What carrier does Republic piggyback off of? I don't want to get a new phone right now, (I have a Note 4) so if they can take that phone I may give it a shot. I am in LA.
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Recommend Me a Cellular Provider/Plans
- Thread starter PortlandBass77
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Republic piggybacks off of T-Mobiles lines. They have an app in the play store that checks phone compatibility.
Ironically Credo piggybacks off Verizon now, so coverage shouldn't be an issue....
As mentioned above, I use Virgin mobile, I picked up a new phone a couple of weeks ago, an LG Tribute HD, $50 at Best buy. A little bigger than my previous phone, but it's fast and much more current with regards to the OS (Android 6.0 Marshmellow) and can handle any app with ease. I had to upgrade my plan for it, but it's only $40 plus tax which includes unlimited talk/text and 5GB data plus and extra 1GB add-on. 4G LTE speeds, no hickups in service so far.
This was a year or so ago and I think it was Sprint. Horrible! I literally had to walk around my house, outside! to get a call. How long ago did they switch to Verizon?
Boost & Virgin Mobile are both owned & operated Sprint. I've been with VM since 2002 and never had any major issues with them until recently. They've recently branched off a parallel "Data Done Right" service for Virgin phones purchased at walmart. The plan rates are different than the standard Virgin plans, and the service is abysmal. They switched me without notice earlier this year, even though i purchased my last 2 phones directly from VM's website. I lost my grandfathered $25 unlimited everything deal, then lost service completely. My phone would no longer connect to the network (because, surprise, it was not compatible with the Data Done Right services!). It took almost a full month to get it sorted out and switched back to the standard virgin mobile service, for which I'm now paying $45 a month! In the meantime, Sprint has reduced their coverage in my area due to terrain & roaming agreement issues with verizon, so my phone that has worked perfectly fine in the past is now stuck in roaming and unusable at home. Some days, maybe, if the weather is clear and the wind is blowing just right, and there are less than 3 squirrels within 500 yards of the nearest Sprint tower, I might get a brief window of 3g service. If one of those squirrels farts though, forget it! Otherwise I have to drive 5 miles into town to get any kind of signal.
I'm jumping ship with Virgin Mobile this week & switching to straight talk
I'm jumping ship with Virgin Mobile this week & switching to straight talk
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I have been using Ting for the last two years and I'm quite happy with them. Depending on your phone, you can use the Sprint network of T-Mobile.
You pay for what you use and I haven't had any issues with roaming charges or any of that rot.
Ting
Edit: There are also no contracts. I've got three phones on my plan and my bill has never been over $60. It may not work for everyone, but I am very happy with them. It's worth a look.
You pay for what you use and I haven't had any issues with roaming charges or any of that rot.
Ting
Edit: There are also no contracts. I've got three phones on my plan and my bill has never been over $60. It may not work for everyone, but I am very happy with them. It's worth a look.
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TracFone is working well for us & cheap. You can get a year's worth of service for about $100.
Also, when you buy a SIM kit from TracFone, you get the choice of whether you want to piggyback on AT&T or T-Mobile.
We have experience with how awful T-Mobile is in our area, so went with AT&T.
I've had the T-Mobile SIMs for sale cheap on CL for months now & no one is interested, LOL!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/TracFone-400-Minute-1-Year-Service-Plan-Prepaid-Phone-Card/52673287
Also, when you buy a SIM kit from TracFone, you get the choice of whether you want to piggyback on AT&T or T-Mobile.
We have experience with how awful T-Mobile is in our area, so went with AT&T.
I've had the T-Mobile SIMs for sale cheap on CL for months now & no one is interested, LOL!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/TracFone-400-Minute-1-Year-Service-Plan-Prepaid-Phone-Card/52673287
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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I've been using Republic for a few years. I don't use cell data ever, so my grand total including taxes is $13 a month. I bought a first gen Moto E from them for a hundred bucks. My wife's service is the next tier up and she generally spends under 20 bucks a month. We can both add on cell data as needed if we travel, which works really well for us. I just do my calling on wifi 98% of the time, but my wife uses hers both ways quite a bit.
Just changed from Verizon to Ting. Went from $120 for 2 lines (unlimited text & talk, 5gb shared) to $55. Everything is metered, so you pay for what you use.
I used to have the $25 with Virgin as well, but they wouldn't let me keep it with the new phone. My girlfriend uses Straight Talk, she likes it though she sometimes has coverage issues even while I'm cruising at 4G on my phone. She uses a refurbished iPhone 5S.
I've been with Google Fi since April.
If you can live with a Nexus/Pixel phone and you don't use too much data (e.g. 2GB or less) it's pretty economical. $20 for unlimited talk and text and $10/GB of data, and you only pay for what you use. It piggybacks off whoever's signal is best of Sprint, T-mobile, and some 3rd provider I can't remember the name of so it's pretty reliable. It will also automatically connect you to trusted wi-fi by VPN when available.
If you're a data hog, you'll probably get a better deal elsewhere.
I agree.
I had verizon for over 10 years but was paying over $63 total a month for myself and 5 gigs data;(Fixed income retired)
I switched to consumer cellular, BOUGHT a great phone for only $150 (Moto G7 power) and have unlimited talk/text and 3 gigs for only $28.50, $32 total, half of Verizon.
My SIM chip is using T-mobile with no problems.
Their website is great (Verizon has one of the worst convoluted websites I've ever experienced, as does ATT and Blue Cross, go figure?)
Now, on the Internet I've read that Consumer Cellular has poor customer service
NOT TRUE !!
Every time I've dealt with them it was never more than 1-5 minutes wait time. Since their customer base is older people, their reps are top-notch, patient and very personable.
They speak 'real' english so they can be understood. No overseas personnel, and very patient.
Great company I rate it a "10".
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Alkali Ike
Gold Supporting Member
- Jan 1, 2011
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If you or someone in your immediate family has Comcast/xfinity Internet, and you have a compatible phone, you can get Xfinity Mobile for $12/mo for 1GB. Unlimited text and calling. It uses Verizon.
I have been using MintMobile for over a year, and you really can't beat it for the value. I pay just over $20 per month ($250 up front for the whole year) and get unlimited calls/texts and 8GB of LTE data.
I switched over to Visible in July. It's $40 a month for unlimited talk, text, and data with no throttling. Connections are deprioritized during times of congestion but it's owned by and runs off Verizon.
We're still solidly in the Verizon camp.
I switched to T-Mobil a few months ago to lower our bill. Nice people, cool and flashy stores, neat deals on Tuesdays, cool customer service chat program that connects you with local employees, but for us the coverage was lame. All kinds of dead spots around the area we lived. We got the cell booster which was nice at home, but we couldn't overcome the other places we went with little to no coverage.
What a nightmare it was to cancel service. It took months to cut them loose. They owed me a refund, but I gave up the pursuit of that just to get them out of my way.
-Mike
I switched to T-Mobil a few months ago to lower our bill. Nice people, cool and flashy stores, neat deals on Tuesdays, cool customer service chat program that connects you with local employees, but for us the coverage was lame. All kinds of dead spots around the area we lived. We got the cell booster which was nice at home, but we couldn't overcome the other places we went with little to no coverage.
What a nightmare it was to cancel service. It took months to cut them loose. They owed me a refund, but I gave up the pursuit of that just to get them out of my way.
-Mike
