Well, I finally took the prepaid plunge. I've been a T-mobile customer in one way or another since '07 (technically left for Sprint in '10, which was then merged back into TMO), but paying $65/mo for one line while using absolutely none of the "perks" just became too wasteful to ignore.
I took advantage of the US Mobile port-in offer: bring over your line and get 30 gigs of premium data with unlimited talk/text and 5 gigs of hotspot free for 30 days, after which I'll be on the "Unlimited Starter" plan which offers 35 gigs of premium data monthly for $29 all-in. In addition: after 12 months of service I'll receive a $50 prepaid Mastercard reward.
The port-in process went incredibly smoothly. 99.9% of porting issues are caused by the end user not having the correct information, so I triple checked my acct #, transfer PIN, and billing details. Within 60 seconds of completing the transaction on the USM website, my phone lost signal and I received a text message from TMO saying they were sorry to see me go. About 3 minutes later, the USM website refreshed and gave me a big ol' QR code for my new ESIM. I added the ESIM, let the phone do it's thing, and rebooted. That was IT. Everything works out of the gate, including WiFi calling and 5G stand-alone.
An added bonus of USM: during setup, you can choose to utilize EITHER the Verizon network or the TMO network depending on what works better for you in your area. They're also beta testing a feature which will allow you to add a second "auxiliary" network/ESIM for an additional $15 which will allow you to switch between providers on the fly in areas of poor signal.
Their phone app is amazingly sleek and simple, and both their customer service and their CEO are very active on Reddit. When I posted a "Hello" post on Reddit, the CEO replied personally with a welcome and thank you.
Ok, enough of the ad read. But seriously, if you're looking to save some serious money and support a smaller company give US Mobile a try.
