Sounds like my mother. My brother bought her a clothes dryer about 30 years ago and I'm not sure she ever used it. She kept it shined and dusted, but hung the clothes on the line.
I have the Mint Mobile e-SIM loaded in my iPhone and so far I think it's comparable to Verizon. I have tested calls, data, and the hotspot. Using the Ookla Speedtest app, here's a comparison of each carrier, both tested from here from the scenic area of my recliner. Verizon: Mint Mobile (on T-Mobile Network):
So, Verizon bought tracfone, mint mobile...? The least expensive phone providers. Hopefully, when they start raising rates, Ryan Reynolds will start another company.
T-Mobile bought Mint.... well, actually the parent company of Mint. " T-Mobile announced on Wednesday that it planned to acquire Ka’ena Corporation and its subsidiaries, including Mint Mobile, a cost-friendly, prepaid wireless brand that is partly owned by the actor Ryan Reynolds, in a deal for up to $1.35 billion." T-mobile says they don't plan to change the rate structure for Mint.
i have had cingular for years and never had a problem---i just use the phone no text --i pay 27.00 a month
Today I'm officially a Mint Mobile customer; my number has been ported over from Verizon with minimal frustration on my part. (I don't want to learn network settings...ugh.) So I have pretty much tested everything... texting, voicemail, regular calling, hotspot. Now that I know the "gotchas" and have things working I'll transfer hubby's phone tomorrow. We are going from a 2 GB shared data plan with unlimited talk/text to a 4 GB per line plan, also unlimited talk/text. The Verizon bill was $94 per month for both lines; the Mint bill is $34 per month for both lines and is on the T-Mobile network. So we are saving $60/month and getting 4 times as much data. I have paid for 3 months of service; we'll re-assess at that time. If we get a lot of dropped calls or other aggravations it will be back to the drawing board.
Well. The change from Verizon to Mint with my husband's phone didn't go as smoothly as mine. Interesting to note that we have identical iPhones and were both on the same account with Verizon. When the Mint e-SIM activation failed I called Mint support. The issue turned out to be that Verizon had locked the SIM card in the phone. We were bumped up to level 2 support and then level 3 with Verizon denying they were the problem. What a coincidence... just as the Level 3 guy got online, the phone suddenly loaded the e-SIM.
My wife and I are on her grandson’s Verizon family plan. It’s fine for me but I’m not a heavy phone user. The funny thing is (I hold onto phones a long time) the grandson texted my wife saying he noticed that I have an $800 credit on my line from Verizon. My iPhone was apparently going to be rendered obsolete next year and I guess they didn’t want to take a chance I’d switch service to get a new phone. So, anyway, I got a new iPhone 14 for $800 off.
Verizon periodically sends us texts about the $800 off a new iPhone. They require a new contract with that so you end up paying for the phone anyway. Our phones are 2 years old and when we decide to buy new ones we'll buy direct from Apple. I hope you enjoy your new 14; they look like nice phones!
It seems nice. I’m sure I use only a fraction of its capabilities. My old iPhone7 was in mint condition except that the battery was getting to be weak and didn’t hold a charge for long.
I know what you mean. I had a 6 that I used for about 5 years and it still looked new when I got the 11. It's annoying when they stop supporting the older models. I looked at buying a new 14 when we changed carriers but I snapped out of it!!
It seems like there is less and less support on almost everything. They force people to buy new stuff every few years. The costs of theses phones are ridiculous. And now, you have to buy the chargers too, whereas before it was included. I have a printer that isn't all that old and works perfectly fine. Yet, I have to go on a scavenger hunt to find ink for it. So a new printer is probably on the horizon.
When a phone "$800 off," you know things are out of whack. I only bought a iPhone because I wanted the Apple watch, and they gave me $100 more than I paid for my old phone as trade-in (but all the numbers are fantasy figures.) Regarding printers: My Canon still works, but I have to change the printer settings to High Quality every time in order to get a readable copy out of it. I am strongly considering getting a Brother color laser printer. The long-term cost is lower and the quality is so much better than ink jet. Amazon sells refurbished units.
One thing I will mention in regard to a lot of these cheaper cellphone plans is that many of the "carriers" don't have storefronts. At ALL. So everything from the SIM card swap (whether physical or "e-SIM") to setting up an account must be done by the customer. I am fairly tech-savvy and I was challenged by the settings I had to verify on my phone for the swap from Verizon. For instance, when I first tested voicemail on my phone, it appeared to work but I never got a notification displayed on my phone that I had voicemail. It took me about 20 minutes to finally realize that I had cellular data turned off (because I'm at home and use wifi). As soon as I turned cellular data on, the voicemail displayed. iPhone Tip: (I never knew this but you might.) A shortcut to listening to voicemail is to go to the keypad and press/hold the #1 key. You should hear all your voicemails.
I did not know that! Cool! Edited to add: I have an iPhone and my husband has an Android phone. It works the same way on his phone too!