anyone use ting? it still uses the shitty sprint network, but it DOES allow for LTE coverage (for no extra charge, you just have to have a compatible device) and it looks like they'll let you bring almost any sprint phone (including one with LTE)

you choose your minutes, text/mms, and data separately and pay for what you want...so, let's say you want 500 minutes, 1000 text/mms, and 1GB data...it'd be $44 plus taxes

you can split the plan with another phone for just $6...so something like 1000/1000/2GB is $77 for two phones

it seems like a good alternative for folks who don't want a contract, don't mind the sprint network, don't mind a "limited" plan, and don't mind paying a little bit more than with RW (but still less than with about any non-MVNO)

the samsung galaxy victory (a dual-core LTE phone running ICS) is $294 or less (there are a number of $25 off your first phone coupons floating around)

4/14/2013 9:15:51 PM

that's a lot of justification of $13 savings from straighttalk for:
1) shitty phone selection
2) shitty network
3) limits
4) non-international phones

4/14/2013 9:39:50 PM

Quote :

"that's a lot of justification of $13 savings from straighttalk for:"

if we're comparing it to straight talk, then

Quote :

"1) shitty phone selection"

you can bring your own sprint-compatible phone, so at least you can choose phones that they don't actually sell, including LTE phones...there aren't ANY LTE phones available for ST that i'm aware of, and a lot of the other phones that ST offers are very meh

Quote :

"2) shitty network"

there are, like, 2 verizon-network phones offered with ST, and they're bottom-barrell...and have they begun releasing AT&T SIMs again, yet? because i thought you were still stuck with t-mobile (which is no better that sprint, IMO)

and again, remember that LTE is available on ting, while i don't think ST offers LTE on any of their networks

Quote :

"3) limits"

true...but it just depends on how much you use...if you're the average user, it's still way cheaper because you're not going to go over any of the limits that you've selected

also, it works both ways: you go over, they simply bill you the difference between tiers, but if you go UNDER, they credit you

Quote :

"4) non-international phones"

that applies to an absolutely tiny percentage of people...it's kind of reaching to include this as 25% of your overall "poor" comparison

i'm not advocating ting, i'm just pointing it out as a non-contract alternative that has the potential to cost less and give you decent flexibility...the sprint network sucks compared to verizon and AT&T, but the MVNO offerings (both service and phones) for those two networks are slim pickings these days

4/15/2013 8:31:01 AM

1) the idea is you bring your GSM device so you have the selection of all t-mo, att, and international unlocked phones. I was comparing those to sprint phones. I would never use a reseller provider device

2)

Quote :

"there aren't ANY LTE phones available for ST that i'm aware of, and a lot of the other phones that ST offers are very meh"

you get access to whatever the towers and your phone negotiate. there's nothing in the sim that gives access to certain bands. I get tmo and att hspa+ but friends with LTE devices get it on tmo networks.

3) do they offer rollover DATA?

this wasn't a(n equally) prioritized list just seemed like you were willing to take on a lot of undesirables to save $13 a month over 2x straight talk subs. you can still get them sims if you really want them. call straight talk

4/15/2013 8:53:23 AM

Quote :

"the idea is you bring your GSM device so you have the selection of all t-mo, att, and international unlocked phones. I was comparing those to sprint phones. I would never use a reseller provider device"

i suppose my point is that ting offers some decent (and some not-so-decent, of course) phones...as well as the ability to bring in your own sprint device (as long as it's not PTT, iphone, or blackberry)...and they openly allow LTE devices with the ability to use sprint's LTE service

Quote :

"you get access to whatever the towers and your phone negotiate. there's nothing in the sim that gives access to certain bands. I get tmo and att hspa+ but friends with LTE devices get it on tmo networks."

i realize that HSPA+ is considered 4G, but it's hardly LTE (a difference that i think is valid when a big draw of ting is the support for LTE devices)...i'd be interested to see some evidence that TMO users on ST are actually getting LTE service, but i'm not discounting it (i just said i wasn't aware of it)

in any case, TMO is no better a network than sprint...in fact, it has less coverage, so at the very best you can only say they're equal if you're looking at a budget carrier

Quote :

"do they offer rollover DATA?"

why would that matter? you've already noted that ting is cheaper, so on the off chance that you go over a couple of times per year, you're probably not going to come out any worse...having a bank of data that you pay more for isn't really any better than paying more when you use more and paying less when you use less

Quote :

"just seemed like you were willing to take on a lot of undesirables to save $13 a month over 2x straight talk subs."

i think the difference of opinion is in what's "undesirable"...guaranteed LTE access, a lower pricepoint, "better" MVNO-provided phones (as well as the ability to bring your own, if you'd like), and better coverage (than t-mobile, anyway) all seem like they're desirable

Quote :

"you can still get them sims if you really want them. call straight talk"

that's a little bit disingenuous, don't you think? sure, you can drop $75 on an AT&T SIM from fleabay, but you're not really going to get them from ST (unless something's changed, in which case i'd appreciate some recent evidence to that fact)...so when it comes down to it, you're comparing sprint (ting) to t-mobile (ST) and i'm not seeing any advantages of ST over ting unless you're a heavy data user who doesn't care about having a good data network

4/15/2013 9:26:08 AM

But you can't use an iPhone? Why?

4/15/2013 10:08:59 AM

I switched to Ting from virgin mobile. liking my new phone quite a bit more than my old phone. As I sold my Triumph for $86 and bought my EVO 4G LTE for $106, and the $25 credit on ting for signing up, I made money on the switch.

9/30/2013 2:32:27 PM

fuck ting's website

9/30/2013 10:37:05 PM

I don't use a smartphone, so Ting is awesome for me. Texting + Talking for around $16-$20 per month.

The "choose your plan" deal is actually a little overkill. I just choose the 0 tier for talk, text, and data, so I only get charged what I use. No limits, no overages, no crediting.

I've been completely satisfied with them. Had to call customer service once, and sure enough, they picked up on the first ring. Kinda threw me for a loop for a second there.

10/1/2013 11:52:02 PM

Yep. threw me too.

10/2/2013 1:50:25 AM

And I left Ting. I just couldn't live with the high incremental prices for what little you get. Switched to the $9.99 ringplus plan and am going to stay. Price for what you get is significantly lower than Ting and there are only two trade-offs: no voice roaming on Verizon (I never used it) and crappy customer service (took 4 days to transfer my number). But I just couldn't stand the 100/100/100 at $15+tax, when 400/400/300 is available at $9.99 no tax. I could just barely keep my usage under 100, but the mental strain was annoying, given the next minute/MB could cost $10. Now I have no idea how I'm going to use all the space I have. I'm going to need to train myself to call people more often. And however far I go over, each minute/text/MB is only 2 cents. Well worth the switch.

http://www.ringplus.net/plans/

10/17/2013 5:12:56 PM

why do you think there's no tax?

10/17/2013 9:24:12 PM

Because I just checked my credit card statement and it shows $9.99. It is still my first month. I suppose it is possible they will charge the tax next month.

10/17/2013 11:03:43 PM

ah ok, well please update with how your first month's service goes. I have until the 11th of Nov. and then I'm free and I'm thinking Nexus 5 on the 9.99 plan would cut my yearly phone bill in half (even accounting for an extra 1gb of monthly data use)

10/17/2013 11:26:04 PM

http://www.republicwireless.com

10/18/2013 4:42:07 PM

if Republic allowed you to use any phone I would go that route

10/18/2013 8:49:13 PM

You guessed it. RingPlus does charge taxes, just not the first month:
"10-22-2013 "The first month R+ will pay the taxes for you, then the taxes will be added on. Taxes vary from state to state and city to city. RingPlus will not add additional fees to the taxes as most carriers..."

10/26/2013 12:18:59 PM

Ringplus is still going great. They just turned on mms and so far all the bugs I know of have been worked out. Although the taxes have yet to arrive, as it was still only $9.99 for the month.

11/16/2013 5:38:43 PM

^Still on Ringplus? If so, how is it?

My wife wants to get on Ting, but I'm sure which of these "alternatives" are the best...she'd like an iphone, but mainly she wants a cheap bill.

3/25/2014 2:07:58 PM

*bump*

Any current Ting users? Still like it?

1/8/2016 9:25:53 PM

My wife and I switched to it in October 2014 and have no real problems with it. I will caveat it by saying we switched for the following reasons:
- I cannot have my cell phone at work and when I am home/at family and friends, I am on wifi
- My wife stays home with our son, so she is on wifi all day
- We were paying $140 for 2GB with Verizon for 2 phones and barely breaking 1GB each month. We did have to buy new phones to get on the Sprint network, but we bought used Galaxy S4s and with the savings we were getting each month by switching to Ting, the break even point was only 5 months for the two phones.
- Our phone bill is always either $42 or $48, depending on the amount of data we use (< 1GB is $42). That is for both phones.
- I don't do any audio streaming while commuting
- We live in Annapolis, MD, about 30 miles from both DC and Baltimore, so we have great coverage in our area
- Didn't know going in, but the customer service is good

Our only negative so far:
- We went to Sanibel Island for 2 weeks (Gulf Coast of SW Florida) and the coverage was awful. The coverage definitely wont be the same as Verizon in the more rural areas.

Possible negative:
- You cannot get a new phone (the phone you bring has to have been out for at least a year). I think this is some kind of deal between them and Sprint, so if you want the new iPhone/galaxy every year, you cant be on Ting. No big deal for us, but maybe for some.

So, if you are always on wifi and live/travel to populated areas, then I wold highly recommend it. You just have to be really careful with the data, because that is how it can rack up on you, but even if we go over, it will never get to the $140 we were paying.

Hope this helps

[Edited on January 9, 2016 at 8:29 PM. Reason : new phone part]

1/9/2016 8:26:34 PM

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Our usage is similar to yours. Glad to hear your experience is positive.

1/10/2016 12:08:40 AM

Do you have a referral link?

1/10/2016 12:58:26 AM

I'd use cricket, walmart, or metropcs as an mvno before I used a sprint reseller. all the ones I mentioned have $25/line plans (at least 2 lines) for 1G/month on att or tmo LTE which is considerably faster and better coverage than sprint with no restrictions on devices.

1/10/2016 8:22:17 AM

Ting began reselling T-Mobile last year. We're currently with T-Mobile, so our coverage and speeds should remain the same if we move to Ting.

1/10/2016 10:36:34 AM

Referral link: https://z0l0k536lc8.ting.com/

1/10/2016 1:41:51 PM

I'm fairly happy with Ting. My service is comparable to when I had sprint, a bit better than my t-mobile. I hardly am ever on the phone, so I guess I wouldn't notice if it WAS terrible.

My stats are normally in the vein of:
50-100 minutes used
100-200 texts
50-500Mb depending on how much wifi there is about.

I've never had a bill over $30. My phone was $70 to flat out purchase. I'm fairly happy.

1/11/2016 1:01:55 PM

^^ Just used it.

1/13/2016 6:18:34 PM

I have been with Ting for about 2 and a half years now. I started before they started using the T-Mobile network so I got an iPhone that's compatible with Sprint. It works fine as long as you don't live in the boonies. I have found that if there's LTE coverage where you are, it's great. If it's 3G or lower, the internet is unusable. The price for data is pretty expensive, so if you're a heavy data user, I wouldn't recommend it. I do most of my internetting at places where I have access to wifi and just use data if I need to look up something while I'm out and about. I usually can stay in the 100 - 500 mb tier and my whole bill turns out to be around 28 dollars a month. I'm not a big phone talker and most of my friends have iPhones so I can text them for free with iMessage.

If I had it to do over with now, I'd probably look into getting a T-Mobile compatible phone or trying another service like Straight Talk. It's my understanding that with the T-Mobile network there are no restrictions to what phones you can use with Ting, whereas Sprint restricts you from getting the newest model phones. So if you're someone who likes to always have the latest phone, that may be something to consider. It seems like it's always one iteration behind. I don't care about that, so I waited until the iPhone 6 came out, and got a 5S as soon as it became available to Ting.

1/13/2016 6:35:27 PM

^^awesome, thanks

1/13/2016 8:00:44 PM

First bill 60% less than what I was paying T-Mobile.

2/15/2016 3:06:18 PM