Sunday, January 14, 2024

Home Phone Alternatives Shuffle

 

I recenlty noticed that my home phone couldn't make outgoing calls through its associated VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service: it's "no longer being supported". So I went shopping to find another inexpensive way to keep the old home phone number active and discovered that VOIP providers have become quite pricey, most at $15 per month or higher, plus taxes!

Like it is for most other families, our home phone has become almost redundant, but how many of us hesitate letting go of the home phone number and completely eliminating the security of a communications device in nearly every room in the house? Yes, I realize there are many households who never had it to begin with. 

Now that VOIP is no longer the lowest-cost alternative to the landline, we have returned to the home phone savior of last decade, the Wireless Home Phone. Now that US Mobile is offering their wireless home phone for only $10 a month, all these old but still cool cordless phones around the house are back in touch, if for no other use than as a cell phone finder.

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Prepaid Prices Keep Dropping!

 

As we predicted last week, prepaids are dropping prices to snare more customers. Tello has made a significant offer of $25 for what they call "Unlimited" which slows your Data down to 2G after using 35 Gb, which is effectively Unlimited for most of us. They also made a deep cut in the price of their 5Gb plan, which we call "Average" usage. That competitive plan has dropped to $14 per month. These plans both appear on our Mountain Prepaid Price Chart, and are at the top of the bottom prices. And they don't appear to be promotional prices. Tello also has a handy price selector which helps you save even more by selecting just the amount of features you want.

This is in stark contrast to the postpaid plans the major carriers are selling, which, if they are not increasing the plan prices themselves, they are adding mysterious charges and fees. Many of the differences relate to the phone you get with your plan and what you pay for it, which can be helpful, but there's still no free lunch. Expect more Prepaid prices drops before the end of the year. The best way to find them is to look for Prepaids that catch your attention and visit their site.

We also understand that few wireless customers want to bother changing plans, carrier or phones. If there is a small price difference, it's not a big deal. But have you considered that you could be paying half of what you're paying today? I bet you don't roll up to the highest-priced gas pump.  Do you?

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Holiday Prepaid Discounts

 

There have been some outstanding Black Friday wireless deals, and now we're expecting some equally generous holiday deals. One of the most notable deals just appeared with Visible Wireless. Their cheapest "Unlimited" plan is now available through the the end of the year for only $20/monthwith the code HOLIDAY. This amount is good for 3 months, then increases to the regular rate of $25/month.

The reason this deal is of special interest is that Visible was recently featured on Mountain Prepaid as the BEST Prepaid for Unlimited Data. On top of that, Visible is one of the few prepaids that includes all taxes and fees. That could amount to as much 20% for those of us who live in high tax areas. While the discount is only for 3 months, it's a great way to get your feet wet with a good Unlimited prepaid plan, and be able to escape if it's not to your liking. Visible is now officially known as "Visible by Verizon" which reflects their relationship with Verizon which has good coverage and features.

There will be other great Holiday Prepaid deals and we might not catch them all. So if you're thinking of switching (to) prepaid, choose one from our Prepaid Reviews and see what they're offering in December. We both might be surprised.

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

It's a Sign

 

Wouldn't it be nice to have more signs like this?

Monday, November 6, 2023

Wi-Fi for International Travel

 

I recently returned from a trip to Europe. Since my phone does not automatically roam outside North America, my usual way to communicate is by buying a foreign SIM. SIM's can be easily found in or near large airports, but this time we found the rules were different. The only way to find a SIM in this smaller city in Greece was to show up at a cellular store with your passport in hand and preferably cash as well. It also needs to be a weekday, or maybe early in the day. Greeks are known for taking off a couple hours each day for a leisurely afternoon dinner.

This combination of factors kept me offline, or so I thought. Of course we could log in to the hotel's Wi-Fi and the occasional restaurant, but I really wanted my SIM. We hopped on the local bus to see if we could find a SIM shop open on the weekend and found that every city bus also has Free Wi-Fi which worked quite well. My wife's phone plan includes Wi-Fi Calling so she was not only online almost everywhere, she could make calls and texts as well as she does at home. Without Wi-Fi Calling, I normally use my Google Voice app to make calls and texts. I found a shop on a Saturday with a lady with limited English skills, but, oops, forgot my passport.

This experience with so much widespread foreign Wi-Fi, took the pressure off finding a SIM, although I finally scored one Monday morning. The experience reminded me that many of the rules in Europe have changed and it's no small deal that almost any cellular service in Europe roams freely anywhere else in Europe. Had I remembered this I would have spent more time finding a SIM during my layover in Germany knowing that a German SIM would work equally well in Greece, or Spain, or most of Europe. 

This one of the reasons why we give extra credit for US carriers that offer Wi-Fi Calling that works universally, both on our Prepaid Reviews and our Roaming Zone pages.  There are also now several Prepaid carriers that readily roaming in most of the developed world with few or no roaming charges.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

US Mobile's Inexpensive Wireless Home Phone

US Mobile is shaking up the wireless market by offering a number of features that top most other carriers, and not just Prepaid. They now offer plans on their Prepaid phones starting at $5, International Calling and Roaming, Wi-Fi Calling, and more. Now they have the courage to sell a Wireless Home Phone plan for a radical price of $10 per month, the lowest among our reviews of Wireless Home Phone plans! You need to buy the home phone base, just like the other carriers, but it's less than $50, with no commitment.

There's a lot to love here: Your first month with the Wireless Home Phone is FREE and includes all the usual Wireless Home Phone Features with no internet connection required, unlimited calling to the US and most of the world, and they even have 24/7 Live Customer Service. Their wireless home base will use either the AT&T or T-Mobile network and has a 26-hour battery backup for power outages. With a 14-day trial, you can see if it works at your home and send it back if it doesn't.

As we noted on Mountain Prepaid Reviews, US Mobile appears in more than one of our Prepaid "BEST OF" categories. We have used US Mobile in previous years with positive results and it appears they have improved since then. US Mobile is a great alternative for people who have decided not to stay with the TracFone Prepaids which have required a change of networks.


Sunday, October 1, 2023

It's Not Just A FREE iPhone!


The newest national wireless carrier, Boost Infinite, is offering a FREE iPhone each time Apple introduces a new model. This is a big deal, but not because it's an iPhone, or even that it's FREE! This particular iPhone does something that no other iPhone does. For the first time, iPhone is certified for the Boost Wireless Network. Boost Infinite members who purchase iPhone 15 benefit from the power of America's Smart Network™, which seamlessly connects to the Boost Wireless Network in select markets, and if the phone finds none, it then automatically switches to one of Boost's partner networks.

This pretty much assures that you'll always have good 5G coverage, and if 5G isn't available, the best of 4G LTE on one of the partner networks. There are plans from other carriers that will access roaming partners, but not roaming on major networks and not within the main carrier's service area. Verizon once had a plan that if your phone lost Verizon coverage, it would roam automatically on Sprint.  Verizon found their customers would roam on Sprint far more often than they expected, so they slowly began to roll back where roaming on Sprint would occur.

Now, with Boost Infinite, and your 'Smart Network' iPhone, you could get a strong Boost 5G signal at work, but you live out in the suburbs where there is no Boost coverage, so your phone automatically switches to, say, AT&T. Then you head to the fitness club where there is no Boost coverage and no AT&T coverage. No problem. Your Boost Infinite phone seamlessly switches over to T-Mobile, which just happens to have strong coverage at the fitness club. 

So go ahead and revel in your 'Latest iPhone Every Year' status, but also enjoy the best of 3 major networks wherever you go. (BTW, we were not compensated for this post)

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Boost Mobile $10 Deal

Boost Mobile has introduced a really cheap plan, $10/month for 2GB Data and Unlimited Talk & Text. I've looked for gotchas on this plan but can't find any. They'll send you a SIM for FREE and it appears that once you get this plan it doesn't expire. My kid is in Wi-Fi coverage all day so doesn't mind the 2GB limit and at this price he can pay for it by himself.
Boost Mobile needs to be aggressive right now as they introduce their own 5G network, but for the foreseeable future it looks like you'll be roaming more on AT&T or T-Mobile until you switch to one of Boost's new 5G phones that automatically switch on and off their own 5G network.  This is a limited-time offer so decide soon.

If you need a little more Data, Boost has a $15 plan for 5GB, and also an Unlimited Data plan for $25/month.