T-Mobile Price Headaches? Head for an Alternative!

T-Mobile introduced the "Un-Carrier" moniker as an alternative to the 'mainstream' wireless carriers several years ago. Like so many technical innovations, the scappy contender now appears to be as mainstream as the other carriers and, as a result, they are flexing their newly-developed muscles and trying to increase their prices. This even applies to customers who thought they had a "Price For Life."

There are numerous legal challenges being made to these aggressive T-Mobile moves, but you can do something about it right now. We have composed a list dedicated just for wireless users who want to use the T-Mobile network, and their existing T-Mobile phone, but without dealing with T-Mobile directly. These are Prepaid carriers, and they may be easier to deal with than T-Mobile themselves. From the OZ Wireless T-Mobile alternative page, we have several great choices that use the T-Mobile network:

• RED POCKET MOBILE: A real bargain carrier that actually lets you choose more than just the T-Mobile network.
  
  
• US MOBILE: This highly-recommended low-priced carrier includes Calling and Texting to other countries and Roaming in over 100 foreign countries.

In addition, there are carriers that are owned by T-Mobile that still offer good deals and features, minus the funny business, and should be easily accessed with your existing T-Mobile phone:

• METRO BY T-MOBILE: Yes, it's owned by T-Mobile but they have lower prices and no added fees, and your existing T-Mobile phone is instantly compatible. They even have local stores.
  
  
• MINT MOBILE: Recently acquired by T-Mobile, they save you money by offering longer refill periods.
  
  
• ULTRA MOBILE: This newly-acquired Prepaid has seen some improved features that make it an attractive alternative to your old T-Mobile service.

One of the nice attributes of these alternaives is that they'll automatically deduct your payment from your credit card or checking account, eliminating that monthly bill you received from T-Mobile. Read more about all the alternatives with price comparisons at Mountain Prepaid.

Home Phone Alternatives Shuffle

 

I recenlty noticed that my home phone couldn't make outgoing calls through its associated VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service: it's "no longer being supported". So I went shopping to find another inexpensive way to keep the old home phone number active and discovered that VOIP providers have become quite pricey, most at $15 per month or higher, plus taxes!

Like it is for most other families, our home phone has become almost redundant, but how many of us hesitate letting go of the home phone number and completely eliminating the security of a communications device in nearly every room in the house? Yes, I realize there are many households who never had it to begin with. 

Now that VOIP is no longer the lowest-cost alternative to the landline, we have returned to the home phone savior of last decade, the Wireless Home Phone. Now that US Mobile is offering their wireless home phone for only $10 a month, all these old but still cool cordless phones around the house are back in touch, if for no other use than as a cell phone finder.

Prepaid Prices Keep Dropping!

 

As we predicted last week, prepaids are dropping prices to snare more customers. Tello has made a significant offer of $25 for what they call "Unlimited" which slows your Data down to 2G after using 35 Gb, which is effectively Unlimited for most of us. They also made a deep cut in the price of their 5Gb plan, which we call "Average" usage. That competitive plan has dropped to $14 per month. These plans both appear on our Mountain Prepaid Price Chart, and are at the top of the bottom prices. And they don't appear to be promotional prices. Tello also has a handy price selector which helps you save even more by selecting just the amount of features you want.

This is in stark contrast to the postpaid plans the major carriers are selling, which, if they are not increasing the plan prices themselves, they are adding mysterious charges and fees. Many of the differences relate to the phone you get with your plan and what you pay for it, which can be helpful, but there's still no free lunch. Expect more Prepaid prices drops before the end of the year. The best way to find them is to look for Prepaids that catch your attention and visit their site.

We also understand that few wireless customers want to bother changing plans, carrier or phones. If there is a small price difference, it's not a big deal. But have you considered that you could be paying half of what you're paying today? I bet you don't roll up to the highest-priced gas pump.  Do you?

Holiday Prepaid Discounts

 

There have been some outstanding Black Friday wireless deals, and now we're expecting some equally generous holiday deals. One of the most notable deals just appeared with Visible Wireless. Their cheapest "Unlimited" plan is now available through the the end of the year for only $20/month, with the code HOLIDAY. This amount is good for 3 months, then increases to the regular rate of $25/month.

The reason this deal is of special interest is that Visible was recently featured on Mountain Prepaid as the BEST Prepaid for Unlimited Data. On top of that, Visible is one of the few prepaids that includes all taxes and fees. That could amount to as much 20% for those of us who live in high tax areas. While the discount is only for 3 months, it's a great way to get your feet wet with a good Unlimited prepaid plan, and be able to escape if it's not to your liking. Visible is now officially known as "Visible by Verizon" which reflects their relationship with Verizon which has good coverage and features.

There will be other great Holiday Prepaid deals and we might not catch them all. So if you're thinking of switching (to) prepaid, choose one from our Prepaid Reviews and see what they're offering in December. We both might be surprised.

It's a Sign

 

Wouldn't it be nice to have more signs like this?

Wi-Fi for International Travel

 

I recently returned from a trip to Europe. Since my phone does not automatically roam outside North America, my usual way to communicate is by buying a foreign SIM. SIM's can be easily found in or near large airports, but this time we found the rules were different. The only way to find a SIM in this smaller city in Greece was to show up at a cellular store with your passport in hand and preferably cash as well. It also needs to be a weekday, or maybe early in the day. Greeks are known for taking off a couple hours each day for a leisurely afternoon dinner.

This combination of factors kept me offline, or so I thought. Of course we could log in to the hotel's Wi-Fi and the occasional restaurant, but I really wanted my SIM. We hopped on the local bus to see if we could find a SIM shop open on the weekend and found that every city bus also has Free Wi-Fi which worked quite well. My wife's phone plan includes Wi-Fi Calling so she was not only online almost everywhere, she could make calls and texts as well as she does at home. Without Wi-Fi Calling, I normally use my Google Voice app to make calls and texts. I found a shop on a Saturday with a lady with limited English skills, but, oops, forgot my passport.

This experience with so much widespread foreign Wi-Fi, took the pressure off finding a SIM, although I finally scored one Monday morning. The experience reminded me that many of the rules in Europe have changed and it's no small deal that almost any cellular service in Europe roams freely anywhere else in Europe. Had I remembered this I would have spent more time finding a SIM during my layover in Germany knowing that a German SIM would work equally well in Greece, or Spain, or most of Europe. 

This one of the reasons why we give extra credit for US carriers that offer Wi-Fi Calling that works universally, both on our Prepaid Reviews and our Roaming Zone pages.  There are also now several Prepaid carriers that readily roaming in most of the developed world with few or no roaming charges.

US Mobile's Inexpensive Wireless Home Phone

US Mobile is shaking up the wireless market by offering a number of features that top most other carriers, and not just Prepaid. They now offer plans on their Prepaid phones starting at $5, International Calling and Roaming, Wi-Fi Calling, and more. Now they have the courage to sell a Wireless Home Phone plan for a radical price of $10 per month, the lowest among our reviews of Wireless Home Phone plans! You need to buy the home phone base, just like the other carriers, but it's less than $50, with no commitment.

There's a lot to love here: Your first month with the Wireless Home Phone is FREE and includes all the usual Wireless Home Phone Features with no internet connection required, unlimited calling to the US and most of the world, and they even have 24/7 Live Customer Service. Their wireless home base will use either the AT&T or T-Mobile network and has a 26-hour battery backup for power outages. With a 14-day trial, you can see if it works at your home and send it back if it doesn't.

As we noted on Mountain Prepaid Reviews, US Mobile appears in more than one of our Prepaid "BEST OF" categories. We have used US Mobile in previous years with positive results and it appears they have improved since then. US Mobile is a great alternative for people who have decided not to stay with the TracFone Prepaids which have required a change of networks.

It's Not Just A FREE iPhone!

The newest national wireless carrier, Boost Infinite, is offering a FREE iPhone each time Apple introduces a new model. This is a big deal, but not because it's an iPhone, or even that it's FREE! This particular iPhone does something that no other iPhone does. For the first time, iPhone is certified for the Boost Wireless Network. Boost Infinite members who purchase iPhone 15 benefit from the power of America's Smart Network™, which seamlessly connects to the Boost Wireless Network in select markets, and if the phone finds none, it then automatically switches to one of Boost's partner networks.

This pretty much assures that you'll always have good 5G coverage, and if 5G isn't available, the best of 4G LTE on one of the partner networks. There are plans from other carriers that will access roaming partners, but not roaming on major networks and not within the main carrier's service area. Verizon once had a plan that if your phone lost Verizon coverage, it would roam automatically on Sprint.  Verizon found their customers would roam on Sprint far more often than they expected, so they slowly began to roll back where roaming on Sprint would occur.

Now, with Boost Infinite, and your 'Smart Network' iPhone, you could get a strong Boost 5G signal at work, but you live out in the suburbs where there is no Boost coverage, so your phone automatically switches to, say, AT&T. Then you head to the fitness club where there is no Boost coverage and no AT&T coverage. No problem. Your Boost Infinite phone seamlessly switches over to T-Mobile, which just happens to have strong coverage at the fitness club. 

So go ahead and revel in your 'Latest iPhone Every Year' status, but also enjoy the best of 3 major networks wherever you go. (BTW, we were not compensated for this post)