Thread

Ask HN: Hypothesis: Cellular providers are deprioritizing voice calls?

21 points · 49 comments · tkdb

SnorkelTan · 1790375032 · focus · HN ↗
They should remove unlimited voice calls and make everyone using the phone network pay by the minute. It would eliminate robodialing instantly.
1. what · 1790375912 · focus · HN ↗
  I wish they would bring back prepaid/pay as you go service. I want a number where I can receive/send an occasional call or text without having to pay a monthly contract.
  1. fhdkweig · 1790378339 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm still on tracfone. Started their service around 2010 and other than a janky website, the phone service is fine. The phones are cheap (I think mine was sub $80) and use a $99 per year "PLAN" card that gets 400 minutes, 400 texts, 1.5 GB data that triples to 1200/1200/4.5GB because it is a smartphone.
    what · 1790386229 · focus · HN ↗
    >$99/year
    Still too high for a phone number I expect to get an sms per day.
    questionableans · 1790386899 · focus · HN ↗
    If you just need to receive an SMS but don’t actually need a cellular network, Google Voice is free.
    If you can stomach $3/mo + tax (totaling a little over $40/year), UltraMobile PayGo is the cheapest consumer option I’ve seen. It’s a T-Mobile owned MVNO. It comes with 100MB, 100 minutes and 100 text messages per month, and is pay as you go after that.
    Past that, I’d look into IoT cellular options.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.