Oh, All Knowing Board!

[Thorndike2012]

I'm certain that this has been discussed here before, but here goes.

The wife and I are shopping for a new phone plan.

Here's the tale of woe. Been with AT&T for quite awhile. Generally good service, until recently. They talked me into bundling phone and Direct TV two years ago. The price was pretty good...for about eight months, then it started to climb. Fast forward to Saturday when the mail arrives and BOOM, nearly $200? WTH?

I call them. I remind them that I've been a loyal customer for a long time. They 'work a deal' where I lose TV channels and get the privilege of paying them $19 less per month. Really? That's the best you can do? Yep! Well, I'll be looking around then. Nada. So I found a new TV provider at a much better rate locked in for two years.

Now I need a phone plan. Two people. We currently have a data share plan that we never use all of the data of.

Speak, oh swamis of Penn State!

 

[Tom McAndrew]

some threads of somewhat recent vintage where this was discussed:

Thread 1

Thread 2

If I recall correctly, @tboyer had posts in both threads that were pretty informative.

 

[Thorndike2012]

Thank you, Tom!

 

[Erial_Lion]

I just made my yearly call to Directv tonight to cancel. Took the threat all the way to scheduling a date next week to disconnect (total bluff), and they offered me free Sunday ticket and $60/month off the bill for 12 months. Sucks that I have to play this game every year, but the ~$1k is certainly worth the 15 minute phone call.

Unfortunately, you don’t get these offers unless you ask to cancel service and end up with their retention department.

 

[PSUSignore]

I use Project Fi (run by Google). They use towers from Sprint, TMobile and US Cellular so your coverage would be dictated by that. I love their no nonsense billing. It's $20 for unlimited calls and texts, and you pay $10 per GB used after that. The data charges are exactly calculated to the penny, they don't round up or down. They also have a cap so if I use a ton of data my data bill will never exceed $60 (caps vary if you have a multiple user plan). As a low data user, typically not more than 1.5GB per month, my monthly bill has dropped from $70 with AT&T after my corporate discount to ~$30 month on Project Fi. Another added bonus of Fi if you travel at all is they allow international data roaming in hundreds of countries at the same rates that you pay in the US. Fi isn't the cheapest if you use a lot of data but for low data users it's great. One catch is that Fi only works with a limited number of phones. I have been very happy with my Pixel 2.

If you do end up considering Fi let me know and I can share a referral code that would get both of us a $20 billing credit.

 

[Mister Magoo]

Not picking on you. Talking in general about the angst of spending 20 more per month on something. Then, spending 10 minutes a day
with car running waiting to buy a $5 Latte. Love Merica.