When you finally grow tired of the lack of coverage, the ever increasing bill and lack of new devices that your current carrier provides you with, it doesn’t hurt to shop around a bit. As we began our Best Value In Wireless comparison, we reached out to a few of the prepaid MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) carriers to see which ones would like to participate in our test. Many responded, but one truly has shined in our testing. We’ll get into the results of all the carriers more when we publish our test results later this month, but for now, let’s take a look at Red Pocket Mobile and how it works.
The Coverage:
Red Pocket Mobile is an AT&T MVNO, which means that the service is run off the same coverage map as the popular AT&T GoPhone service, plus a few additional areas that are covered under their agreement. The coverage area throughout most of the US is very strong, with some weaker spots in the Midwest. In the areas we’ve run the device, the Red Pocket network delivered speeds on our iPhone 3Gs, 4, HTC Radar and Samsung Exhibit II that were as fast as our T-Mobile 4G connection. Speeds ranged from the 3Mbps area all the way up to 6.5Mbps on the download and between 1.5Mbps and 3Mbps on the uploads. Voice calling was also a bit on the spectacular side for a prepaid service. Actually, voice quality snubbed every post-paid carrier in our area – including Sprint, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile. Obviously, AT&T had a similar quality as it runs on the same network.
The Plans:
Pricing for the Red Pocket Plans depends on your usage needs. Starting at $19.99 a month for 250 minutes and 500 texts, Red Pocket allows you to keep your mobile number for a low cost without committing to any contracts. This plan also applies to Smartphone users. If you have Wi-Fi at work and home, that $19.99 a month bill is great for voice minutes on that Android device running GrooveIP at home. For the small bump to $29.99 a month, you can have the same 250 minutes and add unlimited texting to the mix. The $29.99 plan also adds 10 picture message (MMS) and 10MB of WAP browsing. Moving up to the $39.99 plan nets the user unlimited talk, text, MMS and the 10MB of mobile data, plus credit for up to 200 international minutes that will roll over every month if not used.
For regular smartphone users, this is really where you should start taking note here though, since 10MB of mobile data isn’t going to do much to satisfy the data hungry device. The $49.99 plan includes the plethora of unlimited voice, text, MMS, and the 200 minutes of international talk, but adds 250MB of mobile data to the mix. This is great for the heavy Wi-Fi user or the lighter cell data user. If you find that a bit light, the $59.99 plan takes your mobile data out to 2GB. While 2GB isn’t unlimited, for a price less than 1/2 of what you can land an AT&T plan for, it sure makes sense for 95% of the users out there.
The true advantage to any prepaid service is the lack of fees and taxes on their plans. Glancing through our last few cellular bills, we noticed the taxes and fees have crept closer to the 22% mark up from the normal 17% we used to pay. Sales tax, operator tax, city tax, 911 tax, all of these fees and taxes bring a $100 bill up to $120 in a hurry. With Red Pocket Mobile, you simply pay the flat rate fee that you see listed on the site and you are done. If you want to save even more, you can purchase your refills from a third party site and save a bit more.
The Catch:
If there is a catch to the Red Pocket Mobile plan, it’s the fact that there are no subsidies on devices – in fact, they don’t even offer them. Red Pocket is a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) carrier. This means once that iPhone 3Gs is out of contract (yes, the one you got for free a year and a half ago) you can bring it to Red Pocket, insert your new SIM card and be off and running. If you are one that pays full retail for devices every 6 months just to have the latest and greatest, then this isn’t a problem for you. If you are one that sits on the cell phone you have for 4 or 5 years, again, this isn’t a problem for you. But if you are the one that sits down and starts shopping devices at 19 months for that 20th month upgrade, then the loss of that carrier subsidy might be worth looking at.
The average phone discount is between $400-500 for smartphones, though deals can be found at Amazon Wireless or any GSM cellular site. So if you wanted that new iPhone 5 later this year, AT&T will charge you about $200 for it on contract, verses the $700 you would need to purchase it outright. Of course, at the same time, the market will be flooded with used iPhone 4s devices at great prices that can hop right on to your Red Pocket plan. The Quad-Band GSM phones operate on Red Pocket’s 3G coverage beautifully, but don’t expect those “4G” speeds off just any device. You’ll need to make sure the device is running the 850 band HSDPA+ speed to take full advantage of the speed of the network.
Setup:
Setting up multiple devices on Red Pocket didn’t take much time at all. The largest challenge was changing settings on the iPhone and also Windows Phone devices. One of the first instructions for our iPhone programming was to jailbreak the iPhone and install a program that would allow the APN settings to be changed. While we were lucky enough to have a breakable 5.0.1 on our devices, the update to 5.1 may render MMS messaging useless until a new break is found. Windows phone created some of the same issues, although the HTC auto network programming seemed to work most of the time. Android users only need a few minutes and a quick app download to be up and running.
Activation:
Activation took seconds to do online. Simply hit the Red Pocket Mobile site, punch in your IMEI number and SIM number. You then key in the refill you’d like to apply to your account, and decide if you are keeping that number you have or not. If you are porting in, it takes anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours for your number to become hot. Once it is live, your balance is transferred to your SIM and your device is set to run for 30 days.
As part of our test, we tried out the customer service line just to test how ‘activation problems’ might go, and honestly, they were good. It was a painful 10 minutes before we were actually able to reach an operator on a Saturday afternoon, but once we did, our invalid pin number (we switched 2 numbers around by accident) was fixed and the account was ready to roll.
User Experience:
There isn’t much that can be said here. Red Pocket makes life simple. You get 2GB of data, no overages allowed – and no throttling will happen when you reach your cap. It just stops. We’re not big fans of this, but what a way to control costs for a smaller operator. When asked about the possibility of adding additional data or a larger 5GB plan, a Red Pocket representative said that there are no plans for that at the moment. That said, anyone with Wi-Fi access will not approach 2GB of data anytime soon, and those that don’t can just spend a few evenings at Starbucks and friend’s houses if they run close to that limit before the 30 days is up.
Even with the solid 2GB cap, Red Pocket delivered excellent speed and performance across our entire device portfolio and the 4 markets we tested in. 3G speeds were on par or better than most of the 4G coverage that we see in our areas. Building penetration was excellent – usually 2-3 bars above T-Mobile and Sprint.
Cost Comparison:
We are going to look at apples to apples on this one. AT&T vs. Red Pocket first. AT&T offers a great plan for individual users. For the average smartphone user, this plan will run you $99.99 for a new Samsung Galaxy S II phone. The unlimited minute plan on AT&T will set your back $69.99. Unlimited messaging will set you back another $20 a month. Adding to that is the final piece of the puzzle, $30 for 3GB of data for $30. This brings the subtotal to $124.99 a month with a $5 per month “device fee” added in for that $100 initial purchase price of your Galaxy II. Just to total this out, we add our usual 17% minimum taxes and fees to that number and we get a whopping – $146.24 per month.
Red Pocket, on the other hand, will cost you $449.99 for that same Galaxy S II device off contract. Then a flat $59.99 per month – so we will cal it $79.99 per month for the device and service per month over that 2 year span. That’s a flat rate with no taxes, excess charges or other fees that increase the price of your bill. The savings on Red Pocket with a new Samsung Galaxy S II device is nearly $45 a month. Those savings increase to nearly $85 a month if you have an out of contract device that is unlocked already – or choose a lower cost option for your device like the AT&T GoPhone version of the Pantech Breakout for $125.
Final Verdict:
The answer to the question here is very simple, but we have to ask it anyways. Do you want to save some serious cash on your cellular bill? The answer that everyone chimes in with immediately is, yes. The next time you see your cell bill online or delivered in that little envelope, we invite you to check that last little section called “Fees and Surcharges” and see how much you are wasting every month. Our last Sprint receipt we saw showed a $157.96 bill and taxes that took that bill to $192.04. Yep, $35 a month for the government and over 30% added to our bill. This was more than enough to drive one of us to switch to Red Pocket immediately following our testing.
It’s a hard sell not to with the numbers adding up the way they do. Even using a T-Mobile “Value Plan” at $49.99 a month, the taxes and surcharges still drive that number out of the realm of “under $60 for unlimited text and voice”. Realistically, the only 2 carriers that were touching that number were SIMple Mobile and the Sprint MVNO’s (Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile). Unfortunately, in all 4 areas, the three that could match the pricing, couldn’t touch the performance.
Overall, for the light user, you might be able to sneak in the $49.99 plan and just borrow a few MB here and there on the road. For the ‘I want to Facebook from my phone at home” body, the $39.99 plan is right up your alley. For you power users, and we don’t me those tethering fools that challenge themselves weekly to set a 100GB download record, the $59.99 plan should be a great fit.
You can get a FREE Red Pocket Mobile SIM at online superstore here.
UPDATE: Shortly after publication there was a change to the Red Pocket Mobile available plans. The new “MAX” plan features a $54.99 price tag and is limited to 1GB of data. This appears to be the new limit that AT&T is starting to hand down to their MVNO’s. We appreciate Red Pocket’s transparancy in the data allotment unlike carriers like Net10 and Straight Talk that will not publish a threshold, but rather will just terminate service for “excessive use”. As with any operator today, Unlimited has various meanings with RPM. From what we can tell, you can use 5,000 voice minutes, 5,000 SMS/MMS messages and 1GB of data with the $54.99 plan before any account actions are taken. If you have any additional questions feel free to post in the comments below.
UPDATE: There are now new plans available from Red Pocket Mobile for T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon Wireless compatible devices as well. Please visit http://www.4gfastdata.com/plans.html for more information on these new offerings.
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I moved over to Red Pocket after my AT&T contract was over & a bad experience with another MVNO (H2O Wireless). One word describes my service with Red Pocket: Superb. I’d gladly spend $700 for an off-contract iPhone 4/4S & continue using Red Pocket. The $49.99 plan works perfect for me.
@Gil, That’s exactly it… People will purchase outright handsets for a better deal on that monthly bill. Prepaid models everywhere are showing this – although with things like Craigslist, there’s really no reason to purchase outright. When the iPhone 4s came out, the market flooded with iPhone 4 models. We recently grabbed one for $200 in mint condition. Add that to your Red Pocket Mobile savings, and you will have an extra $1000 a year in your pocket!
I have simple Mobile right now, but the service its too slow and the signal its terrible, its red pocket better in that way?
@Ivan, Signal is so relative based on individual areas. We can tell you that in almost every area, Red Pocket was more consistent than Simple, but peak speeds in two of our test areas were faster. We just ran into too many “drop zones” to give Simple the thumbs up.
Anyone have any experience running an iphone 4 or 4s and being able to use MMS, imessage, and the apple cloud service without any problems. Had issues with this when I had my iphone 4 on either Tmobile or Simple Mobile.
Yes, and sort of… Keep in mind, we don’t like to support modifying a device, so this is to be taken with a grain of salt – and a lot of reading on how to do it properly…
The problem with the iPhone MMS system is you need to be able to jailbreak the device to change the APN. While 5.0.1 had a jailbreak option that was pretty easy, 5.1 only has tethered support for jailbreaking – so far.
Basically, there are a few work around’s that might do it for you in the mean time, like emailing messages to your friends phones, or possibly even a third party messaging program that supports MMS messaging. Another option is to research how to roll back to the 5.0.1 update and jailbreak the device that way.
Other than that, yes, MMS is missing on the iPhone until the APN’s can be managed by the end user – which may come sooner than later with Apple unlocking out of contract phones.
Thanks for the reply smartphor. Are you sure you need to be jailbroken to access and change APN. I could’ve sworn I’ve accessed and changed the APN on my iphones before without being jailbroken. Some of them worked successfully in enabling MMS on them, but another wasnt successful. Again, this was through Tmobile though.
My primary residence is Ewa Beach, HI 96706, we travel extensively to these cities, Newport Coast, CA 92657, Metairie, LA 70001, Morristown, NJ 07960, Chicago, IL 60657 and Dallas, TX 75214. Not all at one time though, At this time, we use SPRINT 1500 Unlimited Family Plan. we don’t incur additional cost for talk, text and data for using the services at the location mentioned. My question is, would REDPOCKET add extra cost to use their network at those location. I just bought a new Samsung Galaxy Note (SGH-I717) and a Samsung A847 Rugby II. Both are lock to AT&T network. It cost $450.00 and $145.00 which I should be able to recover from my $167.30 monthly Sprint bill in a year.
Red Pocket charges a flat $59.99 a month for their unlimited 2GB plan (which if you have Wi-Fi at home you are pretty safe with that number) and nothing additional for usage of the AT&T network anywhere in the USA. You also get the added bonus of up to 200 included international minutes. We are already saving $50 a month plus off our old Sprint bill with just two lines!
Plus, as an added bonus save $19.95 per line with a free SIM card with purchase of the $39.99, $49.99 or $59.99 plan at our online store: http://www.getsmartphones.info/prepaid/phones/RedPocketMobile.htm
I just switched to Red Pockst and I can send texts but not receive them on the Galaxy S II? Does any one know how to fix?
That is a strange problem? SMS messages work on the same connection as your voice calls so they should either all work, or all not work. If you are talking about picture messages, that is an APN adjustment that you can simply hit this link and download the configuration app from the Google Play Store.
Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rp.configurator
Just regular text messages. I can send them and I get texts from only 1 person all others do not receive.
Are you in a strong signal area or is it weak? We had zero issues with texting, data and voice and only minor problems with MMS messages. Is your GSII an AT&T model, T-Mo model or an International unlocked model?
ATT I can get texts from other smart phones but not.Blackberry or other phones
I’ve been using Red Pocket for a couple of months now (a convert from AT&T) and I can honestly say it’s every bit as good as AT&T. I even used my old phone from AT&T so I actually only had to cover the cost of the plan to move over. I’ve had no problems with call clarity, dropped calls or signal strength. I love the $39.99 flat fee per month over the $150.00 to $200.00 per month I was giving AT&T. I can’t see ever going back to a contract plan.
Red Pocket Customer Service is HORRIBLE. It is either unavailable… or poor, or random, with no accountability… I have been trying to get my plan (switch to the $59.99) from a lower one to start working, and it has not… even though the charge and payment have been completed.
We actually just tried this exact change from a $19.99 monthly plan to a $59.99 monthly plan to see how or if it worked. We purchased the $59.99 PIN, went to goredpocket.com/refill and entered our phone number and PIN and we received a message asking if we wanted to change our plan within 5 minutes.
If you do not change you plan, you will not lose the balance of the more expensive card. It is simply rolled into your account balance and your existing plan will be charged to that balance each month. For example, since we really wanted to stay on the $19.99 plan, we activated the $59.99 PIN and were able to have them undo the upgrade immediately and refund our balance to equal 3 months of our $19.99 line. Customer service hold time was about 8 minutes, but online chat responded in 3 minutes.
So, just as a question, if you haven’t seen an email or text asking if you want to change your plan, check your spam filters/deleted texts/etc… to see if you missed it. If you did see it and didn’t reply, then have them resend it, or change it via the online chat function.
I needed to change my plan from 250MB to 2GB data. I went to callingmart.com and purchased the $60.00. I was emailed a pin number. Went to goredpocket.com and entered the pin # and asked me if that’s what I wanted to use cause I had the $50.00 plan, I check the yes and nothing to it, I’m now on 2GB data limit
Great to hear! Like we said, we heard plenty of horror stories from every carrier’s service department, but our reviews were based off of 4 different individuals experiences. We had zero issues, but that doesn’t mean that others aren’t having problems. All we can advise is using the online chat for faster answers instead of calling. Their telephone support is rather lackluster with hold times, but usually very quick to remedy the issue. We still like the customer service at RPM better than the post paid options that we experienced.
Also, make sure to save yourself a buck or two and get the $59.99 for only $59.38 at our online refill store!
Had a bad experience with Red pocket. I love Blackberry and was with sprint; in order to save cost went to Metro Pcs. Service ok; data slow; overall manageable but I hated the blackberry handset. A friend just 2 days ago introduced me to Red pocket. I was excited; ported my phone and my problem began. It took 14hrs and my Blackberry torch could not be configured. I called blackberry and red pocket several times. Red pocket wil always refer me to their website – configuration. Today, still frustrated with red pocket and the incompetent dealer and all the in-experienced customer/tech support; I went to another authorized dealer only to find out that RED POCKET does not support blackberry. So please if you use blackberry do not switch to red pocket. The reps are even ignorant of this.
Also Red Pocket is a third party service, to browse the web, you have to download opera mini and have to go through this site to surf, check your mail, twit, facebook and any social network. Please do not make the stupid mistake I made.
Sorry to hear about the poor BlackBerry experience, but you are correct. BlackBerry devices and RPM service don’t play well together. It is mainly due to the fact that RPM does not have the service books required to run BIS or BES applications. You will lose things like push email, BBM and other services that make BB devices awesome. Unfortunately, none of us tested a BlackBerry device during our review process so that did sneak by. We’ll reach out to RPM about adding service books in the future though. Thanks for visiting and the great feedback!
2GB data limit its over….now they put it down to 1 GB for $54.99… its HORRIBLE!!!!!
Honestly, 1GB is still plenty of data for MOST users as long as they have access to WiFi. It is a bit of a bummer that they only cut $5 off the plan and half the data allotment, but they are still $20 under the like GoPhone package for the same coverage. That’s 26% off AT&T’s rates – on prepaid even!
If i could have more data i would switch. Can i refill data mid month if i run out? its pay an extra $10 to $20 for a refill if so. It would still be cheaper than the $120 i pay for my iPhone monthly now.
Does anyone know if red pocket offers free international sms as simple mobile do?
No, unfortunately, RPM only offers free receipt of messages from international destinations. If you choose to send one, it is an additional .10 per message – which you can add a prepaid card of any balance to have additional balances available for international SMS features.
Have you tried sending SMS via webmail/email? Google that and it might solve your problem, albeit it’s a more complicated process at first. It also will favor SMS exchange w/ a repeat group of correspondents.
Can I connect my galaxy s3 from verizon too?
There have been some reports of Verizon devices becoming unlocked and working with the service, but I would simply list the GS3 for sale and purchase a used unlocked GS3 for AT&T to use with RPM.
iPhones need to have a Jailbreak done for MMS to work. We never recommend altering a phone, but if you want more info, visit http://www.jailbreak.me
can u do da t mobile sim swap
I have an iPhone 3GS and when call out, I get a message in Spanish that lasts maybe 30 seconds then ends the call. I can’t recieve or send texts or phone calls either. When I go to my settings and go to balance inquiry, it’s in Spanish as well. There is minutes on my phone. It’s the 250 calling minutes & unlimited texting. Any idea what my problem could be?
Also, my language settings are all English. I forgot to mention that.
I know it an old thread, but I had this same problem. I online chatted with a Red Pocket Rep and theuyfixed the language immediately.
We can put your mind at ease… yes, anything your device can do, any apps, etc… is fair game. This is why we are such fans of RPM. They don’t state unlimited, then limit what you can do. The new/old 2GB plan for $59.99 will give you more data flexibilty if need more than 1GB too. If you need a SIM, hit us up when you get here!
Thanks so much for the quick response, RPM seems to be a perfect option for me then! 🙂
I currently have an AT&T unlocked iPhone. I’m planning on switching to a Samsung Galaxy S3. My question is will I be able to take the sim out of my phone and put it into the galaxy s3 configure the settings for the android and that will be it. Or what will I need to do??
Yes, swap the SIMs, configure your APNs if the phone doesn’t for you and you’re off. If configuring APNs isn’t something you know, just download Tweakker from the Play Store.
I haven’t had the need to try it as I use a Windows Phone, but I’d be happy to send over a FREE SIM for you to fire up and try it out.
Red pocket is not recommend b data plas take you money and them only want to put small amount of data exa plans 29.99 and over them they say o this plan take only 10 Mb so you pay 1G you have to call 100 time to get the 1g this is ridiculous this is built s
Sorry, but your comment is very hard to understand, but I will try my best to sort it out for you. It seems that you are complaining that their “Talk and Text – $29.99 Plan” doesn’t include enough data. Since this is a feature phone plan (the 10MB is basically for MMS only) it wouldn’t make sense for a Smartphone User to even sign up for this plan.
However, if you did, you can purchase an additional data pin for either $9.99 for 250MB or $19.99 for 1GB without even making a phone call. Simply visit http://goredpocket.com/unlimited-refills.html and grab one of the Data Only Refills at the bottom of the page. This data would remain active until your account expiration date.
If you purchased the $29.99 plan on the 15th, ran out of data on the 20th, then purchased a $19.99 data PIN on the 21st, you would only have until the 15th to use that 1GB of data.
Even doing this, you get an unlimited talk, text and 1GB data plan for $49.98 per month. That’s still quite a deal!
If you have more questions, I would love to get in contact with Red Pocket Mobile and get them answered for you.
Hello.. I currently have Sprint using an iPhone 4S. My contract expired today 12-19-13. I was looking to switch to Red Pocket but I’m kind of concerned what I will loose with switching from Sprint to Redbox. On your response on 12/7/12 you mentioned that iPhones would loose MMS unless the phone is jail broken which mine is not.
I use my phone for everything and use a lot of data for Pandora and my Motion X GPS Drive app as well as for work. With sprint I have unlimited everything for $75.27 a month and included in the price is over $12.00 dollars of taxes and fees. For $15.00 dollars more I have unlimited everything but only 450 mobile to landline which I don’t care to much about.
I will also loose MMS if I switch to Red Pocket. I would like to have a lower rate but don’t want to loose a feature I use all the time for work and personal. I was alsore adding on this forum that I also loose iMessage and Apple iCloud service. Is that true if I switch.
Thanks for your time and help.
This is always the toughest argument to have when talking about switching to a lower cost plan. Right now, your plan isn’t that far out of line with what a prepaid service would charge you. If you go in to renew and get a new device, your bill will go up quite substantially. If you are happy with the service you are currently getting on Sprint, I would recommend keeping that iPhone and the service you have now. If you are interested in a new service plan, I would probably have to say that Red Pocket Mobile’s CDMA plan that runs on the Sprint network is a great choice. For $49.99 a month, you get unlimited talk, text and data. You also have the option to run any of the other Sprint MVNO’s after your contract is completed. RPM still delivers second to none customer service, so I would still give them the nod as far as my first choice, but the ultimate decision is up to you. The $25 a month savings might be just enough to get you going in that direction.
As far as loss of services – no, RPM now can program your MMS and data settings with this link http://iphone.tweakker.com/redpocket – and iMessage and iCloud work as well. Something that would be lost is the non-native towers. So if your are in an area that roams regularly, it’s not a great deal to give up that Sprint service. If you want, email smartphonedeals (@) gmail (dot) com for more information on the RPM-Sprint Plans.
i have an iphone, will this work using red pocket sim card? is there a need for me to have my device jailbroken before i could use my rpm sim?
No, for the most part a jailbreak is no longer required for RPM service. Just make sure that the device is unlocked or is from the same native network. You can visit this page: http://iphone.tweakker.com/redpocket for getting things all set up for your iPhone. Remember, you can get a free SIM for RPM from our online partner http://www.4gfastdata.com if you decide you want to try it out.
What´s the average speed you can get with REdpocket 3g? I am intrested in the 3GB plan for 60 bucks, I know they don´t offer 4g LTE in these sort of plans but what speed can I expect at 3G?
Thinking about Miami beach….
It really depends on your handset. We have seen HSPA+42 speeds that are between 10-12Mbps at the top of the range and HSPA+7.2 speeds in the 3-4Mbps range with older handsets.
im very angry at red pocket right now the phone that came with service was total crap I cant dial land line
We can certainly help to get things rolling, but the chat service at http://www.goredpocket.com would probably be a much better place to start.
What phone do you have and did you actually start service with them?
Did you SIM card come pre-installed or did you put it in?
Was the phone programmed ahead of time and did you check the APN’s?
PS – We don’t recommend buying devices from the MVNO’s as they contract with 3rd party vendors to set them up ahead of time. We use unlocked or AT&T compatible devices from http://www.4gfastdata.com and their web store that is powered by Amazon. Just click the device tab to see compatible handsets with RPM.