JP1975

Hi All,

Weve just moved to Georgia, Duluth currently and will be more permanent in the Johns Creek/Suwanee areas.

My question is, which is the best mobile service?
Im aiming for just a sim at the moment and would like to be able to use email, voice, data and text.
Ideally, id like to be able to use unlimited data at high speed. All i can seem to find at the moment are services that reduce to 128kbps after 3 or 6gb of data usage.
I want to be able to use google maps for gps usage.
Im guessing i need something that is 3 or 4g but with the minefield of different services, its hard to know which one does what I want.

Can anyone recommend a sim only deal/service they use in a similar fashion to my requirements?

Thx in advance.

Guindalf

Duluth is in the Atlanta metro area so any or all of the providers should be good and strong enough, provided you don't go out of this region. You are spoiled for choice and have plenty of competition to choose.

As for which is best, that's a harder question to answer. T-Mobile advertises an unlimited plan at a decent price but there may well be better options with some of the smaller companies that piggy-back on the national networks

Some offer free unlimited streaming with a regular data limit. As that is what eats your allowance, it works out very well.

Many people get hung up on so-called 'unlimited' data. I was one of them. It turned out that with a family plan with four phones (us plus the in-laws), we used about 250 minutes and 1/2 a Gb of data in a month with most of the data usage being consumed when not in wi-fi range, which was rare!

AlphaTangoMike

Take a look at Google's Project Fi. You can't beat the price, service and web interface.

tom169

I was considering this. However, it only supports a handful of phones. Mine (pixel) is supported, but the other half's generic Android isn't. As such after a recommendation on here I'm looking at ting.

I had unlimited data in the UK, but looking back I hadn't used over 4gb and that was an excessive month.

With ting I like the model of paying for what you use, but on the back of a decent nationwide network.

Vimto

if you are not planning cross country trips and only need a phone in the ATL area take a look at Metro PCS they will be part of T-Mobile soon
https://www.metropcs.com/shop/plans?...FYERgQod6XoCKw

petitefrancaise

Do you have credit history in the US? If not you might find it difficult getting a normal post-paid plan.

T-mobile prepaid is pretty good.

I use google maps all the time and it uses relatively little data.

T-mobile have something called "Binge -on" which means that certain services like Netflix and spotify don't count towards your data usage.

tom169

To add to this specifically for Google maps, the maps for large-ish areas at a time can be downloaded to the phone to avoid data.

You don't get the traffic information, but navigation works.

I covered most of NC with this method on a previous vacation.

Olly_

Ting uses either Sprint or T-Mobile I think, and both have pretty ropey coverage in NC. T-Mobile has virtually no low band spectrum in NC so indoor coverage will be even worse than elsewhere.

At least Project Fi has access to US Cellular which fills in the gaps in NC quite nicely.

MidAtlantic

The OP is in Atlanta, GA so is probably not concerned about ropey coverage in NC!

Olly_

tom169 is though according to his profile

tom169

Thanks for the info

Duncan Roberts

This is true, although I have heard that it really does work with other devices. I've not tried it out but people have said they have put the SIM in iPhones and non Nexus/Pixel officially supported phones and have got phone and data working. Doesn't sound like the full features work, like it will connect to the strongest network but it won't switch and I don't think wifi calling works, but it might be worth swapping out your SIM into the other phone and seeing what sort of service you get.

Olly_

You can put a Project Fi SIM in another phone but it'll only ever connect to T-Mobile which kind of defeats the point.

Also, the Android phone you used to activate it can't be used with a different Project Fi SIM (or Sprint) as the CDMA part can only be tied to one account so unless you have a spare compatible phone it's not really a great solution.

Another thing to watch is that if your Pixel (or Nexus) was purchased in the UK it won't work on Fi because it doesn't support the right CDMA bands.

civilservant

Vote for Verizon here, even living out in the sticks I never get less than LTE.

MrSunu

See if FreedomPop is covering. They have a base package that's free.