Ting Mobile - new way of looking at mobile service.

[Bluerocket]

I was looking for a value phone carrier without sacrificing terribly much in terms of features or networks.
I checked out a lot like virgin mobile, boost mobile etc.  All of them were missing certain parts.

Important features during my survey:
Call forwarding
Network coverage (voice+text most important)
No cost data plan with smartphone
No expensive Data contract, but the ability to use it whenever I want.
No minimum voice contract, like the big carriers.


Eventually I came back with Ting mobile (launched feb 2012 by a tucows subsidiary)
The catch is that you buy your own device, so there is an up-front cost for me it was $310 (they have phones as cheap as $65.

I ended up with a fully functional androud phone (no locked out features like verizon), 3G/4G coverage. 
The plan costs $6/month + utilization tier, no long term contract. 
This is very appealing to me, as I rarely need my phone for much.
The phone runs on the sprint network, with roaming to verizon and others for voice/txt (no other budget carrier has this, even if they run on sprint).
All three categories pool between all devices on your plan, just $6 per device plus use.

End result is that I pay 15-17$ a month with my typical use, I'm on wifi 90% of my  day and dont talk alot.
I stay in the small tier, under 100mins talk, under 100 text, under 100mb data.
Generally you can talk/text as much as you want for cheaper than other carriers, with equivilent data costs.
Example - Talking you'd have to do 2000mins on this to come close the cost of a verizon 450min plan.
There are no freebies/gimicks like free nights or mobile to mobile, but the end costs speaks to why you dont need them.

I expect to have larger bills when I'm on vacation/traveling etc.  Even then I expect it to be less than the $80 smartphone contracts from the big three carriers.

Anyhow,  just thought I'd share.   Different way of thinking,  use less pay less.  Not unlimited large monthly bill no matter what.
www.ting.com


Hope this helps someone

Bobby

[Mitch]

when connected via wifi are you able to use your phone/txt/data for free? Or does it still cost you "minutes or fees".

I believe I make free calls, texts and unlimited internet when connected to wifi with my blackberry - but I could be wrong.

Also, do they have insurance you can put on your phone? My wife can be a bit brutal on technology.

[Krome]

SO you still like it?

[Bluerocket]

I do still like it Mike.

Mitch - I used to have t-mobile blackberry and it wasn't free unless you paid  (but then it was like $10 unlimited via wifi or similar)
On Ting you pay for them, as they dont transit wifi.  There are apps to get them over wifi (google voice and similar) for free.  It is not worth my time to bother as text+calls cost me $8/month.
Warranty would have to be third party like squaretrade (its $69.99/year for up to $700 list phone according to their website).

Another note -  Tax, not sure what people pay?  I paid $2.30 in tax this month for cell, is that low i feel like it is.

Its not for everyone that is for sure, but I do like my bill now.

[Mitch]

i barely use my phone. what is your total monthly bill? This sounds pretty good so far - i guess I do a lot of web surfing daily though. Only about half would be via wifi, i wonder if that would break my bank.

[Bluerocket]

My bill is $17-$19 monthly.

On a typical month I use $19
Under 100 talk
Under 1000 text
Under 100mb data

If I stay under 100 texts its $17.


Billing as as such
$6 - Base to have 1 line
$3 100min talk
$3 100 text
$3 100 data

Which is $15+tax and gets you to about $17 total bill.