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Regional Carrier US Cellular has made a few changes to its prepaid plans. We have good and bad news for you. The good news is that the prices have been lowered for all 3 prepaid plans. The bad news is that if you are a smartphone user (we assume the vast majority of our readers are), you are now forced to sign up for the most expensive plan.
The plans are set as follows:
- $35 a month for 400 voice minutes and 400 messages
- $50 a month for unlimited voice and messages, with 1 GB of data
- $65 a month for unlimited voice and messages, with 2 GB of data
As mentioned above, smartphone users will be required to sign up for the $65 plan. Even though a substantial amount of users would do just fine with 1 GB a month. On the brighter side, you are allowed to keep your current plan if you have one of the older ones. If you don’t need the 2 GB of data, your best option would probably be to stick with your old plan (and WiFi) for as long as you can.
[Via: Engadget]
And this competes with Simple Mobile’s(T-Mobile Service) Unlimited Everything for $40 a month and StraightTalk’s(At&t and/or T-Mobile service) Unlimited Everything for $45 a month HOW?
I’m jumping ship from metro to simple mobile. Metro isn’t bad but tired of being 10 phones behind. I really hope gs3 gets released soon. 399 int unlock price for gs2 soon hopefully. One phone behind wouldn’t be so bad.
Check out the PlayStore GSM Galaxy Nexus, and pick up a SimpeMobile SIM from Amazon or NewEgg and you’ll be sitting pretty! I’ve averaged about 5mbps down with SimpleMobile which is comparabe to At&t’s HSPA+ Faux-G service I get on my iPhone 4s.
It seems Engadget really started up the hate machines on these new plans for all the Android blogs to run with, so let me help explain a few things. Full disclosure, I work at USCC, but I’m excited about them regardless (my thoughts are my own, don’t necessarily reflect the views of the company, and all that jazz).
The old Prepay plans were divided into 6 plans and of the few lines sold each month, they were almost always either the $50 (unlimited talk+text) or the $70 (unlimited talk+text, 2gb for smartphones). Non-smartphone users had to either sacrifice unlimited calling and get the $60 plan if they wanted just a little data each month or pay the same $70 as smartphone users to keep it. These plans also weren’t national.
Now, the company has simplified the offerings so that smartphone users get a lower cost than what they were previously paying, and customers on the $50 plan get 1gb of data included for the same amount of money they were already paying before. All of them also get to use their phone all over the country with national coverage as well.
So I’m not sure how justified any of these articles are when they say smartphone users are being punished. They’re getting a $5 break on the plan they already have and they can no longer choose a plan that most customers didn’t like anyway.
As for the competition, USCC competes with the larger companies like AT&T and Verizon in the markets it is available and consistently wins awards over those companies for call quality, customer service, and overall customer satisfaction. These prepaid plans also still offer a subsidized phone instead of having you bring your own equipment like a company such as Simple Mpbile does.
Thanks for explaining Jonathan!
Well said. I too work for USCC and I can’t stand all the negative publicity around the Internet because people don’t understand our offerings and services. I think these plans are awesome and provide a great benefit to our customers.
Sorry but I will never sign up for a plan that assumes that all smartphone users have the same exorbitant data needs. My need for mobile data changes from month to month but I do spend most of my time within wifi range. Last month I used 4mb of 4g.
Bring your own phone is better metro 10 phones behind. That’s why considering jumping ship!