I tried not to have a cell phone at all.. not quite happening. But I do care about how much I spend per month for a phone. I made a list of the best non-contract, non-traditional phone company plans to use if you want to spend $30 or less per month. I tried to include plans that use Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon Towers.

$10-15/month range: (Smartphones or Dumb)

Chit Chat Mobile (Sprint Towers) * No Iphone *
$10/month - 250 minutes & Unlimited Texting -
or for $5 more you can get 100mb of internet or $10 extra for 300mb
You can also Bring Your Own Sprint Device if you currently have one.

Zact or Ting - (Sprint Towers) *No Iphone*
Both work on unique pay for what you use plans. If you use $10 of usage, you're billed $10 - If the next month you use $30 you pay $30 - very convenient for people who like the plans that don't require any month-to-month activating or using up your amounts and it not working anymore. You can use it as much or as little as you like and you are billed accordingly.

Zact has better tiers for usage but you can't bring your own phone and only has a selection of 2 phones.

Ting has a superior selection of phones due to BYOD. It can also run LTE & has Roaming.

Each of these companies have "sweet spots" where you really can save money from how they charge for usage. It works for some and not others.

PagesPlus - $12 plan - Can rig an Iphone to it. (Verizon Towers)
250 texts, 250 messages, 10 mb data

Airvoice Wireless (ATT Towers) - Can use Iphone 4
$9.95/month - 250 min or 500 texts - low for usage but can use the ATT Iphone on GSM network

$19-30 plans

Chit Chat Mobile - Unlimited Talk & Unlimited Text for $19.95 (Sprint) - Again you can add internet as you wish, $5-$50 plans depending on usage. Bring your own Sprint phone or buy theres.

Airvoice Wireless (ATT Towers) - $30 unlimited Talk & Text (Can use Iphone on GSM Towers) & $10 extra for 500Mb of Data

PagesPlus (Verizon Towers) - $29.95 - 1,200 minutes Talk & 3,000 texts & 250 mb of data (Can use Iphone)

T-Mobile has a prepaid $30/mo plan that I'm on right now. It gives you 100 minutes, 5GB of "4G" and unlimited texting.

Their 4G is technically 3G, but it is also about twice as fast as others 3G coverage.

Also, T-Mobile has been quietly rolling out LTE in the major cities. Columbus got lit up a week or two ago, and Dayton is currently live as well.

dlazz;1467973 wrote:T-Mobile has a prepaid $30/mo plan that I'm on right now. It gives you 100 minutes, 5GB of "4G" and unlimited texting.

Their 4G is technically 3G, but it is also about twice as fast as others 3G coverage.

Also, T-Mobile has been quietly rolling out LTE in the major cities. Columbus got lit up a week or two ago, and Dayton is currently live as well.

I ALMOST listed this one. I was concerned the bulk of the TMOBILE map being "Edge" speeds. Bad experience, but yes, this is another where IF you are data usage heavy (not wifi) then this is great for you.

I personally need minimal data (I am in wifi 99% of my daily life) - I text a lot and really only need the Chit Chat Mobile, 250 min, unlimited texting, and 100mb of data. This makes my budget for my wife and I $30 total for 2 lines. We can still text 5,000 or more times per month for very cheap.

I just wanted to list a bunch of plans that may work for some or help spread awareness just of different choices you can have before you "lock" yourself in on that $80-$100 cell phone line.

Just remember, if a company is willing to charge $20 for unlimited talk and text, then YOU are, in a sense, paying for INTERNET for whatever is over $20. Example, if you can get $20 unlimited talk & text and your line is $85. Youre basically paying $65 for mobile internet usage per month. Probably a lot more than your high speed internet at home.

rydawg5;1467981 wrote:I ALMOST listed this one. I was concerned the bulk of the TMOBILE map being "Edge" speeds. Bad experience, but yes, this is another where IF you are data usage heavy (not wifi) then this is great for you.

T-Mobile definitely shines in an urban setting. It's rural coverage is pretty sad, to say the least. It also suffers due to poor building penetration because their network is largely on the 1700mhz band. I immediately drop to EDGE in the building at work, and it switches immediately to 4G outside.

In my case, I'm in Columbus 95% of the time, so it's good to me. My other alternative was a MVNO on AT&T. I tried Net10 (it came out to $45 a month, and is owned by the same company that ccrunner talked about) but I found the Internet speeds to be noticably slower, and occasionally it just flat out wouldnt work at all.

I've contemplated trying another provider, but I really have no reason to so far. I have my main number ported to Google Voice, so I can theoretically swap service providers as many times as I want and still have my number.

I require at least 2GB of data per month (often stream music), and could care less how many minutes/texts I get. Texting goes through GV, and I never call anyone.

ccrunner609;1467972 wrote:I have been on straighttalk unlimited for a year for $45 a month and my phone runs off of Verizon. I will never sign a contract for a phone ever again

Straightalk? More like Straightpoor amirite?

Americans are conditioned to think that $200 for the latest and greatest phone is normal.

In fact, the phone is subsidized by the phone provider through ballooned payments which are locked into a contract.

The $200 phone ends up being more than whatever it would cost if you just bought the phone up-front.

rydawg5;1467966 wrote:I tried not to have a cell phone at all.. not quite happening. But I do care about how much I spend per month for a phone. I made a list of the best non-contract, non-traditional phone company plans to use if you want to spend $30 or less per month. I tried to include plans that use Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon Towers.

$10-15/month range: (Smartphones or Dumb)

Chit Chat Mobile (Sprint Towers) * No Iphone *
$10/month - 250 minutes & Unlimited Texting -
or for $5 more you can get 100mb of internet or $10 extra for 300mb
You can also Bring Your Own Sprint Device if you currently have one.

Zact or Ting - (Sprint Towers) *No Iphone*
Both work on unique pay for what you use plans. If you use $10 of usage, you're billed $10 - If the next month you use $30 you pay $30 - very convenient for people who like the plans that don't require any month-to-month activating or using up your amounts and it not working anymore. You can use it as much or as little as you like and you are billed accordingly.

Zact has better tiers for usage but you can't bring your own phone and only has a selection of 2 phones.

Ting has a superior selection of phones due to BYOD. It can also run LTE & has Roaming.

Each of these companies have "sweet spots" where you really can save money from how they charge for usage. It works for some and not others.

PagesPlus - $12 plan - Can rig an Iphone to it. (Verizon Towers)
250 texts, 250 messages, 10 mb data

Airvoice Wireless (ATT Towers) - Can use Iphone 4
$9.95/month - 250 min or 500 texts - low for usage but can use the ATT Iphone on GSM network

$19-30 plans

Chit Chat Mobile - Unlimited Talk & Unlimited Text for $19.95 (Sprint) - Again you can add internet as you wish, $5-$50 plans depending on usage. Bring your own Sprint phone or buy theres.

Airvoice Wireless (ATT Towers) - $30 unlimited Talk & Text (Can use Iphone on GSM Towers) & $10 extra for 500Mb of Data

PagesPlus (Verizon Towers) - $29.95 - 1,200 minutes Talk & 3,000 texts & 250 mb of data (Can use Iphone)

Gotta be honest... I wasn't aware of any of these "plans." If these are so great (and they sound/seem like they are... curious to know what the "catch" is), then why are so many ppl on Verizon or AT&T? Also... why would Verizon let another company use their towers?! I would have to imagine they receive some kind of royalty, right? But still... why not just monopolize your towers and force people to sign your contracts???

Well a few things... These companies make less profit but with less overhead. They aren't a threat for subscribers as long as ATT and verizon dominate advertising. People like unlimited plans no matter the cost. It's almost like people are proud to give Verizon 90 bucks a month. The truth is the average person doesn't need to spend even 50 bucks a month and many companies off choices. There are dozens of other legit companies but these are the ones I like. I had Ting for 8 months..extremely good company they have a zero hold time customer service line.

rydawg5;1468199 wrote: There are dozens of other legit companies but these are the ones I like.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_operators