Consumer Cellular..

[ScottOKW2K]

Like the marriage penalty and taxes, single people don't get the great deal on cell phone plans that family plans offer.

In the post paid plan world:
AT&T offers a single line plan for $50.
T-Mobile offers a single line plan for $45.
Verizon offers a single line plan for $65.

The plans above generally do not include taxes, fees, hotspot, or streaming services.

There used to be services that would match strangers together for family plans. Seemed risky to me.

Shopping for a cell phone plan is so complicated.

A Verizon MVNO called Visible uses that model. It's called PartyPay and there are groups that have hundreds if not thousands of members. I don't use this service at this time but my understand this will get your monthly cost down to $25/month with unlimited talk/text/data.

 

[MillauFr]

How on earth is any cellular company getting away with charging people $60-$70 per month? Wouldn't everyone just drop their service?

 

[cvjw]

just one phone.

That is a hard one. I am sure phone plans for 1 person are more expensive. That is why we keep our grown kids on our plan - makes it cheaper for everyone!

 

[Miffy]

How on earth is any cellular company getting away with charging people $60-$70 per month? Wouldn't everyone just drop their service?

That is a good question. I think one of the reasons is how difficult the logistics of switching can be. For example, maybe someone has a plan where the phone was part of it and the phone's not paid for yet. Or someone has a plan that has specific terms that can't be fiddled with without financial penalty.

Also, it's just easier--even if it is more expensive--to keep what you've got, especially if it works for you.

I've gone over this with my sister, who pays something like $70/month for her phone plan for unlimited everything. But she looked at her data usage for a year and she never uses more than maybe 3GB/month, at most. She could do a lot better with a different carrier and plan. But switching would involve a lot of hoop-jumping and what she's got works. So she keeps it.

 

[disneyseniors]

I pay $42 per line for Verizon, no idea what if any discount I get because I have 2 lines. I have the Verizon Small Plan. Unlimited talk and texts, 2 gb shared data with carryover. We did some trips last month and used Google Maps a lot, so used 1.2gb of data last month.

That sounds pretty good to me. Did you have any trouble with your trips with poor to no coverage? We traveled down major interstates in Illinois and Wisconsin and Tennessee and had terrible reception on all of them. I only tried to use the phone when we were close to major cities, and that didn't even work! grrr! When we got to our destination 30 miles from Nashville, it still didn't work and I had to borrow my brother's cell phone to call home. It's beyond frustrating.

 

[fla4fun]

How many people on your phone plan? We have AT&T unlimited elite and it is only $40 per month, per line for 4 phones - can’t believe that T- mobile is $70 per month. We have yet to travel to an area where we didn’t have great cell coverage with AT&T.

T-Mobile, for the most unlimited 55+ plan, costs $70, $65 if you sign up for auto pay. It’s getting one line that is the problem. You can get the same plan for $70 for TWO people 55+, so it’s basically a 50% discount per line, or the second line free, whichever way you want to look at it. The more people you have, the cheaper per line it is, no matter which company you are going through.

I have a grandfathered prepaid plan that is dirt cheap and I hold onto it as if my life depended on it. It is talk and text only, but I have a separate wifi hotspot I use for my internet at home, and can pop in my handbag if I think I might need data for some reason. I keep an eye on what is available, and it’s slim pickings if you only need one line.

 

[tvguy]

That sounds pretty good to me. Did you have any trouble with your trips with poor to no coverage? We traveled down major interstates in Illinois and Wisconsin and Tennessee and had terrible reception on all of them. I only tried to use the phone when we were close to major cities, and that didn't even work! grrr! When we got to our destination 30 miles from Nashville, it still didn't work and I had to borrow my brother's cell phone to call home. It's beyond frustrating.

I have Verizon and there are far fewer issues with them than other providers here. When I was working, our corporate owners were changing cell providers almost yearly. We always had issues with service in the Sierra Nevada when we weren't Verizon. Our crews figured out how to force the non-Verizon phones onto the Verizon system when there was no other service. Corporate tried to block that but our local HR finally stepped in and said this is a safety issue, so either let us switch to Verizon, or stop blocking access to it. Corporate finally gave in, but for us only. Our 63 other locations remained with other carriers.
My wife has family in St. Louis, and near Grayville, Illinois. I can't tell you how many times we traveled on Interstate 64 over the years and always had service with Verizon.

 

[kdonnel]

I have a grandfathered prepaid plan that is dirt cheap and I hold onto it as if my life depended on it. It is talk and text only, but I have a separate wifi hotspot I use for my internet at home, and can pop in my handbag if I think I might need data for some reason.

The bold part is an example of why there are so many different cell phone plans. I can't imagine a scenario when I might not need data, yet you think almost the complete opposite and I bet there are people at every point in-between our two schools of thought.

 

[fla4fun]

The bold part is an example of why there are so many different cell phone plans. I can't imagine a scenario when I might not need data, yet you think almost the complete opposite and I bet there are people at every point in-between our two schools of thought.

Most of the places I go to have free wifi these days, so I figure it’s one less thing to pay for. I may change my mind when I get my hands on the iPhone 14 next month. I am upgrading from an iPhone 6, which doesn’t support many apps anymore so I am not used to using it for that. I actually use my newer iPad more often than my phone for apps and internet access. The phone really only gets used for emergencies.

You are right though, about different people having different needs, and that is why it can be so difficult to comparison shop. I don’t envy the OP. Each company tweaks their plans just enough that no two are the same.

 

[disneyseniors]

I have Verizon and there are far fewer issues with them than other providers here. When I was working, our corporate owners were changing cell providers almost yearly. We always had issues with service in the Sierra Nevada when we weren't Verizon. Our crews figured out how to force the non-Verizon phones onto the Verizon system when there was no other service. Corporate tried to block that but our local HR finally stepped in and said this is a safety issue, so either let us switch to Verizon, or stop blocking access to it. Corporate finally gave in, but for us only. Our 63 other locations remained with other carriers.
My wife has family in St. Louis, and near Grayville, Illinois. I can't tell you how many times we traveled on Interstate 64 over the years and always had service with Verizon.

Thank you so much for that insight into Verizon. My soninlaw just switched to Verizon and is very happy with it.
So, I am going to make a visit to Verizon and change my provider. It is beyond disappointing to buy a cell phone to use on trips, mainly in my circumstances, and it doesn't even work in the big cities.