Re. the practical impact of CC’s corporate strategy to focus on people over 50, that is becoming more appealing to me now that I am in my late 50s. I still need to keep many things on the cutting edge for professional reasons, but I find a simpler approach to my personal tech feels better.
I seriously can imagine a day in retirement when I will be satisfied running a long-term-support (LTS) version of Linux on my laptop, no Microsoft Office, and a Jitterbug flip phone. There was a time when anything other than the Apple ecosystem would have been an unthinkable final destination, but Apple’s pursuit of fashion over function (as someone else described it in this forum) is no longer worth the trouble to me.
The issue of ownership by private equity versus venture capital could be important, but I don’t think it’s a deal breaker either way. If long-term contracts are not involved, and it remains easy to move an existing phone number from one carrier to another, the risk of choosing either Consumer Cellular or US Mobile seems pretty small to me.
FWIW, Consumer Cellular has been under the same ownership since 2020, without many customer-facing changes. However, there has been some behind-the-scenes financial engineering underway to provide greater returns to the investors, and there are rumors that the private equity firm is considering a sale. On the other hand, US Mobile’s venture capital ownership suggests a greater focus on short-term growth (change?) and liquidity.
In line with my comment about risk, if I were choosing between the two, I’d focus on where I could get the best plan for my anticipated use, and let the chips fall where they may. Of course, others may disagree and eventually be proven correct.