I feel like every two years I need to call my carrier and complain if I want a decent deal. They will do things like upgrade my plan on their website to have 10 extra gigabytes of data but won’t upgrade me to it until I contact them. There’s also all the new member exclusive deals that I feel make it impractical to just sit on one plan for an extended period of time.
I have a prepaid plan that I never change. It costs nothing per month and I get 10 MB inclusive. I only add internet volume bundles when I need it for navigation for longer trips - to ensure it does not exceed that price (gets slower after).
I think I’ve been on the same plan for about 10 years now. I’m with one of the only non-evil carriers in Canada, and I’ve never really felt like I needed more or wasn’t getting my money’s worth with them.
If you’re in the US, switch to Mint.
I pay about $45/month now. Is mint cheaper than that?
I pay $15 a month for a plan with 5gb data. But even their unlimited plan is $30 a month. So yes, mint is cheaper assuming you are talking about just one phone.
The answers here are interesting. If I don’t change my mobile plan after it expires (2 years) and it gets renewed automatically it will get more expensive for the same service. Actually, if you want to keep getting a decent price, the best way is to completely change provider every 2 years.
Every two years. That’s how I get a new phone for free…
Been with the same carrier 18 years now, same unlimited plan for at least the last 8.
Every other year I will review my phone plan. I use Sim only plans because phones provided by carriers are generally awful in my opinion.
You don’t like bloatware and having to ask if they can unlock your phone for you so you can leave their business? Psshhh
Network locking isn’t a thing in any place I have lived. But I know some uncivilized north American countries do it.
In the 15 years I’ve had a mobile phone I have changed around 5 times. But the last one was just an upgrade that added 40 GB of data while roaming in the EU, US and Canada to my previous unlimited plan for Switzerland only. That increased the cost from 20 to 25 Swiss Franks per month.
I change phones (used 5± years old), phone number, and service every year, but it has nothing to do with billing, price, or service quality. Had to create a list of accounts that I have to update as well. Would desperately like a virtual phone forwarding service I can trust to further help obfuscate.
That just sounds like hell. Why?
Honestly, I acknowledge that I go WAY overboard when it comes to privacy… But of the past few numbers, I haven’t been able to find any tied back to me. I don’t recommend what I do for anyone, but anything I can do to obfuscate my data and online identity I usually do regardless of the inconveniences. As I’ve gotten better and better it’s become a fun challenge to find new ways to duck online corporate spyware. (Yes the government probably knows each and every number I’ve had… But there’s only so much a guy can do.)
Can you hear your phone ok through the tinfoil hat?
It’s paid for by my job
I just switch providers, it’s easier to get a good deal than by staying and nagging customer support. Though I currently pay €10,- with my current provider because I also have fibre with them, so I’ll probably stay with them for the foreseeable future.
I switched ever couple of years.
So my base plan here in the US is probably 7-10yrs old? And they keep pushing me to switch over to one of the new “unlimited” plans, since I’m on an old 5GB/mo plan. So why don’t I switch?
Mainly because I don’t normally use more than 5GB/mo. Crazy in 2024, I know, but I’m usually at home on WiFi. And if I’m traveling, I’ll try to stick to WiFi as much as possible, esp if I’m going to watch YouTube or something.
But then a couple years ago, I stumbled upon a special offer from my carrier that gives me 1000GB/mo for $10/mo. Oh, it also rolls over. So I basically always have 2000GB/mo. And I can use it for hotspot data for no additional cost (which I do). And it doesn’t get deprioritized (unlike the “unlimited” data in the their newer plans, once I go over a certain point). As long as I don’t change my base plan, I get to keep this add-on.
And even with that add-on, my bill is still $5-10 cheaper than the carrier’s worst “unlimited” plan. I do lose out on two things: Ultrawideband/mmwave and no international coverage included. I don’t care for the first thing and I don’t travel abroad often enough that that’s an issue. I still get 5G, just not the special 5G or whatever UWB/mmwave is.
Short of me losing 5G access or making the “unlimited” plans significantly cheaper, there’s really nothing they can do to make me switch.
And I can use it for hotspot data for no additional cost
From a European perspective (no idea about other places) this sounds so ridiculous. You pay for internet. Why should they be allowed to dictate if you can hotspot it or not
Not for 10 years. Sign up data plans looks so good until the cheap period is over. I got a good unlimited plan that I’ve been holding on for years.
Same. They keep trying to get us to switch to their new “unlimited” plans that are more money for less unlimited…
After using some grandfathered T-Mobile family plan for over a decade I moved us to Tello. Still the same towers, but with our usage it’s half the price.
Once a decade or so. Basically when they say “haha, your unlimited 3G plan won’t support 4G speeds, upgrade to this more expensive plan that supports modern transfer rates”.
