Consumer Cellular - Wonderful Cell Phone Company

[morgandawn]

If you have an older parent (or if you are just...older) and don't have heavy cell phone usage, there is a good cell phone company that allows you to have a Smartphone without a yearly contract. That is, in of itself not too unusual. What is unusual is the customer service and the easy to follow set up instructions and tutorials.

The Smart phones costs range from $100 to $150 and use Android. If you have an ATT compatible phone, you can use your own phone - they will send you a new SIM card for free. The cheapest monthly service ($15) has enough minutes and text messages for casual use (1-2 phone calls a day, 15 text messages a day). The data plan is very tiny, so if you are looking for daily 3G or 4G service, I'd suggest a larger data plan. of course Wifi is free. They use the ATT cell phone network so you get the same cell phone service.

We have been using the service for 2 months now and have had wonderful customer service calls. We bought a new smart phone ($100), used an older existing ATT phone (free), and transferred over our existing numbers without a hitch. We both share the same data plan because it is more cost efficient to have multiple phone lines on one account.

Oh, and why did I mention "older" above? If you are a member of AARP, you get a small discount.
https://www.consumercellular.com

Edited to add: Multiple types of smartphones are offered. consumer cellular offers 3 android "smartphones' that are only $100-150. You do not have to sign a contract nor will you be charged extra a month nor will you be charged a "balance" if you cancel.  The final cost is really $100-150 total. Scroll down past the Iphone and the fancier android phone options. And as always, take the time to read the fine print and look around on the website because there are many options offered, far more than I can and will cover in this brief post.

Comments

[mrkinch]

Looks good! We'll see if they are still in business in a year and a half when my contract is up. I wish I knew they used Verizon's network, pretty much the only coverage I trust. Thank you!

[thirdblindmouse]

Interesting! I've been thinking about getting a smartphone. I've been using a prepaid dumbphone for everything, but it is dumb beyond what a phone can be and still function well as a telephone, and has terrible sound quality.