Communications & Tech - The ISP, VoIP and Cellphone Superguide

[Daley]

Tim, you've pretty much nailed the order you need to proceed. TV, internet, then phone. Before ordering VOIPo given you're establishing new internet service through your cable company (through Earthlink), once it's in, I'd do a quick check on connection stability with speedtest.net and pingtest.net to ensure the connection is stable enough to support it. You'll most likely be fine, but it never hurts to be extra cautious.

As for canceling you home phone line, great news! By porting your number over to VOIPo when you activate the service, it'll automatically cancel your remaining home phone line with AT&T when the port request goes through and is activated. You'll only have to deal with the bums once to can the DSL.

[Jamesqf]

...and cancel the landline (we do want to keep our number)?

Might want to think about that.  One of the unanticipated, but very much appreciated, benefits of replacing the landline with a cheap cell phone is that I seem to have - for the time being, anyway - dodged most of the marketing (despite being on the do not call list) & political robocalls, and no longer have a relationship with Jennifer from Cardholder Services...

[Daley]

...and cancel the landline (we do want to keep our number)?

Might want to think about that.  One of the unanticipated, but very much appreciated, benefits of replacing the landline with a cheap cell phone is that I seem to have - for the time being, anyway - dodged most of the marketing (despite being on the do not call list) & political robocalls, and no longer have a relationship with Jennifer from Cardholder Services...

VOIPo has great call blocking/filter lists as do most VoIP providers. I can't remember the last time I had an unsolicited call on my home phone line. This is a non-issue.

[LadyM]

...and cancel the landline (we do want to keep our number)?

Might want to think about that.  One of the unanticipated, but very much appreciated, benefits of replacing the landline with a cheap cell phone is that I seem to have - for the time being, anyway - dodged most of the marketing (despite being on the do not call list) & political robocalls, and no longer have a relationship with Jennifer from Cardholder Services...

I recently switched to NetTalk for my home "landline" voip phone provider, and we've had no calls from anything political or otherwise.  And that's a number we ported that we've had for around 2 years.

[tsmith5]

Thanks I.P.

We have started the process....EarthLink (TWC) is coming tomorrow to install the Internet connection.

Regarding landline...our logic is that it's valuable for our children (who do not have cell phones) while they are at home.

Thanks All!

Tim

[HighOrderGuiltComplex]

Just bought an unused Airvoice Wireless SIM card on ebay for $.99 and free shipping.  Will let you all know how that works out.  If it works will save $4 over buying directly from the AW website.

[Tom Reingold]

I've been a Vonage customer for years. I use it for my home line and my business line. It's been reliable and good in every way.

I'm now switching to voip.ms. The monthly charge is $1 or $5. Inbound (yes inbound) and outbound calling is about $0.01 per minute. This should save a lot of money. You can use this with a soft phone, but I bought a nice Obihai 100 telephone adapter. It connects to my home network, and I plug a phone into it. Actually, I plug the house wiring into it, and several phones are connected to the house wiring.

With this setup, I can even call in remotely from another phone and use my outbound calling plan.

[Daley]

I've been a Vonage customer for years. I use it for my home line and my business line. It's been reliable and good in every way.

I'm now switching to voip.ms. The monthly charge is $1 or $5. Inbound (yes inbound) and outbound calling is about $0.01 per minute. This should save a lot of money. You can use this with a soft phone, but I bought a nice Obihai 100 telephone adapter. It connects to my home network, and I plug a phone into it. Actually, I plug the house wiring into it, and several phones are connected to the house wiring.

With this setup, I can even call in remotely from another phone and use my outbound calling plan.

Rock on, dude. I've been meaning to mention voip.ms here the past few months, but is one of those many things on the to-do list. They're a decently priced provider, and especially good for Canadians. Glad you brought it up!

[Tom Reingold]

To be honest, voip.ms is mostly a wholesaler. If you're not technically oriented, it's pretty confusing to set it up.

[grantmeaname]

Flexing badassity muscles to overcome convenience and save money is like the whole point of the site... just like how being willing to deal with an MVNO in the first place is saving money in exchange for hassle.

[Daley]

To be honest, voip.ms is mostly a wholesaler. If you're not technically oriented, it's pretty confusing to set it up.

You'll note one of the VoIP providers I recommend is Future Nine, which is primarily a BYOD provider themselves, and VOIPo unofficially supports BYOD as well. I tend to encourage folks to learn to use the tools recommended for added flexibility in usage, and voip.ms is definitely in that same spirit. :)

[Daley]

Update for those who haven't seen it in the blog post related thread, Yolfer created a great little Google Spreadsheet for calculating ROI on switching to a cheaper wireless provider (though I suppose the calculator could even be used for landline to VoIP, cheaper ISP, etc.).

Inspired by the work, I created a stand-alone web-based version for use here.

[cosmie]

I finally understand why people hate Comcast.

Comcast is playing hardball (which is apparently their new thing). They won't extend my Blast Plus to the previous discount I was receiving of ~$40/month, and if I attempt to downgrade to just the Performance internet tier it will be $68/month (the same price as I'm currently paying for internet and cable). If I drop to basic cable and downgrade to Performance internet (so as to "bundle" the services), it'll be $65/month. They're dancing their offers around the price point I'm already paying, rather than offering any real alternatives. And it's pissing me off.

This is what I've gotten from both the 1800 number as well as the online chat. It's a vastly different tone than the one I've gotten in the past from the online chat system, which greatly saddens me.

So now I get to check out ATT U-verse. They have standalone internet for $33/month (averaging out the modem cost over a year), as well as internet+cable for $65/month (plus a $100 promo rebate and a free DVR). Not to mention their cable package has twice as many channels as my Comcast package. I don't really watch TV, but having the extra kid stations would be useful for my daughter.

So, I think tomorrow I'll call Comcast to cancel my service, not just try to adjust it. If they can't significantly beat the ATT offer, then screw them.

[Daley]

I finally understand why people hate Comcast.

It's not just terrible...
It's Comcastic!

Be warned though, as your alternative is AT&T. Those are introductory offers and once the period is over, you'll likely never see those prices again, and they'll want similar price points (or worse). I feel for people like you as I've been in the same boat, but I've finally gotten to the point that if I ever have to pick between a giant douche and a turd sandwich again, I'll do without.

Good luck with the Death Star, Cosmie!

Edit: Look into Earthlink, you might get lucky. And remember, if I can do systems administration, web development, stream videos and do VoIP telephony on a 3Mbps connection, so can you. ;)

[Tom Reingold]

You'll note one of the VoIP providers I recommend is Future Nine, which is primarily a BYOD provider themselves, and VOIPo unofficially supports BYOD as well. I tend to encourage folks to learn to use the tools recommended for added flexibility in usage, and voip.ms is definitely in that same spirit. :)

Thanks for the friendly reminder. And there really is a lot of help available who want to slog through all the technical details.

You can even set yourself up as a reseller immediately, and they give you the tools to make reports and invoices. It's tempting, but I won't. I have too many irons in the fire.

You could even set up a multi-level marketing scheme with this. Boo! Hiss!

[cosmie]

I finally understand why people hate Comcast.

It's not just terrible...
It's Comcastic!

Be warned though, as your alternative is AT&T. Those are introductory offers and once the period is over, you'll likely never see those prices again, and they'll want similar price points (or worse). I feel for people like you as I've been in the same boat, but I've finally gotten to the point that if I ever have to pick between a giant douche and a turd sandwich again, I'll do without.

Good luck with the Death Star, Cosmie!

Edit: Look into Earthlink, you might get lucky. And remember, if I can do systems administration, web development, stream videos and do VoIP telephony on a 3Mbps connection, so can you. ;)

Earthlink was a no go for my area (other than dial up).

I called Comcast, and retentions didn't even try to offer me anything competitive. She offered me the 6 mbps package for $55/month. I mentioned ATT's Uverse had the 6 mbps package at $25/month (then $42/month after the first year), and she countered with the 3mbps package at $50/month. Their 3 mbps package is higher priced than ATT's 6 mbps package!. I told her that was an insult, not an offer, and didn't justify me continuing my relationship with Comcast. She promptly scheduled my disconnect date for 2 weeks from today.

They really have decided to dry up the offer-hopping teet.

However, my fiance kindly reminded me that she isn't on the Comcast account, and therefore we don't necessarily need to turn to ATT. So after they disconnect it (if they don't call back and attempt to keep me as a customer, which I'm doubting at this point), I can see what "new customer" deal she can take advantage of. I'll probably go with the Economy Plus package (3mb down, 768mb up), which is $20/month for 6 months then $40/month after (yes, cheaper than the $50 the retention agent quoted me as full price).

[Daley]

However, my fiance kindly reminded me that she isn't on the Comcast account, and therefore we don't necessarily need to turn to ATT. So after they disconnect it (if they don't call back and attempt to keep me as a customer, which I'm doubting at this point), I can see what "new customer" deal she can take advantage of. I'll probably go with the Economy Plus package (3mb down, 768mb up), which is $20/month for 6 months then $40/month after (yes, cheaper than the $50 the retention agent quoted me as full price).

Wait, what!? They're not offering or allowing you access to standard regular monthly rates that other customers are getting for the same packages? If they're publicly offering a regular monthly rate of $40 a month without promotions for the Economy Plus package and they're refusing to honor that deal and won't charge less than $50, document that and file a complaint with your state's consumer protection offices, utility commission (if they handle it), Attorney's General office, the Federal Trade Commission and talk with a lawyer. It's $10 a month, but it's the principle. If you've been given an opportunity like this...

http://www.usa.gov/directory/stateconsumer/index.shtml

...if you're leaving over this crap and you have a legit case, you've got nothing to lose. Do it for the betterment of your fellow man being bent over by them.

[LadyM]

ALSO - If you buy a $10 talk/text card on say 9/25, and your expiration for that card is 10/24....and if you USE UP YOUR MINUTES BEFORE 10/24, and apply another $10 card....that NEW $10 card will still expire on 10/24 (your original expiration date)....the clock does not restart from the point of purchase of the new $10.  That stinks even more.  According to customer service, you can buy a new card within a day of your rate plan expiring, and at that point the new date will begin.  Annoying.

.....

If nothing else, the beauty of pre-paid is the ability to be a nomad among mobile phone providers.

It won't even reset your expiry date leading to even more lost minutes? Oh, that is UGLY news. Thanks for that additional bit of reconnaissance and info. I've lost a whole lot of love for Airvoice in a matter of hours over this info. Unfortunately, this is the flip side to prepaid MVNOs and their terms of service, things can turn on you in a matter of days. Thankfully, as you pointed out, it does make pulling up your tent stakes easier.

I want to blame Airvoice directly for this nonsense, but one fact I can't seem to escape is the fact that they're reselling AT&T services... and I don't need to remind people how charming and considerate AT&T is with any of their customers, from the smallest consumer to the biggest corporate account. I can't help but suspect there's been a change at the reseller level that's caused this. It's looking more and more like the soundest long-term advice will be recommending people bite the bullet and just make the Sprint/CDMA switch unless T-Mobile pulls out some major Hail Mary play with their own services next year after their spectrum rejigger and LTE rollout. I suspect a few iPhone users here are not going to like this news...

It should also make MMM's upcoming mobile post a curious read, because I suspect they went Airvoice themselves from what little he's dropped so far (though I may be wrong).

So, another Airvoice Wireless Update:

I just finished my first 30 days and had to apply a new $10 plan “card” to my account.  My expiration date was yesterday, so yesterday afternoon I loaded on a new card.  I had used all but $2 and change in this past month.

Shortly after purchasing the new plan for the next 30 days, I made a call, and the service message popped up and told me my balance was $12 and change….meaning it had combined the previous month’s unused funds PLUS the new card.  Being as it was still the day of expiration, I didn’t think much of it.

TODAY (the day after expiration) however, I’m still getting messages telling me I have $12-something on my account.  I want to give it a couple more days to be 100% sure, but it would appear that my unused money is rolling over.

This leads me to believe that either 1) customer service was misinformed when they told me of the new policy where cards can’t stack, money won’t roll forward, etc…  OR  2) There was such a collective cry of outrage from their customers at this change that they felt they were forced to change back!  I’d like to think it was the latter, I really would.  It would be nice to know that a cell phone provider, people who I generally express disdain for as I pay for their service, might have actually bothered to listen to their customers and given them what they wanted (back) instead of just plowing ahead thinking we’d all take the changes lying down.  It just feels good to think for once we the customers might just have the upper hand in this situation.  Probably because it’s prepaid, and they will be screwed if everyone can just pull stakes and run off to the next MVNO.  AT&T would never say “Whoops, sorry we changed that so we could make more money AND anger you all at once” because they have those fancy post-paid contracts….they can do whatever the hell they want as far as they’re concerned, and people will still pay. 

Sorry, didn’t mean to go on a rant there, but if Airvoice changed back to what they’d done previously in terms of rolling, I think it had to be due to customer upset, and a big fat kudos to them for listening, because nowadays it feels like that’s a long lost art.

I’m still guarded in my joy….I want to give it one more day past my expiration date before I start planning a parade.  I’ll get back to you. 

I was also wondering if anyone else might have renewed and noticed something similar…anybody?

[Daley]

I’m still guarded in my joy….I want to give it one more day past my expiration date before I start planning a parade.  I’ll get back to you. 

I was also wondering if anyone else might have renewed and noticed something similar…anybody?

Yup, it's official and confirmed elsewhere... looks like it was a glitch and it's been fixed now.

Rollover on the $10 plan IS BACK, BABY!

[magnuminator]

That is certainly good news about Airvoice.  Now...does anyone know whether the days of service are stacking on the $10 plan again?  Or are you still required to purchase and load $10 of credit at least once each and every month?

If the days are stacking this would be great news for me.

[Daley]

That I do not know, Magnuminator. The folks that I know directly on Airvoice are a little gunshy to try again after what happened a few weeks ago and I can't convince them to give it a shot, and I'm on Platinumtel.

We'll have to see if anyone here is willing to try it again. Ladymaier? Anyone?

[LadyM]

That I do not know, Magnuminator. The folks that I know directly on Airvoice are a little gunshy to try again after what happened a few weeks ago and I can't convince them to give it a shot, and I'm on Platinumtel.

We'll have to see if anyone here is willing to try it again. Ladymaier? Anyone?

I *might* give it a shot.

When we got set up for the first time in September, I loaded 2 cards on my husband's phone, and that made his expiration date late in November.  Of course, that was BEFORE all this business of the policy change or glitch or whatever it was occurred.  At the time when I questioned customer service about it, they claimed that we probably loaded up his phone number before the "change" took place, and that was about as much as they were capable of explaining.  Even though that was their answer, the customer service gal still seemed perplexed that his expiration date was 2 months out.

At the very least, I'll give them a call and find out before I burn $10.  I'll report back soon.  :)

[Daley]

At the very least, I'll give them a call and find out before I burn $10.  I'll report back soon.  :)

Don't feel peer pressure to do it. :)


I updated and tweaked the wireless portion again and added a link to the Wireless Plan Calculator. I'm officially rubbing right up against the 20k character cap on just that post now. This should be a sign for me to start editing for content efficiency and get off my lazy butt and properly complete the dang wiki!

[Nephi]

Any suggestions of a lightweight wifi calling app for android? I was trying Groove IP but my Samsung Intercept couldn't handle it.

[Daley]

Kind of breaking Shabbat here (L-rd forgive me), but thought the topic too important to sit on any longer, especially for cellphone users:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/jailbreaking-now-legal-under-dmca-for-smartphones-but-not-tablets/

No more unlocking

In 2006 and 2010, the Librarian of Congress had permitted users to unlock their phones to take them to a new carrier. Now that's coming to an end. While the new rules do contain a provision allowing phone unlocking, it comes with a crippling caveat: the phone must have been "originally acquired from the operator of a wireless telecommunications network or retailer no later than ninety days after the effective date of this exemption."

In other words, phones you already have, as well as those purchased between now and next January, can be unlocked. But phones purchased after January 2013 can only be unlocked with the carrier's permission.

Why the change? The Librarian cited two key factors. One is a 2010 ruling that held that when you purchase software, you don't actually own it. Rather, you merely license it according to the terms of the End User License Agreement. The Librarian argued that this undermined the claim that unlocking your own phone was fair use.

Also, the Librarian found that there are more unlocked phones on the market than there were three years ago, and that most wireless carriers have liberal policies for unlocking their handsets. As a result, the Librarian of Congress decided that it should no longer be legal to unlock your cell phone without the carrier's permission.

Expect the major carriers to start taking advantage of this new asinine ruling and bringing back ridiculously heavy unlock restrictions like they used to have (even with fully purchased phones), especially given that 2012 is the first year the US wireless postpaid market SHRUNK. One more way to bleed the customer dry... and another reminder that if it runs software and has a walled garden, you apparently don't own your own equipment anymore.

This is likely going to trickle back to the MVNO market in a bad way given the 2006/2010 rulings were partly responsible for MVNO growth and an increase of higher-end refurbished phone availability at affordable price points. You think the carriers and third party refurb sellers offer old phones now...?

[arebelspy]

How unfortunate.  There's literally no benefit (except to the carriers) for not allowing unlocking.

Anti-consumer, pro-corporation rulings like this are so frustrating.

[Will]

I got my notification from republic wireless that my beta wave is now invited to join.  Now to decide if it is worth it...

[cosmie]

Wait, what!? They're not offering or allowing you access to standard regular monthly rates that other customers are getting for the same packages? If they're publicly offering a regular monthly rate of $40 a month without promotions for the Economy Plus package and they're refusing to honor that deal and won't charge less than $50, document that and file a complaint with your state's consumer protection offices, utility commission (if they handle it), Attorney's General office, the Federal Trade Commission and talk with a lawyer. It's $10 a month, but it's the principle. If you've been given an opportunity like this...

http://www.usa.gov/directory/stateconsumer/index.shtml

...if you're leaving over this crap and you have a legit case, you've got nothing to lose. Do it for the betterment of your fellow man being bent over by them.

I called back and asked. Apparently, the $50/month is the full, regional rate for that package. The "perpetual $40 after first year" price quoted with the initial 6 month special is set by corporate for that particular package, and doesn't necessarily reflect the market rate.

No more unlocking
Also, the Librarian found that there are more unlocked phones on the market than there were three years ago, and that most wireless carriers have liberal policies for unlocking their handsets. As a result, the Librarian of Congress decided that it should no longer be legal to unlock your cell phone without the carrier's permission.

So, they removed the exemption because carriers have lightened their policies and more unlocked phones are available... however, the abundance of unlocked phones and liberal unlocking policies are both direct results of the exemption. If that exemption is no longer in place, the market is likely to revert to its previous high-profit state, as it has no incentive otherwise.

Fucking bureaucrats. "Our policy fixed a monopolistic anti-consumer practice. So now that it's fixed, we're going to take that policy away and hope those monopolistic corporations play nice."


Edit:

VOIPO Users:
You probably received the same email as I did, but just in case not, I'll post part of it here:

The Future of VOIPo
As we announced earlier this year, we plan to move away from the heavily discounted prepaid plans for both new customers and renewal and focus on monthly and premium plans.  While we love offering huge discounts, our goal is to provide the highest quality service with the most unique features and the best support rather than just providing cheap phone service. Shifting away from the large discounts and focusing more on business and premium service in the new year will allow us to do that.  Of course, for those of you that take advantage of the renewal offer this weekend, you'll lock in the current discounted renewal price which is over 50% off our standard monthly price.  The additional 2 years of service will be added to the end of your current plan so you won't lose any time you've already paid for.
 
In July, we launched the newly redesigned vPanel BETA, SMS text messaging on VOIPo numbers, portable international calling, and more.  We're very excited that we were able to bring you premium features like SMS and we are hard at work with more new features in development.  We're very excited about these new features and upgrades and have more on the way.

Lock in the discounted VOIPo rate now and get premium VOIPo service for years to come at the discounted price.  Once this promotion ends this weekend, discouned renewal pricing will no longer be available.  We have a LIMITED number of renewals available at this price at https://account.voipo.com/renew and we reserve the right to end this promotion early at any time.

tl;dr: Supposedly the last 2-year promo package VOIPo will run. With taxes tacked on, it comes to $185 ($7.71/month) total. If you want to take advantage of it, do so by Sunday evening.

[johnny555]

I called Airvoicewireless a couple of days ago to port my number to the $10 plan.  I received a call back a few minutes later they can't port numbers from the Chicago area, in my case the 773 area code.  So I'm stuck with at&t for the moment.  Even google voice says it can't port my number.  Looks like I'll have to get a new number and try to find all the sites where I have my current number registered.

[Daley]

VOIPO Users:
You probably received the same email as I did, but just in case not, I'll post part of it here:

The Future of VOIPo
As we announced earlier this year, we plan to move away from the heavily discounted prepaid plans for both new customers and renewal and focus on monthly and premium plans.  While we love offering huge discounts, our goal is to provide the highest quality service with the most unique features and the best support rather than just providing cheap phone service. Shifting away from the large discounts and focusing more on business and premium service in the new year will allow us to do that.  Of course, for those of you that take advantage of the renewal offer this weekend, you'll lock in the current discounted renewal price which is over 50% off our standard monthly price.  The additional 2 years of service will be added to the end of your current plan so you won't lose any time you've already paid for.
 
In July, we launched the newly redesigned vPanel BETA, SMS text messaging on VOIPo numbers, portable international calling, and more.  We're very excited that we were able to bring you premium features like SMS and we are hard at work with more new features in development.  We're very excited about these new features and upgrades and have more on the way.

Lock in the discounted VOIPo rate now and get premium VOIPo service for years to come at the discounted price.  Once this promotion ends this weekend, discouned renewal pricing will no longer be available.  We have a LIMITED number of renewals available at this price at https://account.voipo.com/renew and we reserve the right to end this promotion early at any time.

tl;dr: Supposedly the last 2-year promo package VOIPo will run. With taxes tacked on, it comes to $185 ($7.71/month) total. If you want to take advantage of it, do so by Sunday evening.

As with all great things, they do come to an end. Alas. The wife and I never did get migrated over to them from F9, either. Guess we won't be, now. D'oh! Stupid apathy and contentment! ...and cheap per-minute fees to Ireland!

I called Airvoicewireless a couple of days ago to port my number to the $10 plan.  I received a call back a few minutes later they can't port numbers from the Chicago area, in my case the 773 area code.  So I'm stuck with at&t for the moment.  Even google voice says it can't port my number.  Looks like I'll have to get a new number and try to find all the sites where I have my current number registered.

That sucks, and even sounds like classic AT&T for you. I know there's a few limited exchanges around the country that are still near impossible to port numbers out of due to varying reasons. Sorry to hear you're one of the unlucky ones in the 773 area code, it's probably a termination fee cash cow number for Ma.

[Daley]

Any suggestions of a lightweight wifi calling app for android? I was trying Groove IP but my Samsung Intercept couldn't handle it.

Sipdroid, but you'll need a real VoIP provider with a DID to get it to work securely with Google, though (read, not handing over your Google password to some third party company just to terminate Google's mediocre VoIP service). There's a sipgate one account as I'd suggested in the guide, or you could pay for a decent SIP account, but that starts to defeat using Google Voice to begin with.

If you're still on the Intercept and you're not running Crappy Kernel, you may have some audio duplexing issues.

[HighOrderGuiltComplex]

Ported my number over today without a hitch so the $.99 sim card for Airvoice Wireless from ebay (no shipping either) worked like a charm.  bummer on I didn't know that t-mobile will still charge me a full billing cycle :/.  so something to keep in mind when changing over from a monthly plan to a prepaid plan. 

[Daley]

Straight Talk Wireless

Since some people insist on threadjacking from various OPs on other productive topics for less than productive reasons while surgically extracting tiny portions of text and hyperbole used to rapidly communicate risks to nitpick points while ignoring context, perhaps another citation bomb needs dropped... again. I'm tired of having to re-prove that the problems and shortcomings of Straight Talk are so numerous and prevalent that there's no redeeming value to this service for people who care about their spending habits, thus eliminating it as a reasonable option for nearly everybody except the desperate, uninformed, masochistic, and people who would likely be better off with postpaid service directly from an MNO like AT&T anyway. Consider this my definitive and final post directly on this provider.

I'm not afraid of a little citation, so let me actually provide some for someone else's claims so you can see it's not so much a consensus as a guesstimation from a bunch of cheap nerds waiting for the axe to drop on them from Straight Talk for potentially running afoul of their draconian and vague Terms of Service, which is repeatedly cited throughout the forums as the final say as to what makes Straight Talk such a terrible gamble to use.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1733397-45-Unlocked-SIM-Data-Limit
Here's the rest of the HoFo subforum on Straight Talk:
http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/551-Straight-Talk

Lots of bellyaching there about the shortcomings for the money. Living testament to the greedy nature of humanity and the difficulty that lies within resisting the sweet siren song of "unlimited", even when one knows the risks of doing so.

Here's their Terms and Conditions. You'll note that as of this post, it's a hefty 19,865 word contract (see attached image). It's one of the largest in the business (not to mention most draconian), especially considering how few service options they're actually selling. Their parent MNO's contract (AT&T) comes close in size at 19,282 words, but their range of products is far wider, and they have state-level conditions. In comparison, Airvoice's contract is 6395 words and Platinumtel's is 3208 words. Why make such a big deal about a provider's Terms and Conditions and its length? Because those ultimately dictate how you can use your service without interruption or loss of money and/or contact numbers. Just because a company unevenly applies that legally binding contract you agreed to or doesn't always strictly enforce it doesn't mean they never will, and Murphy's Law dictates that they will most likely do so when you need that service the most. Basically, that language wouldn't be there unless they intended to enforce it. Period. Full stop.

Just like customer service quality, the terms matter (as does adherence) if you care about keeping your service active and trouble free.

As for problems with the service and people getting warnings or terminated for actually using their data service, it's not hard to find:
http://www.google.com/search?q=straight+talk+data+termination

Have a few other links:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/be-careful-with-mvno-plans-their-unlimited-plans-are-limited-too/7513
http://straight-talk-wireless.pissedconsumer.com/
http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/straight-talk.aspx
http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Straight+Talk

So, let's see... we have a company that blatantly oversells their service, has draconian terms of service that basically gives them permission to terminate anyone for any reason on their plans which they have exercised repeatedly, has terrible customer support, is overpriced on their metered services, has very little unique value as a service plan in the entire MVNO marketplace with competitively priced alternatives with better service, support, and defined usage numbers, has far more high-risk drawbacks than perks for users who actually need wireless services at those price or usage points, and is specifically geared and marketed towards people unfamiliar with the competition or any cell phone service offered outside of the walls of Walmart. Other than that, they're great!

Edit: I should note and make it crystal clear that I don't actually begrudge any Straight Talk user here or elsewhere. If anything, I feel a deep sense of sympathy for you. I too was once an America Movil customer a few years back, so I know all too well what it's like being with them. Some of those experiences lead to me actually searching out and trying to find the best of the best for the money. This guide? Partially kind of an indirect result of the abuse and hassle received under NET10/Tracfone, sister brands to Straight Talk.

If you are a user willing to stay or still considering using Straight Talk after knowing what you're getting into and researching them further on your own? Fantastic, more power to you! Hope it works out well and your time spent there goes smoothly. You will, however, have to forgive me if I don't recommend them under general principle due to a desire to positively focus on better services for the money without a string of caveats a mile long. You'll also have to indulge my desire to make a point of giving others a heads up on the many numerous and documented problems inherent with them if you or anyone else makes a blind recommendation without that disclosure.

[Daley]

Brief heads-up for people buying used GSM smartphones. (Not that you shouldn't have been checking before purchase already, but) AT&T and T-Mobile have finally brought online their joint stolen IMEI database today, allowing the ability to block service on stolen handsets. The key phrase you'll want to look for when buying used GSM devices from here on will be "clean IMEI" when you shop. This is a similar thing to looking for a "clean ESN" on CDMA phones. The ESN on CDMA phones and IMEI on GSM phones are basically the broadcasted serial number of the device, and getting one "clean" ensures the device shouldn't be either hot or under contract.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/103112-stolen-cellphone-databases-switched-on-263854.html

[Daley]

Just noticed the following on the front page of the P'tel website:



I'm not so excited about the $40 Unlimited Everything plan (though it is a decent price ignoring the "unlimited" trap) so much as the BYOD announcement!

[Khao]

No love for Canadians :'( It's impossible to get ANYTHING under 40$/mo here when you need the most minimal amount of data (200~500mb). My phone has only 100 minutes, nights and week-end, text messages and 500mb of data and it's around 45$/mo. It pisses me off so much.

[Daley]

No love for Canadians :'( It's impossible to get ANYTHING under 40$/mo here when you need the most minimal amount of data (200~500mb). My phone has only 100 minutes, nights and week-end, text messages and 500mb of data and it's around 45$/mo. It pisses me off so much.

Not entirely true, my friend... there's a whole raft of options.

The two most useful of the lot is likely Wind and Mobilicity... but there's always cutting down on mobile data usage, too.

[Khao]

President's Choice Mobile? What the flying fuck? So many carriers I had never heard about! Thanks for the link. 

I keep sending e-mails every couple months to Wind and Mobilicity asking them if they'll ever expand to Montreal but it doesn't seem to be in their plan at all.

Another thing that I hate : I'm a geek and a huuuge Google user (android, gmail, drive, chrome) and they won't release voice in Canada. Voice is the most perfect thing in the world and I can't have it. I would kill to have Google Voice!

[Daley]

President's Choice Mobile? What the flying fuck? So many carriers I had never heard about! Thanks for the link. 

I keep sending e-mails every couple months to Wind and Mobilicity asking them if they'll ever expand to Montreal but it doesn't seem to be in their plan at all.

Another thing that I hate : I'm a geek and a huuuge Google user (android, gmail, drive, chrome) and they won't release voice in Canada. Voice is the most perfect thing in the world and I can't have it. I would kill to have Google Voice!

Yup, you can get phone service down at your local Loblaws now. Food, banking and communications under one roof!? Such a deal!

Perhaps given you're in Montreal, look into Virgin. Their first listed $35 Smartphone Plan with 250MB of data might be a good option for you if you can rope in your data usage. Their Bonus Buddies feature is intriguing and might be a way to help further keep overall costs down long term. Ultimately though, as with any country... the real way to save money on your cell phone bill is to exercise some discipline and limit usage. Using your home internet connection and a VoIP carrier will always be cheaper. In your case, Voip.ms would be a good option as they have Canadian exchange numbers and 0.52¢ a minute outgoing Canada wide.

Finally, I've been a Google Voice user since the Grand Central days. You're really not missing much. Don't kill for something that I'd gladly give up. :p

[trammatic]

I found out more about the Platinumtel BYOD program.  It looks like they're adding GSM servince via T-Mobile, and that they're also going to bring the Real Pay Go plans over.  The only potential difference that I've seen is that a $10 card will only last 60 days instead of 90.

http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/11/platinumtels-bring-your-own-phone-plan.html

[Daley]

I found out more about the Platinumtel BYOD program.  It looks like they're adding GSM servince via T-Mobile, and that they're also going to bring the Real Pay Go plans over.  The only potential difference that I've seen is that a $10 card will only last 60 days instead of 90.

http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2012/11/platinumtels-bring-your-own-phone-plan.html

Yup, some really interesting stuff has been cropping up on the horizon here lately, and December is going to prove to be a very interesting month for MVNOs between PlatinumTel's new PTEL service and Ultra Mobile as T-Mo has been throwing their weight into the MVNO reseller market as well and there's some less favorable changes coming in the Sprint MVNO market after the Softbank acquisition. I'm holding off on any real commentary and addition to the guide until these services stabilize and go live with something other than monthly packages. However, early reports on Ultra Mobile's customer support out of the Philippines has been dreadful, and I'm kinda hesitant to recommend really new companies like these folks because I don't want to put anyone in a position of dealing with another Zapp or Mingo Wireless situation where they vanished overnight after a couple years of operation.

This shake-up might prove interesting to Ting users as well... and I think we may soon see the end of really really cheap prepaid service sooner than later. The wireless MNOs are starting to figure out how to re-capture their losses in revenue from us defectors, which means resale packages with more fixed monthly services and less pay as you go.

Also, heads up Platinumtel users: Keep a close eye on this whole TMo PTEL situation, early reports are that they will be looking to transition us off the CDMA plans sooner than later.

[Neighbor Don]

Thank you I.P. Daley for all the work you've put into your research and to the others who have provided their insights. I've been reading this thread for some time now so I know I'm overdue for thanking you and commenting. My wife and I were with Sprint until May. We had dumb phones and were paying $70 per month. Based on our usage over the previous year our per minute and per text cost amounted to 10 cents each. We switched to Plantinumtel and got two refurbished phones and $100 on both accounts. Here we are 7 months later and we're only about a third of the way through our credit.

Google Voice has been great for free texting. We use Voxer as well when we're at home using wi-fi. We bought the $5 Groove IP for each phone and I haven't liked it since day one. Their customer service was great with helping work through a few kinks with the settings but I still don't like the quality of the calls. I don't drop calls like I used but my main issue is the program doesn't easily allow me to hang up when the conversation is done.  I'm not sure if it's a phone or Groove IP issue but I'm leaning toward Groove IP. It also is craptastic when I'm checking voicemails as it takes FOREVER to register which buttons I'm pushing for my pin. Instead of suffering through that I happily pay 5 cents per minute to check my voicemail using my pre-paid credit which usually takes only a minute anyway.

With our low amount of usage I will say that overall any headaches have been worth it. Had we stayed with Sprint we would have paid $490 from May through November and so far we paid $250 which included both phones, Groove IP and the $100 credit per phone. Seven months in and we've saved $240 and we won't have any more costs until it's time to re-up our credit in May.

[Daley]

This is technically a repost from a thread regarding the Platinumtel relaunch in this forum, but figured it best to include in the official thread as the info is pertinent to a lot of users here.

Alrighty folks, I've got official news straight from the horse's mouth regarding the Platinumtel relaunch:

First is the most important for pre-existing P'tel customers:
CDMA USERS - THEY WILL BE TERMINATING CDMA SERVICE THROUGH SPRINT BETWEEN MARCH-APRIL 2013!

For the CDMA users who stay with until the end before porting out or switching over to GSM, the new recharge rates and airtime expiration rates apply. This applies to both the monthly and Real PayGo users for cost, features, and airtime.

Next up on the good news front, CDMA users who migrate to the GSM service will keep both their number and their airtime balance in the transition. That means all those credits you pre-existing users have? You get to keep them!

Finally, clarification on the Woot deal that Z posted the coupon code for. I got details regarding the coupon and the value... this isn't going to work for Real PayGo use. Full stop, no exceptions. The promotion is for the SIM card and a credit for the $40 Unlimited plan only. For pre-existing users, the $40 credit cannot be applied to the account without first switching to the $40 Unlimited monthly plan which wipes out any existing Real PayGo balance. New users who sign up for the Woot deal will have to start with the $40 Unlimited package, and they can convert the account over to Real PayGo, but the balance does not go with it as the conversion apparently happens after completion of that monthly billing cycle. So no, there's no way to use that $40 credit towards the Real PayGo service... so there's no five months of P'tel service for $20 deal. Unless you're going with the monthly plans or already on one and staying put, most everyone's going to be better served just spending $5 on the SIM card instead of dealing with the Woot coupon.

EDIT: The Woot coupon is a $24.99 credit that applies to any shopping cart that has a SIM card and $40 or more of airtime cards in it, Unlimited or PayGo. I stand corrected, and my sources appear to have been incorrect. Day one of relaunch, there's bound to be conflicting info. C'est la vie. Sorry about that, folks. CDMA users might want to consider taking advantage of this deal.

Officially, this change means Platinumtel is no longer a Sprint CDMA MVNO, but a T-Mobile MVNO with the transition completing in about four months. Start planning ahead fellow mustachians.

[Rangifer]

Anyone thinking about signing up for Ting should act soon. Word is they are going to reduce the new customer discount from $50 to $25 starting January 15th. FYI.

[Daley]

I have to admit, Rangifer, I'm suddenly feeling a teensy bit skittish about Ting these days... not because of Tucows or anything, but because of Sprint. I've held off on commentary so far on the subject as it's mostly only speculation and second hand scuttlebutt, but the trend with Sprint MVNOs the past few months since the Softbank buyout has been... curious.

The facts alone with the lack of talk on why raises questions: Mingo Wireless vanished into the ether (though it's a distinct possibility that the business model was just bad), Platinumtel is terminating a decade-plus relationship with Sprint to go with T-Mobile for undisclosed reasons, now Ting's scaling back on their incentives to bring new users in. Combined with other little bits of flotsam here and there the past couple months... I'm still researching and trying to get some serious hard answers as to what's going on, but I'm starting to wonder if Sprint's re-dedicated push into the MVNO market that was announced a few months back is quietly being reversed under the new ownership.

Don't let these past two paragraphs frighten anyone away from Ting or anyone else, right now it's mostly just FUD on my part connecting dots between issues that may or may not be related... and I'm just spitballing some concerns that still probably shouldn't be publicly voiced yet without being labeled as being irresponsible or a fear-monger. That said, they're concerns none-the-less.

[Rangifer]

I can probably address some of those concerns.

1. Ptel. Yep, they switched to T-mobile. T-mobile is trying to make a big push into the mvno game right now and are probably offering better deals than Sprint. Ting says they were also recently approached by T-mobile, but were not interested in what they had to offer.

2. Ting. They doubled the number of accounts they have in the last quarter. I remember back when Ting was opening to the public that they said they would be profitable at 5000 customers. They're well past that at this point so I don't see them going anywhere.

[Daley]

Yeah, I knew about the new T-Mo push into MVNO space and soliciting the heavy hitters, but there's still been some odd things on the Sprint end the past few months that have coincided with the events as well...

Needless to say, the next six months with the MVNO landscape is going to prove interesting. Lots of shake-up going on.

[Daley]

Updated my post about the P'tel GSM transition in regards to the coupon. Z was correct in that SIMWOOT40 will work on Real PayGo credits in their shopping cart.

[Daley]

There is yet another great MVNO that has managed to escape your list. ;)  I recently became a Solavei Social Member. They are a new cell phone provider that relies on Social Members instead of expensive advertising and passes the savings on to their Social members. Here's an overview http://vimeopro.com/solaveitv/what-is-solavei/video/50030783

Nephi, I love you man... you know I've been there for you with your migration to P'tel and your Intercept before... but SOLAVEI!? Really?

Solavei's an MLM... basically a pyramid scheme with a $50 a month cell-phone service attached to it with people of dubious history involved. I wish you luck trying to pursue the thing, but any "business model" that requires flipping your friends into your "downline" is just tacky... and as with any pyramid scheme, the later you get in, the more screwed you are because the world eventually runs out of pigeons. Honestly, 99% of all the MLMs out there are fueled by the desperation of the poor and needy who don't know better, and I've seen too many folks burned by this crap.

Just no.

[destron]

Just thought I'd share my recent experiences since this thread popped up again:

I have had an AT&T contract with voice / text / data for years. I figured I could save myself some money and gain some convenience. Here is what I did:

1. Ported my telephone # to Google Voice ($20)
2. Bought my way out of the rest of my AT&T contract ($195)
3. Got a SIM card from Straight Talk online ($10)
4. Service for unlimited everything is $45.95/month including all taxes. I am saving about $45/month, although I will not get subsidized phones anymore. I am using an iPhone 4S, for the record.

In the future, I would like to knock this down even more once my living / work situation changes planned for mid-2013. Tentatively, I will get a used Android phone for better integration with google voice / voip, do most of my talking on WiFi and have limited minutes / texting for other times.

This will be part of a larger Mustachian life-move, but every little bit helps me right now. I am already saving around 45% of my income. Once I change cities and jobs, I hope to get this closer to 75%.