Consumer Cellular plans are marketed towards seniors, but their no contract cheap cell phone plans may be a good fit for other users too. They offer easy-to-understand plans in a wide range of minutes with options for texting and data. They even offer family cell phone plan options. Although these plans work slightly differently than a traditional family cell phone plans offered with other popular contract carriers, they are worth looking into if you’re looking for something different than the mainstream options.
Use the Index below to go to specific sections:
- Consumer Cellular Cell Phone Plans
- Basic Plan Details
- Cell Phone Selection
- Customer Service
- Fees
- Pros And Cons
- Summary
Consumer Cellular Cell Phone Plans
Voice Plans
Consumer Cellular cell phone plans start cheap with a very basic plan that simply offers coverage with no minutes, and they step up to a plan that boast 2,400 minutes per month. For people who just want the cheapest cell phone service so they have a phone for emergencies or occasional use or people looking for simple senior cell phone plans there are a couple of choices. Here is a list of Consumer Cellular cell phone plan options:
- Anywhere Casual – For $10 per month you get basic phone service with 0 minutes. Any minutes you use on this plan are charged at 25 cents per minute.
- Anywhere 100 – For $15 per month you get 100 minutes, additional time is charged at 25 cents per minute.
- Anywhere 300 – For $20 per month you get 300 minutes, additional time is charged at 25 cents per minute.
- Anywhere 700 – For $30 per month you get 700 minutes, additional time is charged at 25 cents per minute.
- Anywhere 1200 – For $40 per month you get 1200 minutes, additional time is charged at 25 cents per minute.
- Anywhere 1800 – For $50 per month you get 1800 minutes, additional time is charged at 25 cents per minute.
- Anywhere 2400 – For $60 per month you get 2400 minutes, additional time is charged at 10 cents per minute.
Texting And Data Options
Like many other cell phone carriers, texting and data are separate plan options you can add. Here are their texting/data options:
- Connect! Lite – For $2.50 per month you get 100 texts and 10 MB of data.
- Connect! Ready – For $5 per month you get 500 texts and 50 MB of data.
- Connect! Active – For $10 per month you get 1,000 texts and 100 MB of data.
- Connect! Complete – For $20 per month you get 2,500 texts and 250 MB of data.
- Connect! Max – For $30 per month you get 5,000 texts and 500 MB of data.
Additional texts are billed at 10 cents per text and additional data is billed at just over 25 cents per MB.
Family Cell Phone Plan Options
You can share minutes on any plan and turn it into a family cell phone plan by getting additional phones and paying $10 per added phone. Voice and texting/data will be shared with all phones listed on the plan.
There are no free mobile-to-mobile calls or texts; in fact mobile-to-mobile calls end up costing double because both the caller and the receiver of the call will be charged minutes. Every phone call or text either made or received will be charged to the account.
International Calling
You can use your Consumer Cellular phone to call from the U.S. to other countries. Rates vary based on the country you are calling. Consumer Cellular plans may work from some locations in Mexico and Canada, but these calls will be charged roaming fees, which could be pricey. This definitely isn’t one of the best cell phone plans if you need to use your cell phone outside of the U.S.; it’s designed for use within the U.S. If you are out of the country with your phone and it rings, you will be charged for the call whether or not you answer it.
Basic Plan Details
Here are a few of the basic plan details for Consumer Cellular cell phone plans:
- No roaming charges
- No contracts
- No rollover minutes
- No free mobile-to-mobile calling
- Additional minutes 25 cents per minute, 10 cents for Anywhere 2400 plan
- AARP discount
- Automated usage alerts when you initiate this function
- Ability to change plan at any time
- Family options available
- 30 day/30 minute money back guarantee
- $10 credit for referrals who set up an account
- $35 activation fee
- They do a credit check
- They use the AT&T network
Cell Phone Selection
Consumer Cellular has a limited option of cell phones, but they seem to offer one in each basic category. They have a simple flip phone, a full QWERTY keyboard phone, and a couple of smartphones with touch screen. The prices are pretty reasonable after rebate.
The one cell phone they offer that many other wireless carriers don’t is a cell phone for seniors called the Doro PhoneEasy. This senior cell phone option is specifically designed with bigger buttons that are easier to see and to use. The simple, Swedish, flip phone design is user-friendly and pretty inexpensive — in fact it seems to be among the cheapest cell phones for seniors costing quite a bit less than Just5 senior cell phones or Jitterbug senior cell phones. Some of their Doro PhoneEasy models have an emergency or “SOS” call button. This button, on the back of the phone, makes it easy to quickly call programmed emergency contacts in case of a fall or other situation.
If you’re not happy with the selection and you want to shop for cheap cell phones without plans on your own that can be used with Consumer Cellular cell phone plans, they recommend you look for unlocked GSM cell phones that can be used on the AT&T network. Keep in mind they can’t offer technical support for cell phones bought elsewhere and this can be an added complication.
Customer Service
Like many other cell phone carriers, including both cheap prepaid cell phone plans and contract plans, their customer service has mixed reviews. Some people have been happy with the customer service, but some have complained of long wait times or been unhappy with the lack of resolution of their problem. Like PlatinumTel cell phone plans, the customer service for Consumer Cellular is U.S. based.
Fees
Consumer Cellular doesn’t charge cancellation fees and they even allow you to change plans without added charges. They do, however, charge a $35 activation fee.
If you use the family plan it is important to note that you are essentially charged double for calls to other people on the plan; once for the caller and once for the receiver of the call.
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Senior-friendly cell phones
- Relatively simple plans
- Cheap plan options
- Ability to change plans at anytime
Cons
- Mixed reviews on customer service
- Phone selection is limited
Summary
There are a lot of mixed reviews of Consumer Cellular cheap cell phone plans. Some people complain about the wait times and lack of knowledge of customer service. Others love the plan options, the cost of service and the easy-to-use senior cell phone phone option.
If your cell phone needs are basic and you live in an area that has good coverage with the AT&T network they are a carrier worth considering. One benefit of going with Consumer Cellular is that you can change plans from month to month if your needs change. If you need more minutes one month you can upgrade your plan, then change back later if you want without incurring added charges.
If you are looking for at cheap family cell plans or cell phone plans for couples this may or may not be a good option. If plan members don’t call/text each other a lot it can be a cheap option; if however they call/text a lot the double charge of minutes can drain the minutes/texts quickly.