules), and the flashing involves an ESN change amongst other things, IIRC. That said, the Beige folks are actually sellingiPhone 5 flashes for $100. There is a lot wrong with your approach, however... especially when you crunch the numbers. If your husband did do an iPhone 5 on Page Plus, you'd be looking at $300 for the phone, $350 for the ETF, and $100 for the flashing. THAT'S $750 FREAKING DOLLARS FOR A PHONE YOU CAN'T EVEN USE THE 4G LTE SERVICE WITH!

Not that $450 is any prize pig itself, but if you really feel comfortable dealing with the Beige folks, you can buy a "refurbished and pre-flashed iPhone 4S for Page Plus" through them directly for $300 less. And if you're groovy with the iPhone 4 instead of the 4S, that's only $330. No monkeying with Verizon and ETFs or jumping on the bleeding edge hedonic adaptation treadmill for the Jeebusfone... just the phone at an almost sane price that only warrants a little face punching from a dealer that is dealing in territory that isn't technically approved by Page Plus.

Speaking of Verizon and buying an iPhone outright, if you're switching providers and phones at the same time, why are you sticking with a Verizon MVNO? I can understand for you if you're sticking with your feature phone, but there's better deals on the GSM end of the market these days between Platinumtel's recent switch from Sprint CDMA to T-Mobile GSM and Airvoice Wireless' service on AT&T GSM. If you've got good GSM coverage and your husband absolutely has to have an iPhone 5, buy one outright from AT&T for $650 and hack down a P'tel SIM card. Still another $100 savings over the P+ hoohah you originally proposed. Still no 4G LTE service (and only EDGE data speeds in most markets until next year), but...

Hopefully a few new things to ponder for you.

EDIT (12/21): Self edited to remove links and outright namechecking with the dealer in question and re-emphasize P+ policy. Hadn't linked them in the past, was probably a mistake to link them yesterday.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on December 20, 2012, 05:44:36 PM
He I.P. In my experience with a Iphone 4 (not the 4s) they can be directly activated with page plus. I have no reason to believe that an Iphone 4s will not activate with PP just fine. You do not need to purchase and Iphone from beige phone. You can find many a iphone on ebay or craigslist for 150-200. Just make sure its a Verizon phone.

Ptel does have a good paygo rate but PP has a pretty good package for $30. 1200min 3000 texts and 250mb. Its not the cheapest but you will use most of that its a pretty decent deal.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 20, 2012, 09:49:02 PM
He I.P. In my experience with a Iphone 4 (not the 4s) they can be directly activated with page plus. I have no reason to believe that an Iphone 4s will not activate with PP just fine. You do not need to purchase and Iphone from beige phone. You can find many a iphone on ebay or craigslist for 150-200. Just make sure its a Verizon phone.

Ptel does have a good paygo rate but PP has a pretty good package for $30. 1200min 3000 texts and 250mb. Its not the cheapest but you will use most of that its a pretty decent deal.

I'm still getting conflicting info regarding iPhone support with Page Plus and Verizon, but I'll always tow the official line. The dealers I've talked with have said things consistent with what I've been saying regarding "official" iPhone support, and they all point to Danny Scher at Page Plus corporate and his official line. Plenty of evidence online from dealers saying the same thing, too. That official word is that iPhones are not permitted for activation on the Page Plus network. Have a couple:

http://www.phonenews.com/page-plus-to-increase-data-on-the-55-plan-to-2gb-on-june-6th-20465/#comment-58615
http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/verizon-iphone-51/verizon-iphone-pageplus-cellular-8238/index2.html#post204038

There's also no information backing any claims of official support for any iPhones on Page Plus within the HoFo community, not from official channels and documentation, anyway. People will cite CSRs at Page Plus for "official" word on iPhone support, but they're wishy-washy and highly inconsistent. This is one of the reasons why I say what I do about the quality of customer support... most of the people there really don't know what they're doing or what official policy is. It's inconsistent at best.

I don't deny for a second that people have iPhones on Page Plus... but I've yet to see anything from official channels say they're anything but verboten on the network, which is why the things have to be reprogrammed by third parties for Page Plus support before usage.

Anyway, that's besides the point. The reason why I said what I did wasn't to necessarily tell her to buy phones from Beigephone (I'm not even particularly fond of them, find some of their business practices suspect, and wonder how long they'll keep their dealer status - you'll note, the big online P+ dealer names like Kitty Wireless (http://www.kittywireless.com/) won't touch iPhones as officially supported and anything else on the official forbidden list - check their iPhone subform (http://www.kittyforums.net/forumdisplay.php/147-iPhone-Related-Discussions))... I was just illustrating how ridiculous the prices were for the handsets and how locking into a single carrier for service can heavily influence final costs, and that through very little effort and sacrifice, real money can be saved with minimal effort even with ridiculous handset prices.

EDIT (12/21): Self edited for content and clarity.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 20, 2012, 10:24:30 PM
Hey ginawalker. Flashing is basically the process of a phone onto a CDMA network.  So you really only need to flash a Sprint phone onto PP. They aren't really flashing 4g phones onto page plus they are just activating it but its easiest to just flash. Its complicated and requires some software.

If you get a Verizon 4s you shouldn't need to flash it. It should activate pretty easy (I think). I have never done a 4s but I have done a couple 4 with no problems.

Just re-read this post. You're a bit off in your understanding of what's involved with a phone "flash" to get CDMA phones that aren't officially supported on specific networks to work. Flashing is reprogramming the phone's baseband configuration, changing the network settings and sometimes altering the phone's ESN to get it to talk to the MNO's network. Flashing and handset activation have common ground, but are two different beasts. Reality is, Sprint phones can't typically go on the Verizon network as a primary handset with their default Sprint issued ESNs and baseband firmware, and vice versa, and same with other CDMA carriers. This is also partially how people get CDMA phones that aren't on the "allowed" list with MVNO carriers to work anyway... they sometimes replace the ESN programmed into the phone with an ESN from the target network that's on the approved number list and do a little network configuration magic.

If you want to get really technical, this is how stolen CDMA handsets from the gray/black market get a second life... altered ESN and firmware flashed to another carrier where the make/model isn't "officially" supported. MEID/ESN spoofing is technically illegal as you're tampering with the device's serial number (as is IMEI spoofing on GSM devices), and is why the general practice is frowned upon.

Now you know why I'm so cautious about my phone recommendations with purchasing and BYOD on CDMA networks. You deviate from the approved list, you have the potential to wind up in some dubious waters if you can't personally vouch for the handset's providence and the method used for activation with the CDMA carrier.

Edit (12/21): Self edited for accuracy, content and clarity.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: ginamwalker on December 21, 2012, 09:52:54 AM
I.P. Daley, you are rockin' it! 

So, I really hope you might be able to help.  My husband really wants an iPhone 5.  We still have dumbphones from 4 years ago.  We are with Verizon, but are more than OK to jump ship.  This is what I'm thinking of doing:
1. Get the iphone 5 through Verizon for $300 (32GB), cancel and pay the $350 etf.  Saves $100 if it works like that.  I'll keep my old phone and just use talk/text.
2. Sign up with Page Plus.  We'll have Verizon unlock.

Do you see anything wrong with this idea? 
Gina

No monkeying with Verizon and ETFs or jumping on the bleeding edge hedonic adaptation treadmill for the Jeebusfone...


The quote above was killing me!  Literally LoL'ing.  I'll start referring to it as Jeebusfone from now on.  We are an Apple family so I get his desire to have an iphone.  I have now been brought to my normal senses as to what I should do.  And I figured that I had that punch to the face coming!   I actually felt sick yesterday thinking about buying that phone for him.  Makes me slightly queezy honestly.

I looked at Airvoice and the coverage is a little too weak at our house where I would use it about 1/3 of the time.  I like phones that work well. I'm going to look into Platinumtel and the others you mentioned and hopefully score a 4S at a great price. 

Thank you again for the stern talking-to.  ~Gina
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on December 21, 2012, 10:32:38 AM
Hey I.P. I dont want to get called out for being PP pusher. I am just fond of them and as they were the first Pre paid I ever found and I still use them to this day. I know you didn't say anything I just want to defend myself before its an issue.

The way I see there are several classifications for PP phones:

Supported Sold by they company (or a dealer for the company in this case) If you have a problem and call the CSR they will help you

Allowed but not Supported These are phones that PP officially allow but that they don't support. If you have problem and call the CSR they will tell you good luck.

Not Allowed, Not Supported but work anyway For PP these these phones include Iphone 4 and Iphone 4s I believe maybe black berries (no data)

Not Allowed Not Supported will work with lots of work this group includes 4g phones, sprint phone, phones with a bad ESN.

Phones not allowed Verizon pre paid phone

This is based on everything I have read and several things I have tried with PP. An Iphone does not need to be flashed. You can activated a used Iphone on PP without an problem. You will have to use a dealer that not PP and maybe not Kitty. But that not a problem.

Also I understand what flashing is however I don't believe you need to truly flash a 4g phone. The problem comes in with the SIM Card. Although i am not absolutely sure of this as I have not to played with any 4g phones.

If PP or Verizons decides to purge the PP rolls of Iphones via banning the ESN they certainly can. However, they have not done so yet so I dont believe they will. At this point I understand you would need to flash it to make it work.

In regards to buying used cell phones. There are sites you can check the ESN to make sure it is not bad. I know its on hofo somewhere. Its probably not a bad idea to check but so far I have pretty good luck. If you are that worried you can pay a little more and buy from cowboom.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: ginamwalker on December 21, 2012, 10:51:57 AM
I'm just bummed right now that my choices are Sprint and Verizon for coverage.  If we don't want to pay their crazy prices, then PagePlus is the way to go... uggh.  After I.P.'s info I'm not totally comfortable with the risks.  TheDude you are sort of swaying me, but looks like I have some more research to do.  :(
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 21, 2012, 03:06:27 PM
Hey I.P. I dont want to get called out for being PP pusher. I am just fond of them and as they were the first Pre paid I ever found and I still use them to this day. I know you didn't say anything I just want to defend myself before its an issue.

No worries, I don't think you're a pusher, and I know it's coming from a genuine enthusiasm. Nothing I say should ever be viewed as a personal attack on you, I'm just trying to bring some perspective to the topic.

The way I see there are several classifications for PP phones:

-snip-

Not Allowed, Not Supported but work anyway For PP these these phones include Iphone 4 and Iphone 4s I believe maybe black berries (no data)

Not Allowed Not Supported will work with lots of work this group includes 4g phones, sprint phone, phones with a bad ESN.

Phones not allowed Verizon pre paid phone

I think this is a false sense of division as these are all phones that are not allowed, and usage would be in violation of Section 3 of their Terms and Conditions (http://www.pagepluscellular.com/Terms%20and%20Conditions.aspx), a legal agreement you approve and agree to in order to establish service.

Non-Verizon CDMA phones, Verizon prepaid, iPhone, 4G LTE and Blackberry devices are not approved or allowed by Page Plus on their network due to legal agreements made with Verizon. This means that bringing any of those devices onto the P+ network carries inherent risk no matter how little effort may be made to activate them, as the ability to use them is dependent solely on either the application of illegal practices like ESN spoofing, or a lack of enforcement of the agreements between Verizon and Page Plus, Page Plus and a sketchy dealer, or Page Plus and you. Just because some phones on the banned list are easier to activate than others and a rotating stock of new sketchy dealers keep popping up enabling people to help activate these phones doesn't magically make it okay to do, it just means that it's easier to break the rules with those handsets.

If PP or Verizons decides to purge the PP rolls of Iphones via banning the ESN they certainly can. However, they have not done so yet so I dont believe they will. At this point I understand you would need to flash it to make it work.

Tacit approval through apathy in enforcement should never be construed as explicit permission. It does not change the fact that you are violating a legal contract you voluntarily agreed to, and it doesn't mean that you can't ever lose service, have the ESN blackballed, or worse... by violating that agreement, they retain the right to do so at any time. It is a risk with some form of legal involvement. If you want to take that risk and feel the reward outweighs that risk, that's your choice to make and nobody else's. Ignorance of those risks doesn't make you immune to them, it just means you sleep better at night when those risks are taken without experienced repercussion.

In regards to buying used cell phones. There are sites you can check the ESN to make sure it is not bad. I know its on hofo somewhere. Its probably not a bad idea to check but so far I have pretty good luck. If you are that worried you can pay a little more and buy from cowboom.

Personally, I'm not worried about getting into trouble and getting hot devices because I know what to look for, but you are correct in that people should get in the habit of checking ESNs and IMEIs to ensure they're clean when buying used.

My concern is that through a seemingly innocent suggestion of just "breaking the rules" because they're "not visibly enforced" to get the phone you really want on a network where it shouldn't be, people who don't know the risks are just going to latch onto what they want and potentially get in way over their heads in some potentially risky waters they wouldn't normally choose to be in. Now guess what? If they have the misfortune to run afoul and get in trouble because of your suggestion to just "break the rules", they blame you. I don't have problems with rule benders or breakers so long as any damage and responsibility is assumed solely by those individuals. My concerns are rooted in rule benders and breakers who either through ignorance or an assumed judgment call on others behalves not to disclose that their suggested actions are risks and waive those concerns from others away as nothing. People are investing money in a tool and service that they feel is important enough to dedicate resources to, and these are risks that can impact those decisions if encountered.

My advice here will always skew Lawful Good. People can do with it what they want, I just care that they're well informed before they make their decision. :)
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 21, 2012, 03:14:47 PM
I'm just bummed right now that my choices are Sprint and Verizon for coverage.  If we don't want to pay their crazy prices, then PagePlus is the way to go... uggh.  After I.P.'s info I'm not totally comfortable with the risks.  TheDude you are sort of swaying me, but looks like I have some more research to do.  :(

Don't despair... your handset will probably work just fine on Page Plus and will be in the unsupported but allowed category unless it was a prepaid model. There's your out.

If your husband absolutely has to have an iPhone and you're stuck on CDMA coverage, look into Virgin Mobile (http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/iphone-phones/). Sprint coverage, price starting at $350 new for the iPhone 4, plans from $35 a month. You might even get lucky and find a used one already officially provisioned with a clean ESN for cheaper.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on December 21, 2012, 04:12:18 PM
Wow I.P. I have never looked at there terms of use.  Based on this

"Page Plus Cellular Handset, Service and Phone Number

    You must use a certified Page Plus Cellular Handset in order to receive Page Plus Cellular Service."

According to that its not even a BYOD company. And well frankly we all know that's not true.

Also I just want to thank you for your posts. I am glad we can disagree civilly and I appreciate your well thought responses.

ginamwalker  you can always just mover you current phones over to page plus and give them a try for a week or a month or two. Then if you feel comfortable get some nice phones. Also if you want to read more about Page Plus (or anyone for that matter) Howard Forums is a great resource.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: ginamwalker on December 24, 2012, 02:42:40 PM
Thanks guys!  So, I've looked and I'm still narrowing to PagePlus (for the 4S) and then Cricket.  Anyone know enough about them?  They are quite a bit cheaper than Verizon, and actually beat Page Plus for what you get.  We could get away with $85 with PP if one line (mine) was the plan with 250MB and the minutes allowed isn't an issue.  Cricket is $100/mo for two lines at 2.5GB and other features and unlimited minutes/text.  We'd save $37/mo. this route vs. Verizon. 

I checked out Virgin and the coverage wasn't good enough.  :(
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 24, 2012, 03:59:03 PM
Thanks guys!  So, I've looked and I'm still narrowing to PagePlus (for the 4S) and then Cricket.  Anyone know enough about them?  They are quite a bit cheaper than Verizon, and actually beat Page Plus for what you get.  We could get away with $85 with PP if one line (mine) was the plan with 250MB and the minutes allowed isn't an issue.  Cricket is $100/mo for two lines at 2.5GB and other features and unlimited minutes/text.  We'd save $37/mo. this route vs. Verizon. 

I checked out Virgin and the coverage wasn't good enough.  :(

My question to you is, why do you need to go with the same carrier for both phones? Clearly, you're going to have to make exceptions to get that Jeebusfone working for your husband, but that doesn't mean you have to go to whatever carrier is selected for that. If you did the iPhone 4S through Cricket @ $55 a month and you went through Page Plus for their "The 12" package, that's about $67 a month, and you wouldn't have to deal with trying to get a 4S working on Page Plus. Honestly, I think getting that iPhone's gonna wind up being a serious hedonic adaptation slide, especially if you get sucked into the "unlimited" trap and belly up to the data bar... but that's your call. Imagine how much more money you could save every month just by not getting an iPhone. These things have a habit of nickel and dimeing you if you're not careful and disciplined with usage.

As for what I know of Cricket, Leap Wireless can be hit and miss with coverage in less urban areas. I've never really considered them a fantastic deal in wireless, but there's far worse available for the money.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: TheDude on December 24, 2012, 04:22:03 PM
Hey Ginamwalker, If all else fails I  think I.P. is right not reason you both need to use the same carrier. Although I think you should start of with a smaller package than 2 or 2.5GB. Get a 4s and put it on the 30 plan with 250mb. That not a ton of data but its enough if you are careful. Since you are moving from dumb phones to smart phone I think you should start small. Its easier to train yourself to only use data when you need it then to train yourself to use less data after you've had unlimited. My wife went to the 30 from an unlimited plan and she didn't have any problem with it. Does  your husband have access to wireless at home and at work? If so 250 is plenty. And if all else fails you can switch to bigger plan. I am pretty sure a Verizon phone can be flashed to Cricket if you need to.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: ginamwalker on December 24, 2012, 08:54:36 PM
TheDude.  Thanks!  Great food for thought and we are strongly going that direction! 
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: shadowmoss on December 29, 2012, 10:56:50 AM
Sorry for trying for a short cut through all this.  I am in Honduras using a new China knock off GSM ATT-able phone.  Mom in the US has a no name ATT flip phone she got at Best Buy.  We are no longer under contract, but I stay with the plan I had before I left which is a family plan that I'm paying over $100.00/month for just to keep my US number and my Mom in a cell phone.  When I'm back I put my US SIM in an old ATT phone and have cell for the duration (usually a couple of weeks a year).  I have no real idea when I'll be back in the States full time, but hopefully within the year.  So, I want to get a plan that lets us use our current phones, has my Mom on it so she uses the minutes while I'm outside the US (she isn't a huge user of the minutes, less than 100/mo), uses the ATT network, and I can reserve my phone number for a year at a time, or at least 6 months at a time.

I think the T-Mobile pay as you go $100/yr would work for me, but Mom would have to be on a different plan.  I like the setup of Ting, but I don't think our phones would work.  So, what is the sweet spot?  Mom lives in Kansas City, MO, and I'm not sure where I'll end up.  DOD contractor.  Coverage is an issue as I don't want Mom out and not have coverage is she has car trouble.  She is 82.

Here is my new phone:
http://www.chinavasion.com/china/wholesale/Android_Tablets/4-5_Mini_Android_Tablets/Android_4.0_3G_Phone_Squire_-_1Ghz_Dual_Core_CPU_6_Inch_Display_White/

Basically I'm seeing good plans, that don't use our phones.  Good coverage, but more expensive.  Not a lot of family plans.  Help me figure this out?
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: iamlindoro on December 29, 2012, 11:44:45 AM
So, for anyone who took the Airvoice route, I went hunting for coupon codes to save a little extra.  I found the ones listed here:

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/callingmart.com

CallingMart has slightly discounted airtime by default (the $35 plan is $34.65), and it appears they almost always have a 5-10% coupon code.  I was able to find coupon codes going back at least a few months with a Google search.  I got this month's $35 plan for more or less $30.  It's not a huge savings but it's not really that much more work than refilling in general.  Just thought the extra few bucks would help people out.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on December 30, 2012, 10:16:50 AM
Shadowmoss-

You are correct, you won't be able to use that phone you linked with Ting, nor will your mother hers. Ting's operating on Sprint and Verizon's IMT-MC/CDMA2000 networks. What you have personally is a purely GSM/W-CDMA/UTMS world phone that requires SIM cards to work, as does your mother, though without global band support if I were to guess. I also noticed your handset is a dual-SIM model, so I'm guessing that's a feature you'll need/want. No matter what choice you make, get those phones carrier unlocked by AT&T before you leave them. This will let you take them to a T-Mo MVNO or resell them at a higher price if needed.

It seems that you'd prefer to have a "family" plan going, but if you don't mind me asking, what's the big deal about separate accounts? If you need/want to manage re-upping the account yourself for your mother so she doesn't have to do it, nothing's stopping you from doing so. Anyway, let's start with GSM reception.

Some considerations on GSM networks and emergency service reception:

As for AT&T versus T-Mo GSM prepaid providers, if you have to choose the best coverage for your mother's part of the world, she'd get about split difference coverage out of T-Mo Prepaid 4G (http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans) and Airvoice (http://www.airvoicewireless.com/) (AT&T) depending on general wandering habits, though they don't have family plans. Keep in mind, so long as you're in range of any GSM tower, even if you don't have service with the owner of that tower and the phone may be showing no reception on your network, you can still dial 911 and have the call go through. This level of emergency coverage will be no different than any other plan with any other provider on the US GSM network: you will either have a GSM signal to dial 911 to or you won't. This same idea applies to CDMA phones and coverage, as well.

If you want to go with Ting, be prepared to drop some serious cash:

Your mom isn't the problem here, as a $50 feature phone (https://ting.com/devices/SAMSUNG-M370-Refurbished) off Ting's website will work for your mom to replace the phone she has. It also is the best fit for the money from a paranoid general coverage area as she would have both Sprint and Verizon's CDMA network coverage, and CDMA has far heavier penetration across the Midwestern sticks than GSM does... so she'd technically have even better coverage there than with AT&T postpaid currently, even though that coverage hasn't been an issue.

Ting has BYO(S)D support now, so theoretically you could hunt down a Sprint CDMA/GSM quad band world phone that you could then bring over to Ting and then stick your SIM card into for usage in Honduras, but good luck finding a Sprint CDMA/GSM dual-SIM quad band world phone. It'll be hard enough finding a decent model of Sprint phone with those specs and the GSM 850/1900 bands unlocked for just a single SIM card that isn't Blackberry, let alone runs Android. (Let me tell you, this is a steep order - I really tried and I'm coming up pretty empty.) Your best and easiest bet on that front would be to just ask Ting if you could get a full GSM unlock on their Samsung Galaxy SIII (https://ting.com/devices/Samsung-Galaxy-SIII-16GB) (SPH-L710 (https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SPH-L710MBBSPR-specs)) and be prepared to cough up over 500 clams on it if they will.

If you want a GSM family plan, Consumer Cellular is your only option:

That said, if you absolutely have to have "cheaper" GSM service in the US that also allows for "family" plans and general roaming on both major networks, look into Consumer Cellular (http://www.consumercellular.com/). They're basically the AT&T GSM equivalent of Ting, only far more expensive, and you have to directly monitor usage like a hawk and juggle plan switching to avoid their insane overage fees of 25¢ a minute if you don't want to grossly overspend for services. Expect $10 a handset per month plus whatever minutes/text packages you need/want to park onto that. (A sane breakdown of their service plan rates here (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/cell-phone-problems-weather-%28unfixable%29-or-phone-%28fixable%29/msg43282/#msg43282).) Most MVNO's don't really offer any true off-network roaming outside of Ting and Consumer Cellular, and for the money and overly paranoid blanket coverage desired, Ting's the winner for your mother even if it means a new handset for her and it's nearly a non-starter for you....

Some alternate ideas and approaches that might add some flexibility:

Now, the number parking raises another wrinkle and certainly explains the desire for a family plan, but it might open up some alternatives with some creative thinking. Yes, you could always go with T-Mobile's plan the way you suggested, but if I may offer an alternate idea. Normally, I don't like suggesting using Google Voice as the service is mediocre at best, but porting your own phone number (https://support.google.com/voice/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1065667) over to them (or another VoIP provider that does cheap number parking like Future Nine (http://www.future-nine.com/plans.html) or CallCentric (http://www.callcentric.com/did/) if you don't trust Google, though you'd lose SMS support) might be a reasonable solution. Then you can just pick back up whatever is the cheapest GSM service stateside with the best coverage in whatever area you land when you're back, and have Google Voice (or your VoIP provider) forward your calls to that new number. Stick the SIM into your fancy phone there and go. For calling out with the Google Voice setup using cellphone minutes, use Voice+ (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hu.xilard.voiceplus) (or CallCentric's Click2Dial app (http://www.callcentric.com/support/device/android/callcentric) if you port to them) to ensure your caller ID stays consistent and people don't get confused.

During all your times abroad and to integrate the configuration better with your phone, you could use something like Talkatone (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.talkatone.android) (I'm nervous recommending apps that store your Google account credentials on their servers (http://www.talkatone.com/faq.html#isgoogsafe), but for a simplified interface that handles all texting and data calls, it might be the way to go), or alternately set up a CallCentric Free NY State incoming phone number (http://www.callcentric.com/dids/free_phone_number), configure your native Andorid SIP client to connect to their service and use Voice+ to initiate calls back home for the price of data, either WiFi or GSM, and use the official Google Voice client for SMS texting. I'm also hesitant to recommend data calls on cell phones, especially over a cellular network due to increased SAR values for data transmission (and doubly so with something off Chinavasion, though if the FCC certification is legit, the SAR shouldn't be higher than 1.6W/kg - which is still a bit high, IMHO), but that can be mitigated with a headset.

Although some of this is a rehash of some of the guide info, it still took a bit of work to scrape the proper info together in the right order and peck out as your situation is a bit of a challenge. However, I think it'll open up your options a bit more than you were expecting with some cost-effective choices that doesn't require all new equipment, and better put your mind at ease in regard to other issues. I don't normally ask this when I provide help, but if you (or anyone else) really appreciate the effort, there's a way to pay back the kindness on my website (http://www.techmeshugana.com/). I enjoy doing it, but this stuff sometimes takes more time and effort than I care to admit to, folks.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: shadowmoss on December 31, 2012, 02:08:27 PM
I am going to have to go through this line by line.  :)  Thank you for the extra work.  I will hit the donate button on your site next month, as I'm paying off my Jeep this month (last consumer debt!) and probably won't have extra till then.  I do appreciate it, and will share the extra abundance it gives me as I can. 
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on January 01, 2013, 09:17:20 AM
I am going to have to go through this line by line.  :)  Thank you for the extra work.  I will hit the donate button on your site next month, as I'm paying off my Jeep this month (last consumer debt!) and probably won't have extra till then.  I do appreciate it, and will share the extra abundance it gives me as I can.

I'm just glad to be of help, honestly, and congrats on paying off the Jeep! :)

By the way, I knew I forgot to include something in that post Sunday... Speaking towards CDMA coverage: as far as best regional coverage with any network in your mom's area, Verizon looks to have the best (as they apparently own most of the CDMA towers in that part of the world). According to the coverage map (https://www.pagepluscellular.com/Why%20Page%20Plus/Coverage%20Map.aspx), with the exception of some patchiness and roaming out by Jeff City, by the Iowa border up I-29, and the Eastern bits of the state, Page Plus (https://www.pagepluscellular.com/Plans/12%20Plan.aspx) might be the best carrier for general coverage outside of Ting. They do offer roaming as well at nearly 30¢ a minute (the only prepaid MVNO I know of that does), but if it's a concern to call in an emergency but it doesn't warrant 911, the option to do so at 30¢ a minute isn't a bad deal. Sprint MVNOs usually have pretty good coverage in metro areas and along major road corridors as well, so keep that in mind, though the only reasonably priced Sprint prepaid MVNO left now that P'tel has gone GSM is Eco Mobile (https://www.ecomobile.com/) at $10 a month. If you're open to new hardware for your mother anyway, no sense limiting your choices to Ting only on the CDMA end. It's not hard to find cheap preconfigured handsets from reputable sellers for Page Plus or used Sprint feature phones with a clean ESN on Ebay.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: trinny on January 30, 2013, 01:40:40 PM
If you have an Iphone from Verizon that's still under contract, which prepaid carriers can you take it to if you break your contract?

Does this mean, it will have now have a BAD ESN?

If you have a phone with a BAD ESN, can you still activate it with a prepaid carrier?


1) None. Verizon iPhones are technically restricted to Verizon postpaid only due to a deal between Apple and Verizon, blacklisting all ESNs from activation through MVNOs.
2) It will if you break contract and you don't pay off your ETF (early termination fee).
3) No. Even if it wasn't an iPhone, the ESN will be blacklisted from activation on an MVNO like Page Plus if the ETF is not paid at point of departure, and would technically have to be resold as having a bad ESN.

It took me a while to figure this stuff out after reading and re-reading the super guide, but I ended up finding a friend who had an old Verizon DroidX he didn't want and took it over to PagePlus.  Their customer service was awesome and fast!  After a few minutes on the phone and a few hours to transfer my #, the phone was working flawlessly and although I admit, I personally prefer Apple products in general, a free phone is a mustachian phone!  After seeing how much money I'm saving every month, my mom is probably going to switch to PagePlus as well!

Thanks I.P. Daley and others for all your great input to help us figure this all out!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Viv A. Stache on February 01, 2013, 02:12:00 AM
I just signed up for Ting, getting their free contract buyout plan on both lines, and I'm excited by the prospect of saving over $70 a month (Sprint bill was $144 last month), and getting the same levels of service. We don't have many options to get WiFi anywhere but at home, so I got a bigger data plan, with the expectation that I'll lower it after analyzing the first few month's usage. We've been staying home more to save money, and when we are out on the town as a family, I hate seeing my husband's nose buried in his email anyway.

After checking again, I see that the contract buyout reached it's limit fast so I'm glad I stayed up late to catch the deal! I can't wait to give you guys a good review.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: icefr on February 01, 2013, 08:16:11 AM
I just signed up for Ting, getting their free contract buyout plan on both lines, and I'm excited by the prospect of saving over $70 a month (Sprint bill was $144 last month), and getting the same levels of service. We don't have many options to get WiFi anywhere but at home, so I got a bigger data plan, with the expectation that I'll lower it after analyzing the first few month's usage. We've been staying home more to save money, and when we are out on the town as a family, I hate seeing my husband's nose buried in his email anyway.

After checking again, I see that the contract buyout reached it's limit fast so I'm glad I stayed up late to catch the deal! I can't wait to give you guys a good review.

Wow! I can't believe it filled up already! I'm on Pacific time, so I grabbed a spot at 9:01 pm. My number has now been ported to a placeholder Ting device and my BYOD device is in progress. I'm super excited for Ting! I was paying about $80-85 after taxes with Sprint for just one smartphone and based on my guesses, it's about $34.36 with Ting! That's a $50/month savings, so even if they didn't cover my ETF, I would have broken even after ~2 months and there are another 5 months left on my contract.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on February 01, 2013, 10:02:28 AM
Wow! I can't believe it filled up already! I'm on Pacific time, so I grabbed a spot at 9:01 pm.

I'm not surprised at all, honestly, as $100,000 isn't that much when you've got an ETF cap of $350 per line as that's a minimum of only 286 people. I have a feeling there were some very stupid people who couldn't do the math on the deal or read the fine print who bought into a new Sprint contract and handset with the idea of porting over to somehow "save" money, ignoring both the ETF payout as Ting credit and the fact that ETF plus Sprint price was higher for all handsets offered than the exact same handsets offered new from Ting directly.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: sol on February 24, 2013, 10:49:56 PM
Our friend and recent MMM forum member Joshua Kennon (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/profile/?u=2832) (joshuakennon.com) recently posted an article about switching to a prepaid phone plan, and how such small changes can accrue to large amounts of money over time.  Check out:  http://www.joshuakennon.com/the-small-things-matter-when-you-are-making-your-fortune/ and notice the similarities to the MMM post  (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/10/11/our-new-10-00-per-month-iphone-plans/) that started this thread.

Perhaps it was inevitable, given the volume of writing that he produces, that there would be some overlap.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on February 24, 2013, 11:03:24 PM
Fascinating choice he made in carriers for the money, but good for him. Looks like Mr. Kennon came to the same conclusions many of us have and is basically now echoing the advice I've been trying to help share myself for... ho-lee crow, has it really been nearly a year now on these forums? Whoof. Everything's conspiring to make me feel old this week.

*shakes cane* Dang kids, get off my lawn!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: the fixer on March 06, 2013, 03:13:23 PM
*phew* finally made the switch to Airvoice $10/month plan! That was more of a headache than I bargained for.

It all started last month when I was following MMM's instructions to switch over from T-Mobile (I have an unlocked Nexus One, and I don't care about the 3G incompatibility). I got the SIM card and filled out the port your number form, but I kept screwing up.

You have to call Airvoice to figure out what went wrong with the port, and their phone lines are always jammed. I have to wait between 3 and 10 minutes every time I call. The first time, they told me I didn't have the PIN correct. I thought it was my voicemail PIN; nope, it's something different. I called T-Mobile and found out the PIN is the last 4 digits of my SSN; good to know! But by the time I figured this out, I had just started a new month of T-Mobile service, and they don't prorate when you cancel. So instead of wasting money porting right then I decided to wait a few weeks and enjoy my data that I had just paid for.

Then, a week in advance of my billing cycle date, I tried to port again. It didn't work, again; I called Airvoice, sat on hold for 10 minutes, and found out that the account number was wrong. T-Mobile account numbers show up on your billing statement, or on the my.t-mobile.com website when viewing your bill. Once found, I gave Airvoice the correct account number over the phone.

The next day (today), still no port! I called again, waited 10 minutes, and found out they couldn't do the port because I activated the SIM I bought from them. Despite everything the instructions that come with the SIM say, do NOT go online to activate the SIM card! Since today was the close of my T-Mobile billing cycle and any additional delay would cost another $60, I had to get this resolved; I went to the nearest AT&T store and talked one of the store employees into giving me an unactivated AT&T SIM card. AirVoice will accept unactivated SIM cards from AT&T, but as a rule they are not supposed to do this. I had to be super vague and annoying to the poor store employee who kept wanting to activate the SIM for me, but I insisted that I was going to "do it over the phone," conveniently omitting the fact that I wasn't buying AT&T service. With the new SIM in hand, I called Airvoice again, waited only about 5 minutes this time, gave them the new SIM ID, and the port went through!

I'm just glad this whole mess is done, and that I'll get to stash an extra $40-50/month from now on. Lesson learned: I should have called T-Mobile to get the account number and PIN from them, instead of guessing. I wish I had known the SIM activation was irreversible, or I'd have logically tried porting before activating.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: smalllife on March 06, 2013, 03:32:40 PM
I am working on the switch to Page Plus (Airvoice/AT&T/T-Mobile/everyone-but-Verizon is sketchy inside the walls of my house, somewhere I would like my phone to work).  The only issue is that I also will be needing to replace my 4 year old phone and am unsure of the sequence of events.

Do I?
-Buy a new phone and port the number direct to it? (Is this possible? I would be getting a non-PP phone, but compatible)
-Port with current phone and figure out how to switch phones when it dies?
-Port number with current phone than switch to the new phone?

The new phone isn't strictly necessary immediately, but it is imminent.  I'd rather replace while I have the time to research and do it right rather than have to hurry to replace my line of communication.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 06, 2013, 04:15:16 PM
*phew* finally made the switch to Airvoice $10/month plan! That was more of a headache than I bargained for.

-snip-

I'm just glad this whole mess is done, and that I'll get to stash an extra $40-50/month from now on. Lesson learned: I should have called T-Mobile to get the account number and PIN from them, instead of guessing. I wish I had known the SIM activation was irreversible, or I'd have logically tried porting before activating.

Glad to hear your finally got it sorted out and dealt with. Although I will admit that most of this stuff has always struck me as a given on the process, it's clear I should clarify a bit better for the future for others on what is needed to port numbers out of your current carrier, and not to do things like activate SIM cards until you're ready to either port your number or start your account.

I will admit though, the number porting info by carrier has been something I've wanted to add to the wiki (http://wiki.techmeshugana.com/) (along with a lot of other stuff) for a while now... I just haven't been able to find the time yet. My apologies.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: the fixer on March 06, 2013, 04:23:17 PM
I think the biggest failure is with Airvoice. As a software/web UI designer, no one in their right mind should put up a form with 10-15 fields that each have very little explanation. It's like the when an online merchant asks for a credit card's CCV code; a novice internet consumer has no idea what this is, so they show a little picture or link next to the field to explain how the user can go about finding this information. That's exactly what Airvoice should be doing on their port your number form.

The SIM card activation is mostly my fault, I knew right after I did it and got a phone number assigned that I probably messed up. But as I said, I was reading through all the materials that came with the card and they kept saying the next step was to go online and activate it. Oh well.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 06, 2013, 04:43:51 PM
I am working on the switch to Page Plus (Airvoice/AT&T/T-Mobile/everyone-but-Verizon is sketchy inside the walls of my house, somewhere I would like my phone to work).  The only issue is that I also will be needing to replace my 4 year old phone and am unsure of the sequence of events.

Do I?
-Buy a new phone and port the number direct to it? (Is this possible? I would be getting a non-PP phone, but compatible)
-Port with current phone and figure out how to switch phones when it dies?
-Port number with current phone than switch to the new phone?

The new phone isn't strictly necessary immediately, but it is imminent.  I'd rather replace while I have the time to research and do it right rather than have to hurry to replace my line of communication.

Technically, options two and three appear to be one in the same. It will be more complicated to switch phones after the fact, but not impossible. Personally, unless you're just hemorrhaging money with Verizon, it might be worth it to take the time to line up your new phone now before porting and activation unless you just want to run your current phone to the point of failure. As you're dealing with CDMA equipment and carriers instead of GSM, this will simplify the process as you'll only have to deal with them once (or until you move on to another phone) as you'll simply activate the new phone at the same time as the service.

As for what Verizon phones will be eligible for activation with Page Plus, let's go over the relatively accepted "do not" list:
That covers the major points. Kitty Wireless (http://www.kittywireless.com/index.html) is a good P+ reseller to work with, and if you have any questions, they've got a good forum community (http://www.kittyforums.net/forum.php).
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 06, 2013, 04:48:11 PM
I think the biggest failure is with Airvoice. As a software/web UI designer, no one in their right mind should put up a form with 10-15 fields that each have very little explanation. It's like the when an online merchant asks for a credit card's CCV code; a novice internet consumer has no idea what this is, so they show a little picture or link next to the field to explain how the user can go about finding this information. That's exactly what Airvoice should be doing on their port your number form.

Somewhere on this forum, I did a form fillout for KulshanGirl. *digs around* Here, this should explain things a bit better (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/airvoice-wireless-howto/msg55142/#msg55142). In their defense, they typically encourage number porters to call over filling out the form online... the online form is designed more for resellers.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: smalllife on March 06, 2013, 05:41:20 PM
Personally, unless you're just hemorrhaging money with Verizon, it might be worth it to take the time to line up your new phone now before porting and activation unless you just want to run your current phone to the point of failure. As you're dealing with CDMA equipment and carriers instead of GSM, this will simplify the process as you'll only have to deal with them once (or until you move on to another phone) as you'll simply activate the new phone at the same time as the service.

I'd be leaving the family plan and striking out on my own (and potentially helping them cut the cord if this works), so time isn't a terribly big concern.  Unfortunately it makes even the "cheap" plans look expensive.  I was all set for Airvoice, bought the SIM card and everything, without realizing that they don't play nice with CDMA devices.  I gave the card to a friend and put it on the back burner.

Quote
As for what Verizon phones will be eligible for activation with Page Plus, let's go over the relatively accepted "do not" list:
  • Do not try to activate a phone with a bad ESN. The ESN is the device's serial number, and can be ineligible for activation due to unpaid subsidy or ETF fee, theft, or sometimes due to being a refurbished device. Your seller should be willing to provide you your ESN before purchase to check eligibility here (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/estore/certifieddevice/cd).

This is the only one that worries me - specifically the refurbished device part.  I'm leaning towards a smart phone for basic apps and I've found some good deals on refurbished pieces (HTC Incredible for $80 instead of $160). Although looking at the 2 year manufacturer defect warranty from Kitty Wireless and help with transferring over  . . .

I came across them in my phone comparison travels but didn't look at their Page Plus offerings in depth.  Ultimately I just need to decide whether a smart phone is worth the cost - but given that I want it primarily for budgeting and price checker apps it might just pay for itself ;-)
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 06, 2013, 06:24:25 PM
Quote
As for what Verizon phones will be eligible for activation with Page Plus, let's go over the relatively accepted "do not" list:
  • Do not try to activate a phone with a bad ESN. The ESN is the device's serial number, and can be ineligible for activation due to unpaid subsidy or ETF fee, theft, or sometimes due to being a refurbished device. Your seller should be willing to provide you your ESN before purchase to check eligibility here (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/estore/certifieddevice/cd).

This is the only one that worries me - specifically the refurbished device part.  I'm leaning towards a smart phone for basic apps and I've found some good deals on refurbished pieces (HTC Incredible for $80 instead of $160). Although looking at the 2 year manufacturer defect warranty from Kitty Wireless and help with transferring over  . . .

I probably should have better defined the context of that refurbished phone bit in that point. The only phones that might have difficulty activating due to a bad ESN in this category are phones that were busted and factory refurbished under warranty then used as a replacement handset for another defective model under contract. Handsets like that should flag a bad ESN on the Verizon site when you check. Regular refurbishment on out of contract/used devices through third party resellers are usually fine. Help make things a bit easier for you?

Keep in mind, too, that most Ebay electronics purchases have additional "warranty" options (http://pages.ebay.com/services/hub.html) as well, though I don't think they're typically worth the money, and given it being a CDMA handset would be deeply inconvenient if you needed to try and collect on it due to their repair or replace policies.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: smalllife on March 06, 2013, 06:44:54 PM
Help make things a bit easier for you?

Keep in mind, too, that most Ebay electronics purchases have additional "warranty" options (http://pages.ebay.com/services/hub.html) as well, though I don't think they're typically worth the money, and given it being a CDMA handset would be deeply inconvenient if you needed to try and collect on it due to their repair or replace policies.

Yes it does, thank you.  I'm asking for an Ebay seller to verify the ESN of a refurbished phone right now (large 3rd party reseller) just for piece of mind.  I can't stomach paying double on a phone when it isn't necessary. 

*I got through page 8 of the super-guide and it was wonderfully helpful!
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: LizzyBee on March 07, 2013, 03:40:40 PM
My husband just bought a Iphone 5 and renewed his contract with Sprint. :( It was seriously a week before I found this blog and read about the $10 Iphone plan. I looked up the plans listed in the blog post under Sprint and it doesn't seem like any of them will allow you to use the Iphone. I could be wrong, though, as I'm technologically challenged. Anyone have any advice or plans that will work with a Sprint Iphone 5? I've skimmed through all of the comments here and on the original blog post, but a lot of it is Greek to me.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 07, 2013, 03:58:27 PM
My husband just bought a Iphone 5 and renewed his contract with Sprint. :( It was seriously a week before I found this blog and read about the $10 Iphone plan. I looked up the plans listed in the blog post under Sprint and it doesn't seem like any of them will allow you to use the Iphone. I could be wrong, though, as I'm technologically challenged. Anyone have any advice or plans that will work with a Sprint Iphone 5? I've skimmed through all of the comments here and on the original blog post, but a lot of it is Greek to me.

Nope, sorry. Apple hardware on Sprint's pretty much a one way shafting. Best you can hope for is to sell it and the contract off to some other chump person with lousy math skills and go to Virgin and one of their iPhones (http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/iphone-phones/) if you insist on sticking with both the iOS platform and the Sprint network. Honestly, it's probably not worth it (http://www.techmeshugana.com/2013/01/are-iphones-worth-it/).

Quick thought, though... you say the time span was only a week. I think Sprint has a two week return window, but check. You might have an out if you HURRY.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: retiredmtber on March 13, 2013, 04:53:42 AM
I looked through the previous posts and did not see this question, apologies if I missed it.

I had a dumbphone until a bit over a year ago when I purchased a used HTC MyTouch off of Ebay to use with TMobile prepaid. I am usually either at home or at a place with wifi so I figured that would be a perfect match. Unfortunately, if I use wifi it still reduces my TMobile prepaid balance unless I take out the sim card.

Do you know if it is possible to use my HTC with AirVoice or would I need to purchase a different smartphone? I am not a very sophisticated user and the HTC is fine for me since I am used to it.

Thanks
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 13, 2013, 08:43:20 AM
I looked through the previous posts and did not see this question, apologies if I missed it.

I had a dumbphone until a bit over a year ago when I purchased a used HTC MyTouch off of Ebay to use with TMobile prepaid. I am usually either at home or at a place with wifi so I figured that would be a perfect match. Unfortunately, if I use wifi it still reduces my TMobile prepaid balance unless I take out the sim card.

Do you know if it is possible to use my HTC with AirVoice or would I need to purchase a different smartphone? I am not a very sophisticated user and the HTC is fine for me since I am used to it.

Thanks

That sounds a bit screwy, honestly. You're 100% certain that the 3G data is off and the WiFi connection is on when you do this, correct?

Anyway, yes... you could take the phone over to Airvoice if the phone is carrier unlocked. T-Mobile will likely have to unlock it for you. However, there's also Platinumtel (https://www.platinumtel.com/), which is a T-Mobile MVNO. You could technically use them without carrier unlocking your phone first, and they're relatively competitively priced.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: retiredmtber on March 14, 2013, 07:03:27 AM
IP Daley,

I am pretty certain. At the time, I thought there was something I was doing incorrectly when I noticed the balance being reduced and posted a query on howardforums and someone replied that TMobile did this and it was in their terms when I signed up, I had not noticed.

The phone is unlocked but I may just use Platinumtel - thanks for the recommendation. I have a balance on my prepaid Tmobile that I need to use up before I switch.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 14, 2013, 08:00:37 AM
IP Daley,

I am pretty certain. At the time, I thought there was something I was doing incorrectly when I noticed the balance being reduced and posted a query on howardforums and someone replied that TMobile did this and it was in their terms when I signed up, I had not noticed.

The phone is unlocked but I may just use Platinumtel - thanks for the recommendation. I have a balance on my prepaid Tmobile that I need to use up before I switch.

Yeah... reports of this sort of thing (random surcharges, etc.) were trickling in the past few months and are starting to increase with prepaid T-Mo users now that they've eliminated their subsidized plans. It's a little sleazy and unfortunate, but not unexpected. This is one of the reasons why I'm such a vigilant terms of service reader and point out reading them to others.

Hopefully and typically, number ports between mobile phones (and especially within the same network) should go pretty rapidly, and the wireless industry typically aims for around 2.5 hours, but there's no hard time limit on how long it can actually go. I just mention it to be aware if you plan on taking your number with you so you don't potentially lose it... and make sure you have all the accurate and necessary info going in and don't activate the SIM card without porting first.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on March 15, 2013, 08:33:11 AM
I am working on the switch to Page Plus (Airvoice/AT&T/T-Mobile/everyone-but-Verizon is sketchy inside the walls of my house, somewhere I would like my phone to work).  The only issue is that I also will be needing to replace my 4 year old phone and am unsure of the sequence of events.

Do I?
-Buy a new phone and port the number direct to it? (Is this possible? I would be getting a non-PP phone, but compatible)
-Port with current phone and figure out how to switch phones when it dies?
-Port number with current phone than switch to the new phone?

The new phone isn't strictly necessary immediately, but it is imminent.  I'd rather replace while I have the time to research and do it right rather than have to hurry to replace my line of communication.

Technically, options two and three appear to be one in the same. It will be more complicated to switch phones after the fact, but not impossible. Personally, unless you're just hemorrhaging money with Verizon, it might be worth it to take the time to line up your new phone now before porting and activation unless you just want to run your current phone to the point of failure. As you're dealing with CDMA equipment and carriers instead of GSM, this will simplify the process as you'll only have to deal with them once (or until you move on to another phone) as you'll simply activate the new phone at the same time as the service.

As for what Verizon phones will be eligible for activation with Page Plus, let's go over the relatively accepted "do not" list:
  • Do not try to activate a phone with a bad ESN. The ESN is the device's serial number, and can be ineligible for activation due to unpaid subsidy or ETF fee, theft, or sometimes due to being a refurbished device. Your seller should be willing to provide you your ESN before purchase to check eligibility here (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/estore/certifieddevice/cd).
  • Do not try to activate a Verizon prepaid model handset, it is ineligible.
  • Do not try to activate a Sprint, Cricket, Boost Mobile, Virgin Wireless, MetroPCS, or any other CDMA branded handset outside of Verizon. Their ESNs are not in Verizon's (and subsequently Page Plus') databases and are therefore ineligible to activate.
  • Do not try to activate a Blackberry device, Page Plus is not provisioned for BIS.
list]
  • Do not try to activate any Verizon 4G LTE devices (Verizon SIM card), they are not supported on the network.
  • Do not try to activate any iPhones, there's an agreement between Apple, Verizon and Page Plus that is technically in effect banning them from use with P+. That said, some people have been able to bring over their iPhone 4/4S devices and even successfully activated them through Page Plus directly... just be aware that if they enforce this restriction and catch you, you'll lose your account, phone number, and will get the phone's ESN blacklisted.
That covers the major points. Kitty Wireless (http://www.kittywireless.com/index.html) is a good P+ reseller to work with, and if you have any questions, they've got a good forum community (http://www.kittyforums.net/forum.php).

Specifically regarding the 4G devices, when I sent an email to Pageplus asking if I could BYOD my Galaxy Nexus, I didn't get an outright "NO", I just got a standard 'we cannot guarantee a non approved device will work on the network".  I know I won't have access to the 4G LTE network when I switch, but do you think there will be other issues with porting that phone?  I was going to do it today...
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 15, 2013, 03:06:14 PM
Specifically regarding the 4G devices, when I sent an email to Pageplus asking if I could BYOD my Galaxy Nexus, I didn't get an outright "NO", I just got a standard 'we cannot guarantee a non approved device will work on the network".  I know I won't have access to the 4G LTE network when I switch, but do you think there will be other issues with porting that phone?  I was going to do it today...

Officially, there's no support for LTE smartphones, period. As far as I know, even without the LTE service, they simply cannot be provisioned without modification. I'm aware that some have jumped hoops and firmware flashed devices to make LTE equipment usable on Page Plus, but as far as I'm aware, the devices as bog standard stocked from Verizon simply will not work as it requires modification by a dealer who knows how to do it.

Here's an excellent thread (http://www.kittyforums.net/showthread.php/1812-4G-Phones-Allowed) over at the Kitty Wireless forums (http://www.kittyforums.net/) on the subject.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on March 16, 2013, 09:44:42 AM
Specifically regarding the 4G devices, when I sent an email to Pageplus asking if I could BYOD my Galaxy Nexus, I didn't get an outright "NO", I just got a standard 'we cannot guarantee a non approved device will work on the network".  I know I won't have access to the 4G LTE network when I switch, but do you think there will be other issues with porting that phone?  I was going to do it today...

Officially, there's no support for LTE smartphones, period. As far as I know, even without the LTE service, they simply cannot be provisioned without modification. I'm aware that some have jumped hoops and firmware flashed devices to make LTE equipment usable on Page Plus, but as far as I'm aware, the devices as bog standard stocked from Verizon simply will not work as it requires modification by a dealer who knows how to do it.

Here's an excellent thread (http://www.kittyforums.net/showthread.php/1812-4G-Phones-Allowed) over at the Kitty Wireless forums (http://www.kittyforums.net/) on the subject.

You're right, I couldn't activate the phone.  The support guy did mention that I might be able to get it to work if I flashed it, but could not elaborate beyond that.  I'll need to check your links...
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on March 19, 2013, 11:08:44 AM
In the meantime I switched to my Droid2 and activated that today.  The same day, it so happens, Verizon announced that the Nexus was finally getting Android 4.2.2.  Their update cycle was one of many reasons I finally decided to pull the plug.  Now I wonder if I can still get that update with the device de-activated.  I can still use it as a handy pocket computer without the cellular connectivity after all.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on March 19, 2013, 12:23:43 PM
In the meantime I switched to my Droid2 and activated that today.  The same day, it so happens, Verizon announced that the Nexus was finally getting Android 4.2.2.  Their update cycle was one of many reasons I finally decided to pull the plug.  Now I wonder if I can still get that update with the device de-activated.  I can still use it as a handy pocket computer without the cellular connectivity after all.

Yup. All you need is a network connection as the updates are not strictly OTA. A WiFi connection while dialing *#*#checkin#*#* (or *#*#2432546#*#*) will be plenty.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on March 27, 2013, 10:06:38 AM
I got the update last week.  I sold the phone today. I have to give it a factory data reset tonight and mail it out tomorrow.  So far I haven't missed my old verizon plan at all.  Pageplus has been doing just fine.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on April 11, 2013, 09:05:30 AM
Almost one month in and I just loaded two new PagePlus $12 plan pins onto our phones.  My wife's expires Sunday and mine on Monday.  By pre-loading the PINs they should automatically renew for us on the expiration dates.  So, how has it been?

First, the numbers:
Both $12 Plans came with 250 Minutes, 250 Texts, and 10MB data.  We are both using 'smart' phones, although I did sell my newfangled Galaxy Nexus and went back to my Droid 2.  Here is what remains as of Thursday:

Me:
181 minutes / 67 texts / 8.23MB
Wife:
198 minutes / 169 texts / 9.45MB

Before I made the switch I thought I would need the $29 plan with the 300MB data, but since I was barely going to break even with that I decided I would suffer with the $12 myself to speed up the savings point.  And you know what? It hasn't been a problem.  I use free wifi where it is available while we're out, and otherwise, I just haven't had a need for data.  I haven't needed to map anything, I just make sure I prepare a bit beforehand (and we already both have GPS's in the vehicles).  I haven't even really needed to check email, I did maybe once or twice which is why I used ANY of the data.  I simply turned off mobile data access for both phones and it hasn't been a problem.  I do sit in front of a computer the majority of the day anyways, and we have a home phone for any meaningful conversations, so it hasn't been nearly as painful as I thought.

The biggest surprise for me was that when you sign up with a regular plan with a big company like verizon, you know your $115/month is going to end up being $130 a month after taxes and fees.  So I assumed the $12 plans might end up costing $15 or even $20.  Turns out $12 is $12.  There are no additional taxes or fees.  That was a pleasant surprise.  Also, when I loaded our first PINs they left each phone with a $2 'balance'.  Does that mean these $12 plans are actually $10?  The balance doesn't expire for 4 months, so depending on what happens when  the plans reset this weekend, will I have a $4 balance?  At some point I might be able to just load a $10 cash balance into each phone (vs an actual plan) and "skip" a month.  I'll know more next week I guess if each phone then shows a $4 balance.

So I guess the bottom line is I'm pretty happy with the new plans and I don't really miss the data as much as I thought I would.

I DO miss my Nexus as the Droid is definitely slower and not as capable.  I don't like using it as much.  Part of me wonders if I should look for a cheap replacement but for right now I'm just going to stick with it.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on April 11, 2013, 09:31:01 AM
Excellent report, Adam! As to your question:

Also, when I loaded our first PINs they left each phone with a $2 'balance'.  Does that mean these $12 plans are actually $10?  The balance doesn't expire for 4 months, so depending on what happens when  the plans reset this weekend, will I have a $4 balance?

That $2 balance is just a new customer thing that they do so you can try the service out without sinking any real credits into it.

If you find that the plan you're on is still too much, look into their $80/2,000 minute/365 day credit (https://www.pagepluscellular.com/refill.aspx) pay as you go cards (dealer offered only). Page Plus will charge you 50¢ a month for service, but that still leaves $74 worth of credit across a year. Voice and text are 4¢ each, but data's $1/MB. Kitty Wireless has the things (http://www.kittywireless.com/pageplus/cards.html), and even offers auto-refill options for your account. Just be sure to crunch the usage numbers to make sure it'll be worth it as that's only about 154 minutes/texts a month available across a year. By your wife's usage numbers, though, she might be able to get away with it.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: smalllife on April 11, 2013, 09:38:08 AM
Excellent report, Adam! As to your question:

Also, when I loaded our first PINs they left each phone with a $2 'balance'.  Does that mean these $12 plans are actually $10?  The balance doesn't expire for 4 months, so depending on what happens when  the plans reset this weekend, will I have a $4 balance?

That $2 balance is just a new customer thing that they do so you can try the service out without sinking any real credits into it.

If you find that the plan you're on is still too much, look into their $80/2,000 minute/365 day credit (https://www.pagepluscellular.com/refill.aspx) pay as you go cards (dealer offered only). Page Plus will charge you 50¢ a month for service, but that still leaves $74 worth of credit across a year. Voice and text are 4¢ each, but data's $1/MB. Kitty Wireless has the things (http://www.kittywireless.com/pageplus/cards.html), and even offers auto-refill options for your account. Just be sure to crunch the usage numbers to make sure it'll be worth it as that's only about 154 minutes/texts a month available across a year.

I was wondering about that $2 as well, especially because your positive balance is in red on your account page.  That has been my only complaint so far.

At the end of my month I have remaining.

7 min/45 texts/8.8 MB data 

My phone usage has been especially high this month (plus the "ooh a new smartphone" usage), but even if I go over here and there I don't think I will reach the point where it is worth moving up to their next highest plan.  I added a $10 cash balance for that situation.

I'm still waiting for the next month's pin to activate - supposedly my current month expires today and the new one is scheduled to start today.  I assume that this will happen at midnight. 
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: adam on May 09, 2013, 12:48:03 PM
After re-loaded two new $12 pins for our two phones I got curious to see how long we were going to take to break even.  I ended up writing this email to my wife:
Quote
Then because I'm a nerd I did a quick spreadsheet.  If we had stayed with verizon from March through January (our contract end date) it would have cost us $1430.  Pageplus is costing us $264.  That is a savings of $1166, or $956 when you subtract the ETF fee we paid for your phone.  I consider mine $0 now because I sold my Galaxy Nexus for the cost of the ETF.

March through April we would have spent $260 on verizon.  Instead we spent $48+$210 (your ETF) = $258.  So we already broke even at the end of April by switching.  From May till January it will cost us $216 to keep going as we are.  Verizon would have cost us $1170.  A savings of $954.

I'd say it was a good choice.


So we already broke even last month (2 months total).  That was a pleasant surprise.  I got lucky in that I was able to sell my incompatible 4G phone for the same cost as the ETF, but that's not to say others could easily do the same.
Title: Re: Our New $10.00 Per Month iPhone Plans
Post by: Daley on May 09, 2013, 01:45:13 PM
After re-loaded two new $12 pins for our two phones I got curious to see how long we were going to take to break even.  I ended up writing this email to my wife:
Quote
Then because I'm a nerd I did a quick spreadsheet.  If we had stayed with verizon from March through January (our contract end date) it would have cost us $1430.  Pageplus is costing us $264.  That is a savings of $1166, or $956 when you subtract the ETF fee we paid for your phone.  I consider mine $0 now because I sold my Galaxy Nexus for the cost of the ETF.

March through April we would have spent $260 on verizon.  Instead we spent $48+$210 (your ETF) = $258.  So we already broke even at the end of April by switching.  From May till January it will cost us $216 to keep going as we are.  Verizon would have cost us $1170.  A savings of $954.

I'd say it was a good choice.


So we already broke even last month (2 months total).  That was a pleasant surprise.  I got lucky in that I was able to sell my incompatible 4G phone for the same cost as the ETF, but that's not to say others could easily do the same.

Congrats!