[TriLUG] Mobile Phones - Proprietary

[Joseph S. Tate]

I've only been with them a month so far, but I'm liking Ting:
https://zt5nbb18483.ting.com/ (I'll get a credit and you'll get a discount
on a phone or your plan if you use my referral link). Ting resells Sprint
on a non-contract, pay for what you *use* system. They won't try to sell
you an all you can eat plan though, you pay only at the level that you use:
they credit back to you what you overpay on any given month or settle up
with you what you were under before the beginning of the next month. For
example, say you don't use it much this month, you'll pay at the small
level (plans start at $9/month plus gov't fees and taxes for 100 minutes
with no texting and no data. 100mb of data is another $3/month if you use
it). Plus their customer service is top notch. There are lively internet
forums to answer many of your questions, and no hold times during call
center hours.

Our bills are less than half what they were with Verizon on a contract, and
we have 2 smartphones now instead of just one. Since all minutes, texts,
and data are pooled, multiple users on a single plan get you bulk discounts.

As a prepaid provider, they won't subsidize the phones, but they let you
bring (almost) any Sprint phone over to their service, so you can get your
phone from eBay or craigslit. But YMMV with used phones applies strongly,
so I went with new and refurbished phones to avoid hassles.

With TIng, there is one caveat: there aren't any charges for domestic voice
roaming, but there is NO data roaming, so if you don't have Sprint
coverage, you can't get a cellular data connection.  But they won't charge
you extra fees to tether to use your data.

Ting was started by the guys who ran Tucows Internet Service through the
90s and 00s. They're trying to shake up the monopolies, and I think they
(and to a lesser extent Republic Wireless) are doing great things.

Dotingly,
Joseph


On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 8:17 PM, Michael Rulison
<13miketele at bellsouth.net>wrote:

> 1.    Thanks for recent past help on accessing TWC, etc from an 800 ft run.
>
> 2.    As many of you know better than I, mobile phone service providers
> want to lock us into 2 year contracts and do this partly by discounting the
> latest-greatest phones, which they claim may only be bought/rented from
> them.
>         But there are scads of 'unlocked' phones on EBay, etc. at prices
> under $75 as well as proprietary used phones advertized as being aligned
> with Sprint, or you name it.
>         No service rep at Virgin Mobile or CredoMobile will admit that
> these phones from the secondary market can be used with their service (e.g.
> on a $20/90 day agreement). Are they just trying to con me?
>         With what provider MIGHT one use an unlocked phone?
>         Do I need a nerd/geek/white hat person to block and tackle for me?
>         Do I give up and just go with the flow?
>         All I want it a little domestic long distance, a few local calls,
> a camera, and 'maybe' a little Inet access. No texting.
>
> Thanks for your thoughts and comments.
>
> --
> ------------------------------**----------------------------
> Michael Rulison -       919.782.9576
> 3256 Lewis Farm Rd - Raleigh NC 27607-6723
> ------------------------------**----------------------------
>
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-- 
Joseph Tate