Ting vs. T-Mobile, $25 credit

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Summary

Pros

• Relatively cheap minutes/texts with roaming
• Sprint coverage
• Latest Android phones, along with basic phones, wifi hotspots, etc. + BYO(S)D
• No contract; month-to-month billing

Cons

• Relatively expensive data with no roaming
• Sprint coverage
• No non-android phones (iPhone, Windows, Blackberry, etc.), only Sprint phones
• Phones priced at full retail

Referral code for $25 credit

The Ting homepage.

Introduction

Thinking about Ting? Below are my personal experiences.

My family and I were looking to save money (who isn't?), and a notable re-occurring monthly expense for us was our cell phone bill. By switching from T-Mobile to Ting, my family and I have gone from paying $170/month to $50/month ($39/month before taxes/fees).

Ting monthly plans. Note that I've set minutes, text, and data to 0/$0. Ting allows users to set whatever amount they want, and will either bill them or refund themaccordingly, with no penalties or overages!

Discussion

Ting is a MVNO that operates on the Sprint Network. It allows for voice/text roaming, but no data roaming as of the writing of this article. It bills users $6/line, and beyond that, minutes, texts, and data are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. I like the dashboard and app that Ting has to track your usage, and Ting prides itself on having real people answer your phone calls: no automated phone systems or menus, but a real (Canadian) staffer that picks up your calls, usually within a few rings.

The Ting Dashboard.

Minutes and texts are very cheap, and the biggest concern that people often have is the cost and lack of roaming for data. However, as my family and I live in San Francisco, and work in the San Francisco Bay Area, coverage is not a concern for us, and we ues the plethora of WiFi spots all around us. In fact, in our experience the voice quality has been much better on Ting/Sprint than T-Mobile. Plus, while the GSM/TDMA that T-Mobile uses is the global standard, the CDMA that Ting/Sprint is more common in the United States.

I would be remiss if I did not point out that Ting—like many other MVNO's—requires you to pay for the phone upfront, and they currently do not carry iPhones, Windows phones, Blackberries, etcetera; however, Ting is actively working on expanding their line-up. Additionally, there are no free evening/weekend minutes, though this can be circumvented by using a VoIP service/app like Google Voice plus home WiFi.

Conclusion

In the end, Ting worked for my family and I, and I reccommend spending a few minutes to do a cost-benefit analysis and see if it will work for you. I believe that if you live in a large city, and don't mind waiting to use WiFi to download/upload large items and make long calls over VoIP, Ting will work for you as well.

Google Voice. Free calls/texts in the United States and Canada, and it also comes in app form.

Notes

BYOD/BYO(S)D: Bring Your Own Device/Bring Your Own Sprint Device
WiFi: WLAN, or Wireless Local Area Network
MVNO: Mobile Virtual Network Operator
GSM/TDMA: Global System for Mobile Communications/Time Division Multiple Access
CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access
VoIP: Voice Over Internet Protocol