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Published: Tuesday, 10 May 2022 20:26
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VCLP:

VC is Verification compiler platform from Synopsys. It is a platform that has a suite of verification tools that can interoperate with each other. VCLP is a tool from VC that verifies designs that use voltage control based techniques for pwr mgmt. It's a multi-voltage, static low power rule checker. IT verifies the power intent of design captured in IEEE 1801 UPF, and later verifies the implemented power intent in netlist.

These are the checks done by VCLP:

  • Power Intent Consistency Checks =>Performs syntax and semantic checks on the UPF that help validate the consistency of the UPF before starting with the implementation. It's done at RTL level.
  • Signal Corruption Checks => Detects the violating power architecture at the gate-level netlist.
  • Structural Checks => Validates insertion and connection of special cells used in low power design such as isolation cells, power switches, level shifters, retention registers, and always-on cells through out the
    implementation flow.
  • Power and Ground (PG) Checks => Check the PG consistency against the UPF specification for power network routing on physical netlists.
  • Functional Checks => Validates the correct functionality of isolation cells and power switches.

 

VCLP flow:

Bringing up VC Static Shell (vcst in short):

Add path to vc_static_shell installation area to your $PATH var (or provide the full path). Path is usually something like /tools/synopsys/vcst/bin/vc_static_shell
% /tools/synopsys/vcst/bin/vc_static_shell => This brings up vc_static_shell (or just type vc_static_shell if path is already added to your env var $PATH)

vc_static_shell -help => shows all options available with vc_static_shell

vc_static_shell -gui -output_log_file vclp.log -no_color -full64 => -gui brings up the gui instead of cmd line. console output is captured in given log file by using option -output_log_file (or in short, use -o). -no_color starts tool in non-color mode. -full64 or -mode64 starts tool in 64 bit mode (-mode32 starts tool in 32bit mode)

2 ways to run vc_static_shell:

  • batch mode: Here, we specify the script to run, and vc_static_shell runs the tcl script and quits the shell on completion. cmd: vc_static_shell -f my_vcst.tcl -batch
  • Interactive mode: Here, we run in interactive mode, so the shell is brought up, where we can run any cmds we like. cmd: vc_static_shell -f my_vcst.tcl 

vc_static_shell -session my_path/my_session <other_cmds> => Once vclp is run, it creates a default session named "vcst" in dir called "vcst_rtdb" (vcst_rtdb/vcst). To change this default, we provide option "-session". Here, in current dir/my_path, a dir named "my_session_rtdb" is created instead of vcst_rtdb", but session name is still vcst (my_path/my_session_rtdb/vcst). To change session name, we have to fork the existing session and save the forked session with a new name by using cmd "save_session my_saved_session" from within vcst cmd shell, before exiting. Then next time, we can use that saved session to restore.

 Setup file:

Similar to other synopsys tools, we have a setup file called .synopsys_vcst.setup that is used the env for VCLP runs. It may be put in installation dir, home dir or run dir or in all 3 places. Priority is based on this order hwere run dir has highest precedence.

 

3 levels of Low Power checks:

  • RTL level: Here VCLP checks for UPF consistency and signal corruption checks. UPF checks ensure that UPF is clean, and design conforms to all iso/levl shifter rules for all power modes.
    • Here we use VCLP cmd: check_lp -stage upf
  • Netlist level (synthesized design): Here VCLP checks for signal corruption, as well as structural and functional checks. Design instances need to be consistent with UPF, as well as the design is both structurally and functionally correct.
    • Here we use VCLP cmd: check_lp -stage design
  • Power ground connected netlist: Here VCLP checks for power ground pin connectivity in post layout design to be consistent with UPF.
    • Here we use VCLP cmd: check_lp -stage pg

Checks to enable/disable and their severity:

VC LP provides a large number of low power checks. All these checks have a message tags and a predefined reporting format. Based on collective user feedback, by default, VC LP has certain checks enabled and
certain checks disabled. Also, the severity is predefined for each tag of a violation.
VC LP provides the flexibility for you to pick and choose which checks are relevant for your design. You can change the default enable/disable status of check and also change the severity of a check using the configure_lp_tag cmd.

ex: configure_lp_tag -tag ISO_INST_MISSING -severity warning
ex: configure_lp_tag -disable -tag RET_INST_MISSING -disable -goal g1

signoff check:

configure_lp_electrical => This cmd is used to check a limited number of checks during final signoff. We are not looking for UPF correctness at signoff (since that should be checked much earlier in deesign process and already fixed by now), but rather at electrical correctness.  We run this cmd, then run check_lp with any option above, and then run report_lp. There are 40-50 signoff_tags (like ISO_INST_MISSING, LS_INST_INCORRECT, PG_PIN_UNCONN etc) included in configure_lp_electrical.

Inputs to VCLP:

  • RTL(verilog, VHDL, SV), netlist or post layout netlist
  • Liberty files (.lib or .db) for resolving, elaborating the design, recognizing special cells and annotating power connections. Liberty files needed for RTL designs only if RTL has pre-instantiated LP cells as ISO, LS, macro, pads, etc. For netlists, liberty files are necessary. Liberty files need to be low pwr ready, that is, they have pg pins defined and have all low power specific attributes as relevant.
  • power intent specified in UPF file

Output from VCLP:

  • Log file: Log of what ran
  • Report file: error and warnings report for all violations related to low power static rule checks

cmds:

1. read design

read_file => Read in design source files, and link design in memory.

2. read pwr intent:

read_upf =>

 

Details
Published: Sunday, 08 May 2022 19:07
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Phone Service:

This article deals with "phone services", i.e getting phone service with phone carriers. If you are looking for "phones", look under "electronics" section.

The link below shows some stats for US cell phone usage: https://www.zippia.com/advice/us-smartphone-industry-statistics/

97% of people is USA own a cell phone, with 85% owning a smartphone. There are 295M smartphone users in USA as of 2021. Apple phones are used by > 50% of smartphone users, with Samsung at number 2 with 25% of users. These 2 companies have 80% of US cell phone market. Lenovo and LG come in next.

Below link shows total wireless subscribers in USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_wireless_communications_service_providers

Regarding more stats on Phone carriers and revenue, also look in the "Telecommunication Companies" section in Finance/Stocks.

Phone carriers:

These are 3 big Cell Phone service providers in USA as of end of 2021. They are:

  1. Verizon: It has 140M subscribers. It uses CDMA tech. It's the most expensive service provider, but it has the largest coverage in USA.
  2. T-mobile: T-mobile used to be number 3, and Sprint used to be number 4. But with Tmobile acquiring Sprint in 2021, it has moved to No. 2 with 110M subscribers.
  3. AT&T: AT&T has 100M subscribers.
  4. Boost Mobile: Used to be 4th largest independent Carrier with 7M subscribers , but got bought by Sprint in 2005. Still operates as a standalone subsidiary with it's own network.
  5. US Cellular: Used to be 5th largest independent Carrier with 5M subscribers , but got bought by Tmobile in 2024. Still operates as a standalone subsidiary with it's own network.

FUN FACT: The total number of subscribers in USA is more than the population (350M subscribers for top 3 carriers vs 330M population). Go figure !!

MVNO:

Apart from these top 3 carriers having their own cell phone equipment, network and towers, there are many other smaller carriers known as MVNO (mobile virtual  network operator), which use these top 3 network provider's network to provide services. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with one of the top 3 above to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently. An MVNO may use its own customer service, billing, etc. MVNOs have around 23M subscribers in USA. Some of the more popular ones are Mint Mobile, US Cellular, Ting, etc. Some large MVNOs are fully owned by Top 3, as they keep on buying MVNO regularly. Top ones owned by Big 3 are as shown below:

  • Visible Wireless: owned by Verizon
  • Metro by T-mobile: owned by T-mobile
  • Cricket Wireless: owned by AT&T

MVNOs usually provide cheaper rates than big 3 Phone carriers. However, they have a lower priority than big 3 phone carriers, so in times of high bandwidth demand, or congestion in highly populated areas, your calls or data may have difficulty going thru. In spite of that, they are worth considering as their rates are less than half of what big carriers charge, and the congestion rarely happens (that too only with some MVNO, not all)

Best Wireless Service providers:

Of the top 3, Verizon is the most expensive. It's coverage is good, but I tend to see someone with Verizon service as a person with too much money to burn. You can get services with T-mobile (and sometimes AT&T) for half their price. Verizon has had some good offers lately.

International Calling/Data: 

Talk/Text: Calling from USA to international mobile phones is included for free with many carriers. Many phone carriers say "North America" instead of USA. That means Mexico, Canada and USA are all considered one region for purpose of phone calls. That implies that you can roam in any of these 3 countries, and they will incur charges just like you would incur in USA. For calling from US to cell phones in India, Europe, etc, the call may be entirely free. However, if you are outside US (or North America), then calling to US or any other country incurs a charge. Texting is usually free too. Ofcourse you can always use Whatsapp and other apps for making free calls, when you have internet connection.

However, all carriers have different policies, so check with your carrier, before you go all in.

  • Tello, Hello mobile, Red pocket, US mobile all include international calling from US to select other countries for free. USmobile is the best of the lot, as everything is free for Intl Call/Data with their expensive plan.
  • Spectrum charges for calling from US to other countries. They also charge you while you are in Canada/Mexico and make any calls to anywhere. So, their region is USA and NOT North America. This is different than many other carriers, so be extra careful while you are in Mexico/Canada and need to make calls.
  • Tmobile also has free calling to many other countries. Their domestic region is North America, so Canada/Mexico are considered part of USA for calling purposes. No roaming charges in Canada/Mexcio.

Data: Data plans are included for free with most low cost carriers too, though with very small data limit (1GB or so per month). Again, USmobile is the best option here, as they have 20GB free Data for Intl Call/Data with their expensive plan. Besides the carrier themselves, you also have many online websites offering free International (roaming) data by installing their app. The only requirement is to have esim capability.

Kolet: This app offers 1GB data for free with 2 day validity from time to time. You install the app, then in settings add the "Kolet" esim. Enable "Roaming" for Kolet esim and you are good. You can be in your destination country, and still activate it. They do ask you to enter your phone number for verification, but I never received any verification code (implying you can activate it in your destination country even if your talk/text isn't working). I tried the service in India for free, and it worked great.

 

 

T-mobile Plans:

Tmobile is hands down the cheapest wireless service provider with the best customer service and the best 5G coverage among the BIG 3 providers. Their 4G coverage is inferior to both AT&T and Verizon, but only if you are in rural areas. Personally, I've never encountered any coverage issue anywhere in USA with T-mobile. I've been with them for 20+ years, never had a single issue. There are very foregiving about charges, and will reverse a lot of one time charges, if you request them. They also give free phones + free phone lines from time to time. Best part is they offer free lines from time to time, so get those free lines whenever those sales come, as they will be free for life.

UPDATE 2023: Tmobile Customer Service has gone downhill pretty fast. Now even a $10 refund for unauthorized charges takes hours on the phone with customer service reps in Phillipines. And you would be lucky to get that $10 back. During a free phone promotion, I sent my old phone, got a new phone as replacement, and 6 months later, I saw a charge on my account for the full phone price. I called them and they said that they never received the old phone, so I've to pay the full price (even though I had the email proof of phone being sent, and 6 months of credit received). Had I not checked my statement, I would have never known. Recently in 2024, I cancelled a service and had phone recording of that. They said I called in but never cancelled the service, so they kept charging me for the service. No refunds of any kind. Tmobile of 2023 is no more the Tmobile of 2000's. So, I switched to MVNO for half the price of Tmobile (This is when I was on grandfathered plan, which cost me $25/month for lifelong with 10 lines on the family plan, and I had been with them for 20 yrs !! )

Tmobile has both prepaid and postpaid plans. Post paid plans are the ones that you pay after the month ends, and the bill comes in mail, while prepaid plans are the ones where you pay beforehand. Prepaid plans are lot cheaper than post paid plans. We'll discuss prepaid plans later.

Post Paid plans: These are the T-mobile post paid plans being offered (as of 2022). As of 2024, these plans have been replaced by Go5G plans.

  • Go5G plans (introduced in 2024): This is an expensive version of Magenta plan (which was discontinued in 2024). Netflix is included. Tmobile is offering "Buy 2 lines, get 1 line free" with this plan, so prices below are with the promo (as of 2024, promo is ongoing). I would say go with the basic  Go5G plan, as it's the cheapest amongst the Big 3 providers.
    • Go5G: 3 lines for $130/month with all taxes included.
    • Go5G Plus: 3 lines for $150/month with all taxes included. No reason at all to get this.
    • Go5G Next: 3 lines for $180/month with all taxes included. No reason at all to get this.
  • Magenta plan (Discontinued as of 2024): It has 2 variants: "Magenta Max" and "Magenta". Netflix is included. Tmobile is offering "Buy 2 lines, get 1 line free" with this plan, so prices below are with the promo (as of 2022, promo is ongoing). I would say go with either of the 2 Magenta plans, as they are the cheapest amongst the Big 3 providers.
    • Magenta: 3 lines for $120/month with all taxes included. Essentially $40/month per line. 100GB permium data + 1 SD netflix on us included.
    • Magenta Max: 3 lines for $140/month with all taxes included. Essentially $47/month per line. Unlimited permium data + 2 HD netflix on us included.
  • Essentials plan (Still offered as of 2024): This is a cheaper version of Magenta plan. There's no netflix included, and there's lower limit for premium data. There's no reason to get Essentials plan, as they cost same as Magenta, but have much inferior perks. With Magenta plan gone as of 2024, Essentials is the cheapest plan from Tmobile. It has 2 variants: Essentials and "Base Essentials".
    • Essentials (Still offered as of 2024): It offers 3 lines for $90. Essentially $30/month per line, but taxes are excluded. With taxes (20% or so) + fees (about $4/line), it's cost will most likely come close to "Magenta" plan above. There's no reason to get Essentials at all as you lose all the benefits of Magenta plan, and still pay the same price. With Magenta gone as of 2024, you have no choice but to get this.
    • Base essentials (Discontinued as of 2024): It offers 1 line for $45/month with taxes not included. It's most expensive of all, but suited for people who just need 1 line. 4 lines go for $120/month, but after taxes+fees, it will still be more expensive than Magenta plans.
  • Simple Choice plan (Discontinued in 2010's): This is no longer offered. This was the only plan that was offered for a long time. It was the best plan with Family plans for 10 lines costing $22/month per line with all taxes+ fees included. It also included "stateside international talk" for $10/month (see below for details). If you have this plan, don't ever cancel it. It's grandfathered, so prices will never go up, and there's nothing comparable that any other provider in Big 3 can offer for this price. Ofcourse, MVNO plans are still cheaper than this plan.

These are the highlights of all T-mobile plans shown above:

  • UNLIMITED: All T-mobile plans have unlimited talk, text, data when using within USA to call/text a USA phone number. They have no roaming fees anywhere in USA (i.e either you get service which is always free, or you don't get service. You will never pay anything for it). you pay when you make or receive calls outside USA depending on your plan). Their data is unlimited, but they offer lower speeds after you reach a usage threshold for that month (threshold depends on the plan).
  • INTERNATIONAL: International calling/texting has 2 meanings => Making/receiving international calls/texts from within US, or making/receiving domestic/international calls/texts while outside USA. We'll discuss both below.
    • From within USA (incoming + outgoing calls): Texting is always free whether sending SMS domestically or to international numbers. Data is free too.
      • Domestic calls (USA phone number): These are always free on all plans.
      • International calls (Non USA phone number): If you add "stateside international talk" for a price ($15/month per line as of 2022), then the landline calls are free to about 70 countries, while mobile calls are free to about 30 countries (India is included in the list of 30 countries, so free calls Yay). Any countries not included here, incur charges per minute as shown in link below. Until 2018, price for "stateside international talk" was just $10/month for all the lines on the plan, but that option is gone now. People who have that on their plan should never cancel it, as you are never going to get that awesome deal anywhere. Noe, it's $15/month per line, so not worth the price at all, as you can use VoIP apps (as Whatsapp, zoom, etc) to call.
    • From outside USA (incoming + outgoing calls): Texting is always free whether sending SMS domestically or to international numbers, while in other country. Data usage is also free while in other country. 210+ countries are included in this list (https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/international-roaming-services). The only caveat is that you get lower 2G speeds in most other countries. In India, I got 4G speeds in a couple of cities (as of 2022), so it varies depending on the local carrier, and Tmobile's partnership with it. I was able to get decent quality on most of the whatsapp video calls, so free data may be a big lifesaver while travelling internationally. Overall free SMS+Data is an awesome perk while travelling. Don't buy those "international" SIM cards that promise you to give international coverage, cost a arm and a leg, and don't work half the time. Isntead stick with Tmobile.
      • Domestic calls (USA phone number): I'm listing these calls as domestic as your phone service is still with USA carrier and you are calling a USA phone number. These calls are going to cost you $0.25/min.
      • International calls (Non USA phone number): These calls are also going to cost you a flat $0.25/min, no matter which country you call to. This is
  • MEXICO and CANADA included: With all T-mobile plans, Mexcico and Canada are treated as part of USA, i.e when I say USA above, it means "North America" which includes USA, Canada and Mexico. So, when you are calling to Mexico/Canada, or when you are using your phone in Mexico/Canada, it's treated as if you are still in USA, and all calls, etc are treated as domestic. However, Tmobile has terms that state that you are not allowed to use the phone permanently in Canada or Mexico, only on a temporary basis. Reason might be to prevent misuse, since plans in Canada are lot more expensive than in USA. I've never put this specific term to test.
  • PHONES: Any phone that is made for T-mobile (i.e with T-mobile logo on it) will work anywhere in the world. I've gotten many free phones from Tmobile, and all of them work in India and elsewhere with no issues (of course not all international bands are present in all phones, so you may get worse reception in some international destinations)

 Free Phones and/or free Phone lines from Tmobile: Tmobile offers freebies from time to time. I'm listing few below. Even with these freebies, Tmobile is still more expensive than MVNOs. So, make your best judgement.

 

PrePaid plans: These are prepaid plans offered directly by the carrier.

  • Connect by Tmobile: It's called connect prepaid plan. There are other prepaid plans (besides connect) on tmobile website, which are lot more expensive. "Connect" prepaid plans start with $10/month + taxes/fees. You can avoid taxes by buying "Tmobile prepaid" card from Target or somewhere for usual 10% discount. Tmobile prepaid plan costs same as Kroger wireless (as they are the same plan), so you can go with either of them. See details of "Kroger wireless" under MVNO section below. People prefer "Tmobile prepaid" over "Kroger wireless" as Tmobile will give priority to it's own customers than 3rd party MVNO. This is a plan that was launched just recently (since March, 2022), so it may increase in price anytime.

 

 

 

Verizon Plans:

Verizon has best coverage in USA. I had places at my home where Tmobile coverage was basically dead, but Verizon worked like a charm. If you shop around, you can find good plans at Verizon via MVNOs below (the ones who use Verizon for their towers). Don't buy plans from Verizon directly, as it's 2X the price of MVNO. Verizon MVNO as Spectrum, Tracfone, etc are lot cheaper option for same coverage.

Post Paid plans:

No decent post paid plans directly from Verizon, but "visible" offers very competitive Post paid plans. Verizon is operated directly by Verizon (as it says "Visible by Verizon" in it's name). Visible has very good customer service, and people on slickdeals generally seem to like it.

PrePaid plans:

Apart from their postpaid plan, they offer their prepaid plans starting at $35/month (as of 2024).

 

 

AT&T Plans:

AT&T also has decent coverage in USA. However, it's worse in coverage than Verizon, and worse in price than T-mobile. So, there's no reason to switch to AT&T. They do have some promotions from time to time, where they will literally pay you to switch from other provider. Talk to the AT&T rep at Target, Walmart, Costco, etc and see if they have any such offer. They will give you free phones, plus get tons of discounts to match or lower your existing bill. This is the only time when it's worth it to switch to AT&T.

Post Paid plans:

No decent post paid plans at all.

PrePaid plans:

Apart from their postpaid plan, ATT also has a prepaid plan (ATT PrePaid plan with no particular name) which is $300 for a whole year, implying $25/month + taxes/fees ($20-$30 in taxes in some states). There is a way to avoid taxes/fees by using "ATT prepaid card" to pay for it. Look in comments section of slickdeals link  below. This is lot more expensive than other prepaid plans, but offers a much higher data cap (16GB) + provides hotspots and bunch of other perks.

 

 

MVNO, prepaid and misc plans (and Deals):

A lot of MVNO are able to offer you plans from $10/month per line for a single line. Also, almost all of prepaid plans are cheaper than post plans offered by big 3 carriers. If you don't have multiple people who can take advantage of family plans from big carriers, than these plans are the most economical ones for you. They do offer hard cap on data usage for cheaper plans, so you have to be sure that data limit is sufficient for you. Most of these plans can be had for < $15/month with 5GB data cap, including all taxes + fees. There are also promotional offers from time to time, where you can get these plans even cheaper, with unlimited data (< $10/month). I'll list those offers in "deals" section below. One of the places where MVNOs hurt is that they limit hotspot usage or don't allow it at all (unless you pay extra). Reason might be that people may start using hotspot for their home computer, and bypass getting internet service (especially with unlimited data plans). However there are lots of apps which will allow you to use hotspot. They act as proxy server and hide your details, so the MVNO provider sees the traffic as regular traffic coming from the app. So, be sure to check out these if you need hotspot, and your MVNO is restricting it.

Comparison of Plans: This link compares all prepaid plans offered by MVNOs => https://prepaidcompare.net/

Prices: As of 2024, you can find best plans for < $10/month.

I've listed the best MVNOs below starting from the best value (does NOT necessarily mean the cheapest one) at the very top !!

  1. US Mobile (Verizon+T-mobile+AT&T): They are one of the best of the lot of MVNOs. As of July 2024, they support all 3 carriers, and you can choose the sim from any of the big 3 carriers, and even switch b/w them for a small price. Lots of comments on slickdeals  are very positive about US Mobile, especially their Customer service (available only via chat). They also have bunch of promotions which can bring your price even lower than $15/month. They have unlimited talk, text and 5-10GB data per month. They use all 3 n/w => Verizon,AT&T and Tmobile network (They added AT&T in July 2024). They cal themselves super carrier with 3 networks => Warp (Verizon), Dark Star (AT&T) and Light speed (T-mobile). They allow you to choose which one you want (esim is easy to switch. However for physical sim, they probably send you all 3 sims: warp, dark star and light speed, not sure. I received 2 sims when they had only 2 networks). Choose "Dark Star" as it's their latest n/w and their promo prices only apply to "Dark Star". They stop the data after you have used it up (instead of throttling it to a lower speed). However, the hotspot usage is free (for all the plans) which is rare among these lowest priced MVNO. One other big positive for them is that they renew your plans at the same rate as what you are on currently, so no more switching around carriers, as other carriers will jack up your price after the promotional period. They have grow from 20K customers in 2016 to 1M+ customers in 2024, which is insane growth!! Highly recommended.
    1. REFERRAL: If you use my referral, we'll both get free $25 as of 2025 (Used to be $50 in 2024. I might get much more if I refer more people in a year). You still get all the promotions including free 30 day trial (get this trial offer as it's free 1 month service), so extra $25 is free money. Use referral code "C8EBA20B" or use my link => https://www.usmobile.com/referrals?referrer=C8EBA20B&name=kailash&utm_campaign=monster_referral
      1. If you are curious, the reason for initiating their huge Reward Program is here => https://www.androidauthority.com/us-mobile-ad-program-3496959/
      2. UPDATE 06/24/2025 => They have upped their referral reward to $100 for person referring and $50 to person being referred.
    2. L01/04/2025 => Their newest unlimited plan "Unlimited Starter" is now $228/yr (includes 20GB hotspot). The most expensive plan "Unlimited Premium" is $348/yr (includes lot more, along with the ability to switch carriers anytime amongst the 3 w/o paying any extra money). Expires Apr 30, 2025, May 7, 2025 June 7, 2025 June 30, 2025. Prices are going up, though they add extra features too. Now, International Calling/Texting/Data while in other countries is also free while traveling (only with unlimited plan, still a huge saving). Go with "Unlimited Starter" Plan. It has almost all the features of more expensive plan, and still costs only $228/yr. After taking out the $25 reward card that you get with being referred, and 1 free month of trial, you end up with $15/month price with everything included (20Gb hotspot, free international from both within US as well as outside US, etc). Can't beat that. Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/18222532-us-mobile-unlimited-talk-text-data-premium-plan-on-dark-star-at-t-network-29-month-valid-thru-4-30
    3. 07/04/2024 => Their plans have changed now. Unlimited talk, text and data plans now start at $210/yr (instead of $180/yr). Hotspot is included. Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/17601666-us-mobile-unlimited-plan-17-50-mo
    4. Their cheapest plan is $72/yr (regular price is $96/yr) with unlimited talk/text and 1GB 2GB data (hard cap) per month. This is the cheapest plan that you can get with any reliable MVNOs out there: They also have shared plan for this price which is slightly cheaper if you add more lines (not recommended though for family plan)
    5.  Free International data only plan: Their premium plans ( "Unlimited Starter" and "Unlimited Premium") allow you free 30 day international "data only plan" via eSim to use in any country with 10GB data limit anytime you ask them. This is great for international travel. You just add it online, and it should show free (No need to chat with anyone). Follow the instructions to add this new esim to your phone (your phone will have 2 sims - one regular and other one is this esim). I used it while in UK, and it worked with no issues. You can get this international plan for any country every 30 days. So, max 12 countries in 1 year.
    6.  Deals:
      1. 06/25/2025 => Pixel 9 128GB for $250 now for existing and new customers. Limit 5 per account.
        1. Details here: https://slickdeals.net/f/18401251-us-mobile-128gb-google-pixel-9-smartphone-3-months-unlimited-starter-plan-324-free-shipping
      2. 06/01/2025 (expires 06/07/2025 06/30/2025): xfer one line from another carrier, get one line free (the next cheaper plan is free, not the same plan). Basically $100/yr for each line with unlimited everything. Nothing better than this as of this writing.
        1. Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/18355225-us-mobile-two-annual-lines-for-price-of-one-unlimited-premium-or-starter-plan-b1g1-free-lines-must-port-ins-on-dark-star-network
      3. 02/15/2024: Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17253652-1-year-us-mobile-unlimited-talk-text-10gb-data-w-int-l-hotspot-service-plan-180 => Still ongoing. Spectrum is the only one that's better than this, with unlimited data.
      4. 01/25/2024: Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17253652-us-mobile-10gb-prioritized-5g-data-unlimited-talk-text-international-talk-text-to-200-countries-hotspot-for-180-a-year-180 => $15/month for a year with 10GB data/month
      5. 05/16/2022: Link to deal: https://slickdeals.net/f/15764830-us-mobile-3-months-5gb-lte-5g-data-unlimited-talk-text-w-sim-kit-30-free-shipping => For 1st 3 months, it's $10/month (you save $15), then it's $15/month.
  2. Spectrum Wireless (Verizon): You can get spectrum wireless if you have spectrum internet. If you cancel internet service, your prices for mobile plans go up by $20/month. They run on Verizon towers, so speed and service are great. They have multiple promotions thru out the year where you can get buy 1, get 1 free, free phones, etc. All their plans have unlimited free talk, text and data while in USA. Text is always free to any other country or from any other country. Calls to other countries while in USA cost money. Here's their link for international rates: https://www.spectrum.com/mobile/plans/international. For ex, caling to India from USA costs 4 cents/min, while calling from India to USA / other countries costs 16 cents/min. Taxes, fees, etc are all included. They have 2 plans:
    1. Cheaper plan: They provide $30/month plan with 2 lines. It includes unlimited talk, text and data with High speed data upto 30GB per line. Mobile hotspot is high speed upto 5GB. Calls to Mexico and Canada from USA are free upto 2000 mins, but cost money while in Canada and Mexico. So, be careful while using your phone abroad.
    2. Expensive Plan: Their other more expensive plan is $50/month plan with 2 lines. The only extra you get here compared to above plan is as below (not worth it):
      1. You get 50GB high speed data compared to 30GB in above plan.
      2. Free roaming in Canada and Mexico.
      3. Higher limit with Mobile hotspot. You get High speed upto 10GB of hotspot compared to 5GB of hotspot in cheaper plan.
    3.  UPDATES:
      1. UPDATE Sept, 2024: They have a promotion going on for 1 free mobile line for all their customers for 1 year. After 1 year at time of renewal, you can ask them for extension, and they will extend the free promo for one more year (UPDATE 2025: They don't extend the free promo for phone, so you will need to port out the line, else you get billed $30/month for every phone line). So, make sure you take advantage of this, if you are a Spectrum internet customer. Also, no activation fee with this promo. Just call them and add the free mobile line.
        1. Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/17777691-spectrum-mobile-1-free-year-of-unlimited-mobile-for-1-line-spectrum-internet-customers-only?src=frontpage
      2. UPDATE Jan 2024: They have promotion going on where they are providing 1 line free with other paid line. Their regular mobile plan price is $30/month and $50/month, but with BOGO offer, you are effectively getting the plan for half the price. Those are the plans mentioned above. This offer has been active for a couple of months now, and only applies to the first 2 lines. They are also offering "spectrum One internet plan" + 1 mobile line for $50/month. This is better option, if you want to add only 1 phone line. This Promotion of free phone lines is only valid for 1st year, after which you may need to port out to other provider. Also, they charge $30 activation fee for any phone line that you bring to Spectrum. So, consider that too. Comparison between the 2 plans is her: https://www.spectrum.com/mobile/plans/unlimited-data
  3. Infimobile (Verizon): This is another cheap plan. They use Verizon network. Their plans go for $10/month with 10GB data, which is the best of all the deals so far. You can go for 2 years, though the risk is they might go under. There's no reviews, etc for this company, so better to go for 6 months and check it out (They are reliable so far. As of June 2024, slickdeals has lots of comments, and the service seems to be working well for most of the folks). Once the data is used up, they throttle you to a lower speed. I've bought plans from them, and had no issues at all. But I never had to deal with customer service, as the service worked perfectly fine. They do charge extra ($5/month) for using hotspot and $5/month for international calling. There's also some tax+fees that they charge that varies a lot based on your addr. For Texas, they charged ~$5 on a $100 annual plan. Few comments on reddit say that they give you a run around when you try to port out your number. Also, other concern is that no one knows how to get their promo prices on renewal. So, if theese don't work on renewal, the only way might be to port the number out. That will make infimobile not worth it at all (will have to wait until mid 2025 to get an answer as my plan renews at that time).
  4. Kroger Wireless (T-mobile): This is a plan offered by "Kroger" grocery store chain, and is on Tmobile network. The plan is for $15/month + taxes/fees. You can bypass taxes/fees, by buying a "prepaid Tmobile card" from Target or somewhere, and using that to pay for your Kroger wireless plan. It has unlimited talk/text + 3GB data cap. SIM card can be bought for $2-$3 from store. Even if you don't have Kroger store, you can still buy and use the plan anywhere in USA. Looks like this is a promotional 3 month plan, but you can prepay for the whole year.
  5. Google Fi Wireless (T-mobile): This is a service directly from Google, so expect top notch service. It started in 2015. Their plans are expensive at $35/month, but they do offer free pixel phones from time to time, which can bring your actual cost of Phone + service for 2 yrs to ~$800 which is not too bad. Get this only if you are getting high end free pixel phone, else it's not competitive in pricing.
    1. Link => https://fi.google.com/about/plans
    2. Deals:
      1. 06/02/2025: Unlimited plan from $17.50/month (50% off) => https://slickdeals.net/f/18347941-google-fi-50-off-plans-for-18-months-w-new-line-byod-unlimited-essentials-17-50-mo-for-1-line-more-new-customers-only
  6. Mint mobile (T-mobile): They have bunch of promotional offers, where they give 3 month plan for $15/month with unlimited talk, text and data. You can also get 1 year plan for $180 or $15/month but those plans have limit on data. They use T-mobile. Few of my friends who used used Mint mobile have said positive things, and are generally happy with the service. However, they are the most expensive of the lot of MVNO, so there's no reason to go with them. According to SD comments, they do charge $20 "RECOVERY FEE" for renewal (Screenshot => https://imgur.com/a/n1VloX4 ). Most others providers don't, so just stay away from Mint Mobile, as you can get cheaper plans elsewhere. They are worth going only when they offer a free phone to go with it (they offered free pixel 7 pro in 2023)
  7. Tracfone (Verizon) USE ASAP: This is another low cost provider. They use Verizon network. Tracfone was bought by Verizon in 2021, so it's officially a Verizon company, though it still operates as an independent brand. If you go directly to tracfone website, their plans are expensive. But if you buy via "QVC or HSN" when they have a sale, then you get a free phone + 1 year service for $50 or less. Basically you get the service for free (if you sell the phone for$50 and recover your investment). They don't allow hotspot though. The phone is locked to the carrier for a year. Their customer service is rated horrible based on slickdeals comments. However, this is THE cheapest you can get. Nothing gets cheaper than free !! One of their phones that I bought via HSN had no trouble getting activated. I was able to get them to activate my phone by talking to a rep. The other phone that I bought from QVC came with no talk/text and data (even though it was sold as unlimited talk, text and 24GB data). Neither QVC nor Tracfone would do anything about it. There's nothing mentioned on email or receipt about what the included plan is, so you have no proof. Their promo for the same device change from day to day, so you have no idea of what you got, until you activate. By the time you find out, you are out of "dispute window" provided by your credit card company. So, be careful, as you might end up paying for a useless phone and NO service :( Buy from HSN/QVC/Tracfone only if you plan on activating within a couple of weeks. Don't wait too long. Chase cards still allows you to dispute beyond 2 month period, but better not to take that risk.
    1. Their phones are usually low end, and people generally don't want to use their phone. However, they want the plan that came with it to be active on their own phone. Steps to do that are detailed here:
      1. Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/17468010-tracfone-6-5-blu-view-5g-smartphone-1-year-unlimited-talk-text-24gb-data-free-shipping-79-99
      2. In short these are the steps:
        1. Purchase a BYOD Tracfone SIM card, available for $1 almost anywhere. One vendor is Best Buy.
        2. Activate the plan on the phone that came with it. The sim is already in the phone. Do NOT change sims.
        3. Now insert BYOD SIM bought in step 1 above into your own phone (i.e Apple phone or whatever). Contact Tracfone to move number and service to new phone. Do this online or via phone call.
        4. The Phone provided with the deal will automatically unlock after 60 days, and can be used as a general purpose phone with most carriers (I received no code, but after 60 days, my phone was unlocked already). OR use it as a trade in when you are getting $50-$100 for buying other smart phones. Link for unlocking policy => https://www.tfwunlockpolicy.com/wps/portal/home
    2. Tracfone has few nuances to be aware of:
      1. Their website may not work on firefox browser. It keeps on redirecting back to login screen, or never logs you in. It works fine on Chrome Browser.
      2. To activate on website, just goto tracfon website, click on activate, put your IMEI number. It will get activated, and also show more instructions. Turn your phone off and then back on, and make a test call. No nee to register on tracfone website. You may need to turn off and on multiple times after activating the service on the website. Sometimes you will see the "4G LTE" bar on the phone, but the service may still be unavailable. Just turn off and on again, and give it few minutes before trying. Ultimately I was able to make a phone call.
    3. Look in deal section below. More deals:
      1. 05/15/2025: Moto 5G phone (looks like 2024 model) with unlimited talk, text and 24GB data for 1 year for $70 => https://slickdeals.net/f/18315394-qvc-tracfone-moto-g-5g-24-with-unlimited-talk-text-24gb-1-year-service-70-new-customers
      2. 05/07/2024: Galaxy A25 phone with unlimited talk, text and 24GB data for 1 year for $180 => https://slickdeals.net/f/17465511-tracfone-6-5-samsung-galaxy-a25-5g-smartphone-128gb-6gb-ram-1-year-unlimited-talk-text-24gb-data-free-shipping-179-98
  8. Ultra Mobile (T-mobile): Based on slickdeals reviews, it's reliable service though a little expensive (~$20/month). They offer unlimited everything with Hotspot included.
  9. Boost Mobile (T-mobile + AT&T) AVOID BOOST:  Boost Mobile is NOT really a MVNO as they have their own 5G network (they are subsidiary of EchoStar Corp as of 2024, see below under update). Apart from their own towers (built by Dish n/w as 5G towers), they use T-mobile 90% of the time, except at few places where they use AT&T. No one knows which towers they use, but people on reddit say they use Tmobile towers almost all the time (The carrier they use seem to be tied to the simcard you buy from them). They also have unlimited talk, text and 5GB data for $15/month. They recently (as of May, 2022)  introduced $25/month plan with unlimited talk, text and 30GB data (They upped the data limit to 35 GB for new customers). They are similar to other MVNO, though lot of complaints on slickdeals on how hard it is to get anything done with their customer service (They charge folks 6 or 12 months down the line, and refuse to give back money). Their customer service will keep you waiting for 30-45 minutes. I haven't put them under "Scammy MVNOs" as some people had good experience with them. I would avoid them completely.
  10. Xfinity Mobile (Verizon): You can get this deal if you have xfinity internet. 2 lines for $60 per month (or $30/per line) with everything unlimited. They use Verizon network. Better option is to go with Spectrum, if you have Spectrum internet. They both use Verizon, but Spectrum is much bigger company with lower prices than Xfinity. No reason to go with Xfinity.
  11. Red Pocket - RP (all 3 carriers) AVOID RP: This is one of other cheaper provider. They have plans starting from $2.50/month. Unlimited plans start from $20/month. Additional bonus is free international calling to over 80 countries. You can keep renewing by buying their plans before the current one expires. You have 90 days to activate the new plan. Based on slickdeal comments, highly positive experience. On the website, they claim that their plans work on all 3 carriers: Verizon, Tmobile and AT&T. Based on comments, it looks like they are based off Tmobile and Sprint (Confirmed that they use all 3 carriers, and switch automatically based on best coverage). Site: https://www.redpocket.com/plans
  12. Hellomobile (T-mobile): This is the second cheapest plan (after Tracfone via QVC) , starting at $5/month with unlimited talk+text and 500MB of data. Taxes and fees are included, and sim activation is free. It uses T-mobile network. Looks reliable based on reddit/slickdeals comment. Link to plans: https://hellomobile.com/shop/plans
  13. Total Wireless (Verizon): This is a big provider, but the reviews on slickdeals are horrible. They have plans from $15/month when on sale.
    1. Sept, 2024: They are offering $15/month plan when porting in the phone lines from Tmobile, Metro or Mint. Prices are fixed for 5 years, which is pretty good price.
      1. Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/17721393-total-wireless-port-in-2-t-mobile-metro-or-mint-lines-get-5g-unlimited-plan-15-mo-per-line-for-up-to-5-years-new-customers-only
  14. Good2Go (Tmobile/AT&T): This is another cheap plan at $5/month. However taxes are not included, and seem to be very high at 30%. So, 1 yr plan with unlimited talk, text and 1GB data costs $78 (with taxes and fees of $18 included). Better deals are available with others.
  15. MobileX (Verizon): Not lots of reviews, but cheap for data only plan. For text/talk+data, it costs $15/month.

 

Scam MVNO to avoid:

A lot of MVNO are basically scammers waiting to rip you off. They hold your number hostage, and won't allow you to port the number out. Or they will continue billing even after you cancel the service, and you will have to dispute it with your credit card company. These companies usually entice people with their very low cost 3 month introductory plans (i.e $5/month for 3 months), but then jump to ridiculous rates, which you won't be able to cancel (basically non existent customer service)

  1. Lyca Mobile: This company sits at top of the list of scam MVNO. Just avoid even if they give service for free (based on SD comments).

 

 

Verdict:

After looking at all the plans, it appears that there are 2 choices:

  1. Best among Top 3 carriers: For best speeds and value among Verizon, A&T and Tmobile, Tmobile Magenta plan with "3 lines for $120" is the best deal you can find with unlimited everything. You get netflix and 1 yr AAA membership for free (also $10 discount on internet service thru Tmobile, check it out on "internet services" section). You get mammoth 100 GB data + international coverage. 1% of the people might have a need for this plan. Their prepaid plans sometimes have good deals.  T-mobile's connect with $15/month seems to be the best choice among top 3 Prepaid plans. It has lower data cap at 3GB, but comes with reliable customer service.
    • UPDATE 2023: Now there are a lot of good plans for <$15/month with everything unlimited. So, Tmobile Magenta plan or any of the other postpaid plans by BIG 3 carriers don't make the cut anymore. You can get 99% of what you need via the cheaper $15/month plans offered by MVNO.
    • UPDATE 2025: Absolutely 0 reason to go with big 3. You get unlimited everything plan for $120/yr (<$10/month). USMobile has BOGO offer and infimobile has promotions bringing cost to < $100/yr. 
  2. Best among MVNO/Misc: Best choice should be $15/month prepaid plan offered by any of the MVNO, which will meet requirements of 99% of the population. Tons of choices, where you can get best plans for $15/month. Go for a yearly plan, instead of those 3 or 6 month plans, as then you have to deal with switching carriers every few months to keep getting promotions. Cheapest plan with MVNO will cost you $150/year with discounts included. Many of these MVNO plans have unlimited everything with HotSpot included too. Tracfone via QVC/HSN has sales from time to time where you can get plans for almost free !! Tmobile plans are 3X as expensive. Highest that you should pay should be $180/year no matter which carrier you go with. USMobile has 1 year unlimited plans for $180 which is the best choice, and one of the best customer service. You can try your luck with other MVNO, if you want to go lower than that. 
    1. UPDATE 2025: As of Apr 2025, Infimobile is the cheapest with $100/yr + $5 in taxes. Free 3 months of hotspot. Buy directly from their website. USMobile has BOGO offer (see above) which brings their price close to Infimobile.
    2. UPDATE 2024: As of 2024, Hellomobile has the cheapest plan for $5/month with unlimited talk+text and 500MB of data. No feedback yet on how well it works. Infimobile also has 1 year plan for $100/year (see above for deal)
    3. UPDATE 2024: As of Jan 2024, Spectrum wireless offers $15/moth plan for 1 year with 2 lines added. They also offer 1 free mobile line to everyone who has their internet plan. You just need to call them. See
    4. UPDATE 2022: As of Sept, 2022, Boost Mobile has introduced $25/month plan with everything unlimited (with high speed data cap at 30GB), and rates remaining fixed for long.

 

 

 

DEALS:

 

2025:

 

 

 

03/16/2025:  Unlocked Google Pixel 9 Pro XL 128 GB for $400 with ATT/Verizon Service at BestBuy (almost free with trade in) - expiry unknown

Best Buy has bunch of such deals every year. Now, it's pixel 9 pro xl for $400 when you signup with ATT/Verizon and pay $35 activation fee. Trick is to cancel service within 3 days. You get your activation fee refunded, no charges for service (except for few days of usage) and you get yourself an unlocked phone. Do instore pickup to be safe.

If you trade in an iphone 13 or similar, you can get this deal for $50 (need to mark condition of your phone as "fair", even though it may be "good"), or can get the Pro XL 256 GB also for $50 (though 256GB is out of stock everywhere).

This deal requires jumping thru hoops, so it's not for everyone (or for newbies). With deals like this, buy now, think later :)

DoC Link => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-buy-google-pixel-9-pro-xl-unlocked-w-activation-on-verizon-or-att-for-399/

SD Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/18181615-google-pixel-9-pro-xl-128gb-unlocked-obsidian-ga05900-us-best-buy-carrier-activation-required-399

 

 

01/21/2025: Tracfone offer via QVC - 1 year service plan + 2 phones for $40

1500min + 1500 text + 1500MB of data for a year. Deal is for $40 plan for 1 year with 2 free phone (Moto G play which is low end phone, but reliable as it's Moto brand). Talk/Text/Data is limited and probably you will run out in few months with moderate use (30 min of talk + 30 texts + 30 MB of data per week). You are literally getting free service, as you can sell the phone after unlocking it. No Hotspot allowed with any of these cheap plans.

Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/18072439-new-qvc-customers-tracfone-moto-g-play-23-smartphone-2-pack-w-1500-talk-text-data-39-98-after-coupon-w-free-s-h

UPDATE: 02/20/2025 => Now the same Moto G Play phones for 2024 model are available for $20 more. (2024 models are lot better than 2023 models). Use code: KCLQVC25 to get $25 off (instead of NEWQ20 which gives only $20 off)

Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/18134617-2-pack-tracfone-motorola-moto-g-play-24-smartphone-with-1500-min-text-1-5gb-data-59-98-free-shipping-new-qvc-customers-60

 

 

 

2024:

 

 

 

11/29/2024:  MintMobile offer for new customers - Google Pixel 9 + 1 year service for $489 - expiry unknown

The phone service is comparable to $15/month that you can get elsewhere. A great deal to get google Pixel 9 for ~$300 after deducting $180 for 12 months of phone service. Existing customers may buy Pixel 9 for $300. Lot worse than BestBuy deal posted below where you got pixel 9 when trading in iphone 12. Also worse than 2023 deal below.

SD Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/17926350-new-mint-mobile-customers-128gb-google-pixel-9-locked-12-mo-unlimited-plan-500-off-479

2023 Holiday sale: Last year, mintmobile offered pixel 7 pro + 12 month plan for $189 for new customers (for existing customers if buying the phone only, it was for $99). Basically, pixel 7 pro was free for new customers.

Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/17183956-mint-mobile-128gb-google-pixel-7-pro-locked-12-month-5gb-plan-189-port-in-req-free-s-h

 

 

11/21/2024: Tracfone offer via HSN - 1 year service plan + 2 phones for $110 or less

1500min + 1500 text + 1500MB of data for a year. Deal is for $110 plan for 1 year with 2 free phone. Talk/Text/Data is limited and probably you will run out in few months with moderate use (30 min of talk + 30 texts + 30 MB of data per week). You are literally getting free service, as you can sell the phone after unlocking it. No Hotspot allowed with any of these cheap plans.

There are 3 more discounts available, that will bring the final price to $72 for 2 phones, with 1 year service. An excellent deal if you can avail all 3 discounts.

  • $20 off for new HSN customers with PROMO : HOLIDAY24
  • 10% cashback from Rakuten
  • 10% cashback from Chase Freedom card (with max of $9 cashback)

Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/17907891-2-pk-tracfone-samsung-galaxy-a15-6-5-w-1-year-1500-talk-1500-text-1500mb-data-110-or-less-free-shipping

 

 

08/15/2024:  Free Google Pixel 9 with Apple/Samsung Tradein at BestBuy - expiry unknown

Best deal was free pixel 9 + $100 BB GC with iphone 12 Trade in. That promo was pulled pretty quick with the same deal available for iphone 13 trade in. Few days later that was also pulled off. So, always get the offer as soon as it's available. You can always cancel the order, if a better offer comes along. I got mine for free + $100 BB GC with no issues (when trading in a iphone 12). No tax or any other fees charged.

iphone 12 trade in (Free Pixel 9 + $100 BB eGC) => https://slickdeals.net/f/17698470-pixel-9-series-for-free-with-trade-in-best-buy-in-store-only

iphone 13 trade in => https://slickdeals.net/f/17689896-trade-in-apple-iphone-13-get-128gb-google-pixel-9-100-best-buy-egc-0-after-799-trade-in-value-refund

iphone 12 Pro trade in => https://slickdeals.net/f/17689989-trade-in-apple-iphone-12-pro-get-128gb-google-pixel-9-pro-200-best-buy-egc-0-after-999-trade-in-value-refund

 

 

03/21/2024: Tracfone/Motorola offer via QVC/HSN - 1 year service plan + free phone for $40- $70

Multiple deals from QVC/HSN where you get 1500min + 1500 text + 1500MB of data for a year. Deal is for $60 plan for 1 year with free phone. Talk/Text/Data is limited and probably you will run out in few months with moderate use (30 min of talk + 30 texts + 30 MB of data per week). You are literally getting free service, as you can sell the phone after unlocking it. No Hotspot allowed with any of these cheap plans.

Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17255839-new-qvc-customers-tracfone-blu-view-5g-smartphone-w-1-yr-service-60-free-shipping

UPDATE 02/01/2024: Use Code HELLO20 for $20 off purchase of $40 or more. Previous code "NEWJANUARY" expired on Jan 31st.

UPDATE 02/01/2024: Deal also available on hsn.com, but they have coupon HSN2024 for only $10 off (bringing total price down to $70): https://www.hsn.com/products/tracfone-65-blu-view-5g-smartphone-wunlimited-talk-text/22871096

 

 

 

03/01/2024: Free "One Plus Nord N30" phone  at BestBuy with AT&T service

Deal is for free phone only if you sign up for AT&T service and then cancel it within 3 days. You pay nothing upfront, nor will you get charged anything by AT&T as they waive all fees if cancelled within 3 days. The phone is unlocked and yours to keep. There is soft inquiry on your credit. Call +1 800-331-0500 to cancel AT&T service. Read instructions on wiki section of SD link below.

Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17327499-oneplus-nord-n30-5g-128gb-unlocked-chromatic-gray-cph2513-best-buy-0

 

 

02/29/2024: Multiple phones as "One Plus Nord N30, Motorola g Stylus, etc" for $40 or more with Metro (by T-mobile) service

Deal is for getting the free phone, and paying for 1 month of service.  You have to port in a number though. Read instructions on wiki section of SD link below.

Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17325810-metro-by-t-mobile-40-online-port-in-oneplus-n30-5g-motorola-g-stylus-5g-2023-iphone-11-samsung-a15-5g-140-motorola-razr-2023-165-iphone-12-with-port-in

UPDATE: This deal is inferior to "BestBuy/AT&T" deal above as that deal is for free phone.

 

 

01/25/2024: Tracfone offer via QVC - 1 year service plan + free phone for $60

Deal for $60 plan for 1 year with free phone. Talk/Text is unlimited and data is 24GB for the whole year. Comes out to 2GB/month, and depending on usage, you can use more when needed (as 24GB is not allocated on per month basis). This is the best plan. You are literally getting free service, as you can sell the phone after unlocking it. No Hotspot allowed with any of these cheap plans.

Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17255839-new-qvc-customers-tracfone-blu-view-5g-smartphone-w-1-yr-service-60-free-shipping

UPDATE: 03/22/2024: Deal is again available. Use code: WELCOME20 for new accounts to get $20 off.

UPDATE 02/01/2024: Use Code HELLO20 for $20 off purchase of $40 or more. Previous code "NEWJANUARY" expired on Jan 31st.

UPDATE 02/01/2024: Deal also available on hsn.com, but they have coupon HSN2024 for only $10 off (bringing total price down to $70):

 

 

2022:

 

 

06/20/2022: Tmobile offer - Free AAA membership with any Magenta plan:

One more reason to get Magenta plan from T-mobile. Both Magenta plans qualify. Upto $60 of savings for 1st year.

02/13/2024 => https://slickdeals.net/f/17292325-get-a-aaa-membership-on-us-roadside-assistance-t-mobile-0

06/22/2022 => https://slickdeals.net/f/15851494-t-mobile-magenta-plans-customers-1-year-aaa-basic-classic-membership-free-more-perks-benefits

 

 

05/08/2022: Tmobile offer - Free phone with qualifying trade in:

There are bunch of promos going on at T mobile where you can get a free phone (tax+shipping needs to be paid. Shipping is ~$7, sales tax varies from state to state). Most other offers require you to pay some money, or BOGO, but below offer gives free phone for any plan on Tmobile (even grand fathered plans included). Limit of 4 per account. Each new phone needs to be  associated with a different phone number on your plan (i.e if buying 3 phones, they need to be associated with 3 different lines on your plan, as EIP is tied to a phone number).

https://slickdeals.net/f/15762076-t-mobile-oneplus-nord-n200-0-after-trade-in-any-undamaged-functioning-cell-phone-via-24-mo-bill-credits-shipping-tax?src=frontpage

OnePlus Nord N200 and LG REVVL V+ are the ones for free. N200 seems to be a better phone with better specs, so go with that.

NOTE: you have to provide IMEI number of exact phone that you are trading in. They will check the phone for that IMEI number. I didn't see an option for putting IMEI number. System automatically put IMEI number of my current phone. I had to call in, and place a new order. So, better to call if in doubt. From what I came to know from other CS rep is that they don't match IMEI at return center, so as long as the phone is of same make/model with stated color, it should work. Also, any phone is accepted, as long it charges, powers up and has no big cracks on screen (small cracks have worked fine for me).

 

 

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Published: Tuesday, 05 April 2022 23:34
Hits: 1009

Spanish language:

There is a series of videos on youtube that I found very useful. The channel name is "The Language Tutor", and it has 140 lessons. The guy explains it very nicely and gives reasoning where needed:

Language Tutor Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLanguageTutor

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv63dFTP4Sjq6knRsZQI-bTnRE38cZZoy

Spanish with Qroo Paul: One other very unique and amazing style of teaching is by "Qroo Paul" here on his playlist (from Cero to Conversational): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlo8JO-R9k-IWmsZRtZYzI7xiPdIUsfVq

Start from lesson 1 in his playlist, and keep moving. There is no grammer involved, just patterns he figured out which are incredibly valuable for English speakers. I had never seen these before in any Spanish class. I've included his lessons in below sections as needed. At least go thru the first 4 videos, they are very helpful to get you started with zero Spanish knowledge.

TheLanguageBro's Full Spanish tutorial (4 hrs): This is the most complete Spanish video from beginning to end. It's 4 hrs, and prepared to cover everything. Absolutely awesome (watch 10 min/day) => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHDZSHCt1DE

SpanishPod101 (4hrs): Starts with very nicely arranged basic concepts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE-03EATjho

Spanish411.net: This website explains a lot of Spanish concepts from basics, which is different from lot of other sites out there. Very helpful: https://spanish411.net/

 

Few tidbits about Spanish language:

  • Alphabets: Spanish has same alphabets as English, though pronunciation is different.
  • Sentence Order: Just like in English, Spanish follows SVO (subject verb object) order for sentences. i,e I read books => yo leo libros. Here we have subject "I", then verb "read" and finally object "books". When it's a negative statement with "not", we put the no before the verb. i.e I don't read books => yo no leo libros.
  • Capitalization: Spanish doesn't capitalize a lot of words that English does. Ex, days of weeks, months, seasons, as Monday, Winter, October, etc. Names of countries and cities are capitalized, but languages are not.
  • Cognates: A lot of words in Spanish are same as in English with minor differences. Words which are same or similar in 2 languages are called "cognates". There are about 1000 such cognates in English/Spanish. This happens since both languages come from Greek or Latin, which themselves shared many common origin. One common trick is to add an "o" at the end for masculine things or an "a" at the end for feminine things, when converting from English. These are few basic tips for words which are similar in 2 languages:
    • Link: https://www.spanishwriterpro.com/study-spanish-help/spanish-words-that-are-almost-the-same-in-english/
    • Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ozf-mSpMFk
      • A lot of Spanish words are same as in English. ex: actor, animal, etc. Pronounce them differently (as they would be in Spanish, and NOT in English)
        • English words ending in -al, -ar, -ble, -or usually stay the same.
          • Ending in -al: animal, festival, final,criminal, hospital, normal, digital, legal, individual, ideal, etc. (exception is actual in spanish which means current)
          • Ending in -ar: familiar, popular,
          • Ending in -ble: cable, horrible, incredible (increible), probable, visible,  possible (posible) (Many words with repeated letters in English are replaced by a single letter in Spanish)
          • Ending in -or (Nouns): actor, color, doctor, humor, director, 
      • Spanish words add an "o" at the end for a lot of masculine things. More details in gender section below. These transforms are all masculine, since they end in -o. Ex:
        • English words ending in -ous usually become -oso. ex: famous becomes famoso, Curious becomes Curioso
        • English words ending in -ct usually become -cto, -ic becomes -ico, -id becomes -ido, -ment becomes -mento, . ex: exact becomes exacto, perfect becomes perfecto, public becomes publico, basic becomes basico, fluid becomes fluido, acide becomes acido, document becomes documento, moment becomes momento,
        • English words ending in –ary usually become -ario. ex: Ordinary becomes ordinario, salary becomes salario
      • Spanish words add an "a" at the end for a lot of feminine things. More details in gender section below. These transforms are all feminine, since they end in -a. Ex:
        •  English words ending in –ance/-ence usually become -ancia/-encia. ex: ambulance becomes ambulancia, distance becomes distancia, violence becomes violencia,
      • English words ending in -ive become -ivo. These are usually adjectives formed from verbs:
        • attractive => atractivo (verb "to attract" => atraer)
        • persuasive => persuasivo (verb "to persuade" => persuadir)
      • English words ending in in "ity" and "ty" many times have the Spanish endings "idad" or "dad". If plural, add es at end, i.e dades. Mostly feminine (see in gender hack below).
        • Ex: calamity becomes calamidad, cruelty becomes crueldad, city becomes ciudad (extra u gets added, pronounced ciu not qui), christianity becomes christiandad, commodities becomes commodidades, etc.
        • capacity => capacidad, activity > actividad, reality => realidad, quantity = cantidad, 
        • Facilidad => It doesn't mean facility, but derived from facil which means easy, so facilidad is for easily.
        • Other exceptions are words that add -tad insteadof -dad for easier pronunciation.
          • loyalty => lealtad (instead of -dad, it's -tad), difficulty => dificultad
      • English words ending in in "ly" (i.e slowly) have the Spanish endings "-mente". These are adverbs since they describe the verb. -mente is added to feminine adjectives ending in a. Ex:
        • only => solamente
        • fastly => rápidamente, slowly => lentamente
        • annually => anualmente, easily => fácilmente, Hardly (difficultly) => difícilmente, basically => básicamente
        • Usually/normally => usualmente/normalmente, Occsionally => ocasionalmente, Seldom (or rarely) => Raramente, Frequently => frecuentemente
      • English words ending in -tion have the Spanish ending -ción (with emphasis on o, since it has an accent on it). All these words become feminine in spanish (even though they don't have -o at the end, they are still feminine. May be, a new rule that says -ción makes them feminine. So use "la" for "the"). Also, to make it plural, add an -es at the end -ciones => see in "noun" section).
        • ex:
          • abduction becomes abducción,
          • imagination becomes imaginación,
          • creation => creación,
          • invitation => invitación,
          • documentation => documentación,
          • information => información,
          • verification => verificación,
          • prolongation =>  prolongación,
          • action => acción, 
          • option => opción,
        • exceptions:
          • Words starting with s and followed by consonant will become es-.
            • ex: station => estación ( estación may mean seasons too)
          • Double letters that don't change the sound are reduced to single letter, i.e SS to S, MM to M, etc. Words where double letters are needed for sound (-oo-, -rr-), they are kept.
            • Double letter dropped: recommendation => recomendación, communication => comunicación, illumination => iluminación
            • Double letter kept (since important for sound): cooperation => cooperación, narration => narración, 
          • Some other exceptions:
            • translation => traducción (and NOT translación).
            • demonstration => demostración (n dropped), immigration => inmigración (first m replaced with n), humiliaion => humillación (extra L added resulting in y sound), 
            • authorization => autorización (th in English often converts to just t in spanish), 
            • interruption => interrupción (NO -ación). Look in -ar verb section for detail.
            • caution or "be careful" => cuidado (koo-e-dado). It's often seen in warnings on wet floors, road signs, etc as ¡Cuidado!. Ciudad (see-o-dad) is similar looking word with i and u reversed which means city (see in word/phrase section). cuidado also means care, worry, etc. Verb "cuidar" means to take care of.
            • performance => actuación, (actuar is to act or to play/perform)
      • English words ending in -sion usually become -sión.
        •  ex: Decision = decisión, possession => posesión (double s replaced by single s)
      • English words ending in -ant usually become -ante.
        • ex: important becomes importante, brilliant becomes brilliante, elegant => elegante
        • restaurant => el restaurante
        • interesting => interesante, during => durante  (these are exceptions)
  • Word pair: Many pair of words (i.e post office, identity card, etc) in Spanish add a "of" in between the words, and say it as "office of post", "card of Identity", etc. "of' is translated as "de".
    • ex: the post office => In Spanish it's called "the office of post" or "oficina de correos". Since main noun is oficina, which is female, we say "la oficina de correos"
    • Identity card => El carné de Identidad (the card of Identity)
    • Travel agency => agencia de viajes
  • Accent: Spanish has words with and without accent on vowels (a, e, i, o, u), but exactly the same spelling. Ex: como vs cómo. These are difficult to differentiate while speaking, but have to be written correctly or else the meaning will change. Accent implies that the vowel with the accent needs to be stressed. It's difficult to notice any difference when one is speaking these words. This is one area where I struggle, since it's very difficult to remember these. More about these in alphabets and numbers section. 

 

Difficulty understanding Spanish:  As you learn Spanish, you'll realize that it's impossible to understand native spanish speakers. Why? Because it seems they speak too fast, and blend consecutive words. This is a side effect of how Spanish words end. You'll soon see that most spanish words end in vowels. Vowels from last letter of previous word blend into 1st letter of 2nd word giving an illusion of one word when spoken fast. That doesn't happen in Engish, as most words end in consonants, which can't blend.

Ex: Elephant is good. If instead of this it was words like this => Elepha i ood, then it can blend into 1 word as elepha-iood. This would be very hard to understand w/o any spaces or pause while speaking. This is what happens in Spanish very frequently.

 

 

Parts of Speech:

Parts of speech are the words that make up any sentence. There are 9 parts of speech. Below video explains it => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDUd4kw8op4

We'll cover each part of speech in a separate section. To summarize, these are:

  1. Nouns: Nouns are names, places, things, etc. Nouns have a gender (male/female) in Spanish, and it's fixed for that noun. Simple change to the noun ending can change gender. Nouns can be made singular/plural by adding suffix -s or -es to any nooun..
    1. ex: chico => boy, chica => girl, chicos => boys, chicas => girls (see how the noun's ending change based on gender and number)
  2. Determiners: Determiners specify a noun's distance, quantity, possesion, etc. These are words like a, an, the, this, that, etc. Determiners go exclusively with nouns, and change based on noun's gender and number. This is different than English language where determiners don't change. Determiners are always placed before the noun.
    1. ex: a boy => un chico, a girl => una chica, some boys => unos chicos, some girls => unas chicas (see how the determiners change based on noun's gender and number)
  3. Adjectives: Adjectives describe a noun. Ex: fat boy => here fat is an adjective as it describes noun "boy". In English, adjectives come before a noun, but in Spanish, adjectives almost always come after a noun. Just like determiners, adjectives change based on noun's gender and number. This is again different than English language where adjectives remain unchanged.
    1. ex: fat boys => chicos gordos, fat girl => chica gorda (see how adjectives changed based on gender and number, and came after the noun)
  4. Verbs: Verbs are action as walk, talk, etc. All verbs in Spanish end in -ar, -er or -ir. Verbs change (conjugate) based on subject and number, so a 3x2 table is provided for each verb. Verbs also change based on tense (i.e past, present, future, etc), and indicate the time of action. In English, verbs change too (run vs runs vs running), but in Spanish they change in many more forms than in English, as each subject noun/pronoun + tense has different ending.
    1. ex: to walk => caminar. I walk => yo camino, we walk => nosotros caminamos. (seehow verb caminar changed forms based on subject)
  5. Pronouns: Pronouns are used instead of a noun. ex: he, she, I, etc. All pronouns mark number (singular or plural). Some of them mark gender too (but not many)
    1. ex: I am mexican => yo soy mexicana. me => my.
  6. Adverbs: Adverbs describe adjectives or verbs. For verbs, it describes actions => how, when, where something happens.
  7. Prepositions: These are linking words, and most used ones. Ex: but, in, on, for, etc. There are 14 key prepositions in spanish.
  8. Conjunctions: Words like pero, y, etc. These words are also categorized as Adverbs, and prepositions.
  9. Interjections:

 

 

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Published: Saturday, 02 April 2022 00:41
Hits: 940

USA Salary:

This article shows a typical salary of an Indian who's working in software, IT or some engineering job, since that's what most of the Indians coming to USA do. Engineering or computer related jobs are very well paying in USA, with no stress. I'll start with a average salary (for an NRI), and then step by step walk through all the possible expenses that you might incur, and how much would you save at the end of the year. I'll include typical earning and typical expenses alongside too, for a person with engineering/computer degree. Then I'll go thru savings, that could be realized for a typical household.

Salary: $100K/year

As I've stated through various articles, any Indian with any degree from India comes to USA to do an engineering job, should make atleast $100K/year. If you don't make that much and have a green card, you should look into a new job.

Now, minimum federal salary is $8/hr. However, most of the lower income people do make an average of $20/hr (at department stores, cashiers, etc). These are mostly people with very little education. As you start looking at people who have had a high school degree and a college degree, you are looking at minimum salaries of around $40/hr. Assuming you are in engineering and have a green card, you are easily looking at $50/hr of pay. That translates into $104K/yr, assuming 40 hour workweek.

So, we'll start with a salary of $100K for a household with 1 working person who gets paid for his work. As of 2009, 10% of the income tax returns filed, show an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $115K. You have to be in atleast top 10% of the households here, since most of these 10% are people with college education in degrees. It's very easy to get in top 10% after 5 years of work experience by switching jobs.

Expenses and Savings:

Now, that I have you convinced you, that $100K is the minimum salary that you should expect to get, I'll start with a salary of $100K/year. I'll walk through taxes, other expenses and then show your savings. Assuming you stick to the plan, you'll see that you'll be a US dollar millionaire in 12 years or less. Welcome to the club of USD Millionaires.

 

Year 2010: Below are income, taxes and expenses for a typical married couple living in a rented apartment as of year 2010.

Salary = $100K/year

Taxes = 15% = $15K/year

House rent = $1K/month = $12K/year

House utilities (electric, water, gas) = $70+$60+$30 = $160/month = $2K/year

Communication (phone, internet, satellite/cable) = $40+$30+$50 = $120/month = $1.5K/year

Automobile expenses (car depreciation, gas, insurance) = $1K/year (assuming a brand new car running for 10 yrs, which cost $10K to buy) + $600/year (gas assuming 8K miles/year)+ $400/year (insurance)= $2K/year

Health insurance (insurance, copay, medicines, etc) = $1K/year + $1K/year = $2K/year.

Grocery = $400/month = $5K/year

Clothes = $80/month = $1K/year

Misc items (electronics, furniture, decorations, restaurants, etc) = $1K/year

Trip to India (assuming once every year) = $1.5K*2 = $3K/year

unaccounted losses (traffic tickets, misc fines, car repairs, house repairs, theft, etc) = $0.5K

Total expenses = $30K (excluding taxes)

Total savings = $100K (income) - $15K (taxes) - $30K (expenses) = $55K.

 

 

Year 2020:  For year 2020, all these figures have gone up by at least 50% (as compared to 2010). Below are income, taxes and expenses for a typical married couple with 2 kids living in a house (with mortgage payments) as of year 2020.

Salary = $150K/year (assuming 10 years of experience in workforce)

Taxes = 15% = $23K/year

House payments (mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, HOA) = $3K/month = $36K/year

House utilities (electric, water, gas) = $70+$60+$30 = $160/month = $2K/year

Communication (phone, internet, satellite/cable/streaming) = $50+$50+$50 = $150/month = $2K/year

Automobile expenses (car depreciation, gas, insurance, misc) = $2K/year (assuming a brand new car running for 10 yrs, which cost $20K to buy) + $2K/year (gas assuming 10K miles/year @ 20mpg with gas at $4/gallon)+ $500/year (insurance) + $500 (other expenses as repair, registration, inspection, sticker)= $5K/year

Health insurance (insurance, copay, medicines, etc) = $4K/year + $6K/year = $10K/year.

Grocery = $800/month = $10K/year

Clothes = $150/month = $2K/year

Misc items (electronics, furniture, decorations, restaurants, etc) = $2K/year

Trip to India (assuming once every year) = $1.5K*4 = $6K/year

unaccounted losses (traffic tickets, misc fines, car repairs, house repairs, theft, etc) = $1K

Total expenses = $76K (excluding taxes)

Total savings = $150K (income) - $23K (taxes) - $76K (expenses) = $50K.

 

 

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Published: Friday, 01 April 2022 02:10
Hits: 837

USA Federal Tax filing:

Federal tax filing in USA is very simple. It's also free for the most part, and you don't need to pay anyone any money for that.

For US tax purposes, I'll assume a married couple with 2 children filing taxes jointly (married filing jointly on form 1040). Remember, that unless you and your spouse make more than $250K/yr, married filing jointly is very advantageous from a tax purpose, especially if there is huge disparity between the salary of the spouses.

As I've explained in my section "raising children for free", raising kids in USA doesn't cost you anything at all (unless your kids are spoiled). With tax credits and personal exemption for each kid, you end up getting about $1600 for each kid from the IRS when you file taxes. Browse through baby section to see how to keep your kids expenses within that.

See my tax section and the tax calculator, to figure out how much will you owe in taxes. For a salary of $100K, the calculator shows a tax of around $15K (or 15% effective tax rate). Taxes are your biggest expense in USA, and there's very little you can do to bring it any lower than this for a salary of $100K.

Filing taxes for free

In the past, a lot of websites use to file simple taxes for free. Some of these were big tax preparers, but now all of them have adhered to deceptive advertising, when in reality none of them file for free. Below are the big ones:

  • REAL FREE: These websites are really free for federal tax filing for everyone. State taxes cost money though.
    • FreeTaxUSA: This is one of those rare companies that do provide free tax filing for everyone. Not sure how long they will be able to do this, but as of 2022, tax failing is free for everyone, irrespective of the complexity of the return. Link is: https://www.freetaxusa.com/. Highly recommended.
    • OLT (online taxes): I've come to know that this site also provides free federal tax return for everyone. They do charge $10 for state tax return. Link is: www.olt.com.
  • NOT SO FREE: These websites advertise as free, but very simple returns qualify for the free federal returns. For most of us who make any decent money, and have investments in stocks, we won't qualify. Best to avoid these sites.
    • H&R Block: Most deceptive. They claim "File online, free online". However the free version doesn't allow 99% of the people to file for free. If you have HSA account, which is what everyone has, they disqualify you. Somehow if you are among the minority of people who don't have HSA, they trap you in investment gains/losses and/or dividend income. Almost all of America has some sort of brokerage account, so they disqualify almost everyone based off that. If that's not enough, they get you once again by disqualifying you if you own a home and pay mortgage/taxes on it and want to claim that on your tax return.  Never fall for this company.
    • Turbotax: They allow you to file for free, but at least they mention right there in small words "for simple tax returns only". That basically means "NOT Free"
    • TaxAct: They claim free for "simple returns", but have same exclusions as H&R Block.
    • CreditKarma: This is one of those companies thatused to provide free tax return filings. I used this service for couple of years until 2020. Starting 2021, they have changed their tax service to some app "Cash app taxes", which is free, but you have to download this app on phone, make an account, and then file tax return either on phone or on PC by using link "https://cash.app/taxes". I'm not sure I understand the logic behind downloading an app for tax return, when I'm still doing it on a PC. And who does tax returns on a mobile phone. Anyway they got bought by Intuit which is best to avoid.

If everything above fails, you always have the option of filing directly with the IRS. Here you have to manually estimate your taxes. There are 2 ways to file such tax returns:

  1. Electronic return: To e-file your tax returns, IRS website has link to " freefillable forms". Once you go to this link, and fill in al your tax details manually, you can file electronically. This is the link you use:
    1. https://www.freefilefillableforms.com
    2. Above website is very picky, and you have any blank, or any spelling error or anything so obvious, it will reject your return. It will give you a code for rejection, whcich you will need to search on IRS website. It will tell you what the source of error is. once you fix that, try again. It will then give you another error. You keep on doing this until there is no error. However, each time it takes couple of hours to know if the return was successful or not. So, plan for few days of frustration, before your return gets accepted.
  2.  Paper return: You can download the related forms from IRS website, fill in all your details and then mail those tax papers to IRS. This is not recommended, since it usually takes longer to process, and has the risk of getting lost.

 

 

Federal Tax script:

To assist in the process of figuring out your federal taxes, I started writing my own script for figuring out taxes. It's very simple program to write for 80% of the filings, as it's simple addition/subtraction. Of course, IRS rules change every  year, so you need to constantly modify the script, but it's not really something that should command billions of dollars in revenue. IRS spends billions of dollars on tax related assistance. It could probably spend few thousand dollars and have their own software on their website, which everyone can use to file for free. This will at most cost few thousand dolars as a high school kidd can do it. But they won't do it, since then they won't be able to feed this billion dollar industry.

Below is the link to the script.

 

Here's few tidbits:

 

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