More wonderful news! Consumer Reports recently published its annual cellphone service report for 2016 and while their rules do not allow us to say who came out on top, we think you’ll be as excited as we are to see this year’s results. And here’s a hint – we’re at the same place we have been for 5 of the past 6 years. We’re particularly proud of the ratings tallied for value, support, knowledge and courtesy. All things we work very hard at! Our customers are quite vocal in letting others know they’re getting the most options and value without compromising service, and we couldn’t be happier to hear it!
Ratings like these from such a well-known and highly regarded source are extremely valuable, and are relied upon year after year by the public when selecting the right carrier for their wireless needs. What we particularly like about the Consumer Reports ranking is that it is based 100% off the responses of 90,000 wireless customers all rating the experience with their wireless carrier. No supposed experts or panel of judges. Just direct feedback from actual customers.
We’ve been around for more than 20 years, so it’s not the first time we’ve been noticed, and it certainly won’t be the last. Our 2 million customers keep sharing with friends and family how much they love our service, and their voices are certainly being heard.
On behalf of everyone at Consumer Cellular, thank you for telling the world why you love us and our service. We look forward to giving you more reasons to spread the word this year and over many years ahead.
If you would like to view the Consumer Reports article, just click here or pick-up the February issue on a newsstand near you.
Currently I use only voice with no texting. What would it cost me to begin using text?
Texting is a lot of fun, Robert! We’re sure once you get started you’ll enjoy it quite a bit. Our text and data plans start at just $2.50 per month! That gives you 300 texts per month and 30MB of data. You can view all of our text and data plans here. It’s easy to get started, too. Just add this to your plan from the My Account section, or we’re happy to help you at 888-345-5509 if that is more convenient. Thank you for taking the time to comment today, and we hope you have a great day!
Congratulations Consumer Cellular! We love everything about our service with you! Thank you so much!
Thank you for the kind words, Kathy! We certainly appreciate customers like yourself telling your friends and family about us!
I have been a satisfied customer for a few years.I recently became a member of AARP.How do I collect my discount I am entitled to.
We’re glad to hear you enjoy our service, and we’re happy to help you receive your AARP discount, Joe. All we need is your AARP member number, so just give us a call at 888-345-5509 and we can add that to your account. Once we have it, you’ll start seeing a 5% discount on service and usage each month. Thank you for commenting today!
I switched to Consumer Cellular upon seeing the ratings a few years ago. I am a disciplined CR reader/junkie. Once again , CR nailed it with their ratings and Consumer Cellular is the best carrier all around. You may find a slightly cheaper plan, but that comes with unreliability and horrible customer service, to mention a few.
Great job to all the employees at Consumer Cellular who make this company great to be a customer for.
Thank you so much for those kind words, Dan. We’re happy to have you as a customer!
Do you think you may carry Samsung android smart phones anytime soon? That is what i have now and I really like it. This is my first cell phone and I don’t want to switch to another phone while I’m just finally comfortable with this one.
Thank you for asking, Mary. At the moment, we don’t have Samsung phones available. However, you may be able to use the phone you have now with our free SIM card. In general, our SIM cards work with most unlocked, GSM phones. That way you can enjoy our no-contract service with a device that fits you best. If you’re interested, you can take a look here on our website, or you can get our SIM cards at your local Target or Sears store. Of course, we’re always happy to help you at 888-345-5509 if that is more convenient. We appreciate you taking the time to comment today!
My husband and I are new to this celluar phone, how do we transfer our verizon flip,phones contacts and pictures to this phone
Welcome to Consumer Cellular, Roseann. Depending on the type of feature phone you have, the easiest route may be to connect your phone to a computer. Just be sure to use the cable that came with your phone. Once you connect it to your computer, you should be prompted to open the files containing your pictures and then save them to your computer. You may also be able to export your contacts in the same way. If you run into any problems, please call us at 888-345-5509 from another phone. We’ll be happy to help walk you through it. Thank you for posting, and we’re so glad you decided to join our service. Have a great day!
Since I purchased and received your wireless home phone base over two weeks ago, I have been trying to get my home landline ported over to it without success. At this point, I am fed up with calling you to only be placed on hold for a half hour or more and then told that the porting will occur on particular dates and times that never happen. Furthermore, you attempted to charge me for service on this new line. The last time I ported over one of my landlines to a new cell phone with you, it only took about five days and I had been quite pleased with your service on my two previous numbers, but this is ridiculous!
We certainly understand your frustration, Gary. Thank you for being patient, and we do apologize for the delay in your number port. I took a look at your account, and I see that the porting information has been confirmed and that Veronica, your account adviser, was able to help you get your new home phone base online. If there is anything else we can assist you with, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. Thank you for telling us about your experience as it help us improve our customer service experience. We hope you have a wonderful day!
Got mine two days ago , already trying to convert my wife . I love it!
Whereas I love the customer service at Consumer Cellular, I am watching as the pricing and plans slowly become less competitive. Most all carriers now bundle unlimited talk and text in their base plans. I’d like to see Consumer Cellular model their plan tiers more like Cricket Wireless, which is also an at&t MVNO. I’ve been tempted a couple of times to jump ship and go with the Cricket Wireless $35/month Unlimited Talk and Text with 2.5GB Data but I stay because of the great customer service at Consumer Cellular. At some point the love for the CC customer service folks will be outweighed by the less expensive plans elsewhere. I hope CC takes a good look at the competition soon and revises the CC plans accordingly to stay competitive.
We appreciate your feedback, Bruce. Thank you for sharing it with us! Our goal is to always provide affordable service to our customers, which is why we’ve upgraded our plans over the years without charging more. We know that you have other options out there, and that’s why we focus on excellent customer service and plans that put you in control. I’ve passed your feedback on to our management team for review. Thank you again for commenting today, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
I must say, I agree with Bruce in his Jan. 2016 post. Another suggestion; make another ‘connect’ plan that is somewhere between your lowest (30 mg/300 texts) and your next level (200 mgs/2000 texts) as there really are those of us that yack more than we text, etc. AND with the baby boomer/retirees set still in its infancy/toddler stage there will be a boatload more that would appreciate this added level!
That’s great feedback, Kathy! Thank you for taking the time to share your suggestion with us. I’ve passed it on to our management team for review. We’re always grateful to hear ideas and suggestions from customers, so thank you again for posting. We hope you have a wonderful day!
Can I transport a cell phone number I currently have?
Many of our customers have been able to keep their current number, Jim. The key is to make sure that you don’t close the account with your previous provider until we complete the transfer. When you’re ready to get started, we’ll need your previous account information in order to port your number to our service. In most cases, your previous provider will close the account once the transfer is complete. It’s important to call them to ensure the account is closed and to make sure you are aware of any early termination charges that may apply. The transfer usually happens within 24-48 hours. We’re ready to help you open your account and start the transfer at 888-345-5509, or feel free to call us if you have any other questions. Thank you for taking the time to comment, and we hope you have a great day!
GREAT SERVICE…would and do recommend this service to anyone..I just wanted talk and text didn’t want to spend 45.00 a month to also include data..I have enough of it at home..I put the sim card in my own phone and it worked right away..Have service anywhere I am..I like that!!! I will continue to be a customer…#customerforlife…Thankyou cc..
Thank you for those very kind words, Wendy. We love hearing how much our customers are saving each month and how much they love our service. We appreciate you sharing your experience, and we hope to serve you for many years to come!
Customer since 2009 and recently updated to Moto G3 smartphone larger size cell. Simply love it! Will stay with CC as long as they’ll have me:-)
Hello I love your company but now that you are growing you are losing the personal touch….waiting a long time on hold and why i am really writing is to tell you that your ‘call back” program has not worked for months. The option just loops back to being on hold. Don’t you think you should fix this?
We really appreciate your feedback, Maria. I’ve passed your feedback regarding the call back issue on to our technical team, so thank you for letting us know. We do our best to minimize hold times, and we’ve been hiring more quality account advisors to help remedy this situation. In the meantime, we would like to thank you for being so patient. Thank you as well for commenting today, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
My service is horrible where I am. Just switched from Us Cell, always had at least a bar or two here. Since I have switched to Consumer Cell, majority of the time I get “no service”.
Is there something I will have to buy to be able to send texts or call from where I live?
We’re sorry to hear that, Rich! If you like, we can take a look at the coverage in your neighborhood and troubleshoot this for you. We may need to send you some updates or make some adjustments on our end. Just give us a call at 888-345-5509 and we will do our best to get this resolved. Thank you for letting us know, and we look forward to speaking with you!
Why do you have such long wait times and also such inaccurate information about the length of the wait time? I’ve called four or five times now and never connected in less than 17 minutes, more often 20 minutes plus. Usually the recording predicts a wait time of 5-10 minutes. I wouldn’t rate customer service as anything but poor just on that account.
We apologize for the inconvenience, Douglas. Our customer service team is answering calls as quickly as possible, and we do our best to update our system messages accordingly. I took a look at your account, and I’m so glad to see that your new iPhone has been activated. Thank you for the feedback, and please know that I have passed it on to our management team. We appreciate your patience, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
Have been trying to contact customer serv. for a week have been on hold up to 85 min. in the mean time I have no phone service and am going to have to go with another service because I can’t get any help.
Thank you for reaching out to us, Cheryl. I took a look at your account, and I’m so glad to see that we were able to help you activate your new devices and get your service back up and running. If we can help you with anything else, please don’t hesitate to call. We’re happy to help you at 888-345-5509. We appreciate your patience, and thank you for commenting!
How do I access deleted text messages
That’s a great question, Ken. If you have a simple feature phone, most likely you won’t be able to recover those deleted messages. If you have an iPhone, you should be able to recover them by connecting to your Apple iCloud account. We’re happy to discuss your options with you at 888-345-5509 and do our best to assist you. Thank you for commenting, and we hope you have a great day!
I purchased a simple flip phone for my wife just for the phone service. That’s all we need for our trips to the store or traveling to be able to call one another while we are on our own separate excursions while shopping.
We didn’t want text messaging and do not ever want it. So why do I have to pay for text messages from unsolicited sources? Sure they are only 10 cents per message, but we do not benefit from that 10 cents. Only Consumer Cellular benefits and I am sure if you add up all the unwanted text from all Consumer Cellular customers it is substantial.
Okay you’ll say for $2.50 a month and 300 text messages I could have. But we do not want even 1 unsolicited let alone 300 unsolicited text messages for $2.50 a month extra.
While other companies are able to turn off text messages why isn’t this a feature available from Consumer Cellular? The technology is there. Or is it a ploy to grab a few extra bucks from the consumer because the average consumer won’t complain about an extra 40 cents or more added to their account for unsolicited texts?
We’re sorry to hear that you’ve been receiving text messages that you don’t want, Gerald. First, you can avoid unwanted messages by responding to any with “Stop” or follow the unsubscribe options. If you continue to receive these messages, we’re happy to help investigate. Give us a call at 888-345-5509, and we’ll be happy to talk about the options we have so that you can avoid any unwanted messages. Thank you for taking the time to post today, and we look forward to speaking with you!
While I appreciate some of your features, I find your Customer Service phone service to be NO service…I noted this in a comment over three months ago….WELL over 15 minute waits no matter when I call, and the Call BAck feature does NOT work. Your CSRs are always very apologetic, but it is getting old to hear that you are hiring more folks…how long does it take to find/hire more people? Add more lines, get more people…i have put off calling as long as I can, so now I just need to find a time in my day when I can waste 15 minutes or more waiting for you to take me off hold, or call me back. We do like your cost savings, but are finding that there are some competitors who are willing to do more that rest on their past reputation. I know many people will respond back, telling me how wonderful Consumer Cellular is…that is fine, but I stand by the fact that your online help (the FAQs) is woefully inadequate, and your call in phone support is non-existent for me…it might be fine for others, but this has been going on for way too long for us.
We do apologize for any wait you experienced when giving us a call. Our representatives do their best to answer calls in a timely manner, but we do understand that it can be an inconvenience for our customers. We are doing our best to alleviate it, but we do understand your frustration while we get this resolved. Thank you for the feedback, and for your patience. I’ve passed your comments on to our management team, and we very much appreciate you taking the time to post.
Love my phone but would like to be able to use it get no signal at my home can we get a tower in Hartsville,Tn ?
We’re glad to hear that you love your phone! I was able to take a look at your account, and I see that Aleah, your customer account advisor, has reached out to you via email regarding this coverage issue. If we can help you with any other account issues or questions you may have, we’re happy to assist you at 888-345-5509. Thank you for taking the time to post today!
If I update my phone will my plan remain the same?
That’s a great question, James. With our plans, you pay the same whether you prefer a flip phone or a smartphone. That way you can have the right plan with the right phone for your needs. If you’re thinking about updating your phone, we’re happy to talk with you and make a recommendation. Just give us a call at 888-345-5509, and we will be happy to do that for you. We appreciate you posting!
Will I get good service in FL when I go? Will there be roaming charges?
Thank you for asking, Pat! We offer nationwide coverage across the United States, including Florida. You can take a look at the areas you’ll be visiting by viewing our coverage map here. You won’t be subject to roaming charges as you will still be within the U.S. We’re happy to answer any other questions you may have about coverage at 888-345-5509. We appreciate you taking the time to ask, and we hope you have a great trip!
How do I downgrade my data plan back to 500mb? I was automatically upgraded to 1.5mb and I don’t think I need that much. Tried to view last month’s bill to determine how much data was used and did not find it indicated on the bill. Tried sending an email and it would not register
Great question, Madeline. It’s easy to change your plan! First, you can go to the My Account section of our website, then select the “Change Plan” button above the bars showing your usage. You can also change your plan from your phone if you are using the My Consumer Cellular app. Finally, we’re happy to help you change it at 888-345-5509. Just remember, you can change your plan anytime, up until the last day of your billing cycle. That way, you never have to pay for more than you need. Thank you for commenting, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
I would like to activate caller ID, so that when I call someone, my phone # will show. I can’t find any way of activating that feature. Please enlighten me……Thanks
We’re happy to help you with that, Charles. Can you give us a call at 888-345-5509? We will be happy to get that taken care of for you. Thanks for posting, and we look forward to speaking with you!
We are new awaiting new phones to arrive. My question regards usage. Are there any times that minutes are free such as nights or weekends?
Thank you for posting, Lowell. Our plans are designed so that you can use your minutes whenever you want, day or night, so don’t offer periods of time in which the minutes are free. However, since you can change your plan at any time, many of our customers are able to save money by switching to a smaller plan at the end of the month. That way, you’ll never pay for more than you need. We appreciate you taking the time to reach out to us, and we’re happy to answer any other questions you have at 888-345-5509. We hope you have a great day!
Hi I’m visiting down in Florida and I can’t get reception inside this older mobile home, but others with the different carriers can. My phone is a 626 red phone. Should I get a different phone?
We appreciate you posting, David. First, please try turning your phone off, then back on again. This will allow your phone to connect to the nearest tower with the strongest signal. It’s best to try this near a window. You may also be affected by the building materials, especially if there is a great deal of metal. We’re happy to talk with you about a new phone if you like, so call us at 888-345-5509 at your convenience. Thank you for reaching out to us today!
I will be visiting Ireland and scotland next year is there an extra charge for calls and texts to and from those countries or are they included in the plan? What about data.
That’s a great question, Larry! Our service is designed to work only within the United States. When abroad, your phone may connect to international towers, which can result in costly roaming fees. We recommend keeping your phone in Airplane mode so that you can avoid this. You’ll still be able to connect to Wi-Fi at a hotel or cafe, and with apps like Skype, Google Hangouts and Facebook Messenger, you’ll still be able to keep in touch. We’re happy to discuss your options with you at 888-345-5509 if you like. We appreciate you posting, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
I just ordered a ZTE Axon 7. Will it work with a Consumer Cellular SIM card? Who is the carrier?
Thank you for posting, Kelli. In most cases, our SIM cards work well with unlocked GSM devices, such as those used previously with AT&T or T-Mobile. While we can’t guarantee that a particular device will work, we’re happy to do our best! We can answer any other questions you may have about using our SIM card with your phone at 888-345-5509. We appreciate you taking the time to reach out to us today!
I just put an Axon 7 on with CC and used the standard LTE APN settings. Works perfectly 4g LTE and MMS work great. Nice phone.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Rich, and we’re glad to hear that everything is working well with your new phone!
I have used several cell phone providers in the past ten years and I can say through experience that no one comes close to the customer service that I receive from Consumer Cellular. I ALWAYS come in contact with a customer service professional that is more then willing to help with any issue that I may have. I will never go back to AT&T or Verizon as long as Consumer Cellular is around providing the care and excellent service that I have come to love.
What a wonderful compliment, Stephen! Thank you for sharing your experience here, and we look forward to delivering you the best in customer service for years to come.
I would like to confirm the carrier for my new Moto E4 Plus phone. I used to have AT&T for my last phone, a Moto G3. I did an online search and discovered it’s TMobile now. Same number, different phone. Is this common?
Thanks for posting, Dale. We offer coverage on two of the nation’s largest networks, and when you ordered your new phone, you were assigned the network that would provide the best coverage in your area. We’re happy to talk with you about this further if you like at 888-345-5509. We appreciate you reaching out to us, and we hope you have a great day!