Disclaimer: I have no connection with TPO apart from recently becoming a customer in the UK.
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, is bringing "The People's Operator" cellphone service to the USA. The company offers cheap cellphone services and gives 10% of your monthly charge to the charity of your choice. In addition the company gives 25% of its profits to charity. TPO was founded in the UK and Wales joined the company as co-chairman in 2014. As in the UK, TPO have US partnerships with some well known charities. These partners and their promotion of the service help TPO reduce its marketing costs which instead are directed to the "tithe".
At launch, TPO is partnering with some big-name causes like Save The Children, The World Wildlife Foundation and Wounded Warriors Project. But the charity options aren't limited to a short list of pre-selected causes: Subscribers can donate 10% of their bill to any valid 5013c organization, enabling what Wales refers to as the "long tail" of charitable causes, right down to the local high-school marching band.
I first came across the UK service a couple of months ago when my cellphone contract was due to expire. The market is a bit different in the UK with the providers typically providing the phone and a monthly voice/SMS/data package as part of the monthly charge. While there is often no "up front" cost, the monthly subscription increases depending on the phone features and the amount of data, calls etc. With some of the high feature phones, you can opt to pay an amount, much less than the full cost, to get the phone and have a reduced monthly charge and allowance. As you are paying for the phone over the minimum term of the contract (probably 24 months), keeping the same contract when that ends is a waste of money. Often people take out a new contract to get the latest model phone. In addition to the companies that own the cellphone networks infrastructures, there are a large number of "retailers" which piggyback on them. These include the major supermarket chains and satellite, cable and landline companies which offer "4 play" TV, landline, broadband and cellphone packages.
At the end of their cellphone contract, people often change providers as the best deals are usually offered to new customers. Most offer either phone and usage packages or "SIM only" deals. The complexity of the UK market has generated a number of price comparison sites (example). You may notice that in addition to providing comparisons on cellphones and insurance, they also compare energy companies. These have a similar wholesale/retail separation and changing can mean considerable savings. So it was in early May I was looking around for a SIM only deal as I was satisfied with the performance of my phone (a Samsung Note II).
My previous contract included a huge amount of calls, SMS and unlimited data. However in practice I used a small percentage of these monthly allowances so selected the TPO plan that reflected this. So my first tip is to monitor your usage and go for the plan that gives you a bit of a margin but where you don't have large amounts of unused allowance at the end of the month. (In the UK, TPO allow you to change the monthly plan to accommodate increased or decreased usage but this may not be available from their US arm.) Android phones have monthly data usage monitoring built in and I presume iPhones have a similar feature. Remember you can reduce your cellphone data use by using wifi but this can be insecure in public places, so turn wifi on only when you are at home or wish to use a hotspot. That also reduces the demand on your battery.
I reduced my monthly outlay from £36 to £13 so the savings are not inconsiderable over the course of a year (@$440). The cheapest SIM only deal with similar allowances was around £5 more. I haven't seen the US price structure but if your phone is only 3G, don't go for a 4G package with the same allowance but which costs more.
In my case TPO was the cheapest monthly charge for a SIM only deal for my usage profile but of course there may be other companies in the USA which are better for you. TPO piggyback on the Sprint network in the USA so you should also check to make sure their coverage is good in your area.
If you do decide to switch, make sure your cellphone is not locked to a specific network. If you purchased it separately, it is likely already unlocked. If, as in the UK, it is part of a bundle of phone and calls etc, you may need to unlock it. I had to get the 10 digit unlock code for my phone from my old provider. This may or may not be available or legal in the USA but I am sure that the American TPO site will give guidance. For me it was simply a matter of putting the new SIM card in and tapping in the code which was free from my old provider.
You will also probably want to carry on using the same cellphone number. You can do this by "porting" it to the new network. From the FCC guidance I gather there may be a payment for this. This provision is the same in the UK but none charge.
When you request the porting number from your existing network, you will very likely be directed to a "customer relations" operative who will try to persuade you to stay with them. In some cases you can use this to negotiate down your existing price but be aware you are often taking out a new contract with a minimum period. I simply asked them if they could provide me with x minutes, y SMS texts and zGb data a month for the same price as TPO. They said no, I said goodbye.
I have had a couple of problems with TPO. The first was getting in touch when the registration process failed to activate my SIM. They sorted it out but it was down to a computer fault at their end. Their customer service team do not work 24/7. At least, in the UK, this is based in the country. Trying to stop the Indian call center going through their set scripts when I tried to get the port number from 3 (my old network) was a real hassle. There have also been a couple of times when their wholesaler's network went down or coverage dropped but that is hardly TPO's fault.
As I explained, my motivation in moving to the company was purely a financial saving. The charity tithe was an added bonus. Passing old cellphones on to members of the family who don't own one, or as fancy a one, is a good way to avoid recycling so SIM only deals can be "green" as well. If you do dispose of an old cellphone, there are some companies that will buy them or charities which pass them on to the needy or those in developing countries. Remember to clear all your contacts and data before you pass it on. Again, there is usually an option to do this buried in the menu tree of your phone. Please, whatever you do, do not dispose of it in the trash. The phone and battery contain chemicals which can pollute the environment.
5:39 PM PT: I have now managed to get to the US price plans which are slightly different from the UK ones. The plans start as low as $9 a month for 250 minutes talk, 250 texts and no data and go up to $89 a month for unlimited talk time and texts and 11Gb data, See https://store.tpo.com/...