The Prepaid Wireless and MVNO Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQ”)
Revision Date: 5/15/2013
This is the Prepaid Wireless FAQ. It answers the most frequently asked questions about prepaid wireless services and includes a comparison of many of the major Mobile Virtual Network Operators (“MVNO”) who offer prepaid wireless service.
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Table of Contents
[1]: What is a Prepaid Mobile Phone and What is an MVNO?
[1.1]: What is a Prepaid Mobile Phone?
[1.2]: What is a MVNO?
[2]: Who has the best coverage?
[3]: Who has the best prices?
[3.1]: What if I want a lifeline phone that I never plan to use?
[3.2]: What if I want something else?
[3.3]: Where can I buy discounted refills?
[4]: What is the difference between GSM and CDMA? Which should I choose?
[4.1]: How do GSM and CDMA differ with respect to bringing my own phone?
[4.2]: If I want to Bring My Own Device to a GSM MVNO, what do I need to buy?
[5]: Who are the major MVNOs and how do they differ from one another?
[5.1]: Ting
[5.2]: Airvoice Wireless
[5.3]: Aio Wireless
[5.4]: Spot Mobile
[5.5]: Red Pocket Mobile
[5.6]: Walmart Family Mobile
[5.7]: Go Smart Mobile
[5.8]: Republic Wireless
[5.9]: Straight Talk/Net10
[5.10]: Other AT&T MVNOs
[5.11]: Other Tmobile MVNOs
[5.12]: Other Sprint MVNOs
[5.13]: Verizon MVNOs
[5.14]: MVNOs for international travelers
[5.15]: Sprint (Special Discount)
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[1]: What is a Prepaid Mobile Phone and What is an MVNO?
[1.1]: What is a Prepaid Mobile Phone?
A prepaid mobile phone is a phone that can be activated without a credit check, by paying for service in advance. Prepaid mobile phones offer a number of advantages over contracted mobile plans. Among other things, prepaid phones do not require a credit check and thus can be bought and activated by anyone, regardless of their age, credit score, or immigration status. In addition, prepaid phones do not require you to commit to a lengthy contract or to pay a termination fee if you choose to cancel before a certain period of time. Because you pay in advance, it is usually impossible to incur expensive roaming charges on a prepaid phone.
Prepaid services typically offer a monthly rate for a certain amount of voice calls, text messages, and data (i.e., $45.00 per month for unlimited talk, text, and data) or they require you to apply a dollar amount to your account and then charge a per minute, per text, and/or per MB fee (i.e., ten cents per minute, five cents per text, etc.) until the balance is depleted.
For providers that require you to submit money in advance to pay for services on a per minute basis, the money you apply to the account typically expires after a certain period of time (usually between 30 days and 1-year, depending upon the amount that you deposit). If you make an additional deposit before the period expires, your entire balance gets rolled over to the expiration date based upon the latest deposit. However, if you fail to refill before the expiration date, you usually lose any unused money.
Refills can usually be made by purchasing refill cards at retailers or online, or by using a credit card on the provider’s web-site. Most providers have an auto-refill option that will allow your credit card to be charged automatically for monthly services or additional deposits.
[1.2]: What is a MVNO?
A Mobile Virtual Network Operator (“MVNO”) is a company that offers mobile telephone services by reselling the mobile services of another carrier, usually with certain limitations, but at a lower cost. In the U.S., there are MVNOs that resell AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon services at a lower cost than you can obtain service directly from any of them. Although the MVNOs often offer services at a lower price, there are usually some differences between the services provided by an MVNO and the services provided by the major carriers.
AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon each have roaming agreements that allow you to use someone else’s network in areas that they don’t service. For example, if you sign up with Sprint and you roam outside of Sprint’s relatively small nationwide CDMA network, you can make calls using Verizon’s CDMA network at no extra charge. AT&T and T-Mobile have similar agreements with smaller regional GSM carriers, and with each other. Even Verizon has roaming agreements with certain rural CDMA carriers where it has no coverage itself. In addition, Verizon operates some GSM towers in certain rural areas (like Southeastern Oregon) that its CDMA customers cannot use, but which it allows AT&T and T-Mobile customers to use under a roaming agreement.
Many of the MVNOs do not have these same roaming agreements. Some of the MVNOs limit their customers to their underlying carrier’s towers only. Others allow roaming for voice calls, but not data.
If you live in an urban area where the MVNO’s underlying carrier has good coverage, and you don’t mind the possibility of slower data, an MVNO might be a good idea, and might save you a lot of money.
[2]: Who has the best coverage?
The “best coverage” depends upon who you are and where you’re going to use your phone. You can start by checking out the coverage maps for each provider, but they are not always accurate. A list of MVNOs is included in section 5 of this FAQ, along with a description of their coverage and links to their coverage map.
The best way to find out whether a particular provider has the best coverage for you is to buy a phone and test it where you intend to use it. Also, if you have used an AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, or Verizon phone in your area in the past and you weren’t roaming, it is a good bet that an MVNO that uses the same network will have the same coverage that you are accustomed to. See section 5 of this FAQ, below, for a list of the major MVNOs and their underlying provider and coverage area.
You can also check the coverage of the four major carriers as reported by real world users at:
http://www.rootmetrics.com/
or
http://www.sensorly.com
Root Metrics has an Android and Apple app that you can use to do tests and which can run in the background monitoring signal strength and reporting in to improve the maps. Sensorly has a similar Android app.
If you travel throughout the United States and want the provider who has the most coverage, you’ll find that Verizon Wireless has the most coverage nationwide.
Sprint has very limited coverage on its own network, but if you have service from Sprint (or the Sprint MVNOs that allow voice roaming), you can roam on Verizon. Sprint is generally cheaper than Verizon. The trade-off is that as you move from Sprint towers to Verizon towers, any active calls will be dropped.
T-mobile and AT&T have roughly the same coverage area, however AT&T covers a few small areas that T-mobile doesn’t (and vice versa). If you subscribe to AT&T, you can roam on T-Mobile, and vice versa.
[3]: Who has the best prices?
The “best price” depends upon who you are, where you want to use the phone, what phone you want to use, and how many minutes you’ll use the phone for voice calls, how many text messages you intend to send, how many picture messages you intend to send, how many megabytes of data you intend to use, and the data speed you want. Read section 5, below, and decide which one is best for you.
[3.1]: What if I want a lifeline phone that I never plan to use?
If you want a lifeline phone you never plan to use, you can get that for as low as $20 per year (with that amount going towards phone calls). Look at Spot Mobile and Airvoice Wireless.
[3.2]: What if I want something else?
Read section 5 of this FAQ below for a detailed comparison. We like Ting, Airvoice Wireless, and Walmart Family Mobile because they have a large coverage area, reasonable pricing, honest advertising, and excellent customer service.
Straight Talk is also a good choice because they have reasonable pricing and the same coverage as their underlying carrier, but their customer service is terrible.
As you’ll see, you can get cheaper, but you’ll get what you pay for, and if you have a problem, you’ll regret choosing cheap over good.
[3.3]: Where can I buy discounted refills?
http://callingmart.com
http://www.wirelessrefill.com
http://www.prepaidonline.com
[4]: What is the difference between GSM and CDMA? Which should I choose?
GSM and CDMA are different technologies for carrying digital mobile phone calls. In the United States, Sprint and Verizon use CDMA and AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. The next generation version of GSM is called UMTS, and AT&T uses that technology in certain markets, particularly Montana and the surrounding states. AT&T refers to these areas as requiring a “3G phone.”
Generally speaking, CDMA networks can use higher power levels and thus reach larger areas and penetrate buildings better than GSM. As a result, CDMA handsets have significantly shorter battery life than GSM handsets. GSM handsets tend to have better call quality than CDMA handsets. On CDMA handsets, female adults and children tend to sound muffled, especially if they are talking on a Bluetooth headset.
GSM phones have better call management options, including the ability to add a call that you receive to a conference call, and the ability to have up to five callers conferenced together. CDMA phones generally only support 3-way calling, and only with calls placed from the handset to other users.
In addition, it is easier to bring your own device to a GSM Network.
Most of the major providers are making plans to migrate their nationwide networks to LTE, which is a uniform standard for carrying both voice and data, and is much more efficient than current CDMA or GSM implementations.
[4.1]: How do GSM and CDMA differ with respect to bringing my own phone?
GSM phones use a small plastic card (a SIM card) to hold your phone number and subscriber information. Generally, speaking, if you subscribe to GSM service, you can move your SIM card from one phone to another, and can easily Bring Your Own Device (“BYOD”).
However, there are limitations: Your phone and your SIM card must be unlocked. Most MVNOs and major U.S. Mobile companies that use GSM technology use unlocked SIMs. The only exception is Tracfone and its subsidiaries (Net10 and Straight Talk). Their phones include locked SIMs which cannot be moved from phone to phone. However, you can now buy an unlocked SIM directly from Straight Talk that you can use on any unlocked phone (except Blackberry and Tracfone devices).
Most major U.S. Mobile Companies lock the phones that they sell. Most of the major carriers will unlock the phone if you have been a customer in good standing for a certain period of time or if you paid full price for the phone, and there are many enterprising persons who will obtain the unlock codes for a fee (usually between $5.00 and $10.00).
In addition, there is a plethora of online retailers that will sell unlocked GSM phones.
Also, AT&T and T-Mobile use different bands for high speed data, and so if you want to bring a phone to AT&T and use 3G/4G data, it must support 850 Mhz and/or 1,900 Mhz HSDPA. If you want to use 3G on T-Mobile, your phone must support HSDPA on 1700 Mhz. Note that T-Mobile is in the process of activating HSDPA on 1900 Mhz in many markets, and so in the future, T-Mobile will support high speed data on 1900 Mhz as well.
CDMA phones do not use SIM cards. Your phone number and subscriber information are stored on the phone itself. As a result, generally speaking, you can only use a phone on a particular provider if that provider allows it. Presently, the two CDMA carriers in the United States are Verizon and Sprint, and they do not allow customers to bring phones from one to the other. However, several Sprint MVNOs do allow customers to bring certain phones from Sprint to the MVNO, and there are Verizon MVNOs that allow customers to bring certain Verizon phones to the MVNO as well.
[4.2]: If I want to Bring My Own Device to a GSM prepaid provider, what do I need to buy?First, you’ll need to decide which prepaid provider you want to use, and determine whether they use AT&T’s towers or T-Mobile’s towers. See section 5 of this FAQ, below, for a list of MVNO providers and which towers they use.
Second, you’ll need to buy a SIM card for the provider of your choice. You can buy a Prepaid SIM card for most of the GSM providers listed in the FAQ on amazon.com or on ebay.com. SIM Cards typically cost $3 to $5.00. Spot Mobile SIM Cards cost around $10.00 on eBay, but include $15.00 of calling credit.
Third, you’ll need to get a compatible phone. If you want to use a GSM Phone on an MVNO that uses AT&T’s towers, consider any AT&T Prepaid Phone (i.e. any AT&T Gophone). Most AT&T GoPhones will work on an AT&T-powered MVNO’s SIM card without unlocking, and the phones will come with the correct bands for AT&T’s high-speed data services. If you want to use a GSM Phone on an MVNO that uses T-Mobile’s towers, consider a T-Mobile Prepaid Phone.
Alternatively, there are a number of web-sites that sell unlocked GSM phones that will work on either AT&T or T-Mobile, including Amazon.com, expansysusa.com, and negrielectronics.com. Most of these devices are phones that were originally sold in Latin America or Europe, and so they often will not have all of the apps or features that a comparable U.S. based phone will have. Some will actually have apps and features that U.S. based phones do not have, such as sharing your data over wifi.
If you want your phone to support high speed data, make sure that it supports the 850/1900 Mhz HSDPA band if you are going to use an AT&T-based MVNO or that it support 1700 Mhz HSDPA if you are going to use a T-Mobile based MVNO.
[5]: Who are the major MVNOs and how do they differ from one another?
[5.1]: Ting
Customer Service #: 855-846-4389 (855-TING-FTW)
Web-Site: Ting.com. Ting’s web-site is a full-featured web-site that allows you to buy phones, view usage, and view detailed records of calls, texts, and data used.
Network: Ting uses Sprint’s network for voice, text, MMS, and data, and allows its users to roam on Verizon’s network for voice and text. This makes Ting unique, because most MVNOs do not allow roaming off of their primary network.
Cost: Ting charges $6.00 per month per phone, and then charges based upon the total number of minutes, texts, MMS, and megabytes of data that you use on all of your phones combined.
Phones: In order to use Ting, you must either buy a phone directly from Ting, or bring an eligible Sprint phone to Ting. Ting’s Android phones include software that allows you to use them as a mobile hotspot without paying any fees above the standard data charges. Ting sells a broad range of Android devices and a few flip phones. The iPhone is not currently available through Ting.
Customer Service: Ting has excellent customer service, which is delivered from a call center in Toronto, Canada. Ting typically has no hold times to reach customer service. When you call Ting, you reach a live representative, and not a computer system. After you are done speaking with a Ting representative, you will receive an email asking you to rate the person who assisted you, and offering further help if you are not satisfied.
Address:
Ting/Tucows
96 Mowat Ave.
Toronto, Ontario M6K 3M1
Notes: Ting allows roaming in Canada on CDMA providers (Bell in Eastern Canada and Telus in Western Canada) for $.15 per minute (incoming and outgoing to US or Canada). Text Messaging is free. Data roaming in Canada is $.50 MB. Ting includes detailed information about international roaming on their web-site: https://ting.com/outside_usa
[5.2]: Airvoice Wireless
Customer Service #: 888-944-2355
Web-Site: airvoicewireless.com. Airvoice’s web-site sells a few non-smartphones and an Airvoice SIM card that can be used to provide Airvoice service on a compatible phone.
Network: Airvoice uses AT&T’s prepaid network for voice, text, MMS, and data. Airvoice does not allow roaming.
Cost: Airvoice has a wide variety of plans. Their most notable plans are the $30.00 unlimited talk and text plan and the $40 unlimited talk, unlimited text, and 500MB of data plan.
Phones: Airvoice uses a SIM card that will work in any unlocked GSM phone or any AT&T phone. For high speed data, the phone must support 850 Mhz and/or 1900 Mhz.
Customer Service: Airvoice is reported to offer excellent customer service from a U.S. based call center.
Address:
2425 Franklin Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302
[5.3]: Aio Wireless
Customer Service #: 855-246-2461
Web-chat available on Aio’s web-site at http://www.aiowireless.com/contactus.html
Web-Site: aiowireless.com.
Network: same coverage as at&t’s gophone.
Cost: Aio has 3 plans with unlimited talk, text, and unlimited low-speed data. The $55.00 per month plan also includes 2GB of unlimited high speed data on at&t’s HSDPA network. The $70.00 per month plan includes 7GB of high speed data on at&t’s HSDPA network. The $40.00 per month plan includes 250MB of high speed data on at&t’s HSDPA network.
Aio representatives are unable to state a specific data speed that a customer will receive after using up the allotment of high speed data. Additional 1 GB blocks of high speed data can be purchased for $10 each.
At&t’s LTE network is not available
Aio also has a “Tablet” plan that includes 250MB of high speed data for $15.00 per month. After the 250MB is used, you can purchase additional 1GB blocks for $10.00 each.
Unlike many competing carriers, these prices include all taxes and fees.
Phones: Aio sells a variety of phones on its web-site. Aio also sells a SIM card that can be used in any compatible phone.
Aio supports visual voicemail on iPhone natively and on Android devices using an app that is available in the app store.
Customer Service: Aio provides customer service from a call center in Honduras. When I called on day-2, my calls were answered quickly. The single representative that I spoke with spoke perfect English and did not hesitate to escalate my call when I asked questions to which she did not know the answer.
Stores: Aio has retail stores in some markets. The stores are independently owned and operated by third parties.
Address:
Aio Wireless LLC
12725 Morris Road
Alpharetta, GA 30004
and
Aio Wireless LLC
1025 Lenox Park Blvd., 5th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30319
Notes: Aio Wireless is a subsidiary of at&t. As of May 2013, it operates in three cities, but it plans to expand to other markets in the future. Although it advertises “unlimited” service, Aio’s web-site includes a reasonable use policy which imposes significant limits on the use of voice, text, and data services.
[5.4]: Spot Mobile
Customer Service #: 866-450-2353
Web-Site: spotmobile.com.
Network: Spot Mobile uses T-Mobile’s prepaid network for voice, text, MMS, and data. Spot Mobile may allow roaming on certain regional networks, but not on AT&T.
Cost: Spot Mobile has a wide variety of plans on their web-site. Their most notable plan allows you to contribute $5.00 every 90 days to keep your phone active. As long as you renew before 90 days expires, your balance will roll over. Voice is billed against your balance at 10 cents per minute and 5 cents per text.
Spot Mobile also offers a $39.99 plan with unlimited talk, unlimited text, and 500MB of data at 4G speeds (thereafter 2G speeds). Spot Mobile also offers a $49.99 plan with unlimited talk, unlimited text, and 1GB of data at 4G speeds (thereafter 2G speeds).
Phones: Spot Mobile sells a SIM card that will work in any unlocked GSM phone or any T-Mobile phone. For high speed data, the phone must support T-Mobile’s band for High Speed data.
Customer Service: Spot Mobile offers very good customer service from a call center in Miami, Florida. Typical wait times are 0 to 5 minutes.
Address:
300 71st St. Suite 500, Miami Beach, FL 33141
Administrative Offices
Phone: 305-993-6700 | Fax: 305-993-6701
Email: support@spotmobile.com
[5.5]: Red Pocket Mobile
Customer Service #: 888-993-3888
Web-Site: goredpocket.com
Email Address: cs@redpocketmobile.com
Network: Red Pocket Mobile uses AT&T’s prepaid network.
Cost: Red Pocket Mobile has a wide variety of plans on their web-site, including various plans with unlimited talk and text, and varying amounts of data. Their most notable current plan is the $29.99 unlimited talk and text, with 10 MB of mobile data.
Phones: Red Pocket Mobile sells a SIM card that will work in any unlocked GSM phone or any AT&T phone. For high speed data, the phone must support AT&T’s bands for High Speed data (850 Mhz and/or 1900 Mhz). Red Pocket sells a variety of phones on their web-site.
Customer Service: Red Pocket Mobile offers customer service via a toll-free number, via a web-chat, and via e-mail. They offer customer service in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Filipino. If you reach their U.S.-based call center, they offer excellent service. However, their overseas call center offers very poor customer service.
Address:
Red Pocket, Inc., 2060D Avenida De Los Arboles, Suite 288, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
[5.6]: Walmart Family Mobile
Customer Service #: 877-440-9758
Web-Site: myfamilymobile.com
Network: Tmobile with some roaming partners.
Cost: $40.00 per month for unlimited talk, text, and 1GB of data at 3G speeds (thereafter 2G speeds). $35.00 for additional lines, drawing from the same pool of data.
Phones: WFM sells a variety of T-Mobile phones on its web-site and at Walmart.com and Walmart.
Customer Service: Walmart Family Mobile offers very good customer service from a U.S. based call center.
Notes: WFM is operated directly by T-Mobile.
[5.7]: Go Smart Mobile
Customer Service #: 877-440-9758
Web-Site: gosmartmobile.com
Network: Tmobile’s prepaid network
Cost: $30 for unlimited talk and text. $35 for unlimited talk, unlimited text, and unlimited slow (2G) data, and $45.00 for unlimited talk, text, and 3G data.
Phones: Go Smart Mobile sells SIM cards and has a very small selection of T-Mobile phones on its web-site.
Customer Service: Go Smart Mobile offers customer service from a U.S. based call center.
Notes: Go Smart Mobile is operated directly by T-Mobile.
[5.8]: Republic Wireless
Customer Service #: None.
Web-Site: republicwireless.com
Network: Sprint with voice and text roaming on Verizon. Can also make calls using Wifi connections worldwide.
Cost: $19.00 per month for unlimited talk, text, and data. Customers are expected to use Wifi calling whenever possible.
Phones: Republic Wireless sells a single phone, the Motorola Defy XT for $249.00.
Customer Service: Republic Wireless offers customer service via a forums section on its web-site and via e-mail. Customer service is very slow, even to correct serious problems.
Address:
Bandwidth.com
4001 Weston Parkway
Cary, NC 27513
Notes: Republic Wireless is in a public beta test.
[5.9]: Straight Talk/Net10
Straight Talk and Net10 are both brands that are owned and operated by Tracfone Wireless, Inc.
Customer Service #: 877-430-2355
Web-Site: straightttalk.com or net10.com
Web-chat: Visit StraightTalk.com, click on “Support,” and then the “FAQ’s” pull-down option. After you arrive at the page, click the “Live Help” button towards the upper right hand corner. Because Straight Talk and Net10 Support are provided by the same agents, Net10 customers can probably use this option as well.
Network: Depending upon the phone, can be AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, or Verizon. AT&T and T-Mobile phones can roam on some roaming partners. Sprint and Verizon phones do not roam.
Cost:
Straight Talk has two plans. The most notable is the $45.00 per month for unlimited talk, unlimited text, and supposedly unlimited data.
Net10 has a number of plans, including a $50.00 unlimited talk, unlimited text, and supposedly unlimited data, and per minute plans.
Phones: Straight Talk sells phones on its web-site, at Walmart stores, and at Walmart.com. They also sell a T-Mobile SIM Card. The Tmobile SIM card will work in unlocked GSM phones and Tmobile phones. Straight Talk also sells the iPhone at Walmart and Walmart.com. The Straight Talk iPhone runs on Verizon’s network. Straight Talk also sells phones on their web-site. The phones you are shown and the network that they will use vary depending upon the zip code that you enter when you choose to shop for a phone.
Net10 sells phones on its web-site, at many stores, and at net10.com. They also sell both an AT&T SIM card and a T-Mobile SIM Card. The AT&T SIM card will work in unlocked GSM phones and AT&T phones. The Tmobile SIM card will work in unlocked GSM phones and Tmobile phones. Even on unlimited plans, the at&t SIM card is limited to 1.5gb of data.
After entering your ZIP code, look in the URL (http:/) address in your browser. Look for the letters after “market=”.
If “GSM4” appears in URL, your list of phones will include GSM phones (model #s ending in G and certain Smartphones) that will operate on AT&T’s network.
If “GSM5” appears, your list will include GSM phones (model #s ending in G) that will operate on T-Mobile’s network.
If “CO” appears, your list will include CDMA phones (model #s ending in C) that will operate on Verizon’s CDMA network.
If you see “SPR”, your list will include Android smartphones that operate on the Sprint network. Note: Because Straight Talk’s Sprint phones do not roam and because Sprint’s network is very limited, I recommend that you avoid Straight Talk phones that use Sprint’s network.
If you see “AT”, your list will include certain Smartphones that operate on the AT&T network.
You may also see a combination of these letters. For example, GSM5ATSPRCO would mean a combination of T-Mobile (Model #s ending in G), Verizon (model #s ending in C), AT&T (Smartphones), and Sprint (mostly Android) phones. COGSM4 means that you’ll see Verizon CDMA phones (model #s ending in C) and AT&T GSM phones (model #s ending in G AND Nokia Symbian Smartphones).
If you already own a GSM phone, you can determine which network your phone uses by looking at the SIM card, which is usually located underneath the battery. If the numbers on the SIM card begin with 890126, your phone uses T-Mobile’s network. If the numbers on the SIM card begin with 890141, your phone users AT&T’s network.
Customer Service: Straight Talk and Net10 provide customer service from call centers in the Phillipines and in the U.S. They are well known for providing TERRIBLE customer service. Customers have reported waiting hours on the phone only to be transferred to a busy signal, or disconnected.
Address:
Straight Talk or Net10
Attention: Executive Resolution Department
9700 NW 112th Avenue
Miami, FL 33178
Notes: Straight Talk has been reported to slow the data speed or even terminate service for people who it accuses of abusing its “unlimited data.”
If you have trouble try calling the Executive Resolutions Department: 800-876-5753, sending an email to ST.CorpResolutionTeam@straighttalk.com, or reaching out to Straight Talk on its Facebook page.
If you choose to auto-refill using Straight Talk’s web-site, you will be charged various local taxes and fees on top of the plan price. You can avoid these fees by purchasing airtime cards from Walmart or Walmart.com and applying them on StraightTalk.com.
[5.10]: Other AT&T MVNOs
These other AT&T MVNOs do not include full reports because I have either not used them, because I don’t find any of their plans notable compared to the others, or because they have terrible customer service.
H2O Wireless- Long hold times and terrible customer service.
Jolt Mobile- Have not used.
Pure Talk USA- Have not used.
Good2Go Mobile- New. also offers Sprint phones
[5.11]: Other Tmobile MVNOs
Lycamobile- New. Offers very competitive Pay as You Go plans. Appears to permit $5.00 refills every 90 days to keep account active. Allows roaming in other countries at a range of prices (in Canada: $1.84 per minute for outgoing callls and FREE incoming calls).
Ultra Mobile- Have not used.
Solavei- $49.00 per month for unlimited talk, text, and data. First 4gb of data at 4G speeds. Thereafter, at 2G speeds (119 kbps). Solavei operates its business as a multi-level marketing scheme. You can earn discounts and free service by signing up additional customers.
These other T-Mobile MVNOs do not include full reports because I have either not used them, because I don’t find any of their plans notable compared to the others, or because they have terrible customer service.
PlatinumTel – www.platinumtel.com (no experience with them – new to T-Mobile – was a Sprint MVNO)
Simple Mobile- Terrible customer service.
[5.12]: Other Sprint MVNOs
Chit Chat Mobile- New. Appears to have Verizon Roaming. They have a $19.99 unlimited talk and text plan, which makes them notable. They also sell the Kyocera Duramax, which is a milspec durable flip phone. A good deal for someone who only needs talk and text, wants a durable non-smartphone. Allows you to Bring Your Own Sprint Device with limitations (no iPhones, etc.).
Zact.com- New. Appears similar to Ting.com, but with more precise buckets, voice and data roaming on Verizon, a much more limited selection of phones, and (presently) no ability to bring your own Sprint device.
These other Sprint MVNOs do not include full reports because they have Sprint-only coverage, which is very limited, and there are other MVNOs with similar plans that offer Sprint coverage with some roaming (listed above).
iWireless – iwirelesshome.com
Virgin Mobile – www.virginmobile.com (terrible customer service)
Boost Mobile – www.boostmobile.com (terrible customer service)
Prepayd Wireless – www.prepaydwireless.com
Liberty Wireless
Good2Go Mobile- also offers AT&T SIMs
ecomobile
http://www.ecomobile.com/
Kajeet
http://www.kajeet.com/4u/index.html
peeps mobile
http://peepsmobile.com/
Flash Wireless
https://www.flashwireless.com/Default.aspx
Credo Mobile
http://www.credomobile.com/ (4G LTE avail. ?)
RingPlus
http://www.ringplus.net/ (4G LTE avail. ?)
Voyager Mobile
http://www.voyagermobile.com/ (4G LTE avail. ?)
Votel Mobile
http://www.votelmobile.com/
Kroger iwireless
https://krogeriwireless.com/
TotalCall Mobile
http://www.totalcallmobile.com/
ReadyMobile PCS
http://www.readymobile.com/
STiMobile
http://www.stimobile.com/rates-services.html
Trumpet Mobile
http://www.trumpetmobile.com/
Airlink Mobile
https://www.airlinkmobile.com/Index.php
Movida Cellular
http://www.movidacellular.com/
[5.13] Verizon MVNOs
SelectelWireless- New; allows BYO Verizon Phone.
TalkForGood
Page Plus- Recently purchased by American Movil (which operates Straight Talk, Net10, and Simple Mobile)
The above Verizon MVNO’s have a limited ability to bring certain Verizon phones. Typically, these are limited to postpaid (no PREPAID phones) and non-iPhone.
NextG Mobile
[5.14]: MVNOs for international travelers
Tru – truphone.com
Piranha Mobile – http://piranha-mobile.com/
World SIM – https://www.worldsim.com/support/roamingpartners.aspx
Lycamobile- http://www.lycamobile.us/en/
[5.15]: Sprint (Special Discount)
Customer Service #: 888-211-4727
Web-Site: Sprint.com
Network: Sprint with roaming on Verizon.
Cost: Varies.
Phones: Varies.
Customer Service: Sprint offers customer service from call centers in the U.S. and Canada.
Notes: This is not a prepaid service. However, we include it because Sprint has a somewhat well-known discount plan that offers 25% off of most of Sprint’s plans called the Sprint Everything Plus Referral Program. The Program gives you the same discount as offered to Sprint’s very best corporate accounts. Public access to the plan was given by Russ S. McGuire, who is Sprint’s Director of Marketing, when he posted instructions on his blog. See www.mcguireslaw.com and follow “Sprint Special Offer” on right hand column to take advantage of this offer.
Discount Link: http://delivery.sprint.com/m/p/nxt/epc/epclanding.asp
Employee E-mail address: Russ.S.McGuire@Sprint.com
Employee Number: 383