[Discuss] Wireless Cell Phone Provider

[grg-webvisible+blu at ai.mit.edu (grg)]

On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 11:40:04AM -0400, MC wrote:
> The good times with the company are over. While cheap is good (each line is
> $10.00 plus taxes for 1.0GB, 1000 minutes of talk and unlimited text)
> something has to change.
> 
> Any suggestions?

I've put a couple budget-minded relatives on https://tello.com/
and it seems to be working reasonably well for them.  they're paying
$7.50 or $8.50/month after taxes; for the plan you spec, tello lists
a 1GB/unlimited voice & text plan for $9 before taxes:
        https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans?plan=1gb-unlimited
play around there to see costs of different data/voice limits.

you buy a sim card off amazon for $3 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H5SM9M9)
and then attach it to your account.  you can get unused voice & data to
roll over into later months; there are quirks in their rollover, plan
change, and pay with credit dollars (below) processes which I can describe
off-list if you want (probably not of general interest, but just ask).
if you're not messing with rollover/plan change/credit dollars, tello is
completely hassle-free.

shameless plug: tello has a referral program, you can get $10 credit if you
sign up with a referral link, and my relatives get $10 credit too if you
use their link.  if you want to use one of their links, flip a coin for
fairness to my relatives ;)
   HEADS  P3XFPJH0  https://tello.com/account/register?_referral=P3XFPJH0
   TAILS  P3QS7SRV  https://tello.com/account/register?_referral=P3QS7SRV

the company seems good, afaik the service is working for them, and the
price is great.

--grg