Consumer Cellular Inc

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Consumer Cellular is the company you'll find advertising in AARP publications. I was looking for a cell phone provider that didn't cost an arm and a leg. The thing that made me give Consumer Cellular a try is that once you select your minutes, text and data plan you can do what you want with them. I wanted to share them with my husband who doesn't use much, and also be able to tether (hot spot) when we go to our vacation home that does not have internet. I contacted the company and signed up for a plan and bought my first smartphone (a Motorola Moto G). All was wonderful until we got to the vacation spot and I wound up with zero bars of service. Consumer Cellular uses the ATand T network towers, and that didn't work for me. While the phone and network did very well in my hometown, I had to return all and start my search over again because of the 2nd location. I repacked the phone (which I loved) and waited for my refund which came in a very timely manner. The customer service people and the technical department people were very helpful and very pleasant. If you can use the ATand T network I highly recommend this company. They are not just for seniors, and If things had worked out we would have been able to add our granddaughter to the plan for $10 per month for her first phone.

If you're looking for a voice plan only for one person without allot of talk time (No data or texting) and a outdated Simple cell phone, this might be okay for you. Otherwise avoid this company like the plague.

The above says it all.   There is little point even after a careful look at using other Cell Phone providers given their pricing strucutre and their excellent service.

We only have basic cell phone services with Consumer Cellular Inc. for emergencies. We don't use it otherwise. We've been using them for about three years. We don't have any trouble with dropped calls. It's strictly for emergencies. The cell phone is the bare minimum. It doesn't take pictures or anything. I think we have texting but we never use it. In most cases, there's no extra charges on it, maybe two times a year or something. For us, it's practical, because we really don't use it.

We switched to Consumer Cellular from Verizon because we had read a good review of their company in Consumer Reports and ghoped to save on our monthly phone bills. We started out with a plan that was reasonably priced, but we ended up having to bump up to a more expensive plan because our usage exceeded the plan's parameters. The following month, we learned that we were fast approaching the limits of the new plan and had to more yet again to a more expensive plan. My wife and I are 55 andn 60 years old, and not serious gamers or texters, which I think shows how unrealistic the plans are. Also - and perhaps more importantly - the service was awful: we would lose calls, miss calls, be unable to reach people we had no problems reaching before, and the sound quality was very poor. The Internet service was glacial. Finally, we decided to switch to another provider. When we received our final bill, it was $177, or nearly $80 higher than our previous bill. When I called to inquire, I was advised that our data usage in excess of the new plan had added the additional costs. This was after we had upgraded twice! I would not recommend this company to anyone, at least in this area of the country.

The pricing is very reasonable. We have received good service and the phones are also good quality. The phone provides everything we need in a phone. They even offered a deal where you could get a chip to put in an older phone so my son could use the phone he previously had and also be on our plan.

Upon arrival of the equiptment and trying to activate service,I was informed that I could not get service in my area.

We think they are excellent for the price. We have been using them for about 2 months. We don't have any problems with losing connection and it suits our needs. We really like them.

My overall experience with them was excellent. Their service is trouble free.

Their billing process is horrible. There's no grace period if you have outstanding payments. Their rates are really good, but their customer service is very poor. You really get what you pay for. The wait time, when you call them, is very long. They are really understaffed.

I was not happy with them. I didn't like their billing practices. I switched to another company.

I like their rates. It's $10 per phone, per month. Then you pay so much a minute for your phone. We don't use our phones that often. I don't do texting, but they do offer those plans. Consumer Cellular has really reasonable rates. My husband and I can both get a phone, and have rates for little than $30 a month.

Several month later, the phone display began to act "weird" as a computer chip will do when it is going bad. I called customer service and they instructed me to turn the phone off and on to reset, which I did and then it worked. It was during this phone call that I found out that Consumer Cellular sells used phones, and I had thought that I was purchasing a new phone. With the 2nd phone, I began to receive calls form people and languages I do not use. Then the phone continued to have strange displays as if it was not working right. Within 60 days, the turning the phone off and on would not reset it. I contacted the company asking for a replacement phone as the one they sent was not working and the display was not coming on so that I could use the phone. The company refused stating that the warranty time had expired, even though my original complaint was filed with them well within the warranty time. I was forced to keep the phone and used it for a few more months. I asked to speak to a supervisor but this was not allowed nor were they at all interested in keeping any customers, according to their customer service contact. Yes, I asked them this question. I routinely work to negotiate quite successfully many customer complaints against many large corporations. This was one of the very few that I have ever encountered who made it very clear that they had quite enough customers and were not going to resolve the problem in any manner. After a few months, I cancelled this account and purchase a new phone from another carrier. I still have the lousy, useless CONSUMER CELLULAR PHONE WITH THE BAD CHIP IN IT. I have been in the computer industry for over 40 years and know what a computer chip going bad can look like, so I am neither a novice with technology nor with mediation. I will never use this company or their products or ever recommend them again. Even though I have requested multiple times to be removed from their mailing lists, I continue to get their "special offers."

I got them through a group for people over fifties. I have a basic plan with them. They have plans according to the number of minutes available a month. I have not had any problems with their service. There are certain areas where I know I won't get service so I don't even try. I would use them again in the future.

They are just really good. The pricing was a lot less than any others. They have lower monthly prices, lower equipment prices, and they also have no contract, which is huge. They are very good at demographics which other providers are terrible at.

They are very unfriendly, willing to help and based on their customer service I would rate them very low. Their free phone that you get with the plan is more difficult to use. The numbers are very small and although it is lightweight it is more difficult to use than my current phone. Based on their customer service I would rather pay the extra to get the good service. If anyone asked me about this company I would say stick with what you got.

AARP was promoting this for seniors and I am very disappointed with the outcome. On my most recent month of service I did not use any minutes but was charged for them. When I contacted them to dispute the charges they said there was not anything I could do about the charges. They said even though I did not use any of the minutes I had access to them. I was not very impressed with them.

We walked into the store on a Saturday and walked out with 2 phones in about 1/2 hour. The service is Cingular service, so the cell phones work everywhere. There is no long distance charges and all minutes are anytime minutes. Because we have the family plan we pay $10 extra for the extra line. For two phones and 400 shared anytime minutes we pay about $40/mo. The 2 best things about Consumer Cell. If you go over your minutes that month, just call before your bill is printed and you can go up to the next plan for $10 more and just switch back the next month. The other best thing is the referral program. If you refer someone to them you and your referral will both get $10 off your bill. I have had to call customer service a few times and each time my call was answered promptly. Very happy with the service, I refer as many people as possible for $10 off my bill!!

I've been using consumer cellular for our cellular phone company for over 5 years. They have better plans available then the big guys, and best of all there are not long term contracts. Service has always been good.