What Pre-paid cellphone carrier to go with???

mcveigh

Diamond Member
Dec 20, 2000
6,457
6
81
My T-mobile contract is up next week. I am looking to go pre-paid and maybe switching carriers.
I'm sick of being locked into a 2 year contract and paying extra fees each month.
My wife will stay with T-mo but go prepaid.

I work at 2 different hospitals. At one I get horrible reception, everyone does, its the area with lots of tall buildings and the construction of the hospital itself. For this reason I want to switch to a different carrier. People with verzion seem to get better reception there.

I use about 700-1000 minutes a month and I use 2-5GB of data (I tether my laptop at the other hospital I work at). I'm sticking with android phones:biggrin:

Options:

T-mobile $60-70/month "4G" could keep my old phone...can tether
Boost $55/month..... price drops longer you stay (sprint network)unknown tethering
MetroPCS $50-60/month 4g/LTE phones (Sprint network I think) some luck with tethering
Verizon Wireless $95/month unlimited data unknown tethering

as much as I want to goto verzion I think they are too expensive unless there is a reseller who also allows tethering.
Boost seems to not mind about tethering, but phones are limited with them.

Staying with T-mo looks OK, I just would really like to have reception at the one workplace.

I have friends with metroPCS and they are happy, phones seem OK, Howard forums report success in tethering on rooted phones.

Any ideas or comments are welcomed.:awe:
 
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
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Straight talk you're limited to 2gb data monthly max. Use more than 130 in a day and they will watch you. Do it again and they will terminate your service.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
126
I DOn't think either of them allow tethering though.

No carrier allow tethering unless you pay for it. But depending on the phone, you can easily get around the restriction. My Vibrant and Galaxy Nexus both have free built-in tethering and hotspot. As long as you don't abuse it, you can fly under the radar.

As for the 2gb Straight Talk limit, that's the rumored soft cap before they cancel your service. It's probably a good idea to stick to it.
 

preslove

Lifer
Sep 10, 2003
16,754
63
91
On Howard Forum, the general consensus is that Straight Talk's T-Mo sims give you a higher cap than the ATT sims. Probably has to do with different contracts with the two companies.

I have a T-Mo straight talk sim coming to me this week :)
 

kaerflog

Golden Member
Jul 23, 2010
1,899
4
76
The problem is you use too much data to be using a pre-paid plan.
All the ones that piggyback off Verizon or Sprint, their data is slow as molasses.
Straight talk(ATT) is good but watch out for over 2gb data.
Your best left option is Tmobile prepaid and they are lenient with the data cap and the data is pretty fast.
 

cardiac

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,082
14
81
While PagePlus is awesome for voice and text, it's data leaves a little to be desired. I am on the 1200 TNT, which gives me 1200 minutes, 2000 texts, and 100mb of data a month for $29.99. It uses the Verizon network. They have a "55" plan, that for $55 it gives you unlimited talk and text, plus 1 gb of data. I am almost always near WiFi, so I can get by on 100mb of data a month.
I go through http://www.kittywireless.com for my service..

Bob
 

mcveigh

Diamond Member
Dec 20, 2000
6,457
6
81
thanks everyone !!
i'm going to get a straight talk sim for the wife on t-mo.
i'll probably try t-mo prepay for myself just due to the data caps
 

OS

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
15,581
1
76
tmo seems to be the most liberal with tethering of the big 4