this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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Dumbphones

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Cheap USA carrier? (lemmy.world)
submitted 23 hours ago by IndigoGollum@lemmy.world to c/dumbphones@lemmy.world
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I currently use a Light Phone II through US Mobile. It's not working out, however, because my phone randomly loses service and can't access any of the data i'm paying for.

I'm trying to find another carrier that's not super expensive, and it seems like my options are US Mobile (doesn't work) or Tello (i don't like their privacy policy).

Things like them having access to all details about my contacts, keystrokes and cursor movements on their site, tracking for ads, etc.

Are there any carriers with plans cheaper than LP's $25/month that don't do the above stuff that Tello does?

I'm also considering the Light Phone's own plan, since it should definitely work with my phone. I'm just hesitant because it's 2.5 times the price of my current plan.

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[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Check out USMobile.

They're a VMNO but they use every network.

At home I get LTE, when I leave I'm immediately on Verizon 5G. I've travelled across the US and watched it change from ATT to Verizon as I went, often on 5G.

I pay ~$25/mo for 2 lines with 4GB data. You can probably cut it a little since you don't need data.

Alternatively check out jmp.chat - I use them so my SMS gets piped into XMPP, but it's also really cheap (less than $10/mo) and adding voice minutes is crazy cheap, like tenths of a cent per minute or something. Minutes/data don't expire - you can use as many minutes/data as you have money for in your account (again, it's so cheap that I don't care it's a pay first setup) and it can auto-bill if you run out of credits (if you choose to).

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 17 hours ago

I use https://www.textnow.com/ and it works for me well enough. I don't like smartphones and don't care to do much text or calling on cellular so its basically just an emergency thing with a phone I otherwise have for if a job insists I have one.

[–] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

I don't have a dumb phone but mint mobile is very cheap but prepay, they use T-mobile as their backend, so check what us mobile is using and make sure you wouldn't have the same connectivity problems (lemme know if you could use help). I haven't read their privacy policy, so I can't speak to that

Phreeli also uses T-Mobile and I've heard its a fantastic choice for privacy. I heard you can get a Sim and service without putting in pretty much any of your personal info, but they're also $25

Edit: looks like us mobile has two Sims available- Black uses Verizon and the white uses T-Mobile, but I'm not sure if their coverage may be different than those networks natively or with another nvmo. I believe mint has free trials, that could be worth looking at if you're trying to figure out if something would actually have better coverage

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

What's up with tello's privacy policy? I skimmed it years ago and have been a customer for most of the time since...

[–] IndigoGollum@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I repeated what stood out to me. They log mouse movements and keystrokes on their website, and also want details about all my contacts. I could maybe understand them needing to know the numbers i call, but not names and pictures.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Derp, I stopped reading when I got to that point, sorry. I definitely don't remember that being in there before, ugh.

I used to be a daily contributor to r/NoContract - there are options like Hello Mobile (tmo mvno) that are really cheap, but I have heard everything from 'my experience is fine' to absolute horror stories. But if tello is out of the cards, my next suggestion would be tmo's connect plans. They used to offer a 1000/1000/1gb plan for $10, but afaik the current cheapest is unl/unl/5.5gb (I think) for $15. It's straight from tmo, full priority data (I know that doesn't matter right now but for information), prepaid, no bullshit. You can access the account online, autopay available but I don't believe it's required, by default they limit streaming data to 480 res but this can be disabled both in-store and online (again, info).

My personal issue with it - tmo in general - is that tmo has a history of being vulnerable to sim-swap attacks. I believe they have improved things, but I still have my family using Google Voice to house the numbers, and forwarding calls to whatever number tmo gave them. If there is verifiable data that they have fixed their security and staff gullibility, it's an easy recommendation.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

$25/month … 2.5 times the price of my current plan.

If that’s under consideration you’re no longer low price; take a look at the regular plans from the regular carriers. I pay less than that for unlimited everything from Verizon

[–] IndigoGollum@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

United States dollars? I'm seeing unlimited plans from them for $25 minimum.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

Not exactly. I’m willing to pay a little more for Verizon because I’ve always gotten outstanding coverage and service. I’m currently paying $45/mon for unlimited text call data , no throttling, 39GB hotspot, but not mm wave 5G. That’s a lot but we’re heavy users and get a lot. With your multiplier for a light phone plan you’d be higher for less

However they change plans constantly and you really need to look at the details. I believe that $25/mon plan is only for activation of 4+ new phones and had other frustrating looking limitations including throttling and being based on four months of promotional pricing. Looks good at first but may not be what you expect.

Verizon is currently doing “build your own plan” you may want to look at.

I don’t mean to be pushing Verizon too hard, because it’s rarely “low cost”, but it’s what I’m familiar with and given your current plan and your multiplier, my point is really that you’re already in the realm of the majors so you might look beyond the discount carriers. In particular the discount carriers mostly piggyback on the majors but I always wonder if the traffic is deprioritized

Edit: or did I misread your math? You said you currently pay $25 and are considering lightphones plan for 2.5x …. Which is $63? That’s a lot. That’s more than my expensive plan.

If I misread and you meant prices like $10 and $25 then I guess you deserve a good laugh at my expense

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

You might want to look at Visible. The same as what you mentioned + mmW and unlimited throttled (10Mb) hotspot can be had for $35, with regular discounts for new users. It's vzws in-house prepaid wing, alongside (seperate) their 'vzw prepaid' options (and of course Total Wireless, and Tracfone...).

I reluctantly have been a visible customer for 10 months now for my primary line - I strongly dislike vzw but that's another story - and have been quite satisfied. Not as good as AT&T Small Business Elite, but it's also a third of the price, so...

[–] IndigoGollum@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, that might be my bad. I currently pay $10/month. Light is asking for $25.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 37 minutes ago

Ahh, then never mind

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