[mnwaterbug]

Two weeks ago, I switched from using an LG Optimus V on Virgin Mobile to an LG Marquee on Ting. So far Ting has been great. Ting's website is much more friendly than VM's, and their customer service people (for the one phone call I needed them) were also much better. I was paying $25/mo x 2 phones = $50 for VM. For the same use, I expect to pay only $34 on Ting. VM and Ting both use Sprint for primary coverage, and while VM doesn't roam at all, Ting roams nearly the whole country on Verizon (but the roaming is phone & text only, not data). Considering I'm paying about 20% of what Sprint or AT&T would charge, I can live without data roaming!

There's even a slick, free application to keep track of your data, text and talk usage on Ting, on .

Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account:

[jdbii]

Two weeks ago, I switched from using an LG Optimus V on Virgin Mobile to an LG Marquee on Ting. So far Ting has been great. Ting's website is much more friendly than VM's, and their customer service people (for the one phone call I needed them) were also much better. I was paying $25/mo x 2 phones = $50 for VM. For the same use, I expect to pay only $34 on Ting. VM and Ting both use Sprint for primary coverage, and while VM doesn't roam at all, Ting roams nearly the whole country on Verizon (but the roaming is phone & text only, not data). Considering I'm paying about 20% of what Sprint or AT&T would charge, I can live without data roaming!

There's even a slick, free application to keep track of your data, text and talk usage on Ting, on .

Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account:

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great deal. I had a couple questions. How does the roaming work? Do you just get data in your home zip? And then, do you know how much you'll be paying in surcharges? I see the calculator on the website and how you can create your own plan, but I can't estimate how much the surcharges will be.

[mnwaterbug]

In the green areas, Ting provides voice & text only, on Verizon:


In the orange areas, Ting provides data & voice on the Sprint network:


Click the "Coverage" link for the full map.

As far as data cost/usage goes, I'm sure it varies a lot from person-to-person. My wife & I don't watch video on the phones, just occasional web use. We will easily stay under 500 MB. Since we have the phones logging into wifi at work & home, we might even stay under 100 MB, which is the next lowest break-point in pricing. There are a lot of applications that like to use up your data plan, but you can make them "wifi only" using DroidWall:


Our phones are rooted, and I think DroidWall requires root access. After configuring DroidWall to prevent 4G/3G access for everything but email, our data use went from 15 MB per day to about 0.6 MB/day. The battery lasts longer now too.

Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account:

[mnwaterbug]

My first month with Ting just ended. Their service is amazing, here's a run-down of what happened:
* I skied 3 days in Vail, which I also did earlier this year with my Virgin Mobile service (and with no VM/Sprint coverage on the mountain). Ting went into Roaming (Verizon), and I was able to talk to my fellow skiers on the mountain ...something that's pretty nice when you get separated! The coverage through Ting has been fantastic!
* Thanks to Droidwall keeping a few MB of ads being loaded on my phone, our data use for 2 phones was just under 100 MB. Total bill for 1 full month, 2 phones: $24! (84 MB & 400 minutes total talk, btw).

We do use Google voice, so we have no need for Ting's texting, so that saves us a few bucks. By the way, google voice is much better on Ting than Virgin Mobile, because Ting allows you to forward calls to your GV number (where google transcribes them to text and sends them to you with a .wav file, whereas VM would send them to their own clunky voice mail that you have to dial into, and punch the keypad to plod through.

Anyway, I thought VM was pretty good service, and reasonable, for $50/month for 2 phones. But Ting is $24/month, for much better service. Amazing!

Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account:

[jdbii]

My first month with Ting just ended. Their service is amazing, here's a run-down of what happened:
* I skied 3 days in Vail, which I also did earlier this year with my Virgin Mobile service (and with no VM/Sprint coverage on the mountain). Ting went into Roaming (Verizon), and I was able to talk to my fellow skiers on the mountain ...something that's pretty nice when you get separated! The coverage through Ting has been fantastic!
* Thanks to Droidwall keeping a few MB of ads being loaded on my phone, our data use for 2 phones was just under 100 MB. Total bill for 1 full month, 2 phones: $24! (84 MB & 400 minutes total talk, btw).

We do use Google voice, so we have no need for Ting's texting, so that saves us a few bucks. By the way, google voice is much better on Ting than Virgin Mobile, because Ting allows you to forward calls to your GV number (where google transcribes them to text and sends them to you with a .wav file, whereas VM would send them to their own clunky voice mail that you have to dial into, and punch the keypad to plod through.

Anyway, I thought VM was pretty good service, and reasonable, for $50/month for 2 phones. But Ting is $24/month, for much better service. Amazing!

Pretty awesome deal. Only 84mb even with texting on Google Voice? Did the $24 include taxes and surcharges -- on Ting's website, as you tailor your own plan, the final price always states "plus taxes and surcharges." I know that will vary state to state, but what is not clear to me is if there is regulatory and access fees tacked on to whatever plan you tailor.

I forgot to ask to, is your phone an officially supported Ting phone that is listed on their website. Do you know whether or not a Nexus 4 would work with Ting.

[mnwaterbug]

It'd be nice if Ting somehow avoided the rat's nest of taxes on these things, but no dice. Being my first month, there were two activation fees of $6 each on the bill, so they might have figured into this too, but here it is:
$0.05 Transit Tax
$1.34 Sales Tax
$1.04 Fed USF Cellular
$2.40 E911 Tax (Wireless)
$0.18 Telecommunications Relay Service Surcharge
$0.04 FCC Regulatory Fee (Wireless)
$5.05 Taxes and Regulatory Fees Total

I got two refurbished LG Marquee phones from Ting for $80 each, there are a few marks on the backs, but the glass on both is perfect. Those phones are no longer available. Here's Ting's current "Bring Your Sprint Device to Ting: A List of All Supported Devices":


Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account:


May 10, 2013 edit: Ting now accepts any Sprint phone:

[mnwaterbug]

My 2nd month with Ting just ended a couple days ago. Without the two $6 activation fees, I think my bill is settled down and will be predictable. Here's a look at my Ting dashboard just before the end of the month:



Here's my bill for the month:



We haven't had any problems with the service. Over the last month, we've traveled to New York City and Chicago, no problems with coverage. The value is amazing. We're very happy with Ting!

Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account:

[mnwaterbug]

My 3rd month with Ting just ended. I'm officially in a groove, this month's bill is the same as last month, and I couldn't be happier! Ting service has been great. In addition to the other things mentioned earlier, we use Google Voice exclusively (nobody, including me, knows my cell phone number!) and an for the majority of calls, so they're free. The Obi saves a few dollars, but I'd use it even if it didn't; I prefer a regular telephone if I'm home, and the Obi has great sound quality, I can't tell it from a regular land-line connection. It's also kind of sneaky cool to be using a regular phone when people assume I'm on a cell phone!



$27.77 for two Android phones for a month. Pretty amazing stuff!

Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account:

[mnwaterbug]

My 4th month with Ting is concluding. $27.77 ($24+taxes) for two android phones ...simply amazing! Here's today's dashboard:



If the data goes over 100 mb, the charge goes from $3/mo. to $13/mo, as seen below:



I spend a lot of time at places with WiFi, and I've installed an app to prevent the phone from syncing unless it's in WiFi. I don't have any problem feeling "out of touch", if I want to check my email over 3G, I can just open gmail and hit refresh. My emails don't chime so I can compulsively check each one as it arrives; if it's urgent, they'll call me! Here's SmartSync, which I'm using, and AutoSync that does the same sort of thing (different apps like these might work better/worse on different phones):
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Keeping my phone from constantly syncing over 3G, and using the previously mentioned firewall () to keep apps from hogging 3G data makes a huge difference. I use to see what apps are using the data service; it makes it easy to decide what I really want, and what I can shut-down.

Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account:

[mnwaterbug]

Update: I'm as pleased as ever with Ting. Several friends have switched to Ting and they're happy with it too.

News Flash: Ting has a promotion, they'll pay 25% of your early termination fee up to $75 per device! Details here:


Here's a coupon link to save $25 on a new Ting account: