Cell service: 'Pay by month' prepay type plans

What do you think of those pay by month' plans, like Total Wireless or Verizons version? I'm thinking of switching, but with the lower price I'm leary there must be a 'catch.'
1 of my requirements is to have coverage no matter where I'm trapping.

Coverage is same on Verizon either way here. Both good. When I suggested I was going to switch the Verizon agent said I wouldn't get the customer service with prepay. I told her I wasn't impressed with their customer service anyhow so the savings might actually save me some headaches also.

I used tracfone for 10 or more years. My flip phone finally died this last summer and I decided to get a smart phone. While there are conveniences, I miss the flip.

ATT has both prepaid and contract plans. The prepaid is actually cheaper for the same service except you buy your phone. Same ATT coverage/reception.

My wife and myself use Straight talk. Left Verizon 5 or 6 years ago. That was one of the best things we ever did. Verizon used to be terrible at adding some kind of "fee" on our bill. Every couple months there was 5 or 10 bucks tacked on for something. Every month we had to comb through the bill and then spend 20 min on the phone to get this bogus fee refunded. This system there is no way to add on a fee, you pay your monthly fee and you are done. BONUS, phones are much cheaper with straight talk.

I have a cell phone through work. We have Virgin Mobile (sprint network) for my wife and kids. Virgin customer support isn't the best but the phone service has been as good as with my Verizon phone. You don't get automatic upgrades in phones and I think that's where the price difference is. With replacing phones every couple of years, I don't know which option is cheaper. I don't like being tied to one company for a "contract period". If Virgin stops providing good service, I can just turn off the phones and find another carrier.

i used the pay as ya go verizon for years, one of my kids talked me into using a phone she had and just paying her.
lol costs me the same 40 bucks a month but the verizon phone would make calls in some places this fancy phone can't.

Prepay all the way. If I want a new phone I pay for it. Service is the same.

Flip phone and 15$ prepaid monthly out of credit card.....never going to change it are my daughters words. Next price up is 40$ for the same deal.
what most don't know is the store agents are on commission and will GET YOU to change and upgrade, Talk is cheap....why do you think they put the contracts in FINE print...who reads them anyways.

I'll stick with my flip phone, one payment of $108 for a year of service.

I go with Straight Talk. The phones run off of Verizon or AT&T networks, so coverage is identical. The network your phone runs off of depends on the model of phone you buy, so two "Straight talk" phones sitting beside each other on the store shelf may run off of different networks and get different reception.
You can set up automatic monthly payment on their website if you want the convenience of that. Just remember to update your credit card information before the old one expires.

Verizon unlimited...two phone plan...but my Wife needs the hotspot to use the computer.

Me and my wife use Trac Phone Wireless ( the one sold at Walmart) pre paid plan, i love it. It is truly unlimited data also, the speed never changes no matter how much your on the ol interwebs. Its cheaper, very reliable, and I dont have to deal with Verizon at all.

My wife has Straight Talk she gets endless robo calls several a day often.

Watch the websites for free minutes with TracFone. Get triple the minutes you paid for, if you do it right. Never had any problems with prepaid TF in over a decade with them.

I've had Tracfone for years also, and never had a problem. Just re-upped for another year at 95 dollars.
Had I opened one of their adds they sent me, I coulda save 10%.

Not sure how good it would be for someone that lives on a phone, but for me I never get close to using my time up.

Just an FYI i have had Verizon phones for years. When getting my teenage son a phone instead of adding him to my plan i just got his a prepaid Verizon phone. I found out that it would not work at my house i lived at at the time. Period no service. The issue was that pre-paid Verizon does not roam in the same way a contract plan does. I was told why would i think that a prepaid plan would have all of the same service as a contract plan. I had to add my son to my contract so he could actually call and text on his phone. In an area where there is technical Verizon service it was perfectly fine but anytime roaming was required it was a paperweight with no option to roam period.

I switched from Verizon contract to straight talk , I don't know about all coverage areas but where I am I am getting better reception 5 times the data, for less than 1/2 the cost of the Verizon package. $45 rather than $125.

My brother uses straight talk. He gets better service especially in the mountains. We'll be right next to each other and he's on his phone while mine is an expensive paper weight

X2

I had extended warranty on my Verizon phone and we have a local office close by, but it just wasn't worth the extra money.

I had a standard trac phone flip phone for years and it was great. I wanted a smart phone so i now have a plan through total wireless for $35/month. 5 gb of data and unlimited talk and text. I can cancel whenever i want to. The samsung phone was free when i bought my first month. Been with them for over a year and am completely satisfied. CS is great. Also, an extra 5 gb is only $10.

Some phones have better antennas than others.

https://www.stelladoradus.com/which-mobile-phone-has-the-best-reception/

We buy phones at Walmart, iPhones.
Take them home and set them up on straight talk.
When you enable them the turn on and find the strongest signal / carrier.
So do it at home or where you want it to work.
Then when you pay for the first months renewal check the box for auto renewal and it just keeps going. We pay like 55 for unlimited.

Have you guys really found Verizon's service to be that bad? I've been to 3 different Verizon stores and all provided excellent service every time. I haven't heard much about Total Wireless, but that's what someone in my family is thinking of switching to. I remember when I was on Straightalk once. I don't know, I guess it was ok, but it seemed like the service was a bunch of foreigners over the phone that really didn't know that much. I was thinking maybe Verizon has benefits the generics don't. Maybe not.
It seems some of you like the pay-as-you go plans. Thanks for the feedback thus far. When a person uses a smart phone, switching carriers/phones/type of plan isn't always the easiest. Maybe I'll stay w/ Verizon, but go to their monthly plan...not sure yet.

I use Verizon prepaid. I used to have a contract with AT&T but their coverage was so bad I didn't have a signal at my house... When I called them their rep told me it must be a problem on my end... After being told that for the 3rd time I said, "Not anymore." and cancelled.

Went with Verizon prepay and never looked back. Their coverage is good in my area... I can't tell you what their customer service is like because I never have to use it.

I have unlimited talk, text, and data and I know exactly what my phone bill is every month.

Mike

My wife and I both had Verizon. Switched to Tracfone on a QVC deal and have never looked back,
We just add minutes or text whenever we run low. We're not big users so we spend about 35 bucks each every 2 or 3 months.

I have had Tracfone and a flip phone for years. $19.95 for three months. Just switched my wife from A T & T to the same plan. Could have saved 35 bucks a month for 20 years.