what cell phone provider do you use/recommend?

[clean]

My Bride's cell phone died.  She has remained on her dad's phone plan because her phone was an 'office phone' and she was responsible for taking calls at all hours.  Well, he has retired now.  My Bride was looking to upgrade her phone and was sure that ATT was just going to give her another at 0% and he or she would make the added payments. 
ATT, of course, had other ideas.  They WILL give her a 'free phone' IF all of the phones on the account upgrade to 'the newest' plan, which he is unwilling to do. (I dont blame him!)

I find myself in the same situation.  I have Verizon, and if I try to do as she asks, I will have to upgrade all of my phones to some unlimited- unlimited plan.  Worse, I can not even add her to my existing account. I am on an old plan that barely meets my needs. IF I add her to my account, her data use would blow way past my limits. 

I suggested that we buy the phone and then simply substitute that phone for the phone that died and keep her on her family's plan since she still has some (unpaid) work that she does for them.  However, I think that there is an other issue where she doesnt want to deal with her father about the account. He likes to be in control of things. 

I suggested that she go to a Consumer Cellular office and ask what it would cost if she brings her own phone.  The kicker to that plan is that her current phone is dead, and if she brings a new phone, then they would need to transfer her old number from a dead phone, revive her data from ATT and then get a new line installed while retaining her old number.  It can probably be done, but I am NOT going to do it!  She has to do it!! She has an MBA and can manage her own phone... I can not fix the phone or the phone problem! And that seems to be the problem, as she keeps asking me all sorts of questions that indicate that she isnt listening/understanding what needs to be done!... OR it is that 'pretend to be helpless and someone will rescue you' plan .... I know as I play that game myself sometimes!!

Anyway, we face many options.  I am seeking information from this fine group about their experiences with whatever service you are using as a phone provider and asking what recommendations/advice you have to offer about it.

[AvidReader]

I am an utter Luddite, and my spouse is an adopter of all things new and fancy, but we both agree that the pay-as-you-go plans are far superior to the contract plans.
 
We used to use StraightTalk and TracFone. Those were fine: $7/month when I had a flip phone; $20 or $30 when I upgraded to a "smart" phone at last (2020).

Spouse upgraded to a fancy new phone (but same number) with GoogleFi last year because GF promised they would work overseas (they did not, at least for us). Spouse has to pay something like $10 per GB of data (plus the monthly fee), and GF only works on certain phones, so spouse had to buy a new and expensive phone from an approved list. We would not recommend.

I just upgraded to a new phone (but same number) and Mint Mobile this summer, because I needed something with a reliable hotspot for teaching online during a move. Spouse is just dazzled by my Mint plan and wants to upgrade again. Mine is close to $30 month, and comes with unlimited data and 10 GB of hotspot (gets me through a guaranteed 12 hours of Zoom calls).

Having paid $7/mo for over half my life, I'm a little snippy about $30/mo, but it is clearly better value than my old StraightTalk, and having the hotspot for teaching has been a miracle. I don't know what your bride's budget is, but there are a lot of viable prepaid options in the same price bracket, depending on what she actually needs.

AR.

[memyself]

Agreed. I currently pay $13/month with Tello, a virtual operator that uses the T-Mobile network. You can customize your pay-as-you-go plan to suit your calls or data needs. I need the usual unlimited calls/texts and little data (I signed up for 2GB and rarely use even half of that) but I make much use of their free international calling feature, which is not exactly unlimited but very roomy. In addition, you can buy "recharges" to top up one or more features of your account, and which last a few months.
I was previously with H20 (ATT network), with a similar deal for about $30/month. There are many such virtual operators out there, if you need to stick with a specific network, for local coverage or other reason.
I will hold on to a phone until it is technically unusable, such as when carriers did away with 3G about a year ago, making my older phone obsolete, and forcing me to buy a new model. I picked a not-too-recent, refurbished, unlocked phone for about $250 and plan to keep it for several years.

[Puget]

I've been quite happy with T-mobile. The network is good, customer service is pretty good, and the cost at least used to be somewhat lower than the other major carriers (haven't compared lately). If you travel internationally, a big plus is you get unlimited data and texting anywhere in the world.

Also, for the seniors in your life, they give about half off to seniors-- my parents switched from Verizon for this reason.

[Harlow2]

I've been quite happy with T-mobile. The network is good, customer service is pretty good, and the cost at least used to be somewhat lower than the other major carriers (haven't compared lately). If you travel internationally, a big plus is you get unlimited data and texting anywhere in the world.

Also, for the seniors in your life, they give about half off to seniors-- my parents switched from Verizon for this reason.

Same here; BUT I did not know about senior pricing!  Thanks, Puget!

[Anselm]

I pay $10 per month for my Tracfone.  The only downside for me is that it does not work outside of the USA.

[spork]

You should check out the MVNOs. I've been using Ting for ~ 10 years and currently pay $18/month for unlimited voice calls and text messaging. Ting's downside: no cellular connection, even by roaming, outside of North America. On a recent international trip I bought my first e-SIM (through Airalo) to deal with this and it worked fine, though it was a data-only package, so no calls or texts.

Physical SIM cards are going the way of floppy disks, so if buying a new smartphone, get one that is e-SIM compatible.

[ohnoes]

You should check out the MVNOs. I've been using Ting for ~ 10 years and currently pay $18/month for unlimited voice calls and text messaging. Ting's downside: no cellular connection, even by roaming, outside of North America. On a recent international trip I bought my first e-SIM (through Airalo) to deal with this and it worked fine, though it was a data-only package, so no calls or texts.

Physical SIM cards are going the way of floppy disks, so if buying a new smartphone, get one that is e-SIM compatible.

I used Mint at $15/month for years and was perfectly happy with their GSM network until I got a new phone that was incompatible.  I'm using US Mobile now for $15/month.

[clean]

For the moment, the problem has been postponed. 
We bought My Bride a new phone. It arrived today.  She took it to ATT today and they got it on her 'family plan'.  Her dad wont object because the bill and plan are unchanged as we purchased the phone and ATT wont finance anything.  As far as anyone is concerned we have substituted her new phone for the dead phone.

However, should there be any problems we will get her her own account and perhaps migrate one of my devices to go with her. (I may have mentioned that I am still trapped on Verizon for a while for my primary phone and an Ipad mini). 
After that, Im going to revisit this thread and my/our options!