I’ve had three horrendous experiences with CC. I would not use them if they gave it away. They are simply horrible.
I can recommend AT&T prepaid (only available online.) This plan is $300 annually for 16GB data and includes hotspot. For international travel, see this article: What is the Best eSIM for Europe?. I think other than Google Fi it makes more sense to get an eSim for when you need it.
1 Like
Just to provide a different viewpoint, I’ve been using Consumer Cellular for many years and have had excellent service and more than acceptable coverage in my very rural setting. (There is an AT&T tower just out of sight, about a mile away, but it still works.) My current service is through AT&T not T-Mobile, though I could change it at any time. With a modest AARP discount I am paying ~$44/month total for two lines with unlimited talk and text and a cap of 5GB data total for both lines. If I go over the cap they automatically bump me to the next higher plan, which I can immediately downgrade for the next billing cycle. They are now offering a totally unlimited plan for 2 lines for $55/month (plus tax) but we so rarely go over our data limit that that is not enticing for us.
When traveling internationally I’ve purchased local Sims for our phones preferring not to use a US carrier while overseas. I’ll be happy when more operators offer eSims, but trading physical Sims is no big deal.
1 Like
I would guess there are many who have had better experiences with CC than I have. I simply and purely would never give them the time of day. Very, very bad experiences and horrible with their follow up trying to bill me when I quit during the “free trial.” Just unpleasant. I cringe every time I see Ted Danson hawking for them.
I’ve been with Consumer Cellular for over a year and the service is great. I had previously been with ATT for many years (since the first iPhone) so my coverage is the same as before. I also have the Home Phone Base to use with my landline phones as I still had an old number (from the 1960’s) I wanted to keep and didn’t need it on a cell phone. This device uses the same cell towers at less than half the cost of ATT’s landline prices and has unlimited calling just like the cell plans. The first box was problematic and I did have to call three different times as they were trying to troubleshoot the issue since I wasn’t getting all of my calls on that line. They replaced the original box with the newer one and all is well so no complaints here. Consumer Cellular’s prices cut my old ATT bill more than half.
They also rank at the top or near in customer satisfaction so they must be doing something right compared to ATT, Verizon etc. that rank much lower in those surveys such as those found in Consumer Reports.
As a former AT&T customer, I, too, have been using Consumer Cellular for many years and have had no problems with it. I’ve referred friends to CC and all have been happy with it. On the very rare occasions that I’ve needed support, it’s been OK. I haven’t used CC for international service; I’ve used eSIMs for data.
Unfortunately, I just inquired, and US Mobile does not offer service for the Apple Watch. That’s a dealbreaker for me.
Oh boo, that may be a dealbreaker for us too, and US Mobile was sounding pretty compelling up to that point.
Don’t look at US Cellular as T-Mobile is taking them over.
On a related note, how up to date is this Apple Support article on which US & Canadian carriers support which iPhone features:
According to it, Consumer Cellular doesn’t support:
eSIM
Wi-Fi Calling on supported iCloud-connected devices
My SE 3 Consumer Cellular service has both regular and esim. Most importantly for me, it includes Apple Watch for only $5 a month.
1 Like
Information here:
When y’all are considering switching carriers, how do you determine coverage in your area? My wife and I use different MVNO carriers that both use T-Mobile’s network. Their coverage maps show absolutely no gaps in coverage for 4-G and 5-G at and around our new home, but we get no signal at all. Further, you can walk a full mile north, south, and east and still have no signal anywhere along the way (you can’t go west due to terrain). I deduce from this that coverage maps are just aspirational marketing promises. Are there any apps or devices that can report which carriers’ towers, if any, have usable signal at a given location?
1 Like
Like you, I don’t trust those maps and look at them more as marketing BS rather than sources of actual information. I know T-Mobile’s maps say on campus my 5G should be great, but it rarely was. I asked around, but it’s difficult to get a good sense from others’ use patterns.
One thing I really like about US Mobile and eSIM is that I can switch back and forth between T-Mobile and Verizon networks. So for now, while I’m here at home I have them activate an eSIM that’s on Verizon so I get better coverage and throughput at work on campus. But when I travel internationally, I’ll have them activate the T-Mobile eSIM because it offers a much better roaming package.
Thanks to being able to switch back and forth, I now know here in Berkeley exactly how Verizon and T-Mobile networks compare. Obviously, unless US Mobile adds an AT&T option, that will remain a mystery to me. I guess you could sign up for some introductory deal if you wanted to really find out.
Here in Tompkins County in upstate New York, the local county government actually did a broad survey asking people how good the service was at their house (and which carrier they used) since they wanted to prove to the federal government that the official maps were fantasy.
https://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/cellsurvey
Here’s what the survey found:
Which is a far cry from what the carriers claim.
2 Likes
Ditto. Thank goodness for Wi-Fi calling.
On a tangentially related note, there was an anomaly during my most recent US Mobile billing period. I reset the cellular data usage each period; when I went to reset it at the end of the last billing period, my phone said it had used over 4 GB of data. I’m on a 2 GB plan, and US Mobile didn’t complain at any time nor ask me to purchase more data. (FWIW, almost all the 4 GB was for Personal Hotspot, which I hardly used during the period.) Has anyone some idea of what the phone was counting?
(This was the opposite of my experience with Consumer Cellular, which at least twice told me I had gone way over my 3 GB allowance (once claiming I had used 35 GB) while my phone indicated under 1 GB of data used.)
Guess it’s not just me, then. Mobile carriers telling lies? Who would have guessed.
That’s how we’re getting by, but even that’s a little scary. We have six miles of fiber to the nearest switching office, and the cable runs on poles next between eucalyptus trees that are prone to falling when the wind blows the wrong way.
I think there must be a carrier that will work, because I sometimes get an “emergency calls only” banner instead of the carrier name, but none of the neighbors say they get reliable service with any carrier.
Apparently it’s possible to locate cell towers using a Software Defined Radio
but I don’t know if that will actually tell me which carrier(s) the tower services. I’ll report back if I find a solution.
You see that because it’s not all or nothing. You can have very weak reception which is not enough to place regular calls, but since 911 calls are prioritized, the signal is just barely enough to place an emergency call. And at least here in the States, that should work even if that super weak signal is coming from a tower from another network than you’re on. That’s what your iPhone is telling you when it shows that SOS.
Back when only one carrier had a signal at our house, I found out from my neighbor. She has a large, extended family that would periodically visit her and some of them would be wandering up and down the block to find a signal. She said that only Sprint users got a signal.
That was the survey we used!
Agreed.
All three major carriers claim complete coverage in our area for 4G and 5G networks. Calling the maps ‘marketing BS’ is, well, generous.
We use Verizon. At our house near the top of a hill, my phone has trouble maintaining a signal through a call, while my wife’s phone works just fine. (Two iPhone 12 Pros, bought the same day at the nearest Apple Store.) As @Will_M said, thank goodness for WiFi calling.
However, just 4 miles away off the hills in the village center there’s NO signal. Not one of the three networks. Nothing, zip, nada. Despite claims of full coverage. Most people in the village use POTS, cable, or WiFi calling over cable.