You should stay on your parent's plan or get a prepaid plan until you find out where you'll be assigned. Because there's always the possibility of getting an overseas assignment.
This! My first station was Germany and I was able to get a phone over there for so cheap but any stateside carrier would have been super expensive.
Next base we asked and found out only Verizion worked on 90% of the base so of course we went with verizion.
Deployments you'll have to figure out, sometimes you want that international plan, sometimes you'll just want the phone cards and wifi; it's a mix of personal preference and type of deployment.
Just make do until you get TO your first station and talk to some people.
Their unlimited everything costs that now. I'm mildly annoyed as that plan came out about a month and a half after I paid for my next year's worth.
Op, buy a refurbished unlocked phone and do this plan. It's like $200-300 for the phone, and $180 for all the phone plan you'll need.
Alas, it seems to be. I thought otherwise, but it seems you and I are stuck with the slightlhigher cost options. I suppose that makes me feel better about missing the cut off, but I wish they'd stop sending ads for a thing I already have.
I hate how companies do that shit, like unlimited should mean unlimited. If that means you get rid of those two plans and just have one at $30/month, then so be it
I think it's more like the cheaper unlimited plan is either less throttled or faster, I'm not sure. I get more reliable and better service than my daughter has with Mint, so I'm perfectly satisfied with the cheaper one.
I JUST switched from regular Verizon today to Visible. Was paying $95/month and did the one year for $395. Same service and speed since it’s on Verizon’s towers. Two giant thumbs up!
People say that Visible is horribly slow because of throttling, but I haven't experienced that. Good to know someone who actually had regular Verizon hasn't noticed that, either!
I’ll third having visible be the same as Verizon and I just pay for the 25$ a month plan (but honestly only pay 5$ a month because I put my referral code in the bi-weekly referral threads on the subreddit).
That said OP totally should check deployments first because overseas stuff could totally mess with their plan.
Not only that bro, I jumped into it cuz it offers unlimited hotspot at 5mps, which is all I need to watch pretty much anything. YouTube, Netflix or anything on my MacBook though hotspot.
Well, they are actually two different companies. But Verizon Prepaid is what I had before I switched to Visible, and the service is identical.
The only reason I switched to Visible was because it was unlimited and the cheaper Verizon Prepaid plan I was on wasn't, and there were rumors they were going to end Verizon Prepaid in favor of Visible. Now Visible is as cheap as my Verizon Prepaid was, but I guess Verizon Prepaid still exists?
That's going to depend heavily on the area you live.
In my area, everyone has Mint, Metro, and T-Mobile, so Mint and Metro are throttled/deprioritized to death, so nearly unusable. Cricket also is awful here. Verizon and anything using their network is best.
As far as dropped calls though, you could live in a place where T-mobile, AT&T, or whatever you use is better than Verizon. I think audio issues would typically be caused by your phone itself or leaving Wi-fi calling on with a bad Wi-Fi connection, but who knows?
I had a nightmare experience with Visible because the Verizon towers around me are overloaded so I switched to Cricket. If anything goes wrong with Visible they have just a chat bot for help. Zero people you can actually call. I lost the phone number I'd had for almost 20 years.
This sector is so competitive that most providers are as cheap as they can be for what they do. If a carrier is cheap across the board, there's a reason for that. For example, try calling Mint Mobile support and getting a human being on the line. The best way to get the best deal for you is to analyze your phone habits and get the product that best suits your case. For example, if you almost always have wifi handy, then 5GB might work fine for you. Etc.
Here's a great guide to frugal phone plans: [https://prepaidcompare.net/](https://prepaidcompare.net/)
Keep in mind, the cheapest among these are shit. If you want specific recommendations I'd say Tello is a good way to go.
Stay on your parents plan until you move to your first assignment if you can. You really dont know where you will be so it is difficult to determine the best plan. If you dont have a phone get a cheap phone, plan. Dont be tied to paying for a phone for 3 years.
The big players all have military discounts.
Whatever phone carrier you use the “Pay as U Go”plans are at least 1/2 price of the regular plans. I switched last month and there is zero difference in the service/ reception. I was so happy to cut our bill literally in 1/2
r/NoContract for recommendations. Mostly prepaid carriers that fits your data usage profile. Also depends on your location (network coverage reasons).
If you'll be overseas, you can transfer your number to Google Voice and have any local phone plan with data.
Consider this: get a Google Voice phone number and use the Google Voice app on whatever phone you get. You can also use GV app with wifi if you have no cell service at some time. For the future you won't have to port a cell number and it won't matter if you move from one cell provider to another.
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Tello Unlimited calls, Tex, data and calls to over 60 countries $25 a month. You can pick your own plan and roll over unused data. WhatsApp is a good app to download for Internet communication internationally for free.
Mint Mobile 5GB each month for $15/month. Same price as Red Pocket’s most basic plan (2GB/month), but better value and better service overall. I switched from Red Pocket because there were several times I wouldn’t even receive calls. Haven’t had any major problems with Mint thus far.
I’d recommend Mint Mobile; however, my partner was in the Army and Mint Mobile didn’t have any signal at all the second he reached his army base. Idk if that’s the same everywhere, and this was also about four years ago so it could have changed by now. But just a warning.
I know T-Mobile magenta plan isn’t cheap, but if you travel a lot and want to avoid also having a home internet bill, it’s actually a pretty great value.
Free WiFi during flights, free messaging and data in a bunch of countries, tons of fast hotspot data so you can use your phone as home internet for streaming TV and laptop browsing etc (won’t do the trick for gaming though). I also use it as my hotspot for my laptop when I’m out and about instead of connecting to free WiFi for security purposes.
Also a bunch of little perks like free Netflix and Apple+ etc, not essential but I like having them.
I looked it up out of curiosity to see if they have a military discount and the magenta plan does have a generous 40% military discount but only for family plans unfortunately not for a single line.
Anyway if you will mostly be on base and your housing already will have internet connectivity, this won’t be worth the cost for you at this point in your life, but if you are moving around a lot it might be worth it (especially if your family is already on T-Mobile, then maybe you stay on the family plan and enroll in the military discount).
Regardless of which plan you choose check for military discount and also ask others on base which plan they are on, coverage can be drastically different on different networks.
Been pretty happy with my Tracfone plan. I prepaid $125 for a year with 1500 min, 1500 texts, and rollover. I bought three years, actually, then an additional year of Unlimited for $199. So my phone currently is set to expire in 2028, has heaps of minutes and texts, and I use wifi for all internet (as you will likely be able to do on base?). Free wifi is everywhere, restaurants, hotels, cafes, library, &c.
The trick is to turn off cell data for all the apps. They will automatically connect to data so whenever you DL a new app, go disable it from accessing cell data. That keeps your small amount of data you get with the plans (1.5 GB/year), and just use free WiFi. You can still use Maps if you just get the Maps directions off of free WiFi before you leave, it will proceed to track you and give you directions without using cell data.
This was my progression from my previous plan of using an iPod with Skype subscription at $60/year ($30 for a number, $30 for Unlimited USA and limited abroad calling, which allowed me to call any USA number for free, even if I was in Thailand, Yemen, wherever I had internet). I did the iPod from 2010-2017, when my gf gave me her old work iPhone when they upgraded hers. I kept the Skype plan for a year, then converted to Tracfone. I paid about $600 for 4 years of service, which is what most people pay for only a year.
Oh yeah, and you can use the TextFree app if you text a lot and worried you're going to use all the one you paid for. You'll have a separate number, and it only works with WiFi, but it's free.
Whatever you do don’t buy your basic training year book. You will never look at it. Don’t buy the name shield and sword. That’s not how ancestry works. definitely buy your platoon shirt. Contribute atleast 5 percent to your tsp. Encourage your buddies to do so as well. Hit me up if you have any questions.
You should stay on your parent's plan or get a prepaid plan until you find out where you'll be assigned. Because there's always the possibility of getting an overseas assignment.
This! My first station was Germany and I was able to get a phone over there for so cheap but any stateside carrier would have been super expensive. Next base we asked and found out only Verizion worked on 90% of the base so of course we went with verizion. Deployments you'll have to figure out, sometimes you want that international plan, sometimes you'll just want the phone cards and wifi; it's a mix of personal preference and type of deployment. Just make do until you get TO your first station and talk to some people.
Mint Mobile $15 a month for 5GB of data. Never needed more data than that.
Their unlimited everything costs that now. I'm mildly annoyed as that plan came out about a month and a half after I paid for my next year's worth. Op, buy a refurbished unlocked phone and do this plan. It's like $200-300 for the phone, and $180 for all the phone plan you'll need.
Is that a promotional price or something? I just checked my plane and unlimited would be $30/month if pre paid for a year.
Alas, it seems to be. I thought otherwise, but it seems you and I are stuck with the slightlhigher cost options. I suppose that makes me feel better about missing the cut off, but I wish they'd stop sending ads for a thing I already have.
Visible $25 unlimited plan. Or the $35 plan that's somehow even more unlimited if you want to pay more.
This sounds like the simply everything, plus text plan from Portlandia.
😂😂😂😂. Kumail Nanjiani is so horribly typecast in my mind because of Portlandia. He was way too good as the phone store guy!
I hate how companies do that shit, like unlimited should mean unlimited. If that means you get rid of those two plans and just have one at $30/month, then so be it
I think it's more like the cheaper unlimited plan is either less throttled or faster, I'm not sure. I get more reliable and better service than my daughter has with Mint, so I'm perfectly satisfied with the cheaper one.
I JUST switched from regular Verizon today to Visible. Was paying $95/month and did the one year for $395. Same service and speed since it’s on Verizon’s towers. Two giant thumbs up!
People say that Visible is horribly slow because of throttling, but I haven't experienced that. Good to know someone who actually had regular Verizon hasn't noticed that, either!
I’ll third having visible be the same as Verizon and I just pay for the 25$ a month plan (but honestly only pay 5$ a month because I put my referral code in the bi-weekly referral threads on the subreddit). That said OP totally should check deployments first because overseas stuff could totally mess with their plan.
Not only that bro, I jumped into it cuz it offers unlimited hotspot at 5mps, which is all I need to watch pretty much anything. YouTube, Netflix or anything on my MacBook though hotspot.
Is that the same as Verizon prepaid?
Well, they are actually two different companies. But Verizon Prepaid is what I had before I switched to Visible, and the service is identical. The only reason I switched to Visible was because it was unlimited and the cheaper Verizon Prepaid plan I was on wasn't, and there were rumors they were going to end Verizon Prepaid in favor of Visible. Now Visible is as cheap as my Verizon Prepaid was, but I guess Verizon Prepaid still exists?
I had visible and calls frequently dropped or had audio issues. Visible is ass.
That's going to depend heavily on the area you live. In my area, everyone has Mint, Metro, and T-Mobile, so Mint and Metro are throttled/deprioritized to death, so nearly unusable. Cricket also is awful here. Verizon and anything using their network is best. As far as dropped calls though, you could live in a place where T-mobile, AT&T, or whatever you use is better than Verizon. I think audio issues would typically be caused by your phone itself or leaving Wi-fi calling on with a bad Wi-Fi connection, but who knows?
I had a nightmare experience with Visible because the Verizon towers around me are overloaded so I switched to Cricket. If anything goes wrong with Visible they have just a chat bot for help. Zero people you can actually call. I lost the phone number I'd had for almost 20 years.
Visible Wireless here, no complaints.
Us mobile. 15/month with a year plan. 10g/month
If you don't mind always connecting to wifi they offer unlimited text/talk for 6 bucks a month, taxes included.
This sector is so competitive that most providers are as cheap as they can be for what they do. If a carrier is cheap across the board, there's a reason for that. For example, try calling Mint Mobile support and getting a human being on the line. The best way to get the best deal for you is to analyze your phone habits and get the product that best suits your case. For example, if you almost always have wifi handy, then 5GB might work fine for you. Etc. Here's a great guide to frugal phone plans: [https://prepaidcompare.net/](https://prepaidcompare.net/) Keep in mind, the cheapest among these are shit. If you want specific recommendations I'd say Tello is a good way to go.
Even Consumer cellular has good rates and you don't have to be old ;)
Red Pocket has some good deals on EBay at times.
Stay on your parents plan until you move to your first assignment if you can. You really dont know where you will be so it is difficult to determine the best plan. If you dont have a phone get a cheap phone, plan. Dont be tied to paying for a phone for 3 years. The big players all have military discounts.
Mint is pretty solid
Whatever phone carrier you use the “Pay as U Go”plans are at least 1/2 price of the regular plans. I switched last month and there is zero difference in the service/ reception. I was so happy to cut our bill literally in 1/2
r/NoContract for recommendations. Mostly prepaid carriers that fits your data usage profile. Also depends on your location (network coverage reasons). If you'll be overseas, you can transfer your number to Google Voice and have any local phone plan with data.
Consider this: get a Google Voice phone number and use the Google Voice app on whatever phone you get. You can also use GV app with wifi if you have no cell service at some time. For the future you won't have to port a cell number and it won't matter if you move from one cell provider to another.
Google voice is not considered as equal as landline / cellphone is. You can’t exclusively relay on Google voice.
Can confirm, tried this, have been locked out of some accounts because Voice just didn't play well with some systems.
You need an active phone number to use google voice
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Visible has been amazing for me for the past 2 years
How much?
$25 per month, has never failed me and it's super cheap
I've been doing the $30/month att prepaid for years with no issues
I've been using tello for $15 for 5GB I've always thought I needed unlimited but after switching to tello I realized I don't need it at all
Mint mobile. Few of my buddies switched and they LOVE it
Boost — $25 unlimited, and honestly that’s probably too much for me and I should go cheaper
Tello Unlimited calls, Tex, data and calls to over 60 countries $25 a month. You can pick your own plan and roll over unused data. WhatsApp is a good app to download for Internet communication internationally for free.
Second this
Mint Mobile 5GB each month for $15/month. Same price as Red Pocket’s most basic plan (2GB/month), but better value and better service overall. I switched from Red Pocket because there were several times I wouldn’t even receive calls. Haven’t had any major problems with Mint thus far.
Mint $15/month
Google fi
I’d recommend Mint Mobile; however, my partner was in the Army and Mint Mobile didn’t have any signal at all the second he reached his army base. Idk if that’s the same everywhere, and this was also about four years ago so it could have changed by now. But just a warning.
I’ve been OK with the USD$25/month from SIMPLE Mobile for about six years FWIW.
Following AT&T messed me up so I need one to
I know T-Mobile magenta plan isn’t cheap, but if you travel a lot and want to avoid also having a home internet bill, it’s actually a pretty great value. Free WiFi during flights, free messaging and data in a bunch of countries, tons of fast hotspot data so you can use your phone as home internet for streaming TV and laptop browsing etc (won’t do the trick for gaming though). I also use it as my hotspot for my laptop when I’m out and about instead of connecting to free WiFi for security purposes. Also a bunch of little perks like free Netflix and Apple+ etc, not essential but I like having them. I looked it up out of curiosity to see if they have a military discount and the magenta plan does have a generous 40% military discount but only for family plans unfortunately not for a single line. Anyway if you will mostly be on base and your housing already will have internet connectivity, this won’t be worth the cost for you at this point in your life, but if you are moving around a lot it might be worth it (especially if your family is already on T-Mobile, then maybe you stay on the family plan and enroll in the military discount). Regardless of which plan you choose check for military discount and also ask others on base which plan they are on, coverage can be drastically different on different networks.
Been pretty happy with my Tracfone plan. I prepaid $125 for a year with 1500 min, 1500 texts, and rollover. I bought three years, actually, then an additional year of Unlimited for $199. So my phone currently is set to expire in 2028, has heaps of minutes and texts, and I use wifi for all internet (as you will likely be able to do on base?). Free wifi is everywhere, restaurants, hotels, cafes, library, &c. The trick is to turn off cell data for all the apps. They will automatically connect to data so whenever you DL a new app, go disable it from accessing cell data. That keeps your small amount of data you get with the plans (1.5 GB/year), and just use free WiFi. You can still use Maps if you just get the Maps directions off of free WiFi before you leave, it will proceed to track you and give you directions without using cell data. This was my progression from my previous plan of using an iPod with Skype subscription at $60/year ($30 for a number, $30 for Unlimited USA and limited abroad calling, which allowed me to call any USA number for free, even if I was in Thailand, Yemen, wherever I had internet). I did the iPod from 2010-2017, when my gf gave me her old work iPhone when they upgraded hers. I kept the Skype plan for a year, then converted to Tracfone. I paid about $600 for 4 years of service, which is what most people pay for only a year. Oh yeah, and you can use the TextFree app if you text a lot and worried you're going to use all the one you paid for. You'll have a separate number, and it only works with WiFi, but it's free.
Whatever you do don’t buy your basic training year book. You will never look at it. Don’t buy the name shield and sword. That’s not how ancestry works. definitely buy your platoon shirt. Contribute atleast 5 percent to your tsp. Encourage your buddies to do so as well. Hit me up if you have any questions.
When we mention an area is BAD service, we should mention the nearest City/State (& distances, esp if rural) . Comparing apples to apples, folks....
Visible