I ... I won?!??

So I have this awesome phone company... I've mentioned it before a few (dozen) times, I'm sure. It's called Ting, and basically it's a really nice option if you can afford to buy a phone up-front and don't use a lot of data. You only get charged for what you use, and it's just a neat deal all around.

Ting often runs contests. When I saw their United States World Cup Goal contest, I decided to join in the fun, just because I could. I mean, it's a Sunday game, so Eric and I were sure to be watching it (on Univision) and the odds were good that the US would score at least one goal, right?

So, if you look at my Twitter feed you'll see that right after the first goal I tweeted this:

Goal! I'm only watching the game because I want a free phone from @tingftw #USMNT

...and after the second goal I tweeted this

Goal! Univision is fun when there's a goal! @tingftw #USMNT

I'm not sure which tweet earned me the free device, but since I was listed first in the congrats tweet, I think it might have been the first one.

Thanks to everyone for participating! Congrats to @realtegan and @thoren13 - YOU WIN! Email sgeorges@ting.com with your device choice

Right after the game last night Eric and I went out to meet one of his old friends for dinner and by the time we got back I was so exhausted I just fell into bed and went to sleep. This morning I thought to check Twitter to see who won (since I was sure it wouldn't be me) and then spent the next half hour yelling and bouncing around the house, terrifying the cat. I e-mailed Ting about it, then looked at the list of devices and spent the morning considering.

Late in the morning I noticed that the fourth generation iPad was on the list. I wasn't sure whether it was a real option, or they were only offering a phone, so I emailed and asked. Short answer is, I'm going to be getting an iPad!

So, hey, consider Ting for your phone company. I knew I liked them before, now I like them even more.

Ting Thoughts

I just worked out my bill, and we've saved $63.58 since switching to Ting in November (that includes the cost of our new phones). Let's point out that with Ting, Eric and I have two smartphones with text messaging and access to the internet if we need it... while with Verizon we had two regular cell phones with only 500 minutes, no text and no internet.

There isn't a really a plan that we could have got from Verizon that would match what we have from Ting, but the most comparable would cost a minimum of $80 before taxes and wouldn't include any internet access. With minimal net access it would be at least $130 before taxes. I'm still using my old bill of $71.74 to make the comparison, so really, we're saving more.

If anyone wants to get $25 off at Ting, you can use my referral code and I'll get some credit. And if anyone wants more details on how much I'm saving with Ting, read the rest of the post.

Ting Again

Back in November I posted a bunch of posts about looking for a smartphone. I started by looking at traditional services, and I wasn't too impressed. Then I looked into prepaid services and was a little hopeful. Then I suddenly found a spectacular deal and jumped on it even though I wasn't entirely sure it wasn't some sort of trick.

Ting turns out to be a pretty good deal.

We were paying roughly $72 a month (with all taxes and fees) for two Verizon phones with 500 shared minutes (month-to-month). We had no texting and no data. It wasn't a great deal, but I couldn't get a better one from Verizon (I tried) and I was holding out until we could afford smartphones before changing service.

I just completed my second month with Ting and I'm about to prepay for my third. My total, with taxes and fees, is just over $35. That's with up to 500 minutes voice, up to 1,000 text messages, and up to 100 MB of data (enough to check my mail daily from the office if I want to). I wish Ting had been around years ago, I would have saved bundles of money from Verizon.

Anyway, here's why I'm posting again. There are two problems with Ting. One is that you have to buy a phone. You can bring a phone from Sprint, but only Sprint phones work at the moment (this may change in the future). The other problem is that most people are on contracts with cell phone companies with early termination fees if they cancel service.

For the first, I can offer two pieces of help. If you want to buy a phone from Ting, I have a $25 off referral link that will give you $25 off a device and give me a $25 service credit. My sister used it, which made my phone bill in December REALLY low. The other possibility is that Ting now has a partnership with used phone marketplace Glyde. It isn't that difficult to find inexpensive smartphones you can bring to Ting on that service, and a list of ones that will definitely work is available on the Ting site (you can get an LG Optimus S, like I have, for under $50).

For the second problem, the early termination fee, check out this blog post at Ting. Starting Feb. 1 and going to the end of February Ting will give people who switch service credit for their early termination fees. It's not ideal: you still have to pay out the initial fee to terminate out of pocket. But at that point you'll have phone service pre-paid for quite some time.

Ting isn't really for power users, but for most people who just need a good cell phone, it's a great deal. So far I've had excellent interactions with customer support, lower bills and I have a freakin' smartphone for LESS than I was paying for a "feature" phone before. I'm a believer in Ting's model.

Ting!

So I've moved hubby-Eric over to a smartphone as well now. Because Ting didn't have any of the $53 LG Optimus S refurbs left, I found a likely candidate on eBay. Ting allows customers to port some models of Sprint phones to their service, so I looked for a used Sprint phone from a high-rated seller that specifically said "clean ESN" and had a 14 day guarantee. I ordered it right before Thanksgiving, and was surprised when it arrived yesterday (Saturday).

After some initial difficulties with the phone itself, I was again surprised when a Ting customer support person working on Saturday ported the phone to Ting for me so I could activate it same day. Amazing service!

If I'm gushing a bit, that's because I expect to save about $20 off from our previous monthly bills, and over $100 a month from what I would have spent on two Verizon smartphones. That's just happy-inducing.

I made my co-workers mad today

I lieu of thinking about life's problems, I've pretty much immersed myself into my new phone, as I'm sure some people noticed.

I want to share more information about Ting, my new wireless service that runs on the Sprint network (with free roaming for voice and SMS on Verizon's network). I just started it, but I'm already pretty pleased with it. I had a lengthy interaction with customer support on Sunday while porting over my old phone number to my new phone, and it was EXCELLENT. I've rarely had such a great interaction with customer service.

So I was talking about the phone at work with my co-workers, who didn't quite believe what I was saying about the deal. So I pulled up the Plan Page to show them how much they would pay if they were on the plan. One co-worker just dropped her jaw when she saw it. The other said, "That makes me mad." Both of them recently signed up to 2-year contracts that were WAY more expensive.

So for your own edification on whether or not Ting would save you any money, either visit the plan page or use the calculator I'm putting down below the cut.

LG Optimus S from Ting - Rooting Instructions

Most of this post is going to be fairly technical with links to some technical pages, so most of my readers aren't going to be interested. In fact, this information will be out of date soon, so I'm not even entirely sure why I'm writing it, except that I hope to get Eric the same phone which means I'll be going through this process once more.

So, if you want to read about me rooting a phone, read on. Otherwise, you might want to skip this one.

Smartphone Hunting: Laura's got a new phone

I jumped into the smartphone pool with a fairly new service that offers what I think may be the best deal that's available for someone like me. Ask me again in a year if I still think so, but for the moment... I'm impressed.

First, another shout out to Credo Mobile, who surprised me with an offer of a free smartphone and monthly discounts for my earlier mention of them. In the end I decided to go a different way but if I'm not satisfied with my new service, Credo is at the top of my list.

I was reluctantly starting to think Eric and I could do best by "upgrading" at our current carrier Verizon Wireless when I learned two things that changed my mind.

The first is that the local EMS uses the Sprint network when they aren't using short-range radios. That suggests that the coverage is definitely good enough for me.

The second I found on HowardForums. A little background, when I bought the LG VX8300 I checked the reviews on that forum and knew exactly what to expect and how to properly hack my phone. The users there are intelligent and helpful. I was still researching prepaid plans when I found this thread and started to look through the options listed there. I passed over the unfamiliar names at first, then I looked a second time and saw Ting (note: this is a referral link). Ting runs on the Sprint network.