Stop Overpaying for Cell Service

Transcript

Please excuse any grammatical errors. I used a tool to generate the transcript and haven’t had a chance to read through it yet.

So today what I want to talk about is cell phone service providers. This video is going to be very US centric because that’s where I live and that’s where these cell phone services that I use.

But what I’ll be discussing is MVNOs or mobile virtual network operators. These are essentially just resellers of cell phone service. They don’t own the actual hardware, they just resell the service. And I’m pretty confident most countries have cell phone service resellers. So search for the one in yours and check them out.

The reason I’m making this video is because I hate watching people spend more money than they need to because one company has better marketing when there are far better options available.

So let’s start off with Verizon here. We have add a new smartphone line and we’ll waive the activation fee. When you’re watching this video, it’s currently 2026. There is no one manually activating your line anymore. That entire process is automated. The reason they keep charging this fee is because they make it seem like it’s a benefit that they’re waiving the activation fee. This is just one of the ways they nickel and dime you when you sign up for service. We’ll be right back.

There’s also the fact that if you get your device from your cell phone service provider for quote-unquote free, same with AT&T, get the iPhone 17 Pro for $0, that device is not free. It’s being subsidized by an increased monthly cost for your plan, as well as a multi-year contract that you signed saying that you will stick with them and not leave their service.

This might not be the most popular opinion, but if you can’t afford to pay for your iPhone 17 Pro out-of-pocket, then you cannot afford that device. You should not be financing your cell phone. Too many things are being financed these days, let alone a cell phone through a cell phone service provider.

Check out the iPhone 17, the 15, if you really need that blue bubble. Check out a used device. Check out an Android phone. There’s some really good options out there, and they’re typically more affordable than an iPhone. But at the risk of this turning into a Josh’s opinion on your finance video, I’m going to move on for now.

So by not financing your phone through your carrier, that means you are not tied to them. And in the United States, the main carriers are Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. If you get your cell phone service through one of these directly, you are overpaying for your service. I don’t like to make blanket statements like that, but I’m pretty confident when I say that one.

So what are the other options? The two that I’ve used in the past, the first is Visible. This one’s actually by Verizon, which is kind of funny. Their plans start at $25 a month for unlimited data. Check them out. I used to use them. I had no issues with them.

Now the service that I do recommend is US Mobile. The cool thing about them is you have access to choose between any of the three major carriers. So their plans are Warp, Lightspeed, and Darkstar. Warp is Verizon, Lightspeed is T-Mobile, and Darkstar is AT&T. So if you have a preference on what carrier you want, you can pick that, which is pretty great in my opinion.

To me, that kind of takes out the argument that, you know, Verizon doesn’t work in my area, only AT&T works. If that’s the case, pick that one and go with it. So check out their plans. They’re very affordable. They don’t joke when they say no hidden fees. There’s no fees for importing a new line or getting a new number.

Now I know there’s one part that makes people hesitant to switch, and that is the porting process. And that is unlocking your number at your current carrier, getting a PIN number from them, going to the new carrier that you want to use, entering that PIN code, which then lets the new carrier initiate that transfer of the number to their service.

In the past, this was a very manual process. You had to call someone, sit on the phone for an hour. Now it can all be done online. My parents switched to US Mobile a couple years ago. They did the entire process without my help. So if they can do it, I’m pretty confident anyone watching this video can do it.

And another concern that I’ve heard is that since you are using a reseller, that your traffic might be deprioritized during high levels of usage on the main providers network, this is. something I’ve never encountered on US Mobile or Visible. I also don’t know anyone that’s encountered that on either of these services, so I don’t think that’s really a concern anymore.

And to bring this back to privacy, since you aren’t financing a device and signing a contract where they do a credit check, you can be somewhat more flexible on the information you provide for your account and payment method and still get service. So I’ll let you do with that what you want.

The goal of this video is just to get you to take a look and let you know these options exist out there. I have a friend that switched a couple months ago. They were hesitant for a while, but they finally did. And now their family is saving over $200 a month on their cell phone service.

This video is starting to sound like a sales pitch, but really I just want you to save some money and spend it on something more fun than airwaves. And speaking of more fun, if this video helped you save a few bucks and you want to hear me talk more for some reason, I do have a membership site where I host monthly Q&As and some random bonus videos as well. I think it’s interesting. but of course I’m going to say that.

So check it out for yourself at members.sideofburritos.com. And that’s all I got for today. So have a good one and I’ll see you next time.