Ting is a brand new mobile phone service that caters to people tired of dealing with complicated billing plans from carriers like AT&T or Verizon, not to mention paying out the wazoo for them. The slogan is ‘Mobile That Makes Sense’ and after just a few minutes exploring the service, I’m utterly impressed.
The phone selection ranges from high-end smartphones to basic cell phones, there are no contracts, it uses Sprint’s nationwide network coverage and the plans couldn’t be more bare bones. The best part about Ting is the complete lack of complexity in the billing process. All phones are combined under a single account, so whether you are an individual user or with a family, you can manage everything at once and adjust your plan accordingly. Each device is a minimum of $6 per month for basic service.
There are three categories of options on Ting plans: minutes per month, messages per month, and megabytes of data per month. You can select any combination of XS, S, M, L, XL, or XXL options for each of these to suit your needs. For instance, a medium minutes plan bundles 500 minutes for only $9/mo. Everything is very inexpensive. Best of all, Ting only bills you based on the plans you actually use, so technically you can select XXL for minutes, messages, and data, but only pay for medium plans if that’s all you used.
Since devices don’t come tied with a contract on Ting, that’s where you’ll have to worry about the higher pricing. Luckily, it’s just a one time fee. There’s only a few phones on Ting right now such as the Motorola Photon, a 4G Android smartphone, and the Samsung M360, a basic feature phone. These are $545 and $65, respectively. Yes, these prices are quite high, but you’ll save in the long run thanks to Ting’s affordable monthly charges. There’s no word on if Ting phones can be taken to other carriers but you would hope that it can be brought to at least Sprint without any hassles.
There may not be any premium Android devices or iPhones on this network, but if you are a regular mobile phone user looking for a fantastic value, Ting seems very promising.