I see ads all the time for shit like consumer Cellular, mint mobile, stuff that rents time on Verizon towers and sells you a plan for like half the price.
I’m trying real hard to de-Xfinity myself but the cellular plan is the cheapest of all the major companies. Yes, I know they also piggyback off the Verizon network, but at least they have 24/7 support
I love Mint I get service for $180 a year
Didn’t t-mobile buy Mint?
Maybe. Probably. Who can keep track?
I’m currently using Mint Mobile for internet on my laptop, No issues related to the carrier. Their customer site doesn’t seem to like Firefox much though.
One heads up for anyone looking to use a Mint Mobile sim in their laptop, you will need a modem and software that can send/receive sms. Mint really likes using sms for verification.
Visible is wholly owned by VZW, and runs a whole $30/mo inclusive of tax and such.
Best compromise I’ve found between network and not getting screwed or being surprised with outages.
I’ve been on MetroPCS for most of a decade and have no complaints. Two lines, unlimited everything, $50/month.
I use us mobile with two phones and like 30gb each and it’s about $50 total. I’ve had no problems with them and I’ve driven cross country. They are an mvno that runs off Verizon. I def recommend them.
Edit: I still recommend using a provider for home internet. Just cancel everything else besides internet (no home phone or cable tv) and try to find the best deals. I know that’s not easy for a lot of areas though.
I’m super happy with jmp.chat
I was hesitant to try it, but once I ported my number over, it’s the best service I’ve ever used.
It’s $5/month, and your phone calls and texts are forwarded to an XMPP account. Voice mails are transcibed and sent as a text, with the included audiofile. It works over the internet, so you can have multiple phones with the number, and you can use your computer for the service as well.
For data, I use jmp.chats data only esim. It’s $7/year + $5/gig but the data never expires.
I’m assuming it only works over the internet, right? they’re not a cell carrier
That is what the data Sim is for that I mentioned above.
Have used various MVNOs for years with no real issues. US Mobile has been pretty good and can use TMobile or Verizon and soon AT&T.
As a primary internet source I could not recommend Visible. The de-prioritization was very noticeable and the coverage wasn’t great. (Even Verizon is piggybacking on some carriers in some areas - and in those areas Visible isn’t supported.)
I kept it around for a while for large file downloads - it was slow but I didn’t have to worry about data caps. Eventually I dropped it when I got a Starlink.
I use the T-Mobile Connect prepaid plan now, but I’ve heard very good things about Mint Mobile and for a long time I used Ting Mobile before it was bought by Dish Network.
Edit: btw i run a community !t_mobile@lemmy.ml If anyone has any interesting topics.
I’m using Visible unlimited for $30 a month. As soon as I signed up Verizon bought them, but it’s been fun for a couple years now.
I’ve had Mint Mobile for 3 years. Have had no issues, same for wife and roommate. Thought a friend that live 30 min away can’t get it to work for them. Even though T-Mobile (the network Mint uses) works fine for them.
Visible works well for me
The connection to the network is fungible.
If the phone number you give everybody is a voip number, like Google voice…
Then it doesn’t matter who your cell phone carrier is. Buy the cheapest one, month to month.
Visible is a good option. Just don’t move your phone number. Leave your phone number on VoIP. Don’t give anybody the phone number of your phone.
A couple reasons, first it’s the easiest to move your phone around if you don’t have to move the number, second nobody can track your location by looking up your phone number if they don’t have your physical phone number. VoIP does not map to your phone
yeah I’ve been doing that, only my alarm company and my bank have my real phone number and that’s only because they won’t accept voip. I got spooked about sim-swapping a while ago
You can use Google fi as a non-voip voip number. It just costs $20 a month.
It’s not frugal, but it’s the most secure way to do it
what exactly is Google Fi? I’m reading the website and I still don’t understand. are they a cell carrier?
Mvno. Mobile virtual network operator.
It’s like Google voice, but you also get a SIM card and data with it.
The phone number you have on it, does not show up as a VoIP number, shows up as a normal mobile number. Even if you only access it via messenger and not via SMS.
I used them for a while but it’s really worth considering the full privacy implications of using Google for cell service. Also, since it’s tied to a Google account if that account is suspended for any reason, like a YouTube comment or some file uploaded to drive that they don’t like, your cell service is also affected.