Author Topic: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021  (Read 3636 times)

sealab2021

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Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« on: July 08, 2021, 06:35:03 PM »
Looking to switch from att, I have an unlocked iPhone 7 and I need to take my hone number with me. My phone plan is way too expensive at $70 per month and att service is terrible most places I visit. Any tips? I have been looking online and looks like a company “visible” is cheap at $40 a month. I don’t really need a ton of data however I don’t need a plan where I am tethered to WiFi all the time, I am often away from WiFi at work etc.

Looking for the easiest way to use my unlocked phone and port my number to the network. I have seen other older threads on the topic, and want to see if anything has changed lately. People seem to like visible apparently.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: July 08, 2021, 06:38:19 PM by sealab2021 »

PMG

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2021, 07:05:21 PM »
Is my knowledge out of date? I thought an ATT compatible phone was not compatible with Verizon?

sealab2021

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2021, 07:13:42 PM »
Is my knowledge out of date? I thought an ATT compatible phone was not compatible with Verizon?

I’m not entirely sure, but the phone is unlocked, I bought it as unlocked. I believe I can take it anywhere.

PMG

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2021, 07:32:39 PM »
They use different technology. GSM vs CDMA. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-gsm-and-cdma/ SIM card vs no SIM card.

Do a little googling. Look for Daley’s sticky post about cheap phone plans. Ting used to be a favored one and there was a referral thread.

innkeeper77

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2021, 07:35:23 PM »
They use different technology. GSM vs CDMA. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-gsm-and-cdma/ SIM card vs no SIM card.

Do a little googling. Look for Daley’s sticky post about cheap phone plans. Ting used to be a favored one and there was a referral thread.

The vast majority midrange and higher smartphones today- and I think basically all modern iPhones- have GSM and CDMA capable radios, it’s easier to put it all in one phone than it is to have two versions.

iPhones can have MMS issues etc on some carriers- I’d recommend sticking to one of the officially compatible mvnos on apples website. I don’t know a ton about iPhones and mvnos though, sorry.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204039
« Last Edit: July 08, 2021, 07:42:32 PM by innkeeper77 »

PMG

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2021, 07:38:03 PM »
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/

Daley’s communication and tech threads may be a little old but likely still useful? Maybe updated? I haven’t read them recently.

It makes sense that they’d make dual gsm/cdma. Sorry for leading things astray!  Good luck to OP.

sealab2021

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2021, 08:11:48 AM »
Thanks for the replies. After reading several threads I have decided to go with visible, hopefully I can get better cell reception with Verizon.

Mountainbug

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2021, 08:25:33 AM »
I use visible and it works great for me. Going on about 4 months now after switching from Verizon. They often have good sign up codes so look around before you sign up. If you can’t find a good one, I can send you my referral code to get your first month for $5, but honestly there should be better deals out there. Make sure we oh sign up to be in a party to get the additional discount!

geekette

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #8 on: July 10, 2021, 05:17:02 PM »
I've been using Red Pocket for a couple years, on Verizon towers.  Their unlimited talk/text plus 3G of data is $20/month.  I buy one of their yearly plans on ebay for about $100/year.  1000 talk/unl text/1G of data per month. 

dbfire

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #9 on: July 10, 2021, 05:29:40 PM »
*edit to say I don't know what towers I'm on with Mint*

I used RedPocket for 3 months last year. Was okay, but I have an iPhone and had MMS issues. Tried everything under the sun and RP's customer service was not very good in my experience.

I switched to Mint and got 6 months for $50 (3 months free), and just paid $180 for a year. I wish they had a lower plan because I only use about 1gb per month and they give 3-4.

I'm in San Diego and the service/signal has been outstanding.

geekette

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2021, 08:10:50 PM »
That's too bad.  I have had no MMS issues, that I recall.  I did have some difficulty getting started, so I'll agree their customer service isn't stellar.  Nice enough, but not particularly effective.

HPstache

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2021, 01:26:59 PM »
I love Xfinity mobile, pay by the gig.  They use verizon towers and we share 1 gig for a bill of about $16/mo.  Might not be the cheapest, but I recommend them.

HipGnosis

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #12 on: July 14, 2021, 04:03:57 PM »
Red Pocket works with all major networks.
I just bought one of their annual plans from their Ebay store.
Unlimited* for $15/mo.
 * - That's 3 GB of fast data, then unlimited slow data.  Not sure how slow it is, but don't really care.
It was easy, as I've been on Red Pocket for years - so I already have a SIM & account.

KCM5

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #13 on: July 14, 2021, 04:52:43 PM »
I’ve used Visible with my unlocked iPhone on the Verizon network for a year or two? Works great. Would recommend.

Beardog

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #14 on: July 16, 2021, 02:08:39 PM »
If you find visible does not work for you, I've had good luck with USMobile over the past couple years.  Before I recently added data, I was paying about $15/month for unlimited voice and text.  You can add various amounts of data to meet your needs for a reasonable cost.  They are an MVNO using the Verizon network.

innkeeper77

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #15 on: July 16, 2021, 08:12:40 PM »
That's too bad.  I have had no MMS issues, that I recall.  I did have some difficulty getting started, so I'll agree their customer service isn't stellar.  Nice enough, but not particularly effective.

I believe the issues with iPhones and mms might be mostly limited to AT&T mvnos- so if you chose a different red pocket version, that could be it.

sonofsven

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #16 on: July 26, 2021, 12:02:49 PM »
I use Republic which won't work if you want to use your phone but it also uses Verizon towers and I was concerned about coverage (rural area) but it is fine and works where my work partner's phone works (he has Verizon at some ridiculous price). It's about 27 bucks a month (not counting upfront purchase of a new phone which was $300 ish).

Paul der Krake

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #17 on: July 26, 2021, 12:18:19 PM »
*edit to say I don't know what towers I'm on with Mint*

I used RedPocket for 3 months last year. Was okay, but I have an iPhone and had MMS issues. Tried everything under the sun and RP's customer service was not very good in my experience.

I switched to Mint and got 6 months for $50 (3 months free), and just paid $180 for a year. I wish they had a lower plan because I only use about 1gb per month and they give 3-4.

I'm in San Diego and the service/signal has been outstanding.
Mint uses T-Mobile towers. Great in populated areas, gone the second you hit the sticks. It has been getting better over the last couple years but they still don't have anywhere near the footprint of Verizon and AT&T. I'm completely used to having little to no service in the backcountry.

I still use them because they're the only decent MVNO with international roaming.

bacchi

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #18 on: July 28, 2021, 10:47:22 AM »
If you find visible does not work for you, I've had good luck with USMobile over the past couple years.  Before I recently added data, I was paying about $15/month for unlimited voice and text.  You can add various amounts of data to meet your needs for a reasonable cost.  They are an MVNO using the Verizon network.

I use US Mobile as well. It's similar to the Mint plans -- 5 gb data/unlimited for $15.

hdatontodo

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #19 on: July 28, 2021, 07:42:05 PM »
I switched from Vz to Total Wireless which uses their towers.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk


Dicey

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #20 on: July 28, 2021, 07:51:26 PM »
We switched from Metro PCS to Visible earlier this year. Huge improvement. The cost is roughly the same, because we had a great old plan, but the signal is much, much better at home now.

GailNYC

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #21 on: September 05, 2021, 01:54:51 PM »
Have you looked into Ting? I've read good things about it.

crowinghen

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #22 on: September 15, 2021, 06:42:47 PM »
We are on Total wireless, 60 dollars a month, which seemed good to meat the time, i haven't looked into rates lately, perhaps we could do better, but I'm pretty satisfied.

NorCal

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Re: Best cheap phone company that uses Verizon towers? 7/2021
« Reply #23 on: October 01, 2021, 12:30:51 PM »
If you have Xfinity internet at home, look at Xfinity Mobile.  They use the Verizon network. 

It beat out my Ting plan (which was already pretty cheap) by a significant margin.  We're paying ~$25/mo for two lines of data.  It goes up to $38ish on the occasional months we travel or use extra data for some reason.