It’s been another exciting year for Consumer Cellular and the wireless industry in general, and we’re delighted to have had you spend it with us. As we wrap up 2018, it’s worth taking a quick look back at some of the significant cellular industry developments that occurred over the last 12 months before peeking ahead at what’s on the horizon for 2019.
In November, we unveiled our upgraded Connect plans, offering twice as much data on nearly every plan without any change in price, and increasing our largest plan to now deliver 20GB of data every month. It’s now easier than ever to watch videos, stream music and surf the Internet, at a price you can afford. This marked the 11th straight year that we’ve increased our monthly plans without increasing our prices!
We’re closing out the year with a terrific honor: PC Magazine has announced their “Consumer Recommended” awards for 2018, and we were chosen as favorite mobile carrier—and not just by a little. The awards are based on an index called a “net promoter score” which measures the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others. In PC Magazine’s words, our score of 87 (on a scale of 100) “translates to user love that is almost unheard of in the tech world.”
Among our proudest achievements this year was gaining our 3 millionth customer in October. Not only are we humbled by our continued growth, but the milestone gave us the opportunity to make a $1.5 million charitable donation shared by Meals on Wheels, Shriner’s Hospitals for Children, and the Providence Cancer Research Institute. It continued a long tradition we have of commemorating achievements by giving back to our community.
We were also honored by J.D. Power and Associates, being named “Highest in Customer Service among Non-Contract Value Wireless Providers” for the 5th time in a row. The study ranked wireless carriers across 12 different customer care channels, with a maximum possible score of 1,000 points, and we earned a score of 882!
The wireless industry continued to make almost unimaginable leaps in technological advancement this year. Revolutionary upgrades to camera technology, display size and clarity, and processing power made models like the iPhone Xs and Samsung Galaxy Note9 the most advanced smartphones ever. Digital “helpers” like Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant were perfected to a point that users barely even have to touch their phones to control them anymore.
As we look ahead, things won’t be slowing down. Leading manufacturers like Apple and Samsung will unveil new and even more amazing flagship phones. And the uses for wireless technology will continue to expand to more home products to make everyday life more convenient. Through it all, you can rely on Consumer Cellular to be there, with the same commitment to providing the best support and value in the business that we’ve become known for.
Thank you for giving us another great year in 2018, and know that we’re at your service for all your wireless needs in 2019 and beyond.
why wasn’t the 250mg plan upgraded for those customers that barely go over but would never use 2Gb of the next plan why not give us 500 mg for the same price I do appreciate that we are upgraded to the next plan when we do go over and can change back
Great question, Cleva. We have many customers who prefer an option with a small amount of data usage, and we wanted to keep that plan in place for them. As you said, you’re automatically upgraded if you need a little more one month, so we think it’s a great option for our customers. Thanks for posting!
I was interested in if you can active you phone on line like if you change sim card persay
Great question, Douglas. If you have the equipment that you ordered for that line, you can definitely activate it through your online account.
I agree with you Cleva. If the 250 MB plan was also doubled, like the other plans were, then people like us that barely go over the 250 limit would not be forced to pay for more data than they need. It seems like we are being discriminated against. I betcha Consumer Cellular winds up eliminating the 250 MB plan altogether and making the 2 GB plan the lowest data plan available. 500 MB sure would be a nice option to have.
Thank you for sharing your feedback, Frank. If we update our plans or adjust them in any way, we’ll be sure to post about it here on the blog, and on our website as well. We hope you have a great day!
I totally agree, we never go over 500 MB and never near 2 GB.
Could you do more advertising about Landlines (for elderly especially, in Florida). The service from an almost Monopoly – CenturyLink, is horrible at best and they Don’t advertise or promote ANY other phone service companies. Will the landline work without a DSL type connection? Thank you.
We appreciate your input, Veronica. We don’t offer traditional landline service, but we do offer a ZTE Wireless Home Phone Base that is used to connect a landline device to our cellular network. This would allow the landline device to connect to the same network as cell phones on our network. You can find the device on our website here.
When will you be offering an unlimited data plan?
Thanks
We appreciate you asking, Hazel! Our plans were recently upgraded, and at this time, we don’t have any other new plan updates to announce. If we do, we’ll be sure to post about it here on the blog! If we can answer any other questions you may have, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. Thanks for posting today!
Can not get Wi-fi on phone unless at home connected to network. Tried with CC network customer service. What is the problem?
Thanks for posting, Henry. In order to connect to a Wi-Fi network away from home, you’ll need to be near a network, and have the password if required. To see if there is a network nearby, tap the Wi-Fi icon, and you’ll see a list of available networks appear. Any with a lock icon will require a password. Just tap the network you want to connect to, and that’s it! We’re happy to review this with you if you like at 888-345-5509. We appreciate you taking the time to comment today!
Call them again. Had same issue and CC had to reboot phone from their office. Great service!
Like to know more about cost plan cost etc
Hi Nick, we appreciate your interest. You can find information about our plan costs here.
I’m presently using the iPhone, I’m seriously thinking of switching to CC, am I able to transfer my contacts to CC service?
Thank You
Thank you for posting, Charles. If you are interested in using your own iPhone with our service, it will need to be unlocked and able to use a SIM card. Please keep in mind that we cannot guarantee compatibility for all phone models, but we generally have good experiences with iPhones.
If you use your own phone with our service, then your contacts would remain on the device. If you decide to purchase one of our phones instead, then the ability to transfer your contacts would be dependent on the new device. If you switch to another iPhone, then switching the contacts can be done using your iCloud account. If you switch to an Android phone, then some have a third-party application that can be used to transfer the contacts.
Which phones have wi fi calling, and is it available on Consumer Cellular? I have 2 older phone s with you I would like to update to that option. Thanks
Hi Mark, thanks for your post! WiFi calling is a great feature to have, all of our current smartphones actually offer that as a feature that you can have access to. If you would like, you can take a look at our current lineup and the cost of our phones by going to our website here.
Just joined Consumer Cellular. Why can’t I send or receive photos on my texting?
Hi Romona, I’m happy to help with your picture messaging. I reviewed your account and I see that you may need to make sure that your data settings are configured for our network on your phone. I have sent you a separate email including the settings and instructions. Once that has been done, please make sure that your mobile data is enabled as well. If you are still having trouble with picture messaging, please call us at 888-345-5509.
Can you add wifi calling to my
Motorola phone that I brought to my consumer Cellular plan? I recently bought it from at&t and
switched to consumer Cellular and I would like
to save on data.
Hi Pat, thank you for posting. I’ve gone ahead and activated Wi-Fi Calling on your line. To allow this to process, please power your phone off and back on. If the feature is not working, then you will likely need to be switched from the AT&T-side of our network to the T-Mobile-side of our network. To do so, you will need to call us at 888-345-5509 and have a new SIM card ordered.
Please keep in mind that Wi-Fi calling does not affect your data usage, and your minutes would be used as normal. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Love your service but have been wondering who are the people in your ad. A lot of them look familuar. The TV add were the woman is walking down the street listening to her music , the husband cooking?
Thanks for posting, Barbara! We feature a variety of actors in our TV commercials, so you may see a few familiar faces from other shows and commercials that you’ve seen over the years. We hope you enjoy these talented actors as much as we do, and we appreciate you reaching out to us!
On your data plans is music streaming included at no charge? A lot of companies offer this and I was just wondering if your plans do.
Thanks!
Hi Kim, with our service any music streaming would use data from your plan but there is not an additional charge for streaming itself.
Why can’t I read a text from a group message?
Hi Mary, when you are sending or receiving a group message you should also have data enabled on your phone so that it can be sent and received. If this is enabled and you’re still not able to see the group message, then please call our customer service team at 888-345-5509 or chat with us here.
Hi, I just received a new Motorola G6 phone for my birthday but I could not sent a text message if it included a photo. I spent three days looking through your web site and Help sections to find a solution for my problem but could not find answer. I finally called you and your tech walked me through the solution for my problem in less than five minutes. You need to have a better search program for your help section. I went through many search requests such as: “I can’t sent a text message if I include a photo”, or “how to sent a text message with a photo.”
Thank you for posting, Henry. We appreciate your feedback about the help section of our website, and I’ll be sure to pass along your feedback to our web development team. Thank you!
Hi, I’m thinking about switching to CC. I currently have AT&T cell service, and I have AT&T U-VERSE for my home internet/Wi-Fi. My question is, will I still be able to use the U-VERSE for my wi-fi with a Motorola phone that i get from CC? Or do I have to change to something thru CC?
We appreciate your interest, Kay. If you switch to our service, this should not affect your U-Verse service which should allow you to continue to use the Wi-Fi service, even with one of our phones. The only thing that may be affected is if your account is bundled, which is something you would need to discuss with AT&T.
I currently have a samsung 8plus. what would it take to start face timing, what kind of phone do I need and can I make the switch?
Thank you for your question, Peggy. You can use video calling on the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus by opening your contacts, and tapping the green video camera button next to the contact you want to call. If the other person doesn’t have a phone that’s compatible with video calling, then you may need to use a third-party application such as Skype or Google Hangouts instead. Please keep in mind that Facetime specifically is unique to Apple iPhone devices and cannot be used by Android phones, including Samsung.
I need to have wifi calling activated on my phone. Galaxy S9+
Hi Tony, thanks for your post! We can definitely get this going for you. I have enabled the feature for the line, all you will need to do is power the phone completely off and back on again. Once that is done, go ahead and turn it on in the phone. If you have any trouble, give us a call at 888-548-6490 or chat with an agent here for further assistance.
Just received my new Moto G Power. Disappointed to see that I can’t use Google Pay with the new phone (No NFC). Also, when I turn on WiFi calling it gives me an error saying that it can’t be done. Can this be fixed?
Thank you for posting, Caleb. NFC functionality is based on the phone’s hardware and cannot be changed. At this time, the only phones we have available that come with NFC built-in are the Samsung Galaxy A21, S20FE, Note20 5G, Note20 Ultra 5G, and the Apple iPhones. If needed, you can exchange your Motorola Moto G Power within 30 days if you give us a call at 888-345-5509.
My brother has used your service at my suggestion for several years. However at his home, he cannot call out or receive calls in until he walks or drives down the road where he lives. He told me that he believes switching to the T mobile will correct it. I have a similar problem at my home (although not quite as severe), if it works for him, does it create a problem for CC if we changes sims?
Hi Michael, thanks for your questions. I’m sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve been having with service! If you switch to our T-Mobile network SIM there wouldn’t be any issue with your Consumer Cellular account, but you’ll want to make sure it’s the Consumer Cellular option for T-Mobile. We’d be happy to check the area first for service if you’ve been having that trouble as well if you’d like to give us a call at 800-686-4460 or chat with one of our agents here for further assistance with that.
Hello CC,
My wife and I both have unlocked Samsung S7 (SM-G930U) phones with AT&T sim cards. Been with CC for 3 or 4 years now and happy with the service. But we have been told that with this combination we can not use WiFi calling. Is this still the case? And if so, what is the easiest or cheapest way to obtain WiFi calling? Thanks!
Hi Alan, thanks for your post! If your phones are not compatible with the WiFi calling feature that we offer then we may want to look at having you purchase one of our phones so that we can guarantee that compatibility for those features. I would advise making sure the feature is enabled on our end first though and try to use it with the phone to see if we can get that up and running. Give us a call at 800-686-4460 or chat with one of our agents here for further assistance.