Coverage — Look for a cell phone provider that has 4G LTE/5G coverage nationwide and check online for possible deadzone areas.
Affordable Plans — Look for a company that offers multiple plans in an affordable price range. Check to see if the plan offers unlimited talk and enough data to cover your needs.
Device Options — Look for a cell phone provider that provides service to different types of devices including tablets, smart watches, flip phones, and major smartphone brands.

Consumer Cellular is a small, no-contract mobile phone provider that offers low-cost cell phone plans starting at $20 per month (not including tax or data add-on) for unlimited texts and 250 minutes. From there, plans can be customized to include unlimited minutes and data amounts up to 25 GB per month per line for customers who want to take advantage of app downloads, high definition video, and other uses of the 5G, 4G LTE, 4G, and 3G network. For Consumer Cellular's most advanced plan of two phone lines, unlimited talk, and 25 GB of data, you'll pay around $75 per month.

The company is especially dedicated to meeting the needs of users who are 50 and older, offering AARP members exclusive discounts on its services and Connect plans that sync well with flip phone devices if preferred. Plus, a completely U.S. based customer service team is trained to help inexperienced cellphone users learn how to get the most out of their service and device.

Partnering with well-known brands and retailers, Consumer Cellular phones include nationwide coverage, and its services are located in Target stores nationwide.

Because Consumer Cellular is a budget-friendly cell phone provider, its offerings come up short when compared to other larger-scale companies. For example, Consumer Cellular does not offer unlimited data plans. If you want unlimited data, Consumer Cellular is not the provider for you.

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The Good

No-Contract Plans
Affordable Plans
Unlimited Text
Coverage Area
Device Options
EasyPay Service
Mobile App
Great Overall Benefits
Risk-Free Trial

No-Contract Plans

Consumer Cellular offers no-contract Talk and Connect plans with straightforward benefits.

Additionally, all of the Connect monthly plans include unlimited text messaging. Customers can add phone lines to their plan for $15/month to share minutes, text and data. There are never any additional fees or charges for switching plans if you need more or less from the service. Consumer Cellular has a great option for low-cost family plans, especially for those who don't use phones very often.

You can try Consumer Cellular risk-free for 30 days. If you aren't satisfied, the company won't charge you for that time.

Affordable Plans

Consumer Cellular offers a variety of affordable data plan options that customers can choose from. Its website breaks it down into the number of lines you want, the talk plan you prefer, and the amount of data you want. You choose which option you want from each category and Consumer Cellular's website will give you an immediate estimate on your monthly bill. Here's a breakdown of your options:

Phone Lines — One line included in the cost or two lines for $15 per month
Talk Plans — 250 minutes of talk for $15 per month or unlimited talk for $20 per month
Connect Plans — 500 MB for $5 per month, 3 GB for $10 per month, 10 GB for $20 per month, 15 GB for $30 per month, or 25 GB for $40 per month. All Connect Plans include unlimited text.

If you're a customer wanting one phone line, unlimited talk, and the maximum 25 GB of data, you'll pay around $60 per month.

If you are a customer wanting two lines, unlimited talk, and the maximum 25 GB of data, you'll pay a monthly price of around $75 per month.

Unlimited Text

Although Consumer Cellular makes customers pay more for unlimited talk and additional data, you do not have to pay for unlimited text. Unlimited text is included with all of Consumer Cellular plans. This makes unlimited talk and text for one line $20 per month without data and $60 per month with the maximum 25 GB of data.

Coverage Area

Consumer Cellular coverage is nationwide and only involves a few spotty patches in the Midwest.

Most of the 4G LTE/5G coverage area includes High-Definition Voice coverage, also called wideband voice, which provides clear audio and reduces background noise. It should be noted that Consumer Cellular utilizes multiple wireless networks that vary depending on geographic area and so precise coverage areas from your network may not be determined until you sign up for service.

If you want to check Consumer Cellular coverage in your area, you can do so on the company's website. All you need to do is enter your zip code, and Consumer Cellular will tell you if you're covered. It will also provide you with a coverage map of the entire united states. For exact coverage details, you can drop a pin anywhere on the coverage map.

Device Options

Depending on plan preferences and mobile device needs, Consumer Cellular has a wide array of mobile device options available. Consumer Cellular phones include basic flip-phones for calling and texting, the GrandPad (a senior-friendly tablet), and smartphones for customers who plan on downloading and using apps. Samsung smartphones, Android phones, and iPhones are all compatible with Consumer Cellular coverage and plans.

Customers also have the option to simply use their current mobile phone (under certain conditions) when signing up for a new Consumer Cellular plan. The company provides a free SIM card that is easy to switch out and there are no activation fees for Consumer Cellular phones. It should be noted that in order to be compatible with the SIM card, the phone needs to be:

a Consumer Cellular phone
a phone previously used with AT&T or T-Mobile (includes Apple and Android phone options and more
an unlocked phone (GSM)

It is possible to use a previous phone number, but it depends on the location and the old service provider.

When purchasing a device from Consumer Cellular, customers can choose between a new phone or a certified pre-owned phone if one is available. Certified pre-owned phones are phones that were returned by customers in the 30-day guarantee period and are restored to original factory settings.

EasyPay Service

It also offers an EasyPay service where you can make monthly payments to pay off more expensive phones like iPhones or Android smartphones. Consumer Cellular does not charge interest or additional fees. Customers can make early payments or pay off the remaining balance at any time.

Mobile App

The My CC app gives users the following capabilities:

View minutes and data usage
Change billing preferences
Switch monthly plan if needed
Switch to paperless billing options
Pay monthly bill
Chat with customer service reps
View AARP membership card

Great Overall Benefits

Because the company targets retirees, the cellular service plans tend to be very inexpensive for those who aren't looking for a lot of data, text messaging, or minutes. WiFi calling is supported on iPhone models 5C and newer as well as most Android smartphones. Consumer Cellular has no fees for any of their services, and because they have no contracts, there is no activation fee.

AARP member benefits include:

5 percent off monthly fees and usage charges
30 percent off select accessories

Risk-Free Trial

Consumer Cellular offers a 100 percent risk-free trial for all of its customers. If you decide you no longer want Consumer Cellular's services or products within 30 days of purchase, you can request a full refund. This makes Consumer Cellular completely risk free and gives customers peace of mind that they don't have to be locked into its services if they decide to opt out within the first month.

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The Bad

Limited Data Plans
Additional Phone Line Cost
Cap on Roaming Charges
Poor Consumer Cellular Reviews

Limited Data Plans

Consumer Cellular is designed to benefit those who want a cell phone, but do not plan on using a lot of data. For those who want basic minutes and text messaging capabilities, Consumer Cellular is a good provider.

However, if a potential customer wants to use a phone to frequently stream videos and music, surf the internet, utilize email, and communicate via social media apps, this company likely isn't the best choice. Consumer Cellular doesn't offer unlimited data-the highest plan includes only 25 GB of data.

Additional Phone Line Cost

Consumer Cellular family plans cost an additional $15 for every added phone line on your plan. Although an added price per phone line is common with most cell phone providers, typically it is less than $15 per month.

With many cell phone companies, having more phone lines on your plan makes your cell phone coverage cheaper. If you don't want to pay $15 for every phone line you want on your plan, we suggest looking into other cell phone providers.

Cap on Roaming Charges

While Consumer Cellular attaches lower international roaming charges than leading cell phone companies like Verizon and T-Mobile (30 cents versus 99 cents per minute of talk), the company also places strict monetary caps on roaming, disabling the phone once roaming charges have reached or exceeded $100 for the monthly billing cycle. While this measure is intended to protect the customer from racking up hundreds of dollars in roaming fees, the cap may be inconvenient to some.

Poor Consumer Cellular Reviews

Although Consumer Cellular has some competitive offerings with a low price and no required contract, consumers haven't given the company many accolades. Consumer Cellular reviews are mostly negative, giving the cell phone provider a low overall consumer rating.

Consumer Cellular reviews rank decent for value for your money but for quality of product and service, customer service, and company trustworthiness, the company falls short. One of the main customer complaints that shows up again and again in reviews is unresponsive and unreliable customer service and technical support, many reviews noting you are either neglected completely or passed around from person to person when trying to receive help.

With the issues Consumer Cellular reviews reveal, customers don't seem to think the low price is worth the bad service.

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The Bottom Line

This is one of the best prepaid phone service carriers on the market for consumers seeking simplicity and flexibility in a phone plan. If you need to adjust your talk or data amounts or add or remove a phone line, there are no fees to make those changes. You can also have unlimited talk and text for a monthly price of $20 for one phone line (this excludes data).

Consumer Cellular customers can expect reasonable pricing (based on limited services), a month-to-month payment platform, quality coverage nationwide, and plan flexibility.

Consumer Cellular is a great option for those who don't need a lot of data but want ample minutes and messages available to spend time talking or texting. The carrier has excellent AARP member benefits and has comparable coverage to the GSM networks it uses, T-Mobile and AT&T.

Perhaps most noteworthy is that Consumer Cellular service is month to month, so you can cancel at any time. Consumer Cellular's customer service is also based in the United States and generally responds promptly to customers.

You can try Consumer Cellular risk-free for 30 days. If you aren't satisfied, the company won't charge you for the time you joined.

However, along with these pros, there are definitely some cons to Consumer Cellular. Consumer Cellular charges $15 for every added phone line on your plan. Many cell phone companies offer better discounts the more lines you add on your plan. If you're a customer wanting more than two phone lines on your plan, you may have better savings with another cell phone provider.

Consumer Cellular coverage also does not include an unlimited plan for data. This makes the service difficult for customers not wanting a limit on how much data they can use.

Lastly, Consumer Cellular reviews are mostly negative, the majority of them highlighting poor customer service.

If you want a no-contract cell phone plan with a small number of phone lines and up to 25 GB or data, Consumer Cellular may be a good provider for you.

However, if you want discounted family plans and if a low price and limited data is not worth poor customer service, we suggest looking into other cell phone providers.

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User Reviews

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2.0

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773 Reviews

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10%

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star star star star star

CJ Little Rock, AR

Love! Love ! Love! This company is great. I am 63 yo who didn't need a ton of bells and whistles. Just wanted home phone and texting mainly. For 20.00 a month I get just that. Period. No add on fees, surcharges etc. You know exactly what you are getting up front when you select your service and that is how it is billed each month. There is no yearly contract. You can cancel at any time. The service is easy to access via the web and make a phone selection, service selection. The reps are all English speaking and they provide excellent customer service. I have unlimited talk and text and some data which I never use as I am on my wifi at home. I have never had any problems with the service dropping . I am on monthly automatic billing which is very easy to set up. I don't know why I waited so long to switch.

2 years ago

star star star star star

Adair Dance Academy Omaha, NE

I have had a great experience with Consumer Cellular and have been with them since 2003. My cell phones have all been purchased through them, one lasting 8 years, most I have had for an average of 4-5 years. Customer service has been professional, helpful and rarely a wait. I added my family for a total of 4 lines with unlimited calls, text and data. I own a small business and conduct business with my cell phone regularly. My one wish would be more data, as we have other family members who use it up faster than I would like but the app shows a quick and easy chart of who has used what and they send texts to alert you of your usage. Our total bill for four busy people is $133/month and I am thinking of adding the roadside assistance. I highly recommend!

2 years ago

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Verne Tyler Monroe, NC

I used to have Verizon while in Massachusetts- $119.00 a month...good service. I moved to North Carolina in 2014....and hooked up with T-Mobile. No dropped calls, but trying to pay my $49.95 a month bill was horrific...every month! - I used no more than 2 gigabytes of date every month for 6 years. I logged online to pay and was rerouted because "We don't recognize your password". They made me change my password almost every month and it would take me a half hour to pay the bill! I finally logged onto Conusmer Cellular to see what was available. I was surprised to see that I could get $100.00 off ($5.00 a month off my bill for 20 months) to sign up. I get 3 gigabytes a month - which is one gig more than I ever used at T-Mobile. So, for that, I'm paying $20.00 a month or $359.40 LESS per year. For $7.00 more, they sent me a brand new Galaxy A12 Android cell phone...so for $27.00 a month (instead of $49.95), I'm enjoying all that I ever had with either Verizon or T-Mobile...and I have a beautiful, larger cell phone with 4 cameras in it! I was so happy with it that I'm featuring it on my YouTube channel with over 2,500 subscribers.....at/jtylermusic.

2 years ago

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Clive Damascus, MD

I have been very happy with Consumer Cellular, where I have enjoyed reliable service, low cost, and well-spoken, patient customer support reps. The support contact sometimes requires waiting for a callback at an appointed time. CC offers to provide service to a compatible phone of your own using a free SIM card. I saved $40 a month by paying $10 to CC for an additional line on my account and transferring my Verizon home number to the CC line. (The transfer of the phone number from most carriers is done in a few minutes, but took a week of waiting for Verizon to do their part.) CC resells service from other carriers. The overall quality of service you receive depends on performance of your phone, strength of the radio signal from a cell tower, network internal bandwidth and reliability, and complex computer systems (they manage technical operation, customer data, and business functions). Any error in this complex web is perceived as a failure of CC. (I wrote these comments in Nov 2021. I use voice more than data).

3 years ago

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Darlene Moore Wooster, OH

I have never had one ounce of problems with Consumer cellular other than I needed to change my sim card from the one that came with the phone to an At&T card because of where I live. Customer service was awesome and sent me one right away. btw to the person who said the back doesn't come off, yes it does. First time is a little tight then it is ok. If you're having problems with Customer Service are you being nasty because I have never encountered a nasty person. To the person who said you couldn't change your plan, yes you can because there's no contract. When I went on vacation I called them and added minutes and then when I came back a week later I changed it back. Now I have unlimited minutes so it doesn't matter. I am reading all the negative reviews and I am perplexed as to how you are reacting to the Customer Service Rep. I know that every product has a lemon and I would imagine CC would take care of the problem. If you happen to get a nasty person turn them in but make sure you aren't the cause of it. btw - Verizon is terrible. I had them and I would never go back to them. They rape you over the coals every time you have to get a new phone and their phones are expensive.

3 years ago

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Amy Jody Raleigh, NC

I love Consumer Cellular. For me, the best thing about this company is their customer service. When I call, I actually get at human being, without a long wait! And I can understand him or her. In a world that is quickly becoming disconnected from human contact, Consumer Cellular is one of the remaining places where you can go, hand your old phone to them, and they do all the transferring of your photos and contacts for you. They even change the SIM card. Yes, I could do that myself, but it'd be a bit of a struggle. I'm not a teen who hyper-ventilates by their phone, nor do I sleep with my phone, nor am I married to my phone. So at $30/month with 3GB of data, that's just fine for me. I hate doing every little thing via an app. I want to deal with a human being, not a website, not an app, not a robot on my phone. So Consumer Cellular is great for me.

3 years ago

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Sitansu B Ghosh Dumfries, VA

Consumer Cellular International Roaming My wife and I are Consumer Cellular (CC) customers for the last several years. We have used our own phones for the whole time. It worked perfectly. I do international travel at least one time a year. CC advised me that I should not use my CC phone for international calls. I used local SIM for overseas communication while travelling. In October 2019, before my travel, I logged into my CC account to check my status. I noticed that I could turn on international roaming. I thought that would be convenient. I call the customer service to have international roaming turned on. They told me I must T-Mobile SIM in my phone to get international roaming. My wife’s phone had an AT&T SIM. I went to the local Target and had a T-Mobile SIM for her phone. On the next day, I called 888-345-5509 and the representative told me that international roaming was activated for two phones in the account. In England, I did not try to use my phone for roaming. I bought a local SIM. My wife tried to make calls to US and locally in England. None of the calls went through. Each time we call a customer service message came in with a phone number. We called the number. That number took us to T-Mobile support and they send us to CC support. We did that for few times. Each time the representatives checked and told us that there was no problem and we should make the call correctly with country code if required. At the end of the day, not a single call went through. Back home, I was surprised to see $27.56 roaming charge in my invoice. I called CC customer service on 11/22. I wanted to know why none of our calls went though and I requested removal of the roaming charges. The rep told me that international roaming was not guaranteed to work and the other reason was that I was using a non-CC phone. I have read the documents posted on CC web page. I could not confirm the above two reasons for failing every single call. I also believe that making me pay for the failed calls will be unfair. I would like to know about the international roaming experience of other customer.

5 years ago

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Sam Knight Marysville, OH

I am surprised at how many bad reviews you've got on this site. I have not had any issues with CC. I ordered my phones and plan on line. Phone & SIM card for other phone arrived within 2-3 days. I called CC and within minutes both phones were activated and ready to go. The rep made sure to let me know that they would activate 1 phone at a time to make sure we were not without a phone. He clearly stated that some phones take 24 hours to transfer. CC even cancelled AT&T for us. I went into my AT&T account to make sure it was cancelled, and it was, indeed, cancelled. I've bought 2 smartphones from them, and both work fine. I researched the phones were I purchased them. The service is just as good as AT&T - good coverage, good reception. I monitor my data usage myself, and whenever possible, I use WiFi at home and work. As for the bad reviews, come on, people, you have to take some responsibility and research your product and keep track of your usage. Customer service was FANTASIC! All 3-4 times I called them, I could clearly understand them, and they were pleasant, helpful and friendly. A lot of these complaints seem to be partly the complainer's fault. Do your research, take responsibility for your data usage, choose the right plan and don't expect something that it's not. You get what you pay for.

5 years ago

star star star star star

David Bessette Broad Brook, CT

I am retired now and I was in the wireless business for over 15yrs, TMO-AT&T and Verizon. First of all this is a great company and I will tell you why. I have searched everywhere and the price is the best for what you get. CC uses AT&T network or TMO with no slowing of the network speeds. Choose AT&T if your phones are unlocked, it has better coverage. AARP discount 5%. Their customer service guide is very simple to use and understand. I cannot find anything wrong with this company compared to all the others, they are the best. I could go on and on but i may be limited to comments on google. The negative is only on thing and I would not call it a negative and that is this. This company is not ment for data hogs, people who use much over 20GB of data a month. Yes you are a data hog and such you will pay for it. my bill is only $66.50 plus tax so about $80.00 for 3 lines with unlimited calling unlimited messages and 5GB of data which is plenty. Oh yeah if I go over that month it just bumps you to the next data plan up automatically with no stupid fees then back to your original plan. Do your shopping...... This is the best for none data hogs. Oh yeah their customer service is awesome. no one is perfect and they use call centers inside the usa only all easy to understand customer service team. Most people comments are when they are upset not when they are pleased. have a great day!

5 years ago

star star star star star

One old man Ogden, UT

I changed from Verizon about two months ago and am absolutely DELIGHTED. I would give ten stars if I could. Not only am I saving $35 a month -- $420 a year! -- but I also have used more data than I ever did before and came nowhere near my 2 gig limit. And if I should accidentally exceed that, they just automatically bump me up to the next level ( which is only $5 per month more.) And I LOVE the fact that I can identify a call as spam and have it blocked for FREE. Even better than that, I asked CC to screen incoming calls for possible spam. They block it, but if I then see that it was not spam, I have the option of calling back. It also has a Do Not Disturb option for use at night. It holds calls until morning unless I list a number that will be allowed. In addition, if someone calls three times in about 45 minutes, the call is allowed to come through because it may be an emergency. And when I needed some help, I found it to be easy and quick. On top of that, all their service people are in the US and not Bangladesh or South Slobbovia. They even speak understandable English. My ONLY regret is that I did not do this years ago.

5 years ago

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Maurie C. Batavia, IL

5 stars are not enough! I am amazed that any of the other phone companies can stay in business with the LOUSY customer service they offer by comparison with the MAGNIFICANT experience I had this afternoon with 3 different customers service folks at Consumer Cellular. There were three because I needed to provide additional information and had to call AARP to get my member number and Call T-Mobile to get my account Number and Call my bank because my debit was denied (wrong expiration date) They were each polite, professional, knowledgable, courteous, friendly, and totally customer service oriented. What a VERY pleasant experience. I am switching both of my cell phones to Consumer Cellular IMMEDIATELY!

5 years ago

star star star star star

Charles Bethpage, NY

I had been paying $50 a month for my mother to have service on Verizon. Because my family had unlimited, I had to pay for her to have unlimited. I decided to give Consumer Cellular a shot even though there were mixed reviews. I ordered my mom an Alcatel Go Flip phone and signed up for the unlimited talk plan from their website, which clearly states that they will but doing a credit check. When I signed up with Verizon, T-mobile they did a credit check as well, its standard. I see people have been leaving bad reviews because they were unaware of the credit check. An hour later I received an email saying it was shipped already ( free shipping ). 3 days later I received the phone with instructions to either activate the phone on-line or over the phone, I chose over the phone. The representative was very friendly and helpful. The whole process to port my mother's phone number over took 7 minutes. I asked if I had to call Verizon to cancel her service. He said no, but to be on the safe side it can't hurt. I called Verizon to confirm her line was canceled and it was. The phone/service works perfectly. They even give the first month free, can't beat that. I'm not one to write reviews but I almost didn't go with Consumer Cellular because of the mixed reviews. I'm starting to wonder if they are even legit.

5 years ago

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Gary Hall Saint George, UT

We have been members for many years now. We started with a cell phone for my 90 year old mother. Now we have their phones for my wife and sons, and I would switch as well if I didn't have two tablets and a phone with Verizon. But, time may change that. We now have also the "Ally" Medical Alert Button for my mother, who is now 93. When our first ally developed a slight problem, all it took was a phone call and they had it replaced for free within a few days. Every problem we have had has been solved by the best customer service we have ever used. Other companies should take note! Their phones used to be only for the aged, but now they have all sorts of phones and plans for the best prices around, from large smart phones to old flip phones. And we truly can cancel or change or add items quickly and easily!

7 years ago

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Jim Beck

Consumer cellular is a disgusting and deceptive company. When I terminated my service, they vengefully locked my cell phone to their company to prevent me from utilizing the phone with another company. They also loaded up my final more than one hundred dollars of bogus charges when I terminated my service. I filed a complaint with the FCC and they were none responsive and I then filed a complaint with my congressional representative which did provide me support. They finally unlocked my phone after almost three months of denial but I had absolute proof that they locked my iPhone. I would advise everyone to avoid this unscrupulous company. They finally unlocked my phone after almost three months of denial but I had undeniable proof that they locked my iPhone. I would advise everyone to avoid this company like the plague. They will lie and deny and the FCC is the most useless government agency I have ever encountered. Consumer cellular TV commercials try to deceive you with promises of a very low rates of approximately $15 per month and you will see your future bills escalate exponentially. I have used almost all cell service companies since the inception of the industry and they are the most disingenuous and simply crooked company I have ever encountered.

5 months ago

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Brandon Maddox

Consumer Cellular shut off my text messaging without warning, and did NOT restore my text messaging after I called and asked them to allow me to send texts where I was promoting my business. I've been allowed to promote my business for years with other companies in this way of sending out texts with links. This is censorship that shouldn't be allowed. They would not work with me when I called them and spoke to the highest level they would allow, which wasn't as high up the chain as I asked. They only stated that if I didn't comply, they wouldn't restore my text messages. Using conservative language, I don't recommend them!

5 months ago

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Laura Di Orio Green Bay, WI

I have had consumer cellular for about 4 years. I have never had a problem and have traveled to many states. Mostly the east coast and I never had a problem with coverage. I like the plans, I pay less than 50 dollars a month for 2 lines. The only reason for the 4 stars and not 5 is there is no physical store to go to. You need to call them or chat on line but they have always been very helpful with any problems or questions. I will keep using Consumer Cellular.

9 months ago

star star star star star

glenn radel Las Vegas, NV

Purchased an iphone15plus today from las vegas store.. elizabeth took very good care of me... pointed out various features of phones helping me choose best for my needs. took the time to explain the new and different features of the phone. great asset to the consumer cellular family.

11 months ago

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Jeff O Woodbridge, VA

After using several different cell phone companies, Consumer Cellular has given me the best service, coverage, support, and at the best price of any of them. We have three lines costing fifteen dollars each plus only ten dollars for data because we don't use much data anymore. But when we did, we were never throttled until we went past 50 Gb and very rarely even then. The U.S. based customer service has always been outstanding. I'm really glad I took their 30 day offer because the coverage turned out to be better than the Ver I was using. In my experience they are the best PERIOD!

1 year ago

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Tom Richard St Louis, MO

The above review is erroneous (and it claims to be dated April 2023!). Specifically, the review states, "Consumer Cellular doesn't offer unlimited data-the highest plan includes only 25 GB of data." That is patently false. I switched to Consumer Cellular from ATT precisely because I could get unlimited phone, text and data(throttled at 50GB - same as ATT) for both my iPad and iPhone for $61.75/month. ATT quoted me a price of over twice that, so I switched. I no longer worry about excessive data use, and I notice no change of call quality, but I haven't traveled with the phone since switching. That will be the real test. So far, I'm very satisfied, though.

1 year ago

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Larry Kutnicki Brooklyn, NY

I have using Consumer Cellular for about 4 years... with no issues! The service has been fine as expected, and the pricing very fair especially for seniors! When I needed a new iPhone XR (moving up from iPhone 6) CC pricing was fair ( basically the same as most others at the time) and the 24 monthly payments is working well for me. AARP membership offers a small discount too.

3 years ago

star star star star star

NC Man Raleigh, NC

I was thinking of switching 4 lines from VZW to Consumer Cellular and read the reviews here. They were mostly negative so I was a bit put off and decided to get a test number/SIM to try out. Everything went well, the connection was excellent and so I switched over all 4 lines. Not only am I paying about half of what I was paying with VZW, but I get more data. Customer service is excellent. They are all in US, and very pleasant and helpful. Holding time was 1 hour, 20 minutes, 0 minutes, 2 minutes on the 4 occasions I had to call to get my number ported over. Best decision I made!!!!

4 years ago

star star star star star

Linda Crow Agency, MT

We love Consumer Cellular. They have been our provider for years. There is always someone patient and understanding on the help line. Never have we had a problem with our bill. The minor issues we have had with our phones were quickly and easily taken care of with their excellent customer service. If you're looking for a provider, look no further!

4 years ago

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Rick Deckard Hernando, FL

Elderly Retired: My wife and I moved from Verizon to CC over 5 years ago for cutting our monthly cell phone bill less than half. Less than $50 per month for 2 phones was a no-brainer! We started with the “Huawei Ascend 2” and loved this phone! A little over a year ago we both moved to the iPhone 6S. This phone is a bit narrower than the Huawei and much lighter! We both like the iPhone with all its great features and both sync our phones to iTunes for loading music! The only drawback with the iPhone is we never knew when we had a voice mail? Voicemail Screen in our phone app was always blank! Always had to dial “1” to check to see if we had voicemail! Recently had a friend with an iPhone 8 show her Voicemail tabbed screen alerting incoming voicemails with even a little recording on her Phone. So why don’t we have this feature with CC? First Customer Support call was a Female in Oregon. She did mention that I need to set up my “Visual Voicemail” but could not walk me through that setup on this first call! I then did some Google searching and found this: Receiving the notification is a feature provided by your service provider - it's called a MWI (Message Waiting Indicator). Generally it requires a bind between their voicemail server and their SMSC so that the notification can be passed to your phone over the SMS network. In general, these are sent as "push" notifications - the server informs your phone you have a voicemail. This is what allows your phone to produce an alert/notification even when it is locked and the voicemail app isn't running. Essentially, if you're having issues with this, but can still access your voicemail, then you should push back to your service provider using the above details to sound like you know what you're talking about iPhone Visual Voicemail needs to be provisioned on the customer account. iPhone Visual Voicemail also requires a back end Visual Voicemail server on the phone company's end. If they don't have one, a customer's iPhone will only receive regular voicemail, with no way for the phone app to indicate any number of messages received. Armed with this great bit of information I called Charlotte Customer Support in Arizona! She brought up my recent call case info and could not understand why the first agent did not activate Visual Voicemail on our 2 phones? Does this cost any extra? No this feature is included in all of our iPhone plans! Now I am wondering why this was never activated when we moved from Android to iPhones? After she left me on hold to accomplish this activation she came back to talk me through Visual Voicemail set up. Do you have latest IOS? Yes Version 12.2! Again after trying several different steps we could not get it to work. She suggested that it might be my only one or two bar signal strength at my house and I need to drive to a stronger cell signal need at least 3 bars. Ok I will try that. Well this did not work either! On my third call to Nicha in Arizona she did a reset of my mailbox and I still could not set up Visual Voicemail? After doing some more Google searching about this issue I found that I might try restoring my phone to a recent backup in iTunes. We don’t use iCloud so our phones are backed up to PC and MacBook! This did erase current saved text messages and my wife was a little upset losing those! Sure enough doing a Backup Restore in iTunes suddenly activated Visual Voicemail on the reboot! Although we like CC for its great prices and great coverage in Florida there is a definite lack of strong technical support from customer service! Hope this may help those out there in this CONUNDRUM!

5 years ago

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Roger Clarksville, TN

The price is right! Can not beat Consumer Cellular for value. Usually have no problem with calls most everywhere in the US. However, customer service has declined since we signed up. A couple of years ago we could call and an agent would pick right up. Now, it's a wait or use automated call-back. Biggest drawback is that credit card company and the IRS could not send a verification code to my phone because the number "could not be verified" as belonging to me! I'm told by CC customer service that my caller ID will only ever show up as "wireless caller," never my name unless the call is to someone with me in their contacts. That explains the problem . A real drawback but I guess worth putting up with given the price of service with CC is a fraction of directly with a wireless carrier.

5 years ago

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Dave S Lee, MA

My wife and I switched from AT&T coverage years ago as we were paying a fortune for minimal talk minutes with no texting or data. Fast forward and now with Consumer Cellular we have unlimited talk and text and a minimal 250MB data for $33.25 + tax/fees monthly, and can increase data plan for a low cost. We purchased our phones. Connectivity is great.

6 years ago

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John

I have been a consumer cellular customer for a number of years and have been very satisfied with their service. I have two phones on my account and seldom go over 2gb of data use. With taxes my total bill is about $60 every month. The few times I have had to contact customer service I received prompt and courteous service. If the service does not meet your expectations then maybe you should of done more research . For what they offer at the price they are very good.

6 years ago

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Squeaky Chicago, IL

I've used Consumer Cellular for four years. I stay with them because they're a great value and have reliable service. Instead of adding high fees when I go over my plan's limit, they just bump me up into the next-level plan, which is just a few dollars more. At the end of that billing period, I switch back to the lower-cost plan. It's painless and very affordable. Their fees are extremely reasonable and as far as I know have not even gone up since I've been a customer. They also do not require a contract. When I first became a customer, they didn't have a very good selection of phones, but that's improving; they have phones by Apple and Samsung now (although I use a great little Moto that I love that was only $100). The only reason I would not give them five stars is because their e-mail support is awful. If you have a technical problem, call them and speak to a live human. Their phone support is good. But if you e-mail them with a problem, you'll get a cut-and-paste reply that makes little sense and probably won't solve your problem. Skip it and call them instead. I have never used their phone service in another country, so I can't comment on that.

6 years ago

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Richard M. Koch San Antonio, TX

I have been with Consumer Cellular since Jan. 2012. They have exceeded my EVERY expectation since joining them. Their phones, accessories, talk & data plans, AND their knowledgeable, friendly (& PATIENT!) service reps are incredible! I have had nothing but great experiences with them from day one, and the folks I have referred to them feel the same way! I would not consider switching carriers - even for a cheaper rate! I plan to remain one of Consumer Cellular's biggest fans! I've NEVER been disappointed!

9 years ago

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Prayer Partner Jacksonville, FL

Aren't you always skeptical of the commercials and mailings that talk about such good deals? Well, Consumer did just what they said. We don't use the cellphone much so their bottom line of the 250 minutes with a starter contract was perfect. We used 12 of the minutes last month. But we do more texting and that's unlimited. We couldn't be happier. And they let you know if you get close to your alloted number on the internet access. Being the great company they are, they will bump you up to the next level (which is very few dollars) and bump you back down when the cycle starts over. So, you never EVER pay an "over the limit" fee. The commercial is right. Its the best cellphone offer around. Bar none,

3 years ago

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Dorothy Rinehart

I have been a customer for more than four years and had been happy up until May. Consumer Cellular started misreporting the data used on one of our phone lines. I was on the phone with Customer Service multiple times for this issue. The kept saying that the data usage for that line was double what it actually was. I even had proof from the phone itself and their website for what the usage should be. All they kept saying was that their was a huge amount of pending data. The first rep I spoke with said it would update in 24 hours, so I waited and called back after 48 hours. Their website still said our usage was half of what their system said. The next rep said it could be up to 72 hours before the system updated and would reflect the huge amount of pending data. I plan to call back after 72 hours and talk to a supervisor. This has been extremely frustrating, and we are looking at switching carriers. Too bad, because we had been satisfied customers up until now.

6 months ago

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Amanda George IL

Consumer cellular is wonderful! I used it for about a year and it was awesome until I moved and didn't get good signal so I had to swap to another company. Everyone else I know that used it loves it. They have good devices and the signal for video chats is really steady and works well with or without wifi.

1 year ago

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Debbie Littell Fredericksburg, VA

Great service all around. Monthy cost very inexpensive. Customer Service very helpful always. The only negative in 7 years is reset password. They have the worst reset policy of any company out there. To worried about privacy. There are so many ways to allow access but their staff is not allowed to reset. NEEDS FIXED. If not for password issue a 10 star rating for sure.

2 years ago

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TheRustyScupper Clermont, FL

Changed carriers for cost. Consumer was definitely a better buy. Had a login problem and called their USA Tech Service. Initial person could not help, as this was a new issue. Was transferred to a "senior tech", who thought he knew. Fixed problem in about 5-minutes. Other than the login issue, would have rated a "5-Star". AND, NO WE ARE NOT PAID TO WRITE THIS REVIEW.

2 years ago

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RanDanger Moline, IL

I’ve has CC for two years. I’m pleased with their coverage. Streaming videos on mobile devices works well. Using phones as hotspot is able to do Zoom meeting well. I got Consumer Cellular Home Base in March, 2022. Call quality is OK. When the phone rings I have 3 rings to answer the phone before it transfers to voicemail. Not enough time for a home phone. I looked for hours on line to find out how to change this only to have CC tell me I can’t do that myself. I have to call their service center, tell an agent I want more rings. However, it isn’t a number of rings, it is a number of seconds limited to 30 seconds at most. They then call AT&T, the actual CC carrier, and place an order with AT&T to change the time. It still isn’t enough time. CC caters to the elderly but this isn’t enough time for an elderly person to walk across the room to get to the phone before VM picks up the call. I had to wait over 1 hour one time I called CC. Not acceptable for a “consumer” oriented company.

2 years ago

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MICHAEL S ROSS Sherman, TX

The phone service is excellent. The phone reception is excellent. But it's impossible to do business with Consumer Cellular. They wine about the crippling pandemic and how it has affected their business and reduced the number of employees. I waited two hours (2 HRS@@!!!) for someone to answer my call today 3/6. Finally, I had to end the call. So I was fed up and tried to email them, using the published on-line email address. Seconds later I got a message stating the email address is unresponsive. So I tried using their chat program. I found I was 21st in line. I entered my "chat" and found that I had to wait (FOR 21 CHATTERS!!!!!!!!!!!) FOR A RESPONSE. I am ready to try another phone server. Consumer Cellular should add 50 cents to every customer's bill and hire enough phone operators to do the job.

2 years ago

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R Hebert

Been a CC customer for 4-5 years. Always loved customer service before. The CSRs are still very pleasant and seem helpful but what they've told me and what's reality don't seem to match up anymore. Let's start with the CC/Target "partnership." CC CSRs will tell you that you can go to Target and someone there will help you with all kinds of things like transferring your contacts, content, etc. If you call or go in to Target, tho, they'll tell you they only activate your phone. It's like when one person thinks they're in a solid relationship and the other person is looking feeling used. The target folks have told me that CC will set up appointments for customers at times when there's nobody on duty at Target. (This came up because the person told me they leave at 4pm and don't work Sundays, and Target had offered me Sunday appointments as well as a 5pm appt for that day). Keep in mind, Target is your ONLY hope of having a human talk to you, in person, about your phone. Then there's this situation with my hotspot. I bought it from CC a while back. Probably early 2020. it's a ZTE hotspot, it has a CC sticker inside, and it says 4G on the outside (embossed into the phone). CC keeps telling me they can't promise they'll be able to support it because I bought it elsewhere. NOT TRUE. Then they tell me they won't be able to support it because it's a 3G device. NOT TRUE. Also, they no longer offer hotspots of any make. What looks like the truth here is that they wish they'd never sold or supported hotspots. I assume they're telling other customers the same story. This really had a negative impact on how I view this company. I got the ConnectPad. You can get unlimited data on it, for a price. I wouldn't mind that, if it shared that data with the hotspot. Guess what. No sharesies. Also, about the ConnectPad. No flashlight. If you've ever had your power go out, you know how handy that light on your cellphone can be. It's the one thing you have with you almost all the time. Also, I'm not crazy about the power button. That's how you bring your device back when it's asleep. But the button is small and not that easy to push, and it's right next to the volume button. So if you're trying to hear a caller better, it's possible you're going to mash that button by accident and completely turn off your phone in the middle of a call. I do like the charging dock, actually. My tablet slides right in, and the magnetic connector at the bottom keeps it in place. No fumbling with the usb connector, trying to figure out which way is up. But it's inconvenient to carry with you. So I'm looking around. I don't have very good coverage where I live, and the AT&T sim option has worked out for me. I really don't want to jump to AT&T. I wish Consumer Cellular would go back to being the nice company it was.

2 years ago

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Rik Bonds Grove, OK

I've been with CC since July, as a veteran, disabled and trying to make the most of my budget, CC offered "Unlimited t,t and data. It is only unlimited as long as you stay below their threshold. I travel occasionally and find myself being charged for using to much data....I really don't understand why "unlimited" requires up charging.....Is this false advertising or am I misinformed? I was with Tmobile for 12 years and was never upcharged for anything and it was about 112.00$ per month including international service, now am paynig approx. 50.00 per month but with service and billing issues. No international etc. Have I made a mistake?

3 years ago

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Carol UT

Taking advantage of SENIORS. EACH BILLING IS HIGHER WITHOUT REALIZING MANY SENIORS LIVE ALONE AND ARE LONELY AND THE CELL IS THE ONLY COMPANION AND NOT REALIZING CHARGES ARE ADDING UP. CANNOT AFFORD THIS SENIOR.PLANS ENDORSED BT AARP

3 years ago

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Sarah Jamieson Cherry Hill, NJ

I actually used Consumer Cellular for 4 years and it was great. Good coverage, good price, no issues. However a few weeks ago both my husband's and my phones stopped getting data. Both our phones showed full bars of LTE or 5G in his case with an iPhone 12, but besides talk/text, could not be used for anything unless they were on wifi. We called customer service and they were unfriendly and unhelpful, treating us as if we were 75+ years old and not knowing how to use a phone... "try going outside" and "try getting a new sim card" were the best they could offer. We're moving soon and our new place doesn't have great internet options, so we decided this was clearly the right time to switch to a new plan with a different carrier that would cover our phone and internet. But it took forever to finally get CC to approve our port out request and shut down service. After the first couple requests were denied I called and found out you need a special one time pin (maybe that's on me for not realizing), which the customer service rep begrudgingly gave me while grumbling about us leaving. After this the port was denied once again, so I called and spoke to yet another clueless, unfriendly representative. After another wait on hold, the call dropped and that was the last I heard from them before the port was finally completed. Good bye Consumer Cellular. When there were no problems, it was good, but customer service is terrible.

3 years ago

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Rob Adamsville, TN

We have unlimited everything, including Unlimited Data, which this article says is not available. We have had good service, since they use at&t towers and no issues in the time that we have been with this company. The only time we have had to contact Consumer Cellular for some assistance on how to do something, they were very helpful and nice.

3 years ago

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John Hendersonville, NC

I 've used CC for 3 years; I've never had a problem. My son and daughter use and recommended CC-they're west coast, I'm east. CC support has been great and patient. I don't know when this review was written, but they do offer an unlimited data plan. I've had ATT and Verizon in the past- you couldn't pay me to go back.

3 years ago

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Lisa Bantau Coeur d'Alene, ID

I have been with them for 8 years. It just goes to show those other cell companies that if you treat your customers right you don't need to tie them into a contract! The customer service has always been exemplary and the phone service is just as good as AT&t and Verizon

3 years ago

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Tim Leaman Cincinnati, OH

Company offers good service and fair rates but doesn’t have a decent flip phone. Have had a few Doros now and this latest 7050 is a piece of junk. So many issues, i.e. fails to ring, texting is terrible, slow, and impossible to get correct fonts and letters correctly at times. Can’t hear as clearly as the old one! Get a decent inexpensive phone for us old farts who don’t spend all day taking selfie’s!

3 years ago

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Lisa C Johnson Catonsville, MD

My husband has Consumer Cellular. He has the basic plan. He just wants to make calls and doesnt want the internet or texting features. The plan is inexpensive because of what he has. The amount is deducted by autopay. We really dont have any dislikes about this company.

3 years ago

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FredB Prospect, KY

For a low-cost carrier, they are pretty good - not great, but better than just okay. Their coverage is not nearly as comprehensive as Verizon, but then neither is their cost. I recently upgraded my old iPhone 6S to a newer iPhone SE. After activating and setting up, I kept getting a 'no service' indicator on the new phone. I checked the iOS and iTunes software - all up to date. I restarted both my computer and the new phone, no joy. I removed the new SIM card and reinserted - that didn't work. Then, I swapped out the new SE SIM card with the old 6S SIM card, and viola! Service! Yet they charged me for a new SIM card that is bogus. And my final complaint - they won't let you send them a message. You have to go online to chat (and wait behind 175 other customers) or phone call, (again, wait until they get around to talking to you). Overall, barely satisfied.

4 years ago

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Joe Flo Taylorville, IL

My experience with Consumer Cellular was a cluster flop. They sent me 3 cards and none of them worked. After 5 weeks the phone wouldn't turn on and they wouldn't stand good on it, they said it was only warranted for one month, I said I don't want this POS!!!

4 years ago

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Joe Parker Kingston, TN

This company is great. We've been with them for about 6 years now, and every so often, they will increase our plan data limits with no increase in costs. Their plans are very affordable, better than any major carrier I've seen. Their coverage is also good, not like the big guys, but I've never not had a signal when I needed one.

5 years ago

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Howard Boulder, CO

I bought an iPhone 7Plus from Consumer Cellular and have had trouble since the beginning with voice clarity. There is so much interference sometimes that I have to hang up and try again. I suspect that I was sent a used phone, though I cannot prove that. Although there is a year's warranty on the phone dealing with Consumer Cellular staff is a real hassle. They may as well not exist. One person told me once that I only have a 9 month warranty! this is obviously untrue as I have the warranty in formation for one year. They asked me to replace the SIM card on the phone, which I did, but the disturbance on calls is still there. They now want me to call on another phone so they can wipe my phone clean. I am hesitant to do that because I am not sure that will solve the issue. Even if they everything clean, I will still have the same phone. Very frustrating. I would not recommend doing business with this provider.

5 years ago

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Jane Tallahassee, FL

I have had Consumer Cellular for over 10 years and have always been very happy with the service. I recently had to replace my phone (a DORO). When I got the new phone, I found that several of the features had changed...and not for the best. With the previous phone, if a caller was in my Contact List, it showed the Contacts name so I always knew who was calling. If it just showed a number, I would just ignore the call since they were usually unwanted sales calls or crank calls. If it was important, they could leave a voicemail. With the latest model, it only shows the phone number so 1) you have to know every contact number and be able to recognize it, 2) you can not answer and hope they leave a voice message, or 3) you can answer what is probably not a caller you don't want to waste time talking to. With the previous model, you could delete records of calls received with one selection. With the latest model, you have to perform 6 separate steps to delete the call record. On my phone, I have to delete the same calls multiple times over several days before they finally stop showing up (example-today {a Tuesday}, it shows calls that were deleted last Wednesday and Thursday--I didn't get calls between last Thursday and today). I called customer service today to find out if there were settings I could change to get the previous features. I talked with the rep for a while. Then she wanted to research something and said she would call back in 10 minutes. She never called back. I would like to be able to write a letter to Consumer Customer but am unable to find an address for the company. I am very dissatisfied with the updated phone and may just switch to another company.

5 years ago

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T Forgette Pleasant Valley, NY

We have used Consumer Cellular for about 6 years. We have never had a problem with them. My wife has a smart phone, I have a 6 year old flip phone and we use the home phone service from them. My service for all 3 are less than $80 a month that includes unlimited calling, long distance, 2 GB data, etc. Cell service is the best.

5 years ago