Budgeting for a smartphone is an expensive undertaking. Do you fork out and grab one of the best phones around, or do you opt for something more affordable? There’s a lot to weigh up, but something that isn’t always considered alongside new hardware is the carrier plan. Whether you’re paying off your handset monthly or leaning on those voice minutes or high-speed 5G data, every modern user and handset needs a plan.

We’re spoiled for choice of phone plans in 2024, but one thing’s certain: no one wants to spend more than they really need. With that in mind, we want to know how much you spend monthly on your personal phone plan. We’re only interested in personal plans for a single user, not those covering multiple users or families. How much do you spend per month? Be sure to let us know by voting in our poll below.

We’re well aware that many of the feature-filled plans are priced above the $15 mark. Limited data and other cons often hamstring those paying less. After all, not all of us can afford unlimited plans. Moving to a postpaid plan is often a more attractive arrangement, especially if you don’t require a new handset. There are several plans at or below this price point worth your consideration, as detailed in our best prepaid deals for $15 or less guide.

When we last ran this poll in 2022, most users were paying $40 or more, with the $10 to $19.99 mark also proving quite popular. Importantly, we didn’t exclude family plans from that particular poll, but it’ll be interesting to see how inflation and other financial trends have changed users’ willingness or ability to spend.

Of course, our comments are always open. Be sure to include more details about your particular plan in the comments, including carrier, data, and other limits, and how it has treated you.

It’s no secret that I’m a strong proponent of prepaid services and I believe that postpaid carriers could learn a few things by paying attention to what some of their prepaid competition is doing. Of course, I will also freely admit that not everyone will find the prepaid experience good enough to meet their needs. The truth is there are still advantages to postpaid services that users might not want to give up, including prioritized data, better roaming coverage, phone selection, and perks. Nonetheless, there are at least four major aspects that I feel many prepaid networks are doing things better than the big three.

If you want to use the AT&T network, but feel like AT&Ts postpaid pricing is too high, Cricket is the obvious second choice. Cricket Wireless is a prepaid carrier owned by AT&T that exclusively uses the AT&T network.

Update: June 10, 2024 (12:21 PM ET): A spokesperson for AT&T has now reached out to Android Authority with the following statement:

The AT&T wireless network is operating normally. We are not experiencing a national or regional outage.

Yesterday, T-Mobile announced its plans to acquire most of US Cellular’s wireless operations and select spectrum assets for $4.4 billion. T-Mobile’s move is the latest business transaction that further consolidates the US market, leaving consumers with no option but to majorly bank on the big three carriers for their telephony needs. This consolidation may be good for the carrier and will also be marketed as good for the consumer. However, as consumers, we will get the short end of the stick sooner or later.

Consumers in the US have largely stuck to four carriers: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Some outliers have flocked to smaller carriers like Dish Wireless and US Cellular, and a few consumers also prefer MVNOs based on the top carriers.

However, with T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint in 2018, the top four carriers consolidated into the top three. With T-Mobile’s acquisition of US Cellular, the original top six carriers in the US are down to just the top four. The carriers are also on a spree to acquire MVNOs, like T-Mobile’s acquisition of Mint Mobile in 2023 and Verizon’s acquisition of TracFone Wireless in 2020, which have shrunk the available options to American consumers.

If you are in the market for a new phone line right now, chances are that your choices are limited to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile only or on MVNOs based on them.

The carriers are aware of this oligopoly and have also begun resorting to price increases, even on legacy plans. We’re also seeing changes to price lock promises, watering them down from an actual price lock to a less effective walk-out clause with waivers. If you have a grandfathered plan, you should be mentally prepared to be no longer honored for it.

Needless to say, this is terrible news for consumers. A competitive telecom market is necessary for spurring innovation and keeping prices affordable and realistic. The recent wave of consolidation is moving the telecom market in the opposite direction.

An oligopoly, where only a couple of providers exist to serve millions of customers, is detrimental to consumer interest, especially if the carriers reach an unwritten understanding of keeping prices high for the perpetual benefit of their bottom line. When more consolidation goes through, the dominant carriers can make absurd promises and not follow through, and they wouldn’t have competitors left in the market that would react to such absurdity. Carriers in an oligopoly can raise prices of plans citing higher operational costs, and then two weeks later, announce another acquisition (yes, that does sound familiar).

So, are you happy with the state of the US telecom market right now? Are you pleased with the current choices of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon? What do you like, or what do you dislike the most? Are you satisfied with your carrier’s coverage, speed, and plans? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Thought I’d lay down what happened with two of my fiber modems this past year. They were the old style that looked like these BGW210s, although I can’t say for sure if that was what they were as both were removed by AT&T.

The first was at my house, and the issue was it straight up refused to factory reset and was being a butthole. Yes, that’s the correct terminology, being a butthole. I’ve been in IT since the 90’s and that’s right there in the manual. Butthole. “Do not subscribe to the equipment’s butthole.” It refused to play nice on Wi-Fi (acted slower than Glitch getting the second episode of the Amazing Digital Circus out,) and would slow down to a crawl for no apparent reason.

We managed to troubleshoot it on the phone to somewhat working level, but it was being really funky when attempting to do anything with the Wi-Fi (like being so slow you couldn’t load the admin page,) so it got swapped out for a beige abomination which has so far given me no trouble.

The second, which was also a black tower from 2018 if I remember correctly, started figuring out when I would leave my workplace and slow to a crawl. This was after the Nashville Electric Service had power off to our building for several hours and nobody informed me because they didn’t want to bother me post hospital. As such rather than me dancing around and shutting things off like a graceful little IT fairy, power was yoinked from the AT&T equipment (they said no UPSes. Not me,) and my guess is this is when the black fiber modem at work was injured.

It came back as something different, darkly disturbed and exceedingly annoying. Every day around 5:20am and 2:40pm the unit would slow down. Nothing too epic at first but connections would drop, lookups would fail, if you could connect to a speed test you were getting great results but quite often you would connect and be informed by the webpage you just loaded that there was no internet connection. I was usually driving to get my kid when the slew of calls would come in. “The fiber calls for you Paul… it beckons” and I’d have to pick my kid up and by the time I got back to work it was completely fine again.

The AT&T app said it was broken, but not much more beyond that. A tech was dispatched, we discussed what I was seeing, he said the old black thing was old and to swap it out with the new 1990’s beige thing, which looks exactly like the one I’ve got at my house. Swap completed I once again proceeded without any issues.

So if you’ve got an old black fiber wireless gateway from many a moon ago… I think it’s their dying time. They were released in 2016, have lived a long life, it’s time to put them out to pasture if things are getting strange and you have stripped away all other possibilities…

Sorry Ol’ Yeller… that’s what I named mine due to the yellow cable…

<bang>

Why… why are you getting back up? <bang>

No… this can’t be! <bang>

Stop! <bang> <bang> <bang> <bang> <bang> <click> ayeeeeiiii!

Had two issues with old AT&T fiber modems this year by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

For decades now, U.S. wireless carriers have sold consumers “unlimited data” plans that actually have all manner of sometimes hidden throttling, caps, and restrictions. And every few years a regulator comes out with a wrist slap against wireless carriers for misleading consumers, for whatever good it does.

Back in 2007, for example, then NY AG Andrew Cuomo fined Verizon a tiny $150,000 for selling “unlimited” plans that were very limited (Verizon kept doing it anyway). In 2019, the FTC fined AT&T $60 million for selling “unlimited” plans that were very limited, then repeatedly lying to consumers about it (impacted consumers saw refunds of around $22 each).

Similar state and federal fines and lawsuits have also been levied against these companies prepaid wireless brands over the years. This never-ending game of patty cake over the term “unlimited” also happens in Canada fairly routinely.

Last week, NY AG Leticia James that T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T will pay a combined $10.2 million settlement for — you guessed it — selling “unlimited” plans that were very limited:

“A multistate investigation found that the companies made false claims in advertisements in New York and across the nation, including misrepresentations about “unlimited” data plans that were in fact limited and had reduced quality and speed after a certain limit was reached by the user. The companies will pay $520,000 to New York and are required to change their advertising to ensure that wireless service plans are accurately and fairly explained.”

Will wireless carriers actually change their marketing tactics? Probably not! Will consumers see refunds? Probably not! Do the carriers have to admit any legal wrongdoing? Nope! Are the penalties stiff enough to deter future abuses? No way.

In this case, the settlement — which involved every U.S. state but DeSantistan Florida — was built on an investigation that started nine years ago but was effectively slow walked by industry lawyers. The investigation found that not only do wireless carriers (and their prepaid subsidiaries) routinely sell “unlimited” data plans with limits, but they also promote “free” phones that aren’t free.

If telecom industry history is any indication, the $10.2 million in fines will likely be watered down after another year or two of legal wrangling. And you’ll probably be right back here a few years from now reading about another wrist slap levied against an industry seemingly obsessed with abusing consumer trust — and the dictionary definition of very basic terminology.

AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have announced a formal commercial agreement to develop a space-based cellular broadband network. This ambitious venture aims to provide direct-to-cell phone service, bypassing traditional cell towers and potentially ensuring seamless communication across the continental United States, even in remote or challenging locations.

The companies have been working together since 2018 and have now formally entered an agreement till 2030. AST SpaceMobile is preparing to send its first five commercial satellites to Cape Canaveral for launch into low Earth orbit. Notably, in 2023, the companies achieved industry firsts by facilitating a voice call, text message, and even a video call between regular smartphones using their space-based connectivity technology.

As one of the three major wireless carriers in the US, AT&T has been synonymous with the telecommunications industry for a long time. It has quite a history, dating to the invention of the telephone in the late 1800s. Now, it is very active in the mobile wireless industry, with some great Android-based phones that support the AT&T network. This guide briefly talks about the history of AT&T, the network bands it uses, and how you can contact its customer service team.

Thought I’d lay down what happened with two of my fiber modems this past year. They were the old style that looked like these BGW210s, although I can’t say for sure if that was what they were as both were removed by AT&T.

The first was at my house, and the issue was it straight up refused to factory reset and was being a butthole. Yes, that’s the correct terminology, being a butthole. I’ve been in IT since the 90’s and that’s right there in the manual. Butthole. “Do not subscribe to the equipment’s butthole.” It refused to play nice on Wi-Fi (acted slower than Glitch getting the second episode of the Amazing Digital Circus out,) and would slow down to a crawl for no apparent reason.

We managed to troubleshoot it on the phone to somewhat working level, but it was being really funky when attempting to do anything with the Wi-Fi (like being so slow you couldn’t load the admin page,) so it got swapped out for a beige abomination which has so far given me no trouble.

The second, which was also a black tower from 2018 if I remember correctly, started figuring out when I would leave my workplace and slow to a crawl. This was after the Nashville Electric Service had power off to our building for several hours and nobody informed me because they didn’t want to bother me post hospital. As such rather than me dancing around and shutting things off like a graceful little IT fairy, power was yoinked from the AT&T equipment (they said no UPSes. Not me,) and my guess is this is when the black fiber modem at work was injured.

It came back as something different, darkly disturbed and exceedingly annoying. Every day around 5:20am and 2:40pm the unit would slow down. Nothing too epic at first but connections would drop, lookups would fail, if you could connect to a speed test you were getting great results but quite often you would connect and be informed by the webpage you just loaded that there was no internet connection. I was usually driving to get my kid when the slew of calls would come in. “The fiber calls for you Paul… it beckons” and I’d have to pick my kid up and by the time I got back to work it was completely fine again.

The AT&T app said it was broken, but not much more beyond that. A tech was dispatched, we discussed what I was seeing, he said the old black thing was old and to swap it out with the new 1990’s beige thing, which looks exactly like the one I’ve got at my house. Swap completed I once again proceeded without any issues.

So if you’ve got an old black fiber wireless gateway from many a moon ago… I think it’s their dying time. They were released in 2016, have lived a long life, it’s time to put them out to pasture if things are getting strange and you have stripped away all other possibilities…

Sorry Ol’ Yeller… that’s what I named mine due to the yellow cable…

<bang>

Why… why are you getting back up? <bang>

No… this can’t be! <bang>

Stop! <bang> <bang> <bang> <bang> <bang> <click> ayeeeeiiii!

Had two issues with old AT&T fiber modems this year by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

Thought I’d lay down what happened with two of my fiber modems this past year. They were the old style that looked like these BGW210s, although I can’t say for sure if that was what they were as both were removed by AT&T.

The first was at my house, and the issue was it straight up refused to factory reset and was being a butthole. Yes, that’s the correct terminology, being a butthole. I’ve been in IT since the 90’s and that’s right there in the manual. Butthole. “Do not subscribe to the equipment’s butthole.” It refused to play nice on Wi-Fi (acted slower than Glitch getting the second episode of the Amazing Digital Circus out,) and would slow down to a crawl for no apparent reason.

We managed to troubleshoot it on the phone to somewhat working level, but it was being really funky when attempting to do anything with the Wi-Fi (like being so slow you couldn’t load the admin page,) so it got swapped out for a beige abomination which has so far given me no trouble.

The second, which was also a black tower from 2018 if I remember correctly, started figuring out when I would leave my workplace and slow to a crawl. This was after the Nashville Electric Service had power off to our building for several hours and nobody informed me because they didn’t want to bother me post hospital. As such rather than me dancing around and shutting things off like a graceful little IT fairy, power was yoinked from the AT&T equipment (they said no UPSes. Not me,) and my guess is this is when the black fiber modem at work was injured.

It came back as something different, darkly disturbed and exceedingly annoying. Every day around 5:20am and 2:40pm the unit would slow down. Nothing too epic at first but connections would drop, lookups would fail, if you could connect to a speed test you were getting great results but quite often you would connect and be informed by the webpage you just loaded that there was no internet connection. I was usually driving to get my kid when the slew of calls would come in. “The fiber calls for you Paul… it beckons” and I’d have to pick my kid up and by the time I got back to work it was completely fine again.

The AT&T app said it was broken, but not much more beyond that. A tech was dispatched, we discussed what I was seeing, he said the old black thing was old and to swap it out with the new 1990’s beige thing, which looks exactly like the one I’ve got at my house. Swap completed I once again proceeded without any issues.

So if you’ve got an old black fiber wireless gateway from many a moon ago… I think it’s their dying time. They were released in 2016, have lived a long life, it’s time to put them out to pasture if things are getting strange and you have stripped away all other possibilities…

Sorry Ol’ Yeller… that’s what I named mine due to the yellow cable…

<bang>

Why… why are you getting back up? <bang>

No… this can’t be! <bang>

Stop! <bang> <bang> <bang> <bang> <bang> <click> ayeeeeiiii!

Had two issues with old AT&T fiber modems this year by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

Enlarge (credit: Verizon)

T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T will pay a combined $10.2 million in a settlement with US states that alleged the carriers falsely advertised wireless plans as "unlimited" and phones as "free." The deal was announced yesterday by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"A multistate investigation found that the companies made false claims in advertisements in New York and across the nation, including misrepresentations about 'unlimited' data plans that were in fact limited and had reduced quality and speed after a certain limit was reached by the user," the announcement said.

T-Mobile and Verizon agreed to pay $4.1 million each while AT&T agreed to pay a little over $2 million. The settlement includes AT&T subsidiary Cricket Wireless and Verizon subsidiary TracFone.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

AT&T has announced a new service called AT&T Turbo, allowing customers to pay for prioritized data on their wireless connections. Launching on May 2, the feature is designed to enhance the experience of real-time activities such as gaming, live video streaming, and video calls, especially in congested network situations.

By subscribing to Turbo, AT&T customers gain network priority when network traffic is high. This could translate to significant benefits in crowded areas like sporting events, where many people vying for bandwidth can lead to slower speeds. Turbo users would theoretically experience less lag, buffering, and faster connectivity compared to standard AT&T customers.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

AT&T is now charging mobile customers an extra $7 per month for faster wireless data speeds. AT&T says the Turbo add-on, available starting today, is "built to support high-performance mobile applications, like gaming, social video broadcasting and live video conferencing, with optimized data while customers are on the go."

While Turbo "boosts all the high-speed and hotspot data on a user's connection," AT&T said the difference will be more noticeable for certain kinds of applications. For example, gaming applications using Turbo will experience "less freezing or stuttering and lower latency," AT&T said.

The $7 charge is for each line. Adding Turbo to multiple lines on the same account requires paying the extra fee for each line. AT&T said that Turbo lets users "optimize their plan's high-speed (premium) and hotspot data allotments" and provides better data performance "even during busy times on the network."

Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments