Author Topic: AT&T MVNOs  (Read 7053 times)

deek

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AT&T MVNOs
« on: February 26, 2018, 09:18:14 AM »
Here's a list I found - wanted to see if any Mustachians currently use one of the below...

Consumer Cellular
Cricket
FreedomPop
H20 Wireless
Net10
Pix Wireless
Red Pocket
Straight Talk
TracFone

I'm looking to pay in the $15-25 range a month. I'm currently on Verizon paying $40 a month (which is pretty low for a single plan) but still more than I want to pay. Iowa's best service out of the big 4 is AT&T and I know they'd be fairly solid across the US as well.

Anyone have good experience with any of these?

zolotiyeruki

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2018, 09:57:00 AM »
I use Airvoice, which is also an AT&T MVNO.  I've been with them for a few years now.  Their website is like something out of the 90's but their customer service has been good to me.  I pay $20/mo for unlimited talk/text and 100MB, and it's pretty painless to switch to another plan if needed.  Upgrading my plan to 1GB/mo would bring my bill up to $30/mo.

deek

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2018, 10:00:11 AM »
I use Airvoice, which is also an AT&T MVNO.  I've been with them for a few years now.  Their website is like something out of the 90's but their customer service has been good to me.  I pay $20/mo for unlimited talk/text and 100MB, and it's pretty painless to switch to another plan if needed.  Upgrading my plan to 1GB/mo would bring my bill up to $30/mo.

Thanks for the info. I'm also considering PureTalk USA and it looks like their lowest plan is $20 with unlimited talk/text and 500mb data. Throttled to slower speeds once you go past that.

Another question? Once you go MVNO, does that affect your access to the iCloud and saved data/pics/videos/etc?
« Last Edit: February 26, 2018, 10:03:32 AM by dj »

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2018, 10:08:39 AM »
Are you familiar with the guide yet?

I've sorted out the better from the worse MVNOs. Lots of folks around here have used it over the years.

From that list, I'd be most comfortable recommending Consumer Cellular, but it's an AT&T MVNO best used in multi-line situations for cost effectiveness, and for situations where one might need off-network coverage on occasion or want really strong customer support. It's where I have my own mother.

Of that list, there's others who will recommend Cricket around here, but it's owned by AT&T, and there's a lot of moral and ethical problems going on there. Give their terms of service and pricing schedules a look. They have a lot of poor taxes that nobody else charges, and AT&T has been leveraging the brand to undercut their own wholesale customer pricing for years now given there's no regulation. Also, if you're not a fan of AT&T postpaid customer service, Cricket's won't be an improvement.

There's also Airvoice and Puretalk USA from the guide, but Airvoice's customer service has been struggling lately since AT&T dumped a metric crapton of lifeline customers off on them last year. H2O and Red Pocket are in the guide as well as "be aware of" options, but their customer service historically hasn't been as good as Airvoice and Puretalk's usually are. Any America Movil brand (basically Tracfone/Net10/StraightTalk are all the same conglomerate) is going to have lackluster support, and the guide was partially born out of the horror stories of dealing with them after trying to reduce our own mobile phone bills nearly a decade ago.

I've tried FreedomPop's AT&T service with VoIP phone/text. It's a trainwreck and labyrinth of billing gotchas.

deek

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2018, 10:11:54 AM »
Are you familiar with the guide yet?

I've sorted out the better from the worse MVNOs. Lots of folks around here have used it over the years.

From that list, I'd be most comfortable recommending Consumer Cellular, but it's an AT&T MVNO best used in multi-line situations for cost effectiveness, and for situations where one might need off-network coverage on occasion or want really strong customer support. It's where I have my own mother.

Of that list, there's others who will recommend Cricket around here, but it's owned by AT&T, and there's a lot of moral and ethical problems going on there. Give their terms of service and pricing schedules a look. They have a lot of poor taxes that nobody else charges, and AT&T has been leveraging the brand to undercut their own wholesale customer pricing for years now given there's no regulation. Also, if you're not a fan of AT&T postpaid customer service, Cricket's won't be an improvement.

There's also Airvoice and Puretalk USA from the guide, but Airvoice's customer service has been struggling lately since AT&T dumped a metric crapton of lifeline customers off on them last year. H2O and Red Pocket are in the guide as well as "be aware of" options, but their customer service historically hasn't been as good as Airvoice and Puretalk's usually are. Any America Movil brand (basically Tracfone/Net10/StraightTalk are all the same conglomerate) is going to have lackluster support, and the guide was partially born out of the horror stories of dealing with them after trying to reduce our own mobile phone bills nearly a decade ago.

I've tried FreedomPop's AT&T service with VoIP phone/text. It's a trainwreck and labyrinth of billing gotchas.

Will check it out. Much appreciated!

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2018, 10:13:07 AM »
Another question? Once you go MVNO, does that affect your access to the iCloud and saved data/pics/videos/etc?

Crap. Guessing you're an iPhone user? AT&T MVNOs are going to be limited for you if you don't want to break MMS support (which impacts long text messages and group messages outside of other iPhone/iMessage users, not just photo and media sharing). From the guide, that only leaves Consumer Cellular and Puretalk USA. Outside of my recommendations, it only expands to include Cricket and StraightTalk/TracFone. Apple devices on AT&T networks run into Apple dictating to you who you can and cannot use, because you're too stupid to know how to enter internet/MMS APN settings and iPhones deserve more expensive phone plans, or some such nonsense.

deek

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2018, 10:17:48 AM »
Another question? Once you go MVNO, does that affect your access to the iCloud and saved data/pics/videos/etc?

Crap. Guessing you're an iPhone user? AT&T MVNOs are going to be limited for you if you don't want to break MMS support (which impacts long text messages and group messages outside of other iPhone/iMessage users, not just photo and media sharing). From the guide, that only leaves Consumer Cellular and Puretalk USA. Outside of my recommendations, it only expands to include Cricket and StraightTalk/TracFone. Apple devices on AT&T networks run into Apple dictating to you who you can and cannot use, because you're too stupid to know how to enter internet/MMS APN settings and iPhones deserve more expensive phone plans, or some such nonsense.

I'm totally open to going android. I've had this iPhone for awhile now and really I don't see any special improvement in my experience with it vs. when I had an android. I'm not a super heavy user and I don't use a lot of the features that come with and Apple device.

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #7 on: February 26, 2018, 10:26:25 AM »
I went even cheaper and use mint sim. Costs $180 for the year. Bring your own phone and you're set. I get 2gb of data and unlim talk/text.

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2018, 10:30:27 AM »
I'm totally open to going android. I've had this iPhone for awhile now and really I don't see any special improvement in my experience with it vs. when I had an android. I'm not a super heavy user and I don't use a lot of the features that come with and Apple device.

That's fine and dandy, but I'm also one of those, "use it up, wear it out" types. You've committed to the thing, don't generate more electronic waste than necessary. Use it until you can't is my preferred approach on advice, and I don't like recommending buying a new phone just to switch carriers to save a few bux.



I went even cheaper and use mint sim. Costs $180 for the year. Bring your own phone and you're set. I get 2gb of data and unlim talk/text.

Be aware, OP is inquiring about AT&T MVNOs, which means there's probably a reason for it. Mint is a sub-brand of Ultra Mobile, which is a T-Mobile MVNO. Reliable voice coverage on T-Mo is going to require a certified LTE Band 12 VoLTE capable handset sooner than later, too.

deek

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2018, 10:34:44 AM »
I'm totally open to going android. I've had this iPhone for awhile now and really I don't see any special improvement in my experience with it vs. when I had an android. I'm not a super heavy user and I don't use a lot of the features that come with and Apple device.

That's fine and dandy, but I'm also one of those, "use it up, wear it out" types. You've committed to the thing, don't generate more electronic waste than necessary. Use it until you can't is my preferred approach on advice, and I don't like recommending buying a new phone just to switch carriers to save a few bux.



I went even cheaper and use mint sim. Costs $180 for the year. Bring your own phone and you're set. I get 2gb of data and unlim talk/text.

Be aware, OP is inquiring about AT&T MVNOs, which means there's probably a reason for it. Mint is a sub-brand of Ultra Mobile, which is a T-Mobile MVNO. Reliable voice coverage on T-Mo is going to require a certified LTE Band 12 VoLTE capable handset sooner than later, too.

Valid point. So Consumer Cellular and PureTalk would be the best bets to maintain a good experience?

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2018, 10:46:21 AM »
Valid point. So Consumer Cellular and PureTalk would be the best bets to maintain a good experience?

A good experience and ideally still functional MMS messages, yes. It's worth noting that Apple doesn't list Puretalk USA on their officially approved providers list, but Puretalk claims to be a certified Apple carrier now.

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #11 on: February 26, 2018, 11:18:07 AM »
I have an unlocked iPhone SE on cricket and have had no problems until the last few months when my visual voicemail stopped working. My cricket voicemail works if I call in, but it's not syncing up with the phone for some reason. I'm sure if it was important and I pursued it I could get it figured out because it's worked in the past, but I didn't even notice it being off for 3+ months so it's not that important to me. Other than that I've had no issues. $35 flat a month for unlimited talk/text and 2GB of data.

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2018, 11:29:54 AM »
I've had Redpocket for a few months now...no issues. I bought the $99 dollar plan off their ebay site. I used email when contacting them a couple of times when setting up the account, and they responded within an hour or two. Had Airvoice before that for a few years. No real complaints there either.

HipGnosis

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2018, 12:25:55 PM »
I've also had RedPocket for a few months.
Support to port my # over went as well as could be expected.
I'm on the $10/mo plan.   I like that I can buy 'extra' talk, text or data or change plans as needed.

Their website isn't nearly as informative as PagePlus (my prev. provider).  It took me a while to figure out that VM is at/by AT&T.   I can't find how long they will preserve my # if I happen to miss an expire/renew date. 
With PagePlus, I could send a text and get one back with my min, text and data balances.  RedPocket only gives them separately.
I would prefer to buy my plan renewals quarterly and 'stack' them.  I don't know how to do that, but haven't really looked yet.

deek

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #14 on: February 28, 2018, 09:17:05 AM »
@Daley or anyone else had any experience with Twigby by chance??

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #15 on: February 28, 2018, 05:46:27 PM »
@Daley or anyone else had any experience with Twigby by chance??

Any particular reason why you'd want to go with a Sprint carrier with no roaming (edit - that's apparently changed according to their map)? Do you already have a handset that supports all the necessary bands and frequencies and CDMA fudginess involved? Because even to this day, Apple sells different models of iPhone to Sprint/Verizon customers than to AT&T/T-Mobile ones.

I don't know much about Twigby other than it's still a pretty young company... though, given the convulsions going through the MVNO industry these days, that's not as great a marker of stability and long term survivability that it once was. I've got nothing against them, but you need to be in a really good Sprint covered region for decent coverage.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2018, 05:49:26 PM by Daley »

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #16 on: February 28, 2018, 06:57:40 PM »
Been on Consumer Cellular for a couple of years now. Service is fine. They went through some price structure changes a few months back that I'm still not super happy abt, but they won't affect you since the new prices are what you'll see.

deek

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #17 on: May 01, 2018, 11:47:26 AM »
I wanted to post an update here. I'm closer to pulling the trigger on an MVNO. But this time, I'm wondering what Verizon's best MVNO service is for an iPhone 6s. @Daley

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #18 on: May 01, 2018, 02:38:27 PM »
I wanted to post an update here. I'm closer to pulling the trigger on an MVNO. But this time, I'm wondering what Verizon's best MVNO service is for an iPhone 6s. @Daley

US Mobile, likely.

deek

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #19 on: May 01, 2018, 02:51:46 PM »
I wanted to post an update here. I'm closer to pulling the trigger on an MVNO. But this time, I'm wondering what Verizon's best MVNO service is for an iPhone 6s. @Daley

US Mobile, likely.

How does this affect the iCloud, if at all?

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #20 on: May 01, 2018, 03:15:07 PM »
How does this affect the iCloud, if at all?

iCloud is a storage and backup utility tied with Apple, and has nothing to do with who your mobile provider is.

This said, you will lose creature comforts going from primary carrier to MVNO, things like visual voicemail...

Note US Mobile has two plans. Their Super LTE plans are their Verizon-based service.

deek

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #21 on: May 01, 2018, 03:31:01 PM »
How does this affect the iCloud, if at all?

iCloud is a storage and backup utility tied with Apple, and has nothing to do with who your mobile provider is.

This said, you will lose creature comforts going from primary carrier to MVNO, things like visual voicemail...

Note US Mobile has two plans. Their Super LTE plans are their Verizon-based service.

That doesn't bother me. Any other downfalls I should be worried about? I'm having trouble finding much of an organized list online.

geekette

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #22 on: May 01, 2018, 03:42:33 PM »
Data point:  I get Visual Voicemail and MMS on my iPhone 6 with Verizon via Red Pocket.  Didn't get either with ATT via Airvoice.

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #23 on: May 01, 2018, 03:48:27 PM »
That doesn't bother me. Any other downfalls I should be worried about? I'm having trouble finding much of an organized list online.

Not really.

Trying2bFrugal

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #24 on: May 01, 2018, 05:44:47 PM »
If you use data
Cricket - $25 my current- if you don't mind sharing in a group plan. Reddit
Att prepaid - $45 no hassles
Straight talk -$45 I was using st for long time if you buy 3 mo you save some
If ok with other carrier
Sprint - $0 in fact you make money
Mintsim


If you don't use data but heavy on mins
Lyca

If you don't use data
Ting


Want totally free
Google voice - freedompop combo

I am not against people stricken about mobile things. I live a life where I get things for the most in efficient way without giving up enjoying life.

All above would work in iphone android situations.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2018, 10:26:21 PM by Trying2bFrugal »

Daley

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #25 on: May 01, 2018, 06:04:09 PM »
Sprint - $0 in fact you make money

I would highly advocate against this move, especially now that it looks like a merger will go through with them and T-Mobile. I've seen it play out too many times over the years. You never want to be a customer on the business end of the absorbed network, no matter how "cheap" it is. Also, Sprint's developed a bad rep over network quality for a reason. It says something that they're a) still making money while giving service away, and b) the fact that they have to give service away to sufficiently bolster their subscriber numbers to make them attractive for a buyout... that's not a good thing, man.

I won't even address the other questionably ethical and foolish suggestions there, such as depending on a stranger's family plan to save money beyond this observation.

Everything else? Trying, I know you're trying to help... but just throwing out a mess of brand names from disparate networks with no discrimination towards actually addressing the needs of the people asking isn't actually helping them as much as advertising. I want to encourage you to do better.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2018, 06:17:43 PM by Daley »

Trying2bFrugal

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Re: AT&T MVNOs
« Reply #26 on: May 01, 2018, 09:58:43 PM »
Sprint - $0 in fact you make money

I would highly advocate against this move, especially now that it looks like a merger will go through with them and T-Mobile. I've seen it play out too many times over the years. You never want to be a customer on the business end of the absorbed network, no matter how "cheap" it is. Also, Sprint's developed a bad rep over network quality for a reason. It says something that they're a) still making money while giving service away, and b) the fact that they have to give service away to sufficiently bolster their subscriber numbers to make them attractive for a buyout... that's not a good thing, man.

I won't even address the other questionably ethical and foolish suggestions there, such as depending on a stranger's family plan to save money beyond this observation.

Everything else? Trying, I know you're trying to help... but just throwing out a mess of brand names from disparate networks with no discrimination towards actually addressing the needs of the people asking isn't actually helping them as much as advertising. I want to encourage you to do better.

Doesn't matter how you perceive.


I used straight talk 3 years back,  before then used T mobile for 5 years. Then mint sim for 6 months,  now, I own a phone in Sprint network in free plan from last November. They did improve their nw. There were 7 of my friends who moved to Sprint from Verizon and att.

I own a cricket on family plan ($20/$100 plan) for 12 months.
The family plan you can create and manage with friends or external 8apple depending on your comfort level.

Used freedom pop+ Google voice 6 months for my wife where she was home mostly and while outside she gets google voice calls through hangouts and we use watsapp for most friends voice calls and messaging.

I used ringplus (mvno of sprint) too. I had Google fi on getting Sprint and t mobile.  tested t mobile and sprint on a 1200 mile road trip with Verizon and ATT prepaid and postpaid.

Just to let you know that, if you didn't believe or something  didn't make sense it doesn't mean there is nothing in it. And there is only literal meaning of good and bad except until how it is applied.

OP asked for options. These are something I personally tested. Provided inputs, not just throwing some mess. I am not taking it as insult or fight but just intended to clarify that things exist for reason.

Mergers can bring good things too. T mobile is the company behind price wars in USA.

On Sprint, I don't advertise. If you have coverage, use it. They had to do all these because of multi factors market created. First t mobile wanted way out but declined. Now Sprint. If you think these shouldnot exist,  then we would end up paying high dollars for stupid plans in ATT and Verizon.

I looked up your guide on the link you have given. Nice work. But it's your view and not necessarily the absolute truth.
I had owned fp sims they were great during international trips. Last used them for pporting out. They are stingy for mkoney but they do deliver what they promised.

But I will try to be more effective on helping, I would take it.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2018, 10:37:24 PM by Trying2bFrugal »