Best Plan for around 2-3GB per month: T-Mobile or Verizon MVNO?

[AndroAsc]

I'm trying to find a replacement for Red Pocket, now that AT&T towers are messed up.

It looks like I'm down to T-Mobile or Verizon MVNOs. Admittedly this was like 10 years ago, but T-Mo signals and coverage is poor, has that improved much with their 4G networks?

The other possibility is Verizon, but I do not like to use CDMA because it requires whitelisting on phones (as opposed to GSM where you can just use ANY unlocked phones). Is this policy still true, or are Verizon MVNOs acting more like GSM these days, which means you don't have to check for clean ESN and all that stuff.

[Rojniles]

Red Pocket has Verizon or T Mobile plans.

Sent from my SM-T500 using Tapatalk

[Lisme]

T-Mobile is what I use (Tello) and it works for me.

I don't care for Verizon. They deprioritize quite a bit, so service can suffer. They are picky about what phones they will accept. You can't get around the usual fitness standards that the carriers have.

The carriers also may not accept phones that were made for another carrier. There can be radio band issues and also issues where manufacturers have to pay to play on a network.

[sillyette]

I looked on prepaidcompare.net (my favorite!) and it pulled up FreedomPop's 2GB plan for $10/mo on TMobile. It says - "Only available with a special SIM kit purchased from Walmart". Haven't used FreedomPop myself in a few years, maybe others can chime in about this plan.

I'll second Lisme's recommendation of Tello. They're no-fuss, no-drama.

[clonehappy]

Verizon is pretty good about allowing just about any phone with at least one compatible LTE band as long as it supports VoLTE. You have to “activate” an approved phone but then you can put your SIM in whatever phone you want. It’s easy enough to find a phone to start service with in my experience. CDMA really isn’t a thing anymore so I tell people not to think in terms of CDMA vs. GSM anymore. It’s all LTE and NR/5G nowadays.

T-Mobile is good too, and their 3GB Connect plan with unlimited talk and text is a good deal. With a phone that supports Band 71 T-Mobile service is pretty good unless you get very rural.

I used to recommend US Mobile as a good Verizon MVNO but after they shut off a family member’s line for no reason last month I’ve had to stop.

It’s unfortunate, but I almost can’t recommend any MVNO anymore because they all have some deal breaking issue. If I had to have only one line with low data usage, I’d definitely be on a Connect plan. Also, if it matters, the Connect plans give an additional 500MB of data per year until 2024 I believe.


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[Endeavor]

Clonehappy is right. Most unapproved phones will work on Verizon once you activate your plan using an approved IMEI.

I also recommend U.S. Mobile. Their pooled plans can even be a good deal for low volume single users. And their family plans are fantastic once you get 3+ lines and you take advantage of their "perks."

Clonehappy, did you attempt to escalate your issue with U.S. Mobile? Try sending an email to [email protected]
and [email protected].