Finally out of contract

[v1ru5]

As the title states I am free from my contract. Paying $160 a month for unlimited with 700 mins and a flip phone for my pops is just outrageous. Gonna get him on a straight talk plan. Am considering either straight talk or T-Mobile depending on how the service is where I live. Any advice on jumping ship to a cheaper service?

 

[v1ru5]

Bump

 

[mountainbikermark]

My only advice would be look at the Verizon pre pay option before Straight Talk or T-Mobile.
When I left Verizon for no contract I went to T-Mobile but my wife stayed with Verizon. She got a sweet deal for her uses and the Verizon network that she is comfortable on.

 

[v1ru5]

I talked to a T-Mobile rep and he's sending me a prepay card for $10 that I can return in 20 days to test out the service in my area so worst case I'll be out $4 for two days worth of service. I've been buying my phones used or outright so I really have no reason to be on with Verizon

 

[mountainbikermark]

I was pleasantly surprised at how well T-Mobile had improved signal in my area. Another benefit to them is lack of network congestion. They've got a powerful network where there's signal but a small customer base using it compared to big red and big blue.

 

[v1ru5]

Yeah I was also told that service has came a long way in the last few years so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Also loving the no overages they just slow you to 3g speed which is not a big deal

 

[mountainbikermark]

3G on T-Mobile is much faster than it is on Verizon.
Where I was surprised was the increase in rural coverage BUT in areas where you're roaming on AT&T data network watch your usage because you will get zapped for overages after a very minuscule roaming allotment.

 

[v1ru5]

Well on the smart phones you can turn off the roaming right? I'm ready to ditch big red so fast. Does T-Mobile buy out contracts? Say do an "upgrade" n score a phone at a discount then have T-Mobile buy it out?

 

[Ollie]

Yes. Tmo will pay up to $350 per line terminated if you also turn in your phone to them.

Edit: We just did their free 7 day test drive to confirm their network is good in our area. They send you an iPhone 5S for 7 days to use. They do put a hold on your card for the amount of the phone, but it drops off right away.

 

[v1ru5]

You mean turning in the Verizon phone back to Verizon?

 

[Ollie]

No, turning it in to Tmo.

 

[v1ru5]

Oh awesome, may be a sweet way to get a turbo for cheap and ditch the big red

 

[Ollie]

Switch Carriers without Early Termination Fees No ETF s T-Mobile

 

[v1ru5]

Cool deal I'm feeling very hopeful on the tmob coverage, everything they offer sounds excellent compared to big red. I did notice once the smart phones started taking off on Verizon the 3g was garbage, YouTube would crawl when it used to work fine

 

[Ollie]

I just got 4 lines with unlimited talk and text, free music streaming, and 5gb of data each for $180 a month. I paid full price for the phones though. Otherwise with their Jump monthly phone installments it would have been $320.