Last night, my Frugal Fab 5 Ladies and I hosted our first Twitter Chat! It was great. I will give a recap a little later. But for today, Victoria, one-half of My Fab Fico and one-fifth of the Frugal Fab 5 is here talking about how a new cell phone service. With this review, I am considering switching over. -k

by Victoria Williams

I know many of you are waiting anxiously for my review to finally know if Lycamobile is too good to be true. Can high quality cell phone service really be as affordable as $1 a day with a $30 dollar Lycamobile plan? I decided to test out Lycamobile for one month and I’m happy to share my results with you; the good, the bad and the ugly.

Great Phone Service- Lycamobile is an international cellular phone company. Not only are their towers all over the world, but they have done a good job of making sure they are all over my neighborhood. I have perfect service in my apartment. I am told the reception is much clearer than with my previous provider and I have service in what used to be dead zones (kitchen, bathroom).

International Plans– My previous provider took advantage of me in Dominican Republic. Despite calling in advance and adding the necessary international packages, my bill was still absurd when I got home. Anyone who travels a lot or has friends or loved ones over seas will appreciate that Lycamobile’s most expensive international plan is only $60, and international calls are often at a rate of 1 cent per minute.

No More Visual Voicemail- When I missed my first call I went over to my voicemail and saw… nothing. After 45 seconds of panic I received a text message from a 1111 number telling me who I missed a call from and that I had a new message. This was helpful and to be fair, is pretty close to visual voicemail. I am able to set my own personalized greeting and voicemail is straightforward and easy to navigate.

To the left is my visual voicemail screen, to the right, text messages from Lycamobile detailing my missed calls and voicemails.

Works for me.

Here’s the ugly part. I have green bubbles.

To send a text to someone and have it appear green is one of the most unfathomable offenses to an Iphone user. Having your text appear green instead of blue means that you are not on the exclusive Imessage network. Its like a back stage pass to communication that all Iphone users revel in. As you can tell, this is a major issue for me. Not having Imessage means I have been exiled from critical group chats. It also means I wouldn’t be able to send and receive media (photos, videos, audio) at lighting speed. I was bummed. The good thing about Imessage is that it also works via email address and not just phone number. Once I am on wifi I do have the ability to join Imessage. I did this for the first week, but it created major issues for those contacting me. They didnt know whether to reach me at my phone number, or my Imessage email. At this point I have turned Imessage off completely to limit the confusion, and I receive all my messages via text. It’s not easy being green but at least all my emoticons still work.  I don’t think I could handle a life with out them.

Unlimited Internet- One of the worse things about AT&T, oops, I mean my previous provider, was the over ridge charges. They wouldn’t let me be great. It seemed no matter how I changed my plan I had to pay extra for going over my allotted internet usage. Who puts a limit on the internet!? They would offer me everything to fix it, except a plan with unlimited data. I am very pleased with Lycamobile’s internet plan, the first 50MB are at a 4G speed and the rest remains at 3G. With no contract there is no such thing as over ridge. My internet, Icloud, Maps, Apps, Facetime, Photostream, Itunes, and email  all have been working flawlessly. I am having an issue with photo messages, but until I figure that out I can always send pics via email or photo share on Icloud.  I have also made sure that when I am at home or work I am on wifi, this means that I might be able to only pay $16 a month for my cell phone service!!!

 Keep Your Number- Part of the solace of switching companies was getting a new phone number. In this trial time, only a few necessary people have my Lycamobile number. This made my life peaceful, but I have to deal with the anxiety that I may be missing something important. The great thing is that if I decide to end my contract I can port my old number and bring it to Lycamobile with me.

Imessage Update- My obsession with Imessage has pushed me to do further research. I may be able to have Imessage on my phone if its jailbroken. I will think this through, I am already becoming content with green bubbles, but I just might try it.

There’s no need to host a press conference, I’ve made my decision.

….I’m taking my talents to Lycamobile.

The $205 fee I will pay for a broken contract turns out to be a small price to pay, if my bill can be reduced by over 80% per month. I will definitely pay my contract termination fee up front so I don’t negatively affect my credit.

Want to reduce your phone bill but still not sure if Lycamobile is for you? I suggest you do a trial like I did.

Remember there is also Metro PCS, H20, Simple Mobile and many other providers.

<3 V

Tiffany “Victoria” Williams is a co-founder and a blogger at MyFabFico.com She is committed to financial, educational and community reform.