Cheap no frills cell plan

[Kardonxt]

I've been using a company phone for ~10 years now but would like to get all of my accounts linked to a phone number owned by myself. Are there any good \ cheap services left for just a basic phone number and Wi-Fi only calling \ data?

I used to have a $5 per month Republic Wireless plan but it looks like Dish bought them out and killed all the low end plans. Does anyone know of anything similar?

 

[djstarfox]

Tingmobile.com

 

[BlueLineSwinger]

Google Voice?

Only caveat that comes to mind is that some companies (e.g., banks) think they're being super-secure by not allowing you to set up the number for text notifications/etc.

 

[duronboy]

Red Pocket has a 360-day plan on ebay for $30. Works out to $2.50/month. 200 minutes, 1000 SMS, 200MB. TMobile mvno

While not the worst, Redpocket customer service is notably below average, I must add.

 

[THUMPer]

We use Google Fi. 1gb data plan. Works well.

 

[Kardonxt]

Thanks for the recommendations, I will check them out!

 

[magnetik]

If you just need wifi calling and can use google voice, tie it into a voip box (I use a obihai obi200) and a regular home telephone system. I have 5 handsets spread throughout the house. Haven't paid any monthly fees although all I use it for these days is to find my cell phone.

 

[Vengance_01]

Mint or Google-FI

 

[Nobu]

tmobile has a $10 plan in my area -- if you have their towers they're great, if you only do wifi calling I guess it doesn't matter. lol

That plan has 2GB high speed data, 200MB roaming data, unlimited calling/texts, and wifi calling.

 

[dvsman]

I'm in a similar boat. I mostly use my office cell but I wanted to keep my old personal number active in case something happens I can always swap back to it and not have too much disruption on my important ersonal / financial docs.

As already mentioned ealier - Ting works great for this. I think the total is $7-8 bucks. Any calls / texts or data are all charged separately depending on how much or how little you actually use - which for me is pretty much zippo / zero - since I use my office phone.

So blah blah aside, another vote for Ting from me too.

 

[Kardonxt]

I need it mostly for bank and crypto 2FAs so unfortunately google voice is probably out. tingmobile and tmobile sound like the cheapest options so I will probably start there

 

[bluestang]

I need it mostly for bank and crypto 2FAs so unfortunately google voice is probably out. tingmobile and tmobile sound like the cheapest options so I will probably start there

Then don't get Mint as they've had security issues lately with not implementing 2FA. Unless they fixed it by now.

 

[toast0]

tmobile has a $10 plan in my area -- if you have their towers they're great, if you only do wifi calling I guess it doesn't matter. lol

That plan has 2GB high speed data, 200MB roaming data, unlimited calling/texts, and wifi calling.

I use that one, but I thought it was $15/month? Gotta pay taxes on this plan (I switched from the $25/month plan with limited talk time), and the data cut off is hard --- when you run out, you get nothing, not the '2g speeds' you usually get after you run out of high speed data. Also, customer support goes to a separate pool with worse support than normal prepaid (but whatevs, it's cheap?)

 

[Nobu]

I use that one, but I thought it was $15/month? Gotta pay taxes on this plan (I switched from the $25/month plan with limited talk time), and the data cut off is hard --- when you run out, you get nothing, not the '2g speeds' you usually get after you run out of high speed data. Also, customer support goes to a separate pool with worse support than normal prepaid (but whatevs, it's cheap?)

No, it's a different plan. Was well hidden on their site back when I switched, can't even find it now, but you should be able to get it still. It's a "Simply Prepaid" unlimited plan. The base plan is $5 for 500MB high speed data, I got the $10 for 2GB plan.

 

[toast0]

No, it's a different plan. Was well hidden on their site back when I switched, can't even find it now, but you should be able to get it still. It's a "Simply Prepaid" unlimited plan. The base plan is $5 for 500MB high speed data, I got the $10 for 2GB plan.

View attachment 511470

I will check that out, hitting the limit and going to 2G speeds is lame, but much better than hitting the limit and getting nothing or having to shell out more money. Thanks!!

 

[Nobu]

I will check that out, hitting the limit and going to 2G speeds is lame, but much better than hitting the limit and getting nothing or having to shell out more money. Thanks!!

Found it. It's on their prepaid subdomain, under tablet plans, but it works for a phone with a byop (err, byot?) sim. https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-internet

Edit: I may or may not have had to go to a store and lie about using it in "a tablet I haven't received from Amazon yet" when I first signed up. Can't remember if that was this or an at&t plan.

 

[toast0]

Found it. It's on their prepaid subdomain, under tablet plans, but it works for a phone with a byop (err, byot?) sim. https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-internet

Edit: I may or may not have had to go to a store and lie about using it in "a tablet I haven't received from Amazon yet" when I first signed up. Can't remember if that was this or an at&t plan.

Oh yeah, the tablet plans don't do talk and text though, right? I'm on the 't-mobile connect'

 

[Nobu]

Oh yeah, the tablet plans don't do talk and text though, right? I'm on the 't-mobile connect'

Yeah, seems that way. With a voip service it works fine, though, even with reduced data speeds (although the codec gvoice uses seems to be a bit too phat, my other number on 1voip is smooth and clear most of the time). I had forgotten because google integration is pretty good at this point, though not flawless. Calls are often not received on my phone, although it wasn't always like that. I think there's a setting or service I changed/disabled which makes it not work correctly.