Straight talk or Crickett?

[fisher83]

I have had Straight Talk for 10 plus years. Costs me about $115/mo for 3 phones. Service has been good. Only difference I've experienced so far vs. Verizon is a lower bill. I've generally heard good things about T-Mobile also but have never tried them out.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Your comment about T-Mobile is interesting. My brother has it and his service is far better than my att.

If your brother lives in a metro area, chances are he is connecting to the network via a 5G connecction which may provide better service since it is faster and has more capacity.

 

[53' Stude]

Decided to go with Cricket. Thought of tracfone but researched it and decided otherwise. Got a good flipper phone on way from Wal Mart too. Nothing like having gift cards to use up too.

 

[Rogueman2016s]

As it was mentioned you could jump around to different carriers/mvno's etc, if your phone is not recent and doesn't support the later frequency bands you'll be missing out no matter what. Straight talk usually has a triple punch sim kit where you decide your network "T-MO, ATT or VZ". Cricket is probably your best go they use ATT towers which is a robust network.

 

[53' Stude]

As it was mentioned you could jump around to different carriers/mvno's etc, if your phone is not recent and doesn't support the later frequency bands you'll be missing out no matter what. Straight talk usually has a triple punch sim kit where you decide your network "T-MO, ATT or VZ". Cricket is probably your best go they use ATT towers which is a robust network.

As I mentioned earlier; Straight Talk isn’t a option anymore. Conworkers that had it say customer service and support was horrible. We shall see how cricket goes.

 

[Rogueman2016s]

As I mentioned earlier; Straight Talk isn’t an option anymore. Conworkers that had it say customer service and support was horrible. We shall see how cricket goes.

I had cricket years ago it was great then you’ll have no problems on the network. Reason I switched off was to join the wife’s t-mo plan.

 

[53' Stude]

So, ended up going to Verizon. $40/month and military bet discount and work discount so basically $35/month.

Picked up this Nokia flip phone; $20~ clearance at Wal Mart and on tracfone with it. Never happier.

 

[javacontour]

You have 3 Carriers to choose from :

1) T-Mobile : Which you have and dislike
2 ) Verizon : Your coworker has Straight Talk (Verizon ) and has issues
3) AT&T : ????

I would still ask more people in your area what Carrier they have and if there happy with it .

It's about 3.5 to 4 carriers as Dish Network / Boost is building out as well.

Just moved oilBabe from AT&T to Boost Infinite. Purchased a new iPhone 15 Pro Max from Apple and signed up for Boost Infinite's "Smart Network" Her e-SIM ICCID starts with 89105 meaning it's the "Rainbow SIM" as it's called.

Boost Infinite was using either AT&T (ICCID beginning with 89014) or TMO (ICCID beginning with 89012) until they started building the Dish Network owned towers.

The "Smart Network" is supposed to be able to use Dish, TMO or ATT networks based on what you have in the area.

While they are pushing folks to sign up for their "Get a new iPhone every year plan for $60/month" you can BYOD your device and get their $25/month unlimited plan.

That is what I did for oilBabe as I just want to own the device, unlocked, and have the flexibility to move to other carriers should I need to.

The "captive" MVNOs are (or will be, Mint hasn't been acquired yet) are:

ATT - Cricket
TMO - Mint
VZN - Visible

With Dish having Boost Mobile as their pre-paid option and Boost Infinite their post paid like ATT, TMO or VZN.

And yes, as others have noted, data can be deprioritized for the MVNO customers. For our usage, it's not needed.

Since we do a bit of traveling, it's nice having access to multiple carriers.

So I have oilBabe's phone loaded up with Boost Infinite AND Visible (both $25/month) while my personal phone is on Mint ($20/month plan) and Visible's $25 / month plan.

I still have ATT on my work phone, so there is that.

I think it's a great time to have all of these options. If you don't need all the extras the big 3+ carriers are offering, one or more of the MVNOs may be a good fit.

Edited to add that Boost Infinite is only supporting their "Smart Network" on iPhone 15 right now. If you don't have an iPhone 15 (either BYOD or buy one from them) you'll get an ATT or TMO SIM based on the "home address" of the device.

 

[Warstud]

The $15.00 plan is $16.67 after taxes and fees. I am amazed how good it is. I can even tether (a.k.a "hotspot") with it.

Do you pay $16.67 a month in advance ? And are you able to check your Talk / Text / Data balance at any time ?

 

[2heeldrive]

Do you pay $16.67 a month in advance ? And are you able to check your Talk / Text / Data balance at any time ?

Yes, it's a pre-paid plan and can be set up to auto-pay with a credit card. I don't know, I have never checked... but there is an on-line portal for payment, so there is probably a way to check the balance. I get a text alert when I'm down to my last 500MB.

 

[alarmguy]

deleted

 

[mr_boring]

If there is any way to live with slower data & T-Mobile, the Tello unlimited talk/text & 500 MB 5G/unlimited 2G (which is actually slowed down 4G) for $9/month & almost no fees is the low price leader.

I have a spare phone with Tello as the carrier. It runs off of T-Mobile, but I'll be darned if it runs off of ALL the T-Mobile towers. Service even around a huge metropolitan area is terrible, which is usually the one thing T-Mobile gets right. It does send texts ok, but that's about it.

Tello.com 1 smart phone 2 flip phones $29 monthly total, not each. PM if you want a referral discount code.

I can see it being ok on the flips.

Consider Google Fi as well. Service is great, pricing is great and they always have amazing deals on phones.

Unless you work or live in a big concrete and steel building. Or go 2 miles out of town or off of the interstate system. T-Mobile jr. Tried that one and Mint too.




I'm at the point where it's AT&T or Verizon 4 life for me. I go out into the woods and play too much to be on T-Mobile in any shape or form.

 

[LDB]

I have a spare phone with Tello as the carrier. It runs off of T-Mobile, but I'll be darned if it runs off of ALL the T-Mobile towers. Service even around a huge metropolitan area is terrible, which is usually the one thing T-Mobile gets right. It does send texts ok, but that's about it.

I've never had any trouble. I'm always in the area of Houston and suburbs. Full service whenever and wherever.