Winds of Change: How the No-Contract, Unlimited Data Phone Plans are Changing & My Recommendations for Keeping Up

Things have changed since I first switched to unlimited data, texting, and talking with no contract.  No-contract plan prices and the amount of un-throttled data has also changed since I last reviewed Solavei, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10.  I had to find out the hard way how much data I could use before being throttled and every time I called their support lines, I was told they did no such thing and they blamed bad reception on my slow data speeds.  Companies like Straight Talk now admit they throttle after 2.5GB.  I was a happy Solavei customer until they changed their $49 unlimited data plan to a 2GB limit and don't offer unlimited data, even if I wanted to pay extra for it.  I was upset at their price hikes and limited data, so I went on the hunt again to find out where I should switch to.

I recently purchased unlocked Nexus 5 phones for my wife and I.  I was excited to have the capability to use LTE with our new phones, as my Nexus 4 and my wife's iPhone 4S could only access HSPA+ networks before we upgraded phones.  Solavei, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10 do not have LTE.  The 3-13 Mbps on HSPA+ wasn't too bad, but I much prefer the 5-25 Mbps that I get on LTE.  Very few things in life frustrate me more than slow internet speeds, so throttled data speeds are not an option for me.  Solavei, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10 all throttle data speeds.  I also still want to save money over the contract plans of Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T.  So what were my options?

MetroPCS

Earlier in 2013, T-Mobile bought MetroPCS.  MetroPCS previously only had access to CDMA networks (similar to Spring and Verizon), but now have access to T-Mobile's LTE and HSPA+ networks.

• Their bring your own phone plans with unlimited data, texting, and talk are:
• $60 per month for one line.
• $115 per month for two phone lines.

They offer a $5 off per line discount for each additional line.  Using the test micro SIM card at a Metro PCS store and following the APN settings from other Nexus 5 owners on Metro PCS, I could not get their service to work on my phone.  After contacting their technical support, they told me to wait until they officially supported the phone.  Any unlocked GSM phone should work just fine, so your experience may vary.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile now offers no contract plans where you can bring your own phone.  The prices for their unlimited data, texting, and talking (with LTE and HSPA+) are:

• $70 per month for one line.
• $120 per month for two lines.
• If you can live with 2.5GB of data, then one line would be $60 per month and two would be $100.

T-Mobile also offers free data and texting in 100 countries, which I will enjoy when I travel to Canada.

What company did I choose?

I chose T-Mobile.  Right now they are one of the few cell phone companies that offer unlimited data, texting, and talking without throttling and with LTE.  It seems that no-contract cell phone plans with unlimited, un-throttled data are going the way of the buffalo and plans with limited data are the future we are facing.  Right now though, I will enjoy my unlimited data with T-Mobile.  I have no loyalty to them and the minute another company offers a better deal, I am ready to jump ship.

Phone Options

You can purchase any unlocked GSM phone to use on these no-contract services.  Here are some  recommendations:

Nexus 5

I would recommend purchasing a Nexus 5, which sell for $349 for the 16GB model and $399 for the 32GB model.





Moto G

If low cost is your main priority, then the best new phone that you can buy right now is the Moto G.  It sells for $179 for the 8GB model and $199 for the 16GB model.  You can buy it from Amazon and Motorola.  It is a great device with the main downside that it lacks LTE.





iPhone 5S

The iPhone 5S is also a great phone and offers features like 64-bit processing, finger print scanning, Siri, and top of the line speed and graphics processing.  You can purchase it unlocked and contract-free from Apple for $649.




Other Phone Carrier Options

I have focused on GSM-based services that allow me to switch to their service simply by putting in a new SIM card into the same phone I already own.  The CDMA-based networks do not have SIM cards, so if you are alright sticking with the same phone and service for a while, here are some other no-contract options for you:

• Virgin Mobile
• Boost Mobile
• Republic Wireless

If saving money is your #1 goal, then the $10 per month plan from Republic Wireless is a good option.  You get unlimited calling and texting, but only get access to data while on Wi-Fi.  

Comments

Do you use different carriers for unlimited data, texting, and talking with no contract?  If so, please post in the comments and post any of your other thoughts or tips.

I've tried 'em all - Reviews of Solavei, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10

I set out to save money on my monthly cell phone bill and I did just that.  Since I dumped my 2 year contract with Sprint, I have been switching non-contract carriers every month thanks to my unlocked smartphone and Google Voice.  Every phone carrier I have tried has no contract and comes with unlimited data, texting and talking.

General points:

• They claim "unlimited data", but after 2GB of mobile data usage, every company except Solavei throttled my connection speeds (or slowed down to a crawl for non-tech nerds).  I can't stand a slow internet connection and that drove me crazy.
• Confession: I listen to a lot of streaming music with Google Music All Access, Spotify, Pandora, and Slacker.  If you don't burn through data like I do, you may never experience the speed slowdowns.
• These companies pay either AT&T or T-Mobile for the use of their networks.
• AT&T's coverage is better and T-Mobile's HSPA+ connection speeds are better.  T-Mobile coverage has been more than adequate for me and I have been satisfied. 
• Despite the same starting price of about $50, each carrier had varying taxes and surcharges.  I have outlined those below within each carrier's review.

Here are my reviews, starting with my favorite to least favorite carrier.

#1 - Solavei

Their service was provided via the T-Mobile HSPA and HSPA+ network.  They don't spend much on advertisement and instead take a unique, word-of-mouth driven approach.  If I can get 3 of my friends to sign up with their service, I get paid $20 per month as long as those people stay active customers.  For 6 friends, I would get paid $40 and so on.   

I had some trouble getting started with their service.  When setting up the APN settings, I had to ignore what their support site says.  These are the APN settings that I needed for my Nexus 4.  They were the last service that I was reviewing, so I also had all of the other services listed in my APN settings.  I learned that you can't just choose the Solavei APN, but you need to delete all of the others first and then add the Solavei APN settings.  I ended up having to get a new micro SIM card and spend hours chatting with support, so you can learn from my mistakes and just delete the other APNs first.

Once I was up and running, things have been great.  As I mentioned earlier, Solavei did not throttle my data connection speeds, no matter how much data I have used.  This is a big deal for me and the reason that I will be staying with them.  It is odd how much more in taxes and surcharges they have over Simple Mobile, Straight Talk, and Net 10.  Although, I'm certainly willing to pay an extra $5-10 per month for a non-throttled data connection.

• Cost: $49.00 monthly service charge + $10.67 taxes and surcharges = $59.67 per month.\

#2 - Straight Talk
When I first started service with Straight Talk, I had the choice of an AT&T compatible SIM card or a T-Mobile compatible SIM card.  I bought a couple of AT&T compatible micro SIM cards for testing.  I am assuming that it must be cheaper for Straight Talk to pay T-Mobile for the use of their networks, because now there is only a choice of a T-Mobile compatible SIM card when you start a new account and the AT&T compatible SIM cards are going for $60-100 on Amazon.

I had very good coverage and working with their customer service was just fine.  After about 2GB of mobile data usage, they did slow my connection speeds, but not as slow as Simple Mobile and Net 10 made my connection.  If somethings goes wrong with Solavei, I will switch back to Straight Talk.

• Cost: $45 monthly service charge - $2.50 discount for auto-pay + $4.76 taxes and surcharges = $47.26 per month.

#3 - Simple Mobile

Their service was provided via the T-Mobile network.  It was nice that I could get their micro SIM card for less than $1.  While I enjoyed reasonable coverage and decent connection speeds, after about 2GB of data usage  my connection speed was throttled.  When I used them just a few months ago, they didn't have auto-pay options in place and it was annoying to set calendar reminders to pay the cell phone bill manually.  From their website now, it looks like they caught up with the times and added auto-pay.

• Cost: $50.00 monthly service charge + $5.80 taxes and surcharges = $55.80 per month. 

#4 - Net 10

Their service was provided through AT&T's network, which was great for coverage.  I was a very satisfied customer for about 1 week.  After using only 500MB of data, my connection speed was throttled to less than 0.3 Mbps.  To me, that's not even a data connection.  After a couple weeks of these slow speeds, I called their customer service and asked why I they were slowing down my connection speeds.  The support person said they were definitely not doing that.  I said goodbye and moved onto the next carrier.  

• Cost: $50 monthly service charge - $5 discount for auto-pay+ $5.04 taxes and surcharges = $50.04 per month.  This is for the first line. For the second line, it was an additional $45 monthly service charge - $5 discount for auto-pay + $5.43 taxes and surcharges = $45.43 per month.  For two lines, it was $95.47.

If you are wondering how I tested data usage and speeds, I was able to track data usage through the settings in my phone and I frequently used the Speedtest.net app in multiple locations.