These days, cell phones do nearly everything and are pretty indispensable. Our smartphones have become the heart of our news, entertainment and sometimes education on a day-to-day basis.
All that smart technology comes with a hefty price though. You probably feel the pain of it every month when you look at your bill. There is a formula more and more people are using to cut a large amount of cost from their monthly cell phone bill.
The formula people use to drastically cut their cell phone bill
The secret to reducing your cell phone bill is MVNO + BYOD. MVNO stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator. It basically means a company that sells cellular service on someone else’s network, like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint. Some MVNOs sell service on more than one network.
Ting, a Swappa favorite, for instance, makes use of the Sprint and T-Mobile networks. This means nearly all Sprint phones are compatible with Ting, for instance, because Ting uses the Sprint network for service. However, some phones may be locked or not have “permission” to work on other networks. Read our post on MVNO’s to get more information on these providers.
BYOD
Many MVNO’s don’t sell their own phones, or if they do, the selection may be limited. However, you can bring a branded phone from almost any carrier to an MVNO for service. This is BYOD, the other part of the formula, which stands for Bring Your Own Device. We love BYOD so much we’ve written a whole post on it.
The combination of BYOD and MVNO’s work to drastically cut your mobile device because you can get devices from Swappa, rather than having the cost of the device added to your monthly bill. By taking your device to an MVNO you save further because MVNO’s usually don’t have the same expenses as the large carriers and can pass those savings to you.
Popular MVNO’s
If you want to start shopping for the right MVNO for you, here’s a quick guide. This list will get you started by showing you which type of device to look for some of the most popular MVNO’s.
- Cricket uses the AT&T network (and is owned by AT&T), so you can bring any AT&T or GSM unlocked phone.
- MetroPCS uses the T-Mobile network (and is owned by T-Mobile), so you can bring any T-Mobile or GSM unlocked phone.
- Ting piggybacks on two networks, Sprint and T-Mobile. This means users can bring most Sprint phones, T-Mobile phones, and GSM unlocked phones.
- Google’s Project Fi uses both Sprint and T-Mobile networks. However, only certain phones are compatible. Those phones currently include the Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL.
- Pix Wireless uses Sprint and AT&T networks. This means users can bring most Sprint phones, T-Mobile phones, and GSM unlocked phones.
- US Mobile uses the T-Mobile network, so T-Mobile and GSM unlocked phones are compatible.
And there are many, many more MVNOs. Like tons of them. Even though MVNOs make use of the same carrier networks what separates them is service, costs, billing, marketing, etc.
