It's an awfully good time to come to Ting, peoples.
I know that you all are probably super busy with holiday prep right now and aren't really thinking about slashing your monthly bills.
BUT.
There's a time-sensitive offer from Ting Wireless, my super-frugal cell phone service provider.
(Home of the $21 cell phone bill I enjoy for two iPhones. Yes, indeedy.)
Ok, so, here's the deal.
Sometimes you have to pay an early termination fee in order to break your current wireless contract and come to Ting.
(Most people find that Ting's savings calculator makes it pretty clear that you'll be money ahead in no time, despite paying an ETF. But I digress.)
Normally, Ting pays 25% of the ETF (up to $75), which is pretty marvy-fab.
But, until January 5th, they're increasing that to 50%, up to $150 per device!
Plus, if you open your Ting account through any of the links on my blog, you also get a $25 credit toward a phone purchase or toward your bill.
So, you could get up to $175 in credit if you switch now.
We've had Ting for a little over a year now and are super-duper pleased both with their service and with the low bill/no contract combo we enjoy.
If you want more details about their service, hop on over to read my original post about 'em.
And if you're still unsure about Ting, you just might want to know that Consumer Reports rated them number one in pre-paid service recently.
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P.S. Ting did not used to support iPhone 5S and 5C, but they now do, and I also heard that they will be supporting the iPhone 6 shortly as well!
Me, I'm just plugging along with my iPhone 4s, which still seems mahhhvelously advanced compared to the brick phone I previously owned.
Unrelated P.P.S. I've been keeping an eye on Be Frugal for my cashback this month and for a lot of stores, TopCashBack is still beating them. But I made a purchase at Novica yesterday and discovered that Be Frugal offers 12% cash back. Yay! So, if you signed up for your $10 account opening bonus and are looking for some cashback opportunities to help you meet the minimum payout, consider Novica.
I had some coupons in addition to the cashback, so I paid only $3 for a jewelry item (a future birthday gift for a certain girl at my house.) Totally pleased about that.
P.P.P.S. In case you missed the update yesterday, reader Allison correctly guessed all of the cookie decorators! If you'd like to satisfy your curiosity, I added a photo to the post with the decorators identified.
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This post contains affiliate links, which help to support The Frugal Girl at no additional cost to you. As always, I only affiliate myself with companies I use and can wholeheartedly support.
If this isn't enough to get you to Ting, in February Ting will be on a GSM network meaning that your phone options will be much bigger in a couple months. My phone is a used HTC Evo 4G I purchased in Aug of 2013 (it's a 2010 model and is starting to show its age with constant reboots but at least it's working at the moment) so it'd be nice to upgrade it at some point. So in a couple months I won't be limited to just used Sprint phones. 😀
Yes! This is very exciting news...having more phone options will make switching much easier for people.
Hi Kristen, thanks for the post, but the links don't seem to be working. Could you check them please? Thank you.
Nuts! I thought they were working...but I redid them now, and I've checked them all. Let me know if they're still not working for you!
Another great cell phone option for your readers is republicwireless.com. They have plans as low as $5 a month. You have to purchase their phone due to the hybrid nature of calls/texts/data going through Wifi if it is available. We chose the Moto G and our plan is $10 a month each for unlimited calls, texts, and also unlimited data when connected to Wifi. We never had smart phones before because we refused to pay the price. We have had zero coverage issues, even while vacationing on a remote island in northern Maine! Another great feature is you can change your plan up to twice a month. This means that if we wanted 3G or 4G coverage, say while traveling, we could switch the plan for a portion of the month and pay the pro-rated difference. 3G is $25 a month and 4G is $40.
Yep, I hear good things about Republic too! I prefer Ting because there are more phone options (love my iPhone!) and also because the pay-as-you-go nature of it is good for me (it keeps me from using it too much when I'm out and about...I'm too frugal to rack up a large bill. Heh.)
I'd like to, but ... coverage doesn't look great in my area. I think Ting uses Sprint towers? I need something that uses Verizon towers for decent coverage. Boo. I'd like to upgrade to a smartphone but don't wanna pay the big bucks.
Yeah, both Ting and Republic use Sprint. Thus far it's been fine for me but I know it does vary by area.
Republic (via Sprint) uses Verizon as their back-up. You would have a problem if you used much data, but if you stuck with the $10 plan for wifi only you might be able to make out ok. You can test drive a phone for 30 days. If you don't like it, you can send it back and only be out the shipping.
Thanks, Carla.
We switched from Verizon to a super bare-bones Airvoice Wireless plan ($10 per phone per month) back in February. Once we had saved enough money that way, we bought used smartphones from Glyde and hopped over to Ting. Love it! Although the only really smart thing I do a lot of on my smartphone... is download ebooks! I never have to be without a book again!
Yay!!! So glad you love Ting.
Does it have to be a Sprint ready phone? I was recently hosed by AT&T and we have two new AT&T iPhones and are stuck in a crappy plan. Also, we are heavy data users, not so much calls. Do other heavy data users also like Ting?
Yes, as of right now it has to be Sprint. But all that will change in February, so maybe you can switch then.
With Ting, you only pay for the type of service you use...if you use data but make no calls, you don't have to pay for calls. So it's totally customizable and changes from month to month based on your usage.
Sounds like a great deal! Too bad I'm Canadian...
I switched a couple of months ago to Ting but I think after the holiday's I'm going to have to switch back. Although their coverage map says it has good coverage in my area, it doesn't. It's going to break my heart because I love what the company stands for (only pay for what you use) - I missed 4 calls the other day because they didn't go thru. I showed I had missed the calls but my phone never rang. It was sitting on my desk next to me and yes, the ringer is turned on. I live in a pretty rural area so I'm sure that's a big part of the problem. But I was able to buy 2 phones thru their service (Glyde) for a great price, so I will give them props for that!
Ohh, that is so sad! But at least you were able to use them for your phone purchases.
We switched to Ting in the spring after your last post about them and I crazy love them! The only bummer was we never received our $25 credit for signing up through you. Nevertheless, we have saved a ton of money and can text now.
Oh, gosh! You should have told me. In fact, you probably could call Ting now still and tell them I referred you and they'd give you your $25.
I signed up when you first mentioned them. My son and I bought used phones through Glyde and have been really happy with Ting. I'm a very light user, but my son texts a lot. We try to take advantage of free wi-fi if we need to have internet access. Our combined bill has never been more than $30/month. Great customer service too!
My husband and I finished up our incredibly expensive contract with Sprint. We were paying $137/month for unlimited usage for an iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, and that was with a 20% discount! Because we were already on the Sprint network, we got to keep our phones and did not have to unlock them. The iPhone 5 transitioned more smoothly to Ting than the iPhone 4S, but Ting's online customer service chat was so persistent in helping me! We are trying to be more mindful of where/when we check our email or text. Ting's app on my phone lets me see usage and it updates within an hour or two of making a call or texting. Before we had the iPhones, we were happy to use primitive track phones to save money. The unlimited iPhone usage spoiled us, but we are willing to curb our habits to cut this bill! Thanks for sharing!
Yay! I'm so delighted that Ting is working out well for you guys.