Spoiler alert: I like Ting. It’s officially been one billing cycle since I switched to Ting. And my phone bill was beautiful–much cheaper. That’s really all it takes to win my frugal, deal-lovin’ heart. But I’m satisfied with Ting in other areas, too. But first–why did I decide to switch? For the past couple of years, I’ve been paying about $60 a month for T-Mobile’s service, and that’s for unlimited everything. I thought I was doing pretty well for myself. But then I kept reading about even cheaper phone plans. Namely, Ting. The prices seemed too good to be true, so I did some research. After realizing they were legit, and not some crackpot company, I decided to go through with the switch. Here’s how it went down.
How Ting Works
First, a little background. Ting launched just a couple of years ago. The company buys wholesale access to Sprint’s network. Which means you must have a Sprint-compatible device to use Ting. But the service and network access are the same as you’d get with Sprint. Also, despite their Toronto roots, Ting is only available in the States. For now, at least. Ting Uses Tiers To hell with plans, Ting says (in so many words). We’re gonna use tiers. Basically, this means customers only pay for what they use. No, it’s not prepaid. You just pay for the amount of minutes, data and texts you use each month, within a certain tier. Check out their rates:
This chart is what convinced me to switch. I logged onto T-Mobile, checked my usage, and then compared with Ting. Done.
Some other cool stuff about Ting’s rates?
- They don’t charge for tethering.
- They don’t charge for three-way calling, voicemail, caller ID, etc.
- They pay 25% of your early termination fee. Hell yeah.
If there’s a catch, it’s that you don’t get a free phone. Some providers offer this incentive if you sign a contract and keep their plan for like, seventeen years or something ridiculous (okay, two). Actually, a lot of cellphone providers seem to be shying away from this model. I guess people would rather buy their own damn phones and save more money over time.
Switching Over
If you already have a Sprint phone, switching is easy. Just activate your new phone through Ting. If you don’t have a Sprint phone, you’ll have to buy one and bring it to Ting. To find a good deal, you can do this on eBay, or you can use the Glyde service. Glyde buys and sells your phone for you, to make the switch easier. You pick out a phone online, they ship it to you, then you sell yours. I actually kept my old phone, just in case I didn’t like Ting and I decided to switch back to T-Mobile. 
After buying your new phone, sign up for Ting. When your phone arrives in the mail, activate it on Ting’s website, and port your new number over. This cancels your service with your original provider. If your final bill includes an early termination fee, fill out a form and send it to Ting. To summarize, it comes down to a few steps:
- Buy a Sprint-compatible phone.
- Sign up for a Ting account.
- Activate your new phone through Ting’s website.
- Port your existing number through Ting’s website.
- Check your final bill with your provider.
- Sell your old phone.
The Service
The first week I had Ting, I drove from Houston to New Orleans. There’s a lot of, um, ruralness during this drive. I noticed that anytime my boyfriend’s phone (which is still on T-Mobile) didn’t have service, I didn’t, either. When he did, I did, too. So as far as coverage goes, there was really no change. (Oh yeah! Check out their service map) I did, however, have to downgrade from 4G to a 3G network. But this is only because I bought a relic of a phone, the iPhone 4. I mean, it doesn’t even have Siri. What was I thinking, right? I might as well have bought two cans and a piece of string. I could definitely tell a difference with 3G, but this isn’t Ting’s fault; it’s my dinosaur phone. It doesn’t support 4G. Also, I realized I wasn’t receiving MMS messages (picture or video). This frustrated me for a while, but then I realized my device settings weren’t properly configured on Ting’s website. I logged on and checked a box.
The Price
Here’s where Ting definitely wins. My last bill? $35. That’s nearly half of what it was. And I was traveling and using a ton of data during this billing cycle, so $35 is likely higher than what my average bill will be. Sure, I had unlimited everything with T-Mobile. But, apparently, I didn’t use that much service on average. So I wasn’t getting much out of the whole “unlimited” thing. I mean, if you’re just gonna eat a chicken wing, you don’t need to buy the whole buffet, right? Or…something. I dunno. You know what I mean. For an estimate of how much you’d save with Ting, check out their savings calculator. 
Boost Your Savings Even More
If you really want to save with Ting, you can cut back on your paid usage. Download a free voice or texting app, like Google Voice. And stick to WiFi. This way, you use fewer Ting minutes, texts and data, keeping you in a lower tier. Ting also lets you keep track of your usage and set up alerts once you reach a certain amount of minutes, data or texts. This helps you stick to a lower tier, and spend less. Or, you could not do any of this, and still save money. And that’s about it. Originally, I dreaded the switch because it seemed like a big pain in the ass. But all in all, I spent maybe three hours working on it? And that includes writing this post. It was really easy.
Get $25 off
And if you decide to sign up for Ting, you might as well use my referral code and get $25 off. They’ll either give you a $25 credit or $25 off a new device (Also, I’ll get a discount, too, and that will make me do a little dance). Have you guys considered shopping for cheaper phone plans? If so, what other providers are you considering? Have you found something even better than Ting? Sound off in the comments!
Managing your money is like going to the dentist or standing in line at the DMV. Nobody wants to do it, but at some point, it’s inevitable: you need to clean your teeth, renew your license, and manage your money like a grown-up.
Glad you’re liking Ting! We are still absolutely loving it and have noticed no difference in coverage between our 3G Verizon coverage and Ting’s 3G coverage in our area. =)
Thanks! Your series on it definitely helped me join the money-saving masses. Yep–coverage is the same, and sometimes better, than what I previously had. Love it!
I’m still waiting for my plan to end with Verizon. Then I am off to no contract land. Just 3 months to go. I got my plan lowered and each month the bill continues to go up so it’s back to where it was months ago. I am so not a fan.
Oy, that’s very annoying. You’d think they’d want to be a little more competitive! Glad to hear you don’t have long to go, though.
Very interesting…I’ll have to check this out. I’ve read reviews of Republic wireless but haven’t really heard much about Ting. I have a family plan and have my parents on it…my phone with unlimited texting and 300 MB of data comes to about $55. But $35 sounds even better. With Republic, it seemed like they didn’t have regular flip phones for older users who find smartphones complicated. So if someone who just makes phone calls, it seems to be pretty cheap. Even with the XL plan, it seems cheaper than most big phone companies.
Oh, yeah. I can imagine if you’re just making phone calls, your bill is going to be gloriously low. $55 is not bad! But your Ting bill might be even lower than the $35. I think this month, my bill will be $23.
Love this! I was inspired by Mrs. PoP’s post about breaking up with Verizon and thought I could make the switch, too. Sadly, my husband and I decided to live in the sticks which means only Verizon gets coverage there. Ting had ZERO coverage for phone calls and Interwebs i our area. It’s amazing to me how little of the “unlimited” amount of minutes and data we use and yet cellular companies still promote that as the best-thing-ever. It’s such a ripoff! $35/mo for a smartphone plan is freakin’ awesome — you go girl! 🙂
Thanks, Kendal! Bah, wish you could get adequate coverage out there. Maybe the bigger companies will come around with some better prices though!
You might want to try out Ting… Verizon is used as the ‘roaming’ network for calls (maybe even data) when Sprint isn’t available.
Never heard of Ting, but hard to argue with a $35/month cellphone bill!
Yep! So far, so good.
I thought about switch to prepaid plan before I have t-mobile also, but since I suspend my account working oversea, I don’t have to worry about it too much. I will consider Ting when I’m back in the states, the only thing I’m worrying about is losing my phone number, and I rather not get a new number. I try to switch to AT&T before for some reason they couldn’t do it that was 4 years ago so can’t remember what the problem was.
You can use the same number! I just ported mine over from T-Mobile. They make it really easy. You just activate the phone, then enter your old number on their site.
I have Republic Wireless and it works great. It’s hard to believe that so many people pay for regular service when there are so many low-cost providers out there.
Agreed! I think those providers will have to catch up soon enough.
I have not heard of Ting before. I will have to look into this. I just changed carriers, so I wonder how much more this would cost to switch again.
Yeah, definitely check it out! Their calculator makes it easy to compare, though if you have an early termination fee, you’d have to consider that cost, too.
Why Ting? I mean, it’s better than the big carriers, but if you’re trying to save money, you’re probably already using a MVNO already. Why not go for something like Republic Wireless for $25 if all you’re using is 3G data? You’d get unlimited text, data, and minutes.. and they’re both on the limited (in coverage and speed) Sprint network.
It’s also hard to believe you used a ‘ton’ of data for $35. Once you go over 1GB, you’re already paying $29 without any minutes or texts included. Many other MVNOs would be much more competitive with higher data caps.
Not to rain on your post, but I just found it misleading. Ting is clearly aimed at light data users.. not for those that use a ‘ton’. You should at least put in specific usage numbers. And if you’re a light data user, there are plenty others that will offer unlimited minutes/text and small amount of data for around $30 and likely on a superior network.
What a fun comment to read on a Monday morning. Especially pre-coffee.
A “ton” is more tongue-in-cheek than literal. I mean, I thought this was pretty obvious, considering I’m using it to describe data usage. But even if I did use their highest package, my monthly bill would’ve still been $52. So this isn’t exactly a “gotcha.” Their prices are low, plain and simple. I don’t think they’re aimed at light data users, especially if you look at other carriers’ average data packages. I really don’t understand the contention here, unless this is some kind of anti-Ting campaign. Point is, I used more data than I usually do, and my bill was still low. Plug in how much data you use on average; see if you like the price. If you don’t, then go with another carrier. I’m not forcing anyone to use Ting, I’m just recording my experience.
I may go back in and post my actual usage, but the rates are right there. The post is not misleading. At all. The title reads: “My switch to Ting.” I don’t use Republic because I like having the option of phones.
Okay I’m going to go drink a ton of coffee now. (Not an actual ton, just more than usual)
I don’t see any thing that he said is anti Ting campaign. The truth is there are a lot of prepaid MVNOs that offer much more than Ting at an affordable price. For example, H2O wireless. They have a $30 plan rate for unlimited text/talk and 500MB of data and if you sign up for auto recharge you will get 10% off which bring down the monthly rate to $27…:) And the most important thing is H2O riding on AT&T network which is a superior wireless network. You can use any unlocked phone with their sim card (Just swap the sim card to the new phone and you’re all set). The process is much more simpler than CDMA network that you need to register the phone MEID and UICCD on the network before you can use it.
Speaking of which, Ringplus is a better choice than Ting. It’s just that you will listen to a short of ringplus radio before they connect you to the receiver. I very much enjoy their $12.99 a month with unlimited talk/text and 200 MB of data.
Ahhh, you’re right.. I just tried using Google to convert a “ton” into minutes and megabytes, but it didn’t work. I recant everything I said. ( FYI – trying to convert a chicken wing didn’t work either.. go figure).
I was just saying, it would be nice to see more information on the other carriers you looked at before settling on Ting. It would also benefit your readers to point out who it’s not for.
Anyways, I’m also going to get a ton of coffee now.. (Not actually 2000 lbs worth, just one full cup).
Hey KW,
Thanks for the Ting write-up. (My autocorrect wants to spell it as Ying, and I almost left it that way just for fun.)
I’ve been paying my life away to Verizon for years, so I appreciate your user review of this service.
Glyde is an interesting idea as well.
FYI I learned about your blog from your interview on LMM. Now you are a regular addition to my Feedly list. 🙂
Hell yeah! Thanks for adding me, Will. 🙂 Let me know if there are any specific money saving tips you’d like to see.
I just used Glyde to sell my old Android as well. They made the process really easy.
I agree about it and very interested.