Consumer Cellular

[Bruce Wrenn]

Looking to replace my flip phone. Been a Verizon customer for over 25 years. But here lately, at our house service has been less than stellar. Calls take forever to go thru. Drive five miles away, and they are instant. Plus next year, my phone won't work anymore (3G.)Don't need anything more than a phone that says "Hello and Goodbye." Anybody got any experience with consumer cellular good or bad?

[Brian Tymchak]

I have 2 friends that changed over to Consumer Cellular when they retired. They were highly recommending that I switch over too, which I've been giving serious thought to. I hesitate since I also want to do the Android to Apple switch but my wife is not on board with that yet.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Don't need anything more than a phone that says "Hello and Goodbye."TracFone.....about $10 a month. My wife digs around for the best "triple minute" deals. Unlimited talk - something like 4000 texts and 6 GB of downloads. If there's anything cheaper & I can keep my number, I'm all ears.

[Jim Matthews]

Consumer Cellular for nearly 8 years. Switched to Mint Mobile - cheaper, faster and better.

[roger wiegand]

Consumer Cellular resells service from AT&T and T-Mobile, as does Mint. There's no reason to think that there would be any speed or coverage differences as they are reselling the same service. If those networks are strong where you need to use your phone then you should be fine. They are both non-existent where I live, and Verizon isn't much better.

Tracphone, now owned by Verizon, mostly uses the Verizon network and is converting users to that system.

[Jim Becker]

Roger brings up a good point. Check with your friends about what carriers they use and see if you can have them come to your home to look at signal levels for each. All of the entities like Consumer Cellular use the "big" carrier's networks, so understanding what network or networks have good coverage where you live will help you choose a new carrier (or stay with the one you have).

There are some more basic phones available out there and entities like Consumer Cellular tend to make their availability easier than the big carriers do since a healthy part of their market is "mature adults". Samsung and Motorola both have "modern" flip phones in their lineup, BTW.

[Tom Stenzel]

With Tracfone there is no way to make calls when you're out of the country. The amount of data for their smartphone plans is pretty meager if you go with the cheap 'refills'.

Lately if you go to the store you get a card and tell the cashier what plan you want. The card has on it that there's a $20 plan, a $25 plan, $35 plan and so on. You tell the cashier what plan you want. Nowhere on the card or any store display are you told what you get with these different plans. They currently have two different $25 plans. How do you distinguish between them to the cashier? It's infuriating. The only reason I can figure they do this is to force customers to an autopay system. To me that defeats the idea of a no contract phone.

I get the $25 60 day plan which is more than enough for the yakkin' I do on the phone. The minutes and texts roll over so now I'm down to my last 6,000 minutes and 11,200 texts or so. I'm still considering jumping ship from them.

-Tom

[Curt Harms]

Consumer Cellular for nearly 8 years. Switched to Mint Mobile - cheaper, faster and better.

I've looked at Mint Mobile, they have great rates. Their coverage is lacking in some parts of the country though according to their coverage map.

[Curt Harms]

Consumer Cellular resells service from AT&T and T-Mobile, as does Mint. There's no reason to think that there would be any speed or coverage differences as they are reselling the same service. If those networks are strong where you need to use your phone then you should be fine. They are both non-existent where I live, and Verizon isn't much better.

Tracphone, now owned by Verizon, mostly uses the Verizon network and is converting users to that system.

Doesn't Mint use T Mobile? I thought that's what I read. Mint is a great deal, especially if you use quite a bit of data.

[Terry Wawro]

We've been using Consumer Cellular for around 8 or 9 years now. Not the absolute cheapest but the plans are reasonable and the customer service is great.

[Brian Elfert]

A big part of the problem for the OP is probably because he is still using 3G. Verizon is certainly not investing any money in their 3G network and may very well be moving some of their 3G spectrum to 4G or even 5G service at this point. A new 4G LTE phone may work just fine with Verizon.

That said, Consumer Cellular will work just fine if only doing voice calls. I bet Verizon is not cheap for just voice,

[Curt Harms]

I've read where carriers have been trying to shut 3G down for some time but keep delaying. A problem is that a lot of cellular alarm systems are 3G only so have to be replaced, there is apparently no upgrade path. There has been resistance to that.

[Jim Becker]

Brian, VZ has been actively shutting down 3G for some time now. Same for ATT, and TMo is in currently process of shutting down the old Sprint 3G, too. (there 3G shutdowns are wreaking havoc with vehicle telemetry and remote communication subscriptions, but that's a different topic) I agree with you that the OP shouldn't assume that VZ coverage under 4G will be equally bad. That was kinda the reason I suggested that he get a few friends "in house" that have service on the various carriers to see how things look with the more current technology.

[Lee DeRaud]

Been with Consumer Cellular for over five years now, no serious complaints. They have a wide range of phones available (both flip and smart, Apple and Android, if you live in a mixed household), or bring your own. Great customer service and tech support.

As noted they run on ATT and T-Mobile. I think the current SIM cards will use both: my original phone came with a T-Mobile SIM which had poor signal at the house (and at the local Target where I got it), so they swapped it out for free. There was no mention of which one the new phone uses, but it works fine everywhere I've had it. Could be, since they know where I am now, they just target (no pun intended) the network choice to the local conditions. (Note: if you're getting set up at Target, look for a worker bee in a black shirt: they're way better than the red-shirts. <insert Star Trek joke here>)

Literally my only complaint is that I had to replace my perfectly good 5yo Samsung J3 this summer: starting in August, they required phones that are VoLTE-capable. The J-series seem to have gone away, but they had A01's which are about the same (small) size. Switchover was mostly automagic, just a couple minutes of moving icons around to get everything back where I wanted it.

[Bruce King]

You can get unlimited data on consumer cellular. I think they are only allowed to advertise to the older crowd but it’s really no different than Verizon if you are in an area with coverage.

[Michael Weber]

We have had consumer cellular for more than 10 years. I got it because at the time they offered up to 5 numbers for different phones. So the family shared one account. Each number cost only a few extra dollars a month. I use little data so I stay with the very inexpensive plans. As noted, you cannot use them out of the country. Even Canada. They sell a variety of phones which I have taken advantage of a few times. Zero percent interest financing if you want to do that and they add the payment onto your monthly bill. In the decade or more I’ve used them I have found no reason to complain. Their customer service has been excellent. I will note ownership recently changed so things could change.

[Lee DeRaud]

You can get unlimited data on consumer cellular.
If you really need unlimited data, there are probably cheaper alternatives. But if you're not watching movies on your phone, the lower tiers work fine. I've never gotten anywhere near the limit of my 3GB plan, even on vacations when Android Auto is constantly shoving Google Maps through the car's screen. And of course data over the WIFI at home doesn't count.
I think they are only allowed to advertise to the older crowd...
That's why I call it "BoomerCom". :) But yeah, there's an AARP discount.

[Alan Rutherford]

As several people said, it's the carrier that matters with coverage. I have to walk outside to make a cell call on Verizon. My wife is on AT&T and not much better. A newer phone might be somewhat better but nobody does well around here.

We've had Tracfones for years and are spending about $6-7/month each. The phones offered with the good package deals are not as full-featured as other versions of the same phones, but for what we're paying I have no complaints about the phones (as distinct from the service). Most Tracfones I've looked at lately seem to be on Verizon.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have been a Tracfone customer for years. Best deals are online with a promo code. I pay around $75 a year. You are paying full price if buying cards at the store.

I have the Amazon Alexa app on my phone. As long as I'm connected to WiFi I can make phone calls through the app, and dont cost me a thing or use my Tracfone Min. I am connected to Wifi at work and home so I dont use much Min. The calls are also clearer than the cell phone.

With Tracfone the towers it uses depends on the model phone you have. My last phone was ATT. New one is Verizon. Verizon purchased Tracfone not long ago so that may have changed.

[Steve Demuth]

My wife has a US Mobile plan, roughly $10/month. It's always worked well, but it uses the Verizon LTE network in most places, so unless your challenges are 3G related (which I don't doubt, given the age of that network). The only drawback to US Mobile is that they don't support voice calls over wifi unless you're on a GSM network. But my wife uses the phone very little, so it's not a really big deal for us.

[Alan Rutherford]

Our older Tracphones don't support wifi calling but I believe all the current ones do. That would solve our problem with coverage at home and should do the same for the OP, whether with Tracfone, Consumer Cellular or whatever.

[glenn bradley]

Been with Consumer Cellular since retirement. Very happy. Great customer service. Good prices. The AARP discount pays for our AARP membership and then some.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have a track phone and I get my cards bundled with a new phone from HSN or QVC who ever has the best deal I pay about $70 a year and I have a phone that I can sell or use.