Was I Wrong? Part 1 - MVNOs
Welcome to Saving Money with Andrew!
Being wrong is human. Some of my proudest moments in life are those in which I admitted I was wrong and made a change.
And so I am launching Was I Wrong?. In this series I revisit past posts from which I’ve since made a dramatically different decision.
I start with MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators), which I’ve written about favorably many times, most recently in Cut Your Smartphone Bill And Save Hundreds Of Dollars Per Year. MVNOs purchase cellular service in bulk from the big three carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile), reselling it to customers at a discount. For years, we used Ting and then Google Fi, paying only $95/month (including taxes and fees) for unlimited data on four devices
Recently, however, our service degraded significantly at home. Even worse, our current MVNO raised its prices, increasing our monthly bill to ~$118.
And so, I started trying to figure out what was wrong with our service, and whether there were good alternatives. We found numerous complaints about T-Mobile and AT&T service in our area, and so we decided to switch to Verizon, which is also our current home internet provider.
We also found some discussions on whether MVNO data traffic is “deprioritized” relative to regular traffic from the major carrier. Google Fi states that it is not deprioritized, but there is significant speculation that other MVNOs are. So we opted to go directly to Verizon rather than an MVNO reselling Verizon service.
By utilizing Verizon’s various discounts for (i) bringing our own device, (ii) paying automatically, and (iii) bundled home internet, we found that we could get unlimited data on four devices for just $119/month, essentially the same price as our current service.[1] Switching took the better part of a morning, along with a quick stop at a Verizon store to make sure our phone numbers transferred over successfully, but since then everything has gone smoothly.
Net result: our service is dramatically improved and we were very pleased with the change. Admittedly, the price difference was only small because we took four devices to Verizon and used three separate discounts, but I was shocked to see that our bill was almost identical to what we were paying for our current MVNO.[2] So I’m very happy with our choice.
Finally, I’d love to hear from you! Have there been any major moments in your life (preferably related to saving money) where you changed your mind?
And now, Andrew’s pick(s) of the week:
‘She Hooked Me’: How an Online Scam Cost a Senior Citizen His Life’s Savings is a harrowing tale of a successful 75-year old executive scammed out of more than $715,000.
Also, I enjoyed Yes, Walmart Store Managers Really Can Make $500,000 a Year. Managing a Walmart seems as cognitively and physically demanding as almost any job I can imagine. I’m glad they are well paid.
Finally, I really enjoyed the most recent concert in the NPR Tiny Desk series, featuring Bob James:
I hope this has been helpful. If you liked it, please share it on social media! Also, please send me your feedback, requests, and success stories.
[1] Make sure to skip Verizon’s optional add-ons (of services like Walmart+ or Netflix) and scroll down to the plan selection menu which lets you select the base plan.
[2] If we only had one or two devices, I would have considered an MVNO that uses the Verizon network, such as Visible by Verizon, and tested whether deprioritization was a real issue. Their pricing (on a per device basis) appears to be similar to or slightly lower than our all-in pricing with Verizon.