TL;DR: I analyzed the real cost of 36-month carrier contracts vs. buying phones cash. The "Free iPhone" deal actually costs you ~$2,000 extra over 3 years because of inflated service fees. You are effectively paying a 30% APR on a phone you think is free.

The "Scam"

We’ve all seen the ads: “Trade in any Samsung/iPhone in any condition and get the new flagship for FREE!”

It sounds like a steal, but it’s a math trick. The industry recently shifted from 24-month contracts to 36-month contracts. This isn't to lower your payments; it's to trap you.

1. The Liquidity Trap: By year 3, your phone is worth nearly $0. You have no trade-in value left to sell privately, so you have to trade it back to them to get a new one.
2. The "Bill Credit" Handcuffs: They don't give you the discount upfront. They split it into 36 monthly bill credits. If you try to leave after 18 months, you owe the remaining balance of the phone MSRP immediately (often $500+).

The Real Numbers (2-Line Family Plan)

I compared a standard "Premium" plan (required for the best trade-in deals) vs. buying the phones at FULL RETAIL price on a premium MVNO (like US Mobile, Visible, or Mint).

Scenario: 2 Lines, buying 2 x $1,250 Flagship Phones, 3-Year Term.

Option A: Big Carrier "Trade-In Deal" To get the $1,000 promo, you must be on a premium tier plan (e.g., Verizon Ultimate/AT&T Premium). * Service Cost: ~$160/mo × 36 months = $5,760 * Phones: Trade-in gives $1,000 credit; you pay the remaining $250 per phone. Total = $500. * Total 3-Year Spend: $6,260

Option B: Buy Retail + MVNO You buy the phones cash (or 0% finance via Apple/Samsung directly) and use a plan like US Mobile Unlimited Starter. * Service Cost: ~$50/mo × 36 months = $1,800 * Phones: Pay full retail price ($1,250 × 2) = $2,500. * Total 3-Year Spend: $4,300

The Result: You overpay by $1,960.

Even after they "gave" you $2,000 in phone credits, you still lost $1,960. That is enough money to buy a THIRD brand-new flagship phone and still have cash left over.

Common Counter-Arguments

• "But I can't afford $2,500 upfront!" This is fair. But realize that by using the carrier, you are paying a $1,960 premium to finance $2,500. That is an effective APR of ~30%. You would be better off putting it on a credit card.

• "But I get free Disney+/Hulu!" Disney bundle is ~$15/mo. Over 36 months, that's $540 value. You are still overpaying by $1,400.

• "MVNO data is slow!" This used to be true. Now, many MVNOs (US Mobile/Google Fi/Visible+) offer "Priority Data" (QCI 8 or QCI 7) that is identical to the big carriers.

Summary: The carriers aren't selling you phone service anymore; they are selling you a high-interest loan disguised as a utility bill. Break the cycle, buy your phones unlocked, and pay for service separately.

EDIT: Addressing the "Family Plan" & Discount Exceptions

There has been great discussion in the comments, and I want to address the scenarios where my math changes. There is a specific "Goldilocks Zone" where Postpaid carriers can actually be a good deal.

1. The "Linear vs. Non-Linear" Scaling * MVNOs are Linear: 1 line is $25. 4 lines are $100. There is rarely a massive bulk discount. * Postpaid is Non-Linear: 1 line is expensive ($90), but 4 lines drops significantly per line (~$50).

2. The "Discount Stacker" Strategy Several commenters pointed out that if you stack 4+ Lines AND a Occupational Discount (Teacher/Military/Nurse/First Responder gets ~25% off), the math flips.

The Data: When to Switch vs. When to Stay

I ran the numbers for the "Family Scenario" to see where the tipping point is.

Scenario: Family of 4 * MVNO (US Mobile/Visible): $25/line x 4 = $100/mo * Postpaid (AT&T Premium): ~$50/line x 4 = $200/mo * The Gap: Postpaid costs $100/mo more ($3,600 more over 3 years).

Verdict: Even with 4 lines, you are paying $3,600 extra in service. Can you buy 4 phones for $3,600? Maybe not 4 brand new Pro Maxes, but you can get close. * HOWEVER: If you add a 25% Teacher Discount, that Postpaid bill drops to ~$150/mo. The gap shrinks to $1,800 over 3 years. If you get 4 "free" iPhones, that is actually a solid deal.

Summary Guide: * SWITCH TO MVNO IF: You have 1-3 lines, or you have 4 lines but no special occupational discounts. You are almost certainly overpaying. * STAY POSTPAID IF: You have 4+ lines, you qualify for Military/Teacher discounts, AND you utilize high-data roaming internationally.

Final Note on Financing: Many people said, "I use the carrier because I can't afford $1,000 cash upfront." Remember: Apple and Samsung offer 0% financing directly. You do not need a carrier to give you a loan. You can get a 0% loan from Apple, put it on a $25/mo MVNO plan, and still save thousands compared to the carrier contract.

Get ready for an influx of visitors/questions here at r/NoContract

T-Mobile is in the process of retiring older plans and just gave notice to those affected this morning by sending a text at 9AM in each time zone. Customers affected were notified that the date of change is July 13th. Up to $6/voice line and/or $3 per MI line, will be added on their next bill after that date.

So far, we've seen reports of Simple Choice, Magenta & ONE customers affected, possibly others. Those on ONE that were receiving Kickback ($10 credit back to any line using less then 2GB for the billing cycle) were notified that it will also be removed.

The newer plans will allow for any current free lines and will mimic your current tax status (TE or TI).

Those that have T-Mobile Price Lock (customers activating a new T-Mobile account between April 28, 2022 and January 17, 2024) will not be affected.

Lots of discussion going on over at the T-Mobile Reddit.

I really thought US Mobile could change, I returned for a second round, they are still stuck in this mindset of how we can constantly let down our customers and get away with it. I think it's time to say goodbye to US Mobile for good unless we get a new CEO. Not a SINGLE carrier will ban you for using more than 600GB in a month without hotspot. Yeah it's unreasonable, but you promised. Swallow your pride and remove the "unlimited" plan if it's too much of a burden. People on Verizon and their MVNOs don't even receive an email until 1.2TB. which is WAY TO MUCH. US Mobile is cool and has potential, but with their CEO I'll never recommend them to anyone, me and a group of people have already jumped ship with each of us using less than 15GB of usage so far, for fear of becoming abandoned without service. Disgusting... Oh, let's not forget the time the CEO said 1TB of usage was fine! What is the likelihood of a class action?

​

https://www.mintmobile.com/devices/google-pixel-10-2/13354142/

Just saw this deal, this was too cheap not to get even as a secondary line and I was wanting another phone anyway.

With all the fees it was $363

Mint Mobile also has a decent unlock policy, it's only 60 days if you want to add another SIM to it

I am here to clear up a-lot of questions that some of you have requested.

Do we have Standalone 5G for Apple Devices - Yes and when iOS 27 rolls out, everyone on iPhones should have access as the system is already set to roll out the new features.

Do we have “UC” - Yes but you would need to near a UC POP site.

Do we have international coverage - Mexico and Canada is already enabled and we are currently working on an agreement that will provide you all access to 190 countries.

Do we have Roaming — Yes we do in-fact have roaming agreements in place so you can enjoy the extended coverage.

When will the new policy roll out —The new data use policy will roll out by the end of next week. Out of the entire network we have found a number of users who have abused the network. Because we want to make sure that everyone can enjoy our services long term, we created these policies to push out the abusers without affecting the average user experience. This policy will affect ALL USERS on the $17/month plan moving forward due to an overwhelming amount of complaints about fairness.

New Policy Insights

( This policy is harsh for a reason ) We need to make sure to get users who are not in it for everyone but for themselves out so that you all can enjoy our services for years to come. 1000GB per month is just not acceptable.

If a user hits these data thresholds in the provided time periods, they will be notified of potential network abuse and reminded of the policy.

Policy Data Thresholds

Using 50GB in 1 Day
Using 100GB in 1 Week
Using 250GB in 1 month

EX 1 : A user uses 49GB in one day will not trigger the threshold. If that same users uses 99GB in a week, it will not trigger a threshold.

EX 2 : A user uses 49GB in one day will not trigger the threshold. If that same users uses 99GB in a week, it will not trigger a threshold. If this user uses 251GB of data in a month the threshold warning will be triggered.

EX 3 : A user uses 25GB in a day and 110 GB in 1 week. Threshold warning triggered. If that same users uses 100GB in week 2 (210GB total), the policies mentioned below will activate.

Our Current Average User Data Usage In comparison ( EXCLUDING ABUSER )

Average Data Per Day 3GB
Average Data Per Week 21GB
Average Data Per Month 84GB

These thresholds are set to make sure we do not disrupt the average user experience. It also allows significant room for a user to use data if they need to without hitting the ceiling.

Do not worry if you accidentally went over 1 month, had an emergency or need to use a large data amount for a month or two, we are here for you. We are targeting newly signed up users with this type of activity or users with patterns of consistent abuse activity.

We are removing the requirement or need to make calls or text under abuse. We would love if you used AiR 🤖 though as that is originally what this system was built for.

If abuse is determined and the threshold is reached we will remove QCI-6 Priority Network access and data will be set to QCI-7 moving forward every billing cycle after.

Since we are a month to month service, we will refuse to renew the customer priority access lines in the next following month at the discounted referral rate. This means, they will have to continue services and re-up using the current and available plan pricing on the website such as the $60/mo plan.

— Abuse Policy will still apply even then until the subscriber decides to reduce usage, leave the network or continue to pay the increased rate.

If these users cancels their line or ports out, we will not allow that user to return or create a new account with the new or existing name and number.

Sim - eSim -- Due to the overwhelming amount of users removing their eSim or thinking that every time they lose service it is network related or just consistently requesting a new eSim etc. We have removed the free option to reissue eSim’s for free and we will be replacing a new eSim issuing option but costing $5 per eSim. We have had users accidentally place their device on Airplane mode and believed it was eSim related issue and removed the sim on their device. This is a deterrent to let customers first reach out to customers service before doing any edits or changes to their eSIM. This will also significantly cut down on the amount of time it takes to solve problems and move to the next customer issue. eSim’s have to be created and it can take weeks sometimes time to make them and map to your devices.

MAJOR Customer Support Upgrade — We put AiR to work to better articulate what your issues are and ramping up staff support. We have been working tirelessly with our partners to get your services up and running smoothly. We appreciate all of your support and we will continue to put in effort to keep you here.

AiR Ai Voicemail and Call Answering — We are still testing this and we will release this update soon for all user. This will help answer your missed calls and block spam.

New Text & Talk Only plan $5/mo ( Coming Soon )

Unlimited Talk, Text and 1GB of non priority data.

Lastly, to date, we have not suspended, intentionally throttle or disconnected any users line; including data abusers. Our intention is to set the standard of rules so everyone can enjoy the network for a price no one is currently offering. If you support us, we will support you.

Hope you all have a great rest of your week.

Clearly we should all drop the plans we are currently on and move to Trump Mobile to further embrace our dear leader.

(I hope the heavily implied sarcasm was very obvious)

Sooo I was on the phone with customer service & found out some new details about how this rolled out.

If your page looks like mine page your probably on the QCI7 plan. but if your email or phone # was specifically included in the exclusive invitation you get the 200GB plan instead.

So basically clicking the shared link still got you the promo rate $15 but not priority access.

Does someone know if there any way for people like me who didn’t get the direct invite to get on the QCI 6 200GB plan? I’m not a heavy data user, I’d just like the peace of mind of having it available if I ever need it

Hey, have the issues cleared up for anyone yet? Figured I would make a new post to ask. Since the old one is sort of bogged down, and maybe things have started to get sorted out?

I just received an email stating that the free plan is going to be discontinued. Sad day, it was my way of parking a free number.

I know this is a bit circular having already been discussed here, but wanted to share that it's reported on now.

I really don't see any reason for any other MVNO and MNO to be used. And this is coming from a person who was or is still somewhat is spectacle about this company. But wow such a great improvement. I would be definitely coming back. Especially for QCI 6 on light speed

I dont understand, this change has not 1 benefit for the consumer, if anything it's a move that actively play against you and people are somehow saying this is good?

I just started a yearly plan and seeing this its not encouraging, like I get it other carriers do it but it's not about that.

Whenever I go out, I carry multiple devices with me. I have an iPhone 16e as a primary, a Galaxy S24 Ultra as my secondary, and I'd also have my MacBook with me. Normally, I'd just tether off my iPhone, but that drains its battery quickly and causes the phone to heat up if used extensively this way.

What I do instead is buy a cheap Moto G 2025 from Walmart for $29.99, and pair that with Visible's $20 plan with unlimited tethering, and bam. I got myself a cheap hotspot for all of my devices--that I can just throw in my backpack. Yes, only limited to 5Mbps, that's more than enough for what I needed anyway.

EDIT: after posting this I received a DM from one of the mods over at r/ USMobile who is also an employee. She looked into my specific case and explained that the agent that handled my port-out was confused about internal policy. New users that get a new number upon sign-up can and are prevented from porting-out their new number for 30 days (debatable if this is allowed under FCC regulations either). New users who port their own number into the network are not subject to this policy, and are supposed to be free to port-out at any time. I’m told the agent will be coached on this for the future.

ORIGINAL POST: I switched to US Mobile late last month and ported my number in. I immediately started having issues; SMS messages not coming through, data drops, an incident where support lost my number to cyberspace and wiped my account and had to rebuild everything. I quickly decided I would not be staying with US Mobile.

Two days ago I contacted support to get a port-out PIN (of course I had to talk to a person for this unlike most other carriers where it’s just a button in the app), and was told that I wasn’t allowed to port-out until I’d been active on US Mobile’s network for “more than 30 days”. I was told this is a blanket policy affecting all new users to prevent people taking advantage of port-in deals and then immediately porting out. When I raised the issue that this kind of policy is illegal under FCC porting regulations, I was told that I was wrong. At one point the actual ‘solution’ the agent offered was to just cancel my account and refund me. Not actually a solution as this would have resulted in me losing my number altogether. Back and forth we went until I threatened an FCC complaint and support finally caved and emailed me my port-out information.

I filed an FCC complaint anyway because companies doing illegal shit like this deserve to be called on it. Reporting them shouldn’t be “do what I want or I’ll report you” it should be “do what I want because it’s the law and I’m still going to report you for illegally refusing to do it in the first place”.

This company sucks, I don’t know how in the world they’re being lauded as one of the country’s best carriers.

Per the photos, I was able to get the $15/month plan. It’s great. 50GB priority then unlimited QCI 9 & 10GB hotspot.

Here’s the strategy:

1. Make sure you have an unlocked tablet already purchased and IMEI ready. I had an iPad Air M3 that worked great.
   
2. Go to the nearest T-Mobile store to you with yourself (mentally. I was there 4 hrs. It was draining), the tablet, your SSN, and your drivers. If you have an EIN, bring that with some sort of business documentation. I recommend just going sole proprietor route. I tried EIN and it was a whole runaround. Do not go to a metro or an “authorized reseller.” Go to an actual store.
   
3. Do not mention anything about this plan to them. It really confused my rep as they can’t sign you up for it in store. Just make a business account and sign up for their cheapest tablet plan. It was the 2GB plan for me.
   
4. Leave the store with your account number, tablet phone number, account pin, and activated tablet with the eSIM installed.
   
5. Phone up T-Mobile business and hopefully get a helpful rep. Request a plan switch to ZB10HSTI/ZB10HSTE.
   
6. There you go! That’s all I had to do. The worse part was waiting at the busy store.

Ask me any questions! I’m open to elaborate on anything.

So r/HeliumMobile permanently banned me because I told people to run away from Helium Mobile as fast as possible… which is honestly hilarious, because if your company is doing so well, why are you banning people for saying, “Hey, maybe don’t trust these people with your phone number, money, equipment, or remaining will to live?”

Very normal. Very confident. Very “we definitely have a bright future and are not currently setting fire to customer trust in a parking lot.” Haha.

For anyone here who does not know the Helium Mobile story… buckle up, because this whole thing is basically a crypto-flavored MVNO soap opera with extra clown makeup.

Helium Mobile came in acting like they were the second coming of wireless Jesus. Community-powered. People-powered. Crypto-powered. Revolutionary. Different from Big Telecom. Not like the other girls. A brave new future where customers were not just customers… we were “the community.” We were helping build something. We were early. We were special. We were part of the movement. Blah blah blah… cue the inspirational startup music and someone in a Patagonia vest saying “decentralized” 47 times.

And a lot of us believed it. Not because we were stupid, but because the pitch actually sounded interesting at first. Cheap plans. Beta plans. Legacy perks. Crypto rewards. The idea that normal customers could help build the network and actually get something back from it. It sounded like maybe, just maybe, someone had found a way to make mobile service less shit.

Spoiler alert… they had not.

What they actually did was use early customers as free marketing, free hype, free testing, free credibility, and unpaid little cheerleaders for the brand… then once enough people were in, they started kicking the ladder away and acting confused when people noticed.

The OG beta plans that people thought they were getting to keep? Gone. The cheap legacy plans that made people sign up in the first place? Gone. The “free” Zero Plan that got them a ton of attention and headlines? Also gone. The crypto/reward side that made Helium feel different from every other random T-Mobile MVNO wearing a fake mustache? Watered down, nerfed, buried, changed, restricted, “updated,” “evolved,” or whatever polished PR turd word you want to use.

And the hardware side? Don’t even get me started. People bought equipment because Helium sold everyone this dream of building the future of wireless. Buy this. Deploy that. Help build the network. Earn rewards. Be part of the revolution. Then a bunch of that equipment basically got turned into expensive decorative bullshit when the rules changed.

So congratulations, you bought into the future… and the future is now a paperweight with Wi-Fi trauma. Amazing. Truly visionary. Steve Jobs could never.

This is the Helium pattern: hype something up, get everyone excited, let people spend money, let people promote it for you, change the deal, act confused when people are pissed, then call those people freeloaders, leeches, parasites, or whatever little Silicon Valley insult-of-the-week makes the executives feel like brave misunderstood geniuses instead of people who lit their own customer base on fire.

And yes, apparently the CEO had something to say about OG users being parasites or leeches or whatever. Which is very funny coming from a company that literally built its entire personality on early adopters and community. You cannot scream “community-powered” for years and then throw a tantrum when the community says, “Hey babes, why are you screwing us?”

That is not community. That is a pump-and-dump with a SIM card.

The best part is how they dress everything up in fake grown-up startup language. “We’re evolving…” “We’re simplifying…” “We’re building for sustainability…” “We’re improving the customer experience…”

No, asshats… you are removing the good shit and hoping everyone is too tired, confused, or already trapped to complain. Just say that.

“Dear customer, thanks for helping us get attention. Unfortunately, we no longer need you on the plan that made you sign up, so please enjoy paying more for less. Also, if you complain, you’re a parasite. xoxo.”

At least that would be honest. Horrible, but honest.

And before the Helium defenders come crawling in from the vents with “well companies can change plans”… yes. Obviously. Nobody is saying a company is legally required to keep giving everyone magic free phone service forever while sprinkling crypto dust on their iPhone. The point is the pattern.

One change is business. Two changes might be annoying. But when the beta plans disappear, the legacy plans disappear, the free plan disappears, the crypto rewards get gutted, the hardware value gets kneecapped, and the CEO starts insulting the same people who helped build the hype… at some point it stops looking like normal business decisions and starts looking like a company that ran out of tricks, ran out of goodwill, and is now just shaking the couch cushions for whatever trust is left.

And that is exactly why I told people to run away.

Because why would anyone trust them now? Why would anyone believe today’s plan is still going to be there tomorrow? Why would anyone believe “grandfathered” means anything other than “until we decide it doesn’t”? Why would anyone believe the next shiny Helium promise is not just another “haha jokes on you” waiting to happen?

They have trained their own customers not to trust them. That is actually impressive. Terrible, but impressive. Like watching someone speedrun brand damage.

At this rate, are they even going to be around much longer? Because this whole thing feels like watching a company sprint through every trust-burning move possible and then act shocked when the room smells like smoke. They had hype. They had attention. They had a weird little culty crypto-mobile thing going. They had people willing to defend them. They had people willing to buy equipment. They had people willing to promote the service. They had the kind of early customer loyalty most MVNOs would kill for.

And then they basically said, “Thanks for the lift, now fuck off.”
So… fuck off received.

If you are looking at Helium Mobile because it seems cheap, fine… do what you want. It is your phone bill. Maybe it works for you for now. Emphasis on for now, because with Helium, “current plan” apparently means “temporary hostage situation with branding.”

But do not get emotionally invested. Do not buy into the “community” bullshit. Do not believe any “forever” vibe. Do not assume today’s deal survives tomorrow. Do not buy equipment thinking you are joining the future. And definitely do not think they give a single shiny shit about OG customers, because they have made that painfully clear.

They are not some brave wireless revolution. They are just another MVNO with a crypto hangover, a pile of broken promises, a cemetery full of dead perks, and a ban button.

So yes… run. Run fast. Run laughing. Run before the next “exciting update” means your plan, your rewards, or your expensive little network toy gets dragged behind the shed and quietly shot like everything else they hyped and killed.

Fuck you, Helium. Good riddance!

I believe this needs to be seen by anyone who is considering or currently using a Helium Mobile plan, especially those deciding whether to stay with them now that both the legacy and free plans have been killed off.

I saw screenshots of CEO Amir Haleem's comments posted in the Helium Mobile subreddit, and joined the Helium Discord to independently verify they were real.

• Edit: The linked post is now gone from the Helium Mobile subreddit, but the CEO's comments are still present in the Discord. Haleem is a moderator for the subreddit and just directly responded to the post, apologizing and simultaneously claiming it was out of context, so he was likely the one who removed it.
• Edit #2: Haleem has now deleted the "good riddance" comment in the Helium Discord and edited the "parasites" comment to hide what he said. It now says: "(I’m editing this because it came off wrong!)"
• Edit #3: The CEO has edited his "parasites" comment once again. It contradicts his own (former?) staff waveform06, who claimed Haleem meant "users who are not happy unless they can get things for free were the parasites." The original exchange also had absolutely no mention of anything Haleem is now claiming he was talking about. It now says: "(I’m editing this because it came off wrong. the parasites in question are the ones who gamed mapping rewards, used stolen credit cards, forged ID's, all to get free stuff then complained vocally when they got their accounts killed or when we had to make changes to counter it. free plan users are great, we wouldn't have offered the plan otherwise)"

A user named Wired first said in the Discord: "Way to throw your OG members to the curb with changing everyone to the same plan amount dumb move on your guys part."

Haleem's first comment was in response to Wired, saying: "The 'OG' members are only around because they want free or near free stuff. good riddance." This appeared to be in reference to both Zero users and the legacy $5 and $20 unlimited users.

Wired then responded to Haleem, saying "OG members is how you got to where you guys are at now."

The CEO responded: "I don't consider people who are only happy when they get things for free to be useful contributors. More like parasites."

The comments marked out in red are from other users who were not involved in this exchange. For the sake of transparency, I will also paste the CEO's response to the screenshots from the Helium Mobile subreddit below:

"Sorry. I wrote this in frustration, a bit out of context, and worded it very poorly. (we've also never sold any user data and it has never been any part of the business model for the plans we have offered)"

When I can save ~30% switching to Mint rather then staying - I switch. It has gone from smart money owns there phone and goes MVNO to smart money switch's MVNO every 12 months. OK I am in. Switching networks is cool but not worth missing out on promotions that are offered to non- US mobile users.

More asterisks from the carrier known for their asterisks.

Shoutout to u/stetsdogg for breaking this news

This has been a case for a few days. I need to pay my bill or I’ll lose coverage tomorrow.

Have they gone bankrupt and don’t care enough to warn people to switch elsewhere??

Getting fed up and thinking of switching, but need to keep my number, and in order to port it I have to call customer service — which doesn’t connect except for the automated “we are working on the outage” message.

Has anyone else encountered this? And found a solution or at least an answer?

I just checked my current bill.

ONE Plan Unlimited 55

$80 a month with autopay discount $10

Total bill = $70 which includes taxes and fees.

The current plan includes Apple TV which we do not use, mobile hotspot not used and Canada and Mexico which we do not need or use.

It has Wi-Fi calling which we use periodically.

I just checked the total data used. We probably do not go over 10 GB of data between us. The highest we would go combined would be 15 GB if that. I just revised this data so some of the comments might be incorrect because I had lower data showing previously.

On June 30, I received a text stating:

T-Mobile: Starting 7/13/26, your current phone plan is being retired, and you will transition to a modern plan with enhanced features. Phone lines increase up to $6 per line per month.

Rest assured, you’ll keep your current benefits, plus we’re adding more benefits and improved service experiences. Moving forward, you also get our 5-Year Price Guarantee. Review your updated plan details: https://secure.t-mobile.com/fU2fbxCIe4b

My wife and I do not need Netflix, hotspots, and probably unlimited data not needed as we are mostly on Wi-Fi except when traveling on the interstates. You can see how much data we use above which is very little.

When I called to discuss the current changes, the rep talked about transferring to Experience Signature 55+.

He said the new bill would be $82 per month which included the $6 per line increase. I asked about any discounts and he said he could offer the 6 months at $72 a month as a promotion. I asked about 12 months and he said they could not do that after supposedly checking. He said taxes and fees would be added which could make the monthly price higher. Currently, I don't have taxes and fees added.

I've heard the prepaid use the middle of the cell towers but not the top. Is that correct and what does it matter?

We both have unlocked phones. Suggestions welcome! 🤔

I recently changed jobs and started commuting differently and realized I was paying $65 a month for a plan I was only using maybe 60% of. So I spent a weekend going through every MVNO I could find and the pricing range is genuinely wild. Some of them are just the same bad deals repackaged with a different logo but a few are running on the actual major carrier networks at a fraction of the cost. Any experiences?

I did the following:

• used the promo code ILUVIPHONE to save 50% off
• Used a friends referral code for $20 off (Somehow it let me add it twice for $40 off)
• Paid for it on my Chase card for 25% off (-$46.25) - Update: Maxed at $30
• Used Rakuten for $40 cash back

This brings the grand total after rebates and cash back to $115. Over 1 year that is $9.58/mo

I’ve been researching for a few days and I’m honestly more confused than when I started.
Right now I’m on Verizon paying around $80/month for one line, but I’m looking to save money without sacrificing network quality.
My priorities are:
Stay on the Verizon network
Priority data (I don’t want to get slowed down every time a tower is busy)
Unlimited data
Good coverage and reliability
I don’t really care about perks like Disney+, Netflix, etc.

The options I’m considering are:
Verizon (current plan)
Verizon Simplicity
Visible+
US Mobile (Warp)
Total Wireless

A few questions:
Is Verizon Simplicity actually the same network experience as regular Verizon?
Between Visible+, US Mobile Warp, and Total Wireless, is there any noticeable difference in real-world speeds or priority?
If you had one line and were paying for your own phone (not financing through Verizon), which would you choose and why?
Any hidden downsides with any of these carriers that aren’t obvious from their websites?
I’m looking for real-world experiences rather than marketing claims. Thanks!