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data roll over, a novel feature, allowing customers ing Ting with their replacements.)
to build up a cushion over time.) As a result, I was
able to pay as little as $80 a year per phone. How- Although I have no personal experience with these
ever, their current pricing may not be as attractive
for new customers because the current version of
this plan appears to offer only 60 minutes of call-
ing; there is no mention of texts or data.
Tracfone allows customers to bring their own
phone and choose which of the big three cellular
network providers (AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile)
they will use. (While they do offer a variety of
phones for purchase, they tend to be either very
basic or several model years old.) Moreover, cus-
tomer service has been a weak point; although
Tracfone is headquartered in Miami, their custom-
er service seems to be based overseas. Conse-
quently, there can be connection and /or commu-
nication problems and help for non-standard con-
cerns may require multiple phone calls.
When we bought Nokia Windows phones some
years ago, we selected a Canadian-based firm
called Ting (well-rated by Consumer Reports for
customer service) as our provider. Ting offers a va-
riety of modern phones (some with discounts),
while also allowing you to bring your own phone.
Customers can choose between T-Mobile or Veri-
zon as their cellular network provider. Their new
Flex plan offers unlimited calling and texts for a sin-
gle phone at $10 per month. Each GB of cellular
data will cost $5. If two family members share the
account, each will be billed $10 for their phone,
but can share data, thus providing unlimited calling
and texts for two phones – with a shared 1 GB of
data – for $25. Their customer service personnel
are based in Canada, are knowledgeable, efficient,
and pleasant. (While we have since moved on
from our Windows phones, we are still happily us-
February 2021
other low-cost cellular providers, Consumer Cellular
and Xfinity Mobile both sound interesting. An inde-
pendent company, Consumer Cellular is completely
US-based, ranks very high in customer service and
offers a 5% discount to AARP members. According to
their website, the least expensive Consumer Cellular
unlimited talk and text plan, with 500MB of shared
data, is $20 per month, per line. For two phones, this
would bring the cost to $40 per month with 500 MB
of shared data; with a 5% AARP discount, this would
presumably come to $38. Although I did not see this
explicitly stated on their website, I believe they use
Verizon as their network provider. They offer a nice
selection of phones, or you can bring your own.
Xfinity Mobile offers unlimited calling and texts for
free to Xfinity cable/internet customers but requires
the purchase of at least 1 GB of cellular data per
month for $15. You can have other people on your
account, who also get unlimited calling and texts for
free and who share your monthly data purchase. Un-
less I am missing something, this would bring your
monthly cost for two – with 1 GB of shared data – to
$15, an outstanding price. However, you must be an
Xfinity TV, Internet, or Phone customer to qualify for
this pricing. They offer a reasonable selection of high-
er-end phones, some at a significant discount. Bring-
your-own phone is limited to certain brands. If my
memory is correct, they too use Verizon as their cellu-
lar provider.
As a bonus, Xfinity offers free access to thousands of
Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots created by partitioning Xfinity
Gateways leased to their Internet customers to serve
as their home network modem/router combo. Your
Xfinity Mobile phone will automatically connect you
to the nearest Xfinity hotspot, thus allowing you to
avoid data charges to your Xfinity Mobile bill.
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