Best Cell Phone Carrier/phone/package Out There Right Now?

Updated on March 17, 2012
J.F. asks from Bloomington, IN
13 answers

We do not have smartphones. Do not have a contract with anyone. We have the Family Mobile (T-Mobile) plan from Walmart right now. We pay $83 after taxes for unlimited talk and text. I think we can add webpaks for varying prices IF we have a smartphone to use it on. I don't want to pay $300 a phone.

My hubs may be able to get his phone paid for by his company. So we are looking at starting two new contracts and getting smartphones. I think we have to keep our phones separate so that his company will take over the bill and payments, so I can't add my phone as a second line or vice versa. They have to have a separate bill.

What would you recommend? Who has the best phones and packages available now? I don't want to spend an arm and a leg for a phone, but would like to have a smartphone in case of bad weather and the electricity goes out and for when we travel and need GPS (we don't have it in our cars).

Thanks!

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T.F.

answers from San Francisco on

I am trying Virgin Mobile. $35 for unlimited talk and text. So far so good. They use the Sprint Network.

1 mom found this helpful

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S.L.

answers from Kansas City on

Sprint has unlimited texting, long distance, internet access and good deals for packages. Check out their prices as they are pretty reasonable.

1 mom found this helpful

M.Q.

answers from Detroit on

Hi ~ I have 2 smartphones (HTC EVO 4G) thru Sprint & w/taxes I pay $130 a month for the 2 phones with unlimited talk, text & data. The $130 includes the $10 data charge, Sprint data is completely unlimited they don't put a cap on how much you use.

1 mom found this helpful

A.M.

answers from Kansas City on

i love our at&t :) never had a problem with them. and i was at their store yesterday and they have the iphone 3 for .99

i almost got it until i realized the wifi thing would mess me up...i use most of my internet at work on breaks and we don't have wifi. so i stuck with my lower data plan, and quick messaging, non-smart phone. it was great for me but you may want to check them out if all the bells and whistles are what you're looking for.

1 mom found this helpful

K.M.

answers from Chicago on

Well, when we added my mom to our Tmobile line with her smart phone (I don't want one- yet) she got a 500 phone for free with adding to the line. Her plan is 49.99/month unlimited talk, text, data. The only thing is to check your map and find out if you are in a well provided for area, if not then AT&T is probably your best bet although they are expensive. I have heard good things about Virgin (another no contract service) and their smart phones service and devices.

1 mom found this helpful
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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

Check out US Cellular. Here in Wisconsin AT&T has very poor reception. I worked on the for a phone book about 2 yrs ago and had US Cellular and I always had good reception but my co-workers who had AT&T did not. There were areas where they could not get any reception at all. MY DIL had Boost and Airefire and my son wanted to get new phones for both of them and I told them to go to US Cellular and they are so glad they switched. US Cellular has the best customer service, according to Consumer Reports.

1 mom found this helpful

J.✰.

answers from San Antonio on

We have tMobile (NOT from Walmart). My husband refuses to sign contracts, so we always pay full price for phones. I don't know any company that will sell you a brand new smartphone for less than $300 if you don't sign a 2 yr contract with them.

So - at Tmobile, husband paid $400 for his HTC and he loves it. Mine was $350 Nokia and it suits me. I wish I had his HTC for the better battery. But oh well. The Nokia fits my small hands better, as it's a tiny bit smaller. I just need to buy a car charger now. Either phone, so long as you pay for the data plan, will do gps and email and texting and all of that.

But if you don't want to pay, either buy a phone from somone off craigslist or sign a contract. Hope something I said helps! I am no expert at this stuff.

1 mom found this helpful
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K.B.

answers from Detroit on

We have always had Verizon(we love, love, love it) even when they were cellular one and have had no issues with them. Right now we have 5 phones with unlimited text, pix and flix, 2 of them have the Data packages 1 of those is unlimited Data. We all get unlimited verizon mobile to mobile (most of our family have verizon also) and 10 non verizon numbers unlimited use. As of now our Bill is $233 a month. The two data package phones are Samsung Stratosphere Droid Phones (smart phones) and we also have Maps which is the same type of program as GPS but it is free unlike VZ nav/gps which was $10 a month. They have a lot of FREE phones with a 2 year contract. We have always had great service and that coverage area beats everyone that we know who don't have Verizon. You can call them and ask any questions to see if they have a package for you that suits your budget and needs. If you visit a store be sure it is a REAL verizon store some say they are but they really aren't and they charge you more for the phones and services in the store. Good Luck.

1 mom found this helpful
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G.H.

answers from Chicago on

I've been with U.S. Cellular for about 15 years. I can count on one hand how many drop calls I have had. My husband works in a Nuclear Power Plant and couldn't get any reception with AT&T or Sprint but NEVER dropped any calls and had great reception with U.S. Cellular. He drives thru cornfields and doesn't drop any calls too.

1 mom found this helpful

T.F.

answers from Dallas on

We have AT&T and we all 3 have the latest IPhone. We have unlimited text and data, minutes are 2100 a month.

We all text a lot and hubby is the one who uses the minutes because we use these for our company use as well.

We pay a little over $200 a month. We usually upgrade the phones one at a time as the newer models become available at nominal fees.

You could probably do better than $200 a month depending on the plan you personalize for yourself.

We've been with AT&T for years and never had issues with them.

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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❤.I.

answers from Albuquerque on

We just changed over to consumer cellular. I don't know if it'll work for you, all depends on how many minutes you use. You can check out their plans on their website. No contract and you can change your plan anytime during your billing cycle. I don't know if our phones are considered smart phones but you can go online with them (we don't use that feature though), it also looks like they have some kind of maps feature. We paid $90.00 a piece. Too bad you can't do that add a line thing, it's $10. Just got our first bill and it was $40 bucks, we had verizon before and were paying over 70 a month. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

T.K.

answers from Dallas on

I've always been very happy with Verizon. No dropped calls or bad reception until I get far into the Texas badlands. They have some Android smart phones for around $100 right now.

1 mom found this helpful

M.J.

answers from Milwaukee on

I have an iPhone and I LOVE IT! I would not go with Att though. They don't have an unlimited data plan. I would check with Verizon or Sprint.

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