RingPlus Review

RingPlus is a low cost innovative MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) which operates using the Sprint network. They pride themselves in offering a wide range of cheap cell phone plans which are very competitive to other providers such as Ting and Republic Wireless. They even have some free cell phone plan options too, although with some caveats. Lets take a deeper look, shall we?

Cell Phone Plans

The RingPlus range of plans has a good amount of versatility and is sure to provide a good plan option for most anyone living in an area with good coverage on the Sprint network. The plans range from an astonishingly low $0 per month up to a $50 per month for its most expensive option. There’s a total of eight plans that gradually increases minutes, texts, and data for each tiered level.

RingPlus Phone Plans Free

All the plans are no-contract so you don’t get locked in to any one plan. In addition, there is a “Jump Button” feature you can access from your phone which allows you to tap into your next month’s available minutes, text messages, or data should you run low on the current month. In addition, they also offer the ability to “Top-up” on minutes, texts, data by paying a little more in the middle of the month. These options help to make budgeting for your cell phone service much more flexible since you’d only need to pay for what you need when you need it.

Free Phone Plans

As of June 2015 RingPlus started offering a new Free plan which includes 200 cell minutes, 50 SMS text messages, and up to 10MB of data. RingPlus subsidizes this free cost through wholesale deals with the Sprint network and their Ringback media tone technology which plays advertisements instead of dialing tones when calling someone.

There are also additional charges that come with extra usage on all the plans, such as 4 cents for each MMS message, 3 cents for International text messages, and 2 cent for overage on your maximum allocated talk, text, and data included in your monthly plan.

BYOD – Bring Your Own Device

Anyone who wants to sign-up would need to bring their own Sprint device in which they can activate on the new service. Most Sprint enabled phones should work but you can double check by visiting their phone verification page.

In June 2015, RingPlus introduced a phone store which offers new and used phones that are compatible with RingPlus service in case you don’t have a phone that can be brought over from another provider.

Extra Features

One thing that RingPlus is doing to set itself apart from it’s competitors like Ting, is the extra in-phone features they offer with the plan that you don’t see with other wireless carriers. Here are a few that are a nice touch:

Free Voicemail To Email Service

Unlike companies like Verizon that have the nerve to charge it’s customers a $2.99 monthly fee just for access to visual voicemail or T-mobile that also charges $2.99/month for it’s visual voicemail to text service, Ringplus offers this type of thing completely free. Their Voicemail to Email app has the ability to transcribe voicemails to text which can either be sent to your email inbox or even sent as an SMS text message.

RingPlus Radio

Another in-call app that is exclusive to RingPlus is their RingPlus Radio service. This service allows you to listen to music, news, or play games while on hold with someone on the phone. This is a nice way to pass the time while waiting to cancel a service with some other big scumbag wireless company 🙂

Pros

  • Low cost cell phone plans with a wide variety of options to choose from.
  • No contracts to get locked into.
  • Innovative in-call apps such as voicemail to text and RingPlus radio services.
  • Possible free phone plans if you can get them at the right time.
  • Ability to pay with Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Dogecoin.
  • You can use an existing Sprint device with the service.

Cons

  • They run on the Sprint network which is generally considered inferior to others, however not an issue if you live in an area with good Sprint coverage.
  • While they offer a free phone plan, the data allotment is very limited and one must be careful about not incurring overage costs which could add up if not careful.
  • It is possible that advertisements will play via the in-call RingPlus radio which is used when dialing and on hold with someone.

Other Ringplus Reviews

While I personally have not used this service, I have listed below RingPlus review articles and posts that appear to be from objective honest reviewers:

Hmmm, ok apparently there aren’t that many solid reviews out there yet since RingPlus is still a relatively new and young wireless service, so if anyone has used RingPlus or decides to try them out, please leave a review of the service below in the comments to help add to the general knowledge base.

126 comments

  1. Been with Ring Plus for about seven months now. I have my wife and eleven year old on it also.I started out with the Big boys (Verizon) about fifteen years ago, moved on two Virgin mobile, then Ting and finally Ring Plus. There been a few glitches along the way, but definitely worth the price. Call quality is fine and if you are in a strong Sprint area its fine. Have notice service better in some areas than others, but then again that goes with all of the carriers !!!! Over all i’m very pleased with their service !! Best bang for your buck !!!!!

    1. Hey Tony,

      Thanks for providing some input for this service, I’ve been trying to find what people’s review of it is, and it sounds like for the most part you’ve had a good experience with them. As you mentioned, for the price it’s hard to beat for a cheap mobile phone plan. Of course anyone looking for super fast 4G speeds or high data usage wouldn’t be suited for a tiered rate plan like this. It’s definitely more of a value play then getting the latest bells and whistles.

    2. Hi,

      I am on Ting right now, and were you able to switch your device over to Ringplus? I use a lot more features than the cost is worth on Ting, and the $30 plan here would be much better for me.

      Alex

    3. Hi Matthew, Can you tell me is there any chance that I would lose my number? I had my number for 30+ years.

    4. Hi Matthew, Can you tell me is there any chance that I would lose my number? I had my number for 30+ years. And if I’m unhappy with the service can my number be ported? Thx

    5. You’re lucky if you don’t need to use customer service. If so, good luck. Their billing system went crazy on me and billed me 6 times and counting in the last two weeks. I submitted a help ticket 1.5 weeks ago and still haven’t heard back from them.

      Activating is also a pain and the service rejected upgrading my device. Never resolved this last issue before leaving the service.

  2. I would NOT recommend Ringplus and here’s why:
    I purchased a plan, but I could not make a phone call and it kept giving me, “your phone could not be activated.” I searched on the internet for hours to fix this problem and tried every advice I got, but it still didn’t work. It was during the Thanksgiving break and Ringplus customer service was closed for 5 days, so fearing that I would get charged for what I didn’t use, I cancelled my plan first. I come back to the ringplus website after the break and view my profile, they ERASED every sign of me purchasing the plan. Nothing is on my profile. I called the customer service and they say they cannot give my money back since I don’t have a profile and the number anymore. I’m glad that I didn’t purchase a very expensive plan.

    1. Hi Erin,

      I’m just curious if you checked your bank statement for the credit card or debit card charges from Ringplus? The reason I ask is because even though they say they don’t have any records of you purchasing the plan, your bank would if you used a credit card, and thus you’d have evidence to support your claim to get a refund of that money.

      It seems to me like this is a case of poor timing since you were trying to activate during a time when everyone is on vacation and weren’t able to get a hold of any support people who likely could have walked you through the activation process.

      Not sure that was helpful but hopefully you can get your money back if you present them with a copy of a CC statement showing the charge.

    1. Hi Henry,

      I just realized that RingPlus has made some slight changes to their phone plans and have updated the plans chart in the main post above to reflect the current pricing.

      Thanks for the heads up!

    1. Hi Denise,

      Yes the Uber app will work on the Hazel plan so long as your phone has either an Android operating system or is an iPhone. Basically, if you have a smartphone and any plan with data access then you can use any app including Uber. Hope that helps.

  3. The RingPlus is an OK service. A good bang for your buck. I had just a few problem with their Sprint Data coverage although the Voice was just fine. You can even use ancient Sanyo flip phone.

  4. On R+ for 3 months. Not seamless. Moved from Republic, near to the bottom, to R+ – at the bottom. Cheap. Unreliable. Very annoying “radio” which plays instead of the ring tone, so you don’t know if the call is going through. (not ads, but extremely poor quality music). Have two new Sharp Equos’s. Billing problem. And the most annoying, is that there is no customer service (read NONE), and even the “network” of subscribers from which you get your answers are sketchy and hard to address. There are some smart programming nerds but do not have a clue what customer service is. If I wasn’t so cheap, I’d love to get back to standard services. This is like moving from Walmart to a Dollar store, or maybe even Goodwill. Why do I want to save money so badly? We will see. My wife is ready to throw me away with her new smart phone.

    1. Hi David,

      Thanks for sharing your experience with using RingPlus, though it sucks that it hasn’t been good.

      I’ve been wondering about that radio function and whether that would be annoying or not and it seems you’ve answered that question. Part of having a ring tone and dialing tone is so that you know what the heck the status of your call is… so not sure how the folks at RingPlus considered replacing this important phone function with a radio… seems a bit gimmicky.

      Have you considered trying Ting? It uses the same Sprint network, has prices that are comparable low as RingPlus, except they seem to be well praised for their excellent customer service.

  5. We’re giving R+ a try a little longer. They finally switched my phone over, although altogether it took days, and many hours. I’m not sure real people work there – it is all etherware. Computers will never take over the world – well, completely.

    1. Sadly, R+ has decided the best way to deal with bad voice quality is to censor their forums. Posts are being removed and users banned. There’s a post about it HERE: https://discourse.ringplus.net/t/cal…nical/2380/108
      and HERE: https://discourse.ringplus.net/t/censorship/3410
      but it probably will get taken down so here are screenshot links: nodiscourse.imgur.com bit.ly/ringplus

      You can see how RingPlus_PR’s post toward the end of the thread is number 108 by looking at the URL and the direct link menu, then the next post is number 120. That’s because 12 posts were censored for pointing out that the problem is not just latency, but poor call quality as well.

      So sad to see a promising startup go over to the Dark Side.

  6. I’ve been w/ Ringplus when they were offering free plans.

    The Positive
    Enjoyed the ride while it lasted and stuck with them afterwards mainly because for $1.99 I can give my mom the freedom of mobile communication. I look at her usage this month in 21days she used 6mins. There is no one else out there that can provide that level of service for the price. I also kept a plan for myself mainly because of the $0.02, which is now $0.04/mb of overage. Which is still really cheap considering the alternatives. My phone is more of a pc so 1mb/0.04 is really nice for me.

    The Negative
    When you get an account w/ them you have to do a prl and profile update (which that thanksgiving guy didn’t do). Also I had some issues with properly swapping out phones (transferring my account from one phone to another). Ringplus also changes their pricings often. I don’t even bother reading emails form them so maybe thats why its always a shock to see their new pricing structures.

    What Really Pissed Me Off:

    1. Unreliability in Pricing Structure
    Their top up used to put all of the money into your account, but recently they add a 20% tax/fee. So the overages are actually $0.05 rather than $0.04. This itself is understandable, because they have to be sustainable and they seem like nice people devoted to their philosophy of bringing affordable cell phone service to everyone. But it illustrates unreliability in their plans, before I know it I may end up paying the usual $0.10/min I used to pay with T-Mobile.

    2. No Grandfather Clause
    I had a $0.99 plan which they automatically changed to the $1.99 Kate plan when they discontinued it. I understand if you don’t provide me with the free BYOD plan forever, but the $0.99 plan I was paying money for every month so I expected to keep it for life or until I changed it to something else like other providers do. Although I’m disappointed with this, I understand and am ok with it because the alternative is they go out of business and I end up going elsewhere. For me their true value lies in the $0.04/mb deal they offer.

    Editor’s Note: I have combined both your comments into one for simplicity.

  7. I have been using ringplus for over two years (started on a free plan and moved to a paid plan) and have been very pleased. I live in an area with good Sprint coverage and I am almost always near wifi so the 3g data speed I get through ringplus doesn’t bother me. I can find used Spring phones in my area for very reasonable prices and I can’t find a service with better pricing that allows me to use a phone of my choice (lg g2 currently). To me, pricing has almost always been predictable and consistent and I have no complaints. I don’t mind RingPlus radio and I appreciate that I can customize the type of music that will play. Currently, when I make a call, I hear classical music or breaking news which is more entertaining to me now than a standard dial tone. I think I will stay with ringplus as long as they are around and I have convinced others of the value of this service and set up at least 5 others on the service.

    The negatives I have experienced:
    1. Infrequently, calls to me will not ring through.
    2. Periodically, callers will just hear a beep and nothing more when I don’t answer the phone which confuses them as they are not sure if the call went through (I have received multiple voice messages saying, “Hello…..Hello?…”)
    3. I have had over 10 phones I have used with ringplus for different purposes. I sell the phones I no longer use. Infrequently, I will sell a phone that has not been used or been on ringplus in months and the buyer informs me they cannot activate the phone with Sprint. The situation eventually gets resolved but it has caused me some headaches.
    4. I have periodic concerns about the call quality but would say it is similar to my experience with Virgin Mobile.

    My wife has Verizon for business purposes and gets better coverage and call quality but it costs ~$450 more per year than what I am paying for ringplus. For the price, ringplus works great for my needs.

  8. I have been with R+ for 3 months now, and I am in a decent sprint area (Twin Cities) and coverage and call quality are just fine, I was with H2O prior and call quality is about the same. Data works fine, as do texts. No complaints here, I am on the bella plan and for $9.99 a month it doesn’t come much cheaper than that.

    The porting number process is actually very smooth. you can actually see “real time” port status on your account page while you are waiting for it to transfer through, and if anything glitches you will know right away. For instance, I had the wrong account password from my prior cell service and I knew this right away per the port status on my account page. Once corrected, the port went through just fine. And also while you are waiting for the port, they give you a temporary number that gets activated to your phone so it works right away, I liked that. They do charge $7.99 to port a number over though, but at these rock bottom prices they offer, I can understand they need to make some profit somewhere.

    The only thing I wish they would offer is an unlimited texting plan with limited minutes. I find I am needing more than 600 texts a month, which means I may have to jump up to the $17.99 plan…and here I am complaining about a $17.99 unlimited call/text plan….go figure. I should be happy.

    1. Hi Shawn,

      Thanks for letting us know what your experience was like with RingPlus, it seems like your switching was relatively painless.

      As far as your concerns with needing more texts with less minutes, it might be worth checking out Ting which allows you to mix and match different tier levels for talk, text, and data. Although, after running the figures on Ting, you’d still end up paying around $17 minimum for what you want, so there wouldn’t be much difference with the $17.99 RingPlus tier, except with the R+ Noelani plan you get unlimited minutes and text, so that might actually be the way to go if you’re needing extra text messages.

    2. If bella is good for you, use it and leave a few extra dollars in acct. It costs 2 cents a text after you use allotment up. Cheaper than next plan up unless u blow out the use.

    3. Thanks for that tip Toan, after looking at the overage fees, you are correct. And again, ANOTHER reason why Ring Plus is great!!

  9. I am really baffled by people saying to go with Ting over Ring Plus. I have been using Ring Plus for nearly 6 months now and could not be any happier. They both use Sprints network (sometimes Ting uses T-Moble), so your call quality is going to be the same on either network. The only real difference is price. And every way you calculate it, Ring Plus is always a better deal, bottom line. I also like how you can change plans on Ring Plus at anytime, as well as jumping up to the next month if you wish. I haven’t had any issues with Customer Service because I have had nothing go wrong with the service so no reason to call them. There is also a great app (R+Dashboard) for tracking your usage which is one of the best I have ever used in all the services I have been through. If you want to SAVE money, go with Ring Plus and if you want the same network for typically more money, then go with Ting.

  10. For what it’s worth, I’ve been Ring+ for about 18 months, as well as Ting for about 6 months. Customer service is much better with Ting, but the cost isn’t nearly as low as I thought it would be, and after these months, Ring+ is cheaper. One thing I cannot get used to is the cheezy music Ring+ gives instead of a standard ring, so you never know if it really is working. Also, they are throwing out ads now, which our plan isn’t supposed to allow. After all is said and done, I guess Ring+ is better, but I wish they would change the customer service so you could just call or write normally, and I wish they’d give the option of a good ole fashioned ring.

  11. Hi
    What does LTE/3G Data mean? Does it mean you are using Sprint network for your data as opposed to WIFI?
    Seems to me you should be able to have unlimited data and minutes using WIFI.

    easypace

  12. We are currently living out of the country but will be back in the US to visit for a month. I have a iphone 4 that was on sprint before we moved that I would like to use on some type of no contract prepaid plan that I can just use for the one month (actually 3 weeks) that we are visiting the US. Would Ring+ be a good option for me to use for the one month while I am home? I am currently using Claro prepaid on my other phone (4s) where you buy cards to load min or days of data on the phone. It sounds like with Ring+ I would just pick a plan for the month and then pay right? Is it difficult to cancel and then start up again for another 1 month when we go home to visit 6 months later? I’m a little nervous to start it since there is no customer service… thanks for any advice on this. I plan to use the phone for calling, texting (imessage) and data. One other question-does an imessage count as data with Ring+ or sms?

    thanks

    1. With RingPlus’ new plans (as of June 13th), you can now just sign up for the free plan and not pay anything to activate your iPhone. You get 200 minutes, 50 texts and 10 MBs for free, but any overages cost 2 cents per unit — so you’re really not limited. You can also buy one of the plans (unlimited talk and text with 1 GB of data is $20). You do have to listen “radio” ads or music instead of hearing a ring when calling — that’s the main down side.

  13. I just found out about RingPlus. Just yesterday, June 13, 2015, they have launched a whole new pricing structure (after meeting with Sprint executives.) Now there is a free plan where you get 200 minutes and 50 messages, 10 mb, overages are just 2 cents. I had a Boost mobile (PTel branded) Sprint phone that no longer works since PTel moved to T-Mobile a couple years back. So I easily registered it on RingPlus and it works again! For FREE! I am currenly paying $5 a month for ptel.com pay as you go plan, the $10 card for 60 days and it’s 5 cents a minute, 2 cents for texts and 10 cents per mb, so that’s only 100 minutes per month if you figure $5. Obviously RingPlus is a much better option for low use. Their other plans are very cheap too. The $2 and $5 plans are a great deal, and unlimited is $20, but that’s more in line with other providers such as ptel and givmobile (that’s ptel too). http://ringplus.net/

  14. Should add to what Jerry Diamond wrote — RingPlus has just changed all their plans. The only one that remains from the list above is the Bella Plan. The new $1.99 plan (“Joy”) now gives you 200 minutes, 200 texts and 50 MBs of data. The new Mint plan ($4.99) gives you 300 minutes, 500 texts and 100 MBs of data. Bella is basically the same. And then there are the four unlimited plans, with 1GB, 2GBs, 3GBs and 5GBs of data ($20, $30, $40 and $50). Supposedly today — June 18th — RingPlus will reopen their phone store. So a lot has changed. They also are claiming to have fixed (or had Sprint fix) some of the issues they were having (mentioned above). Also should mention that those who have the older plans have been “grandfathered in” so no change, unless they want to change.

    1. Meant to add — all overages (minutes, texts and MBs of data) are now 2 cents per unit on all plans.

  15. I have Ring+ and for a plan that does everything, its awesome. My wife and I both average about 10 dollars a month apiece. Once concern however is the voicemail notifications can run 3 hours behind. I have been really put in a bad spot due to this delay. I checked my phone constantly with no message and then at 1:30 I get a message that was left at 10:30. I’m not sure if I had called my voicemail if it would have been there, but I had no notification. This has happened twice, and I don’t get a lot of messages. I tell everyone to text me instead.

    1. You must be on Eastern Time for that 3 hour difference on messaging. There is no delay on messages, the time provided for messages are in Pacific Time, hence the 3 hour difference.

  16. I got the HTC EVO phone in order to start my account. They were supposed to ship it out immediately and give me a tracking number. That took over 4 days to get it out for shipping

    I tried to activate the phone and it would not activate. Finally they said ship it back to them and that they will fix it.I was also told that they will reimburse me for the shipping costs. They never did

    When the phone was returned, the screen was missing 100’s of pixels and viewing the screen was not that good.
    I emailed them back( with a picture of the phone and they said when they sent the phone, it was in fine condition. They will not adust anything.
    Their customer service is very inefficient and I would never recomment this company to anyone unless you bring your own phone

    1. Ring+ finally stated to send the phone back and they will get a replacement. First they stated to give them the tracking number and they will replace it immediately. Once I sent the tracking number they then stated that they want the phone in their possession so they can verify the ecn, Then they stated they will order one from their distributor and then send it. This problem has been going on for over a month and I have no cell phone. It seems that their customer service is incompetent. They just give me new stories every day.

  17. I activated a Sanyo Mirro flip-phone last week on the RingPlus Free Plan, and I’ve been using it for talk & text. So far I’m very pleased. I already had a smartphone on Freedompop, but I like to use a flip-phone for talking. Also, Freedompop uses VOIP so it requires a good data connection to make a call. I really appreciate the fact that RingPlus uses the normal cell network for voice calls. So now I get my free data from Freedompop and my free talking from RingPlus. I use both for texting.

  18. RingPlus was not a good fit for me because I need wider coverage. However, I have activated Sprint and Virgin Mobile flip phones for my son, mother, and uncle on the various free plans RingPlus offers. Service has been fine for them with no reported problems. Awesome for me as I used to pay for their phones. RingPlus has saved me hundreds in just a year.

    I really like the online “dashboard” that allows you to do many things like change plans, add credit (if needed), block numbers, view call logs, and much more.

    Very satisfied over here.

  19. I hear ya. I have never trusted any CS department to do what they say. Although I have never had any trouble with Ring+, it’s always good to have a backup phone on hand. If you really need a phone while you’re waiting, get a new Virgin or Sprint prepaid flip phone. They can usually be had for $15 or less. I have had no trouble with either activating on Ring+ and you can even use their BYOD ESN checker to make sure it will activate before purchasing.

  20. According to PrepaidPhoneNews.com… “With RingPlus paid plans, users hear news or music instead of ads. They can customize their experience by selecting from a range of music by genre and news stations by interests.”

    1. Would you care to elaborate with your experience instead of just saying “stay away” (3 times). If you had a bad experience, it would be more helpful to the rest of us if you could share.

  21. I bought a phone on August 17, 2015 from ringplus. I tried until September 3, 2015 to make the phone work. Ringplus was no help. The chat option was of no help, usually no one was there, if someone was there the response to each question took quite a few minutes and then they would say submit a service ticket, if we got that far before they disconnected. I have submitted at least 5 tickets and still received no reply. I contacted the manufacturer of the phone and was told that the phone was out of warranty, I purchased it on August 17. I was told I needed a receipt from Ringplus for them to repair the phone. I requested that from Ringplus, and guess what? Still no answer to any of the service tickets.

    I finally gave up and went with Virgin Mobile. Now I am waiting on Ringplus to port my number. So far they haven’t and according to Virgin Mobile that should have happened.

    If you like the frustration of not having a phone that works and not getting any help, Ringplus is the way to go. No wonder it’s free, it doesn’t work. In the mean time I am out about $150.00 and my phone service.

    1. Basically the same for me. No one responds to chat. The ticket person reply’s about once every 1-2 weeks. I’ve trying to activate my phone since 1/6/16

  22. I think with ANY company you’re going to have good and bad experiences. Remember, RingPlus is a fledgling company that is trying new ways to offer low-cost / no-cost cellular phone service. It is unrealistic at this point to expect the same customer service and level of technical support as the more established companies.

    Research and testing showed me that RingPlus was not a good fit for me, but was fine for a few of my family members. I would have never dropped my current phone service just because RingPlus had lower prices. Unfortunately, I’ve seen many people jump blindly into RingPlus just because of the pricing and have been disappointed.

    Right now RingPlus may not be right for most people, but for many, it works well.

  23. The biggest problem with Ring+ is poor customer support so one has to do his\her best to eliminate the need for it. Don’t buy a Ring+ phone. Buy a Sprint LG Volt form Best Buy or where ever for $39.99 and do a BYOD to Ring+. Don’t do a number port, etc, etc. I got in on the Pepper plan with 250 minutes, 500 texts, and 260 mb of data each month for free ($5 one time deposit). This covers more than I need each month with a rock solid smartphone. The rest of family are all on Iphone 6 and 6plus with AT&T. They give me a hard time, but I just wave the phone at them and say “Free Baby”!

  24. I signed up with Ringplus in September. I am most interested in tethering the phone. It did not work and I contacted customer service. I received a response saying something like “we are not able to do this right now” without any further explanation. I contacted customer service againin and did not get an answer. Finally I got an email apologizing for the delay in follow up and that the ‘case’was escalated now and I should expect an answer im 3-5 days. Then we went on vacation. Needless to say we did not have any response when we returned but I was charged for another month. I did not have 1 call or text or kb the first month but before answering they rather charged me again.
    I canceled immediately and I am stopping payment from my cc but I also will file a complaint with the BBB. This is just unacceptable and I most certainly will not recommend them.

  25. My brother who uses RingPlus told me about it. I signed up with RingPlus on Oct 19 but had bad timing loosing my Boost svc on a Friday while Ring+ delayed in Porting my phone# the last of 5 steps until Monday. So I pay $20 a month with no svc. Secondly, I ordered a new phone from Ring+ on Oct 26 so that I might try to SWAP DEVICES to keep my old phone# now in their system, with no confirmation yet on a delivery date. There is little to “no service” with the company. All the HELP methods are extremely limited: chat [get a posted message “not available now” even though it lists hours of 9:30-5pm M-F pacific time], Tickets [limit of 2 each] no reply, email [no reply] or phone [ring no answer] Comments welcome.

  26. As I’ve stated before, RingPlus is not a good fit for me, but I have placed at least six family members on some free and paid plans that work for them.

    While others have had trouble either activating and or transferring service from other providers, I have not and I think I know why.

    All of the phones I have activated on RingPlus have been brand new prepaid devices from Sprint or Virgin Mobile all purchased at Best Buy. The activations immediately gave the phones new phone numbers and fresh accounts that were not complicated by number ports, service transfers from other providers, or postal delays.

    Two of my family members wanted to use their phones that were already being used on Sprint. Instead of just doing a straight switch to RingPlus (which can get dicey with previously activated phones or phones still being used with another provider), here’s what we did. First, we bought two inexpensive Sprint Prepaid flip phones from Best Buy. They were on sale for $9.99 each (reg. $14.95). These phones were activated on a RingPlus free plan which gave new numbers and fresh, ready to use accounts. I had the two family members keep up their old Sprint accounts during this time.

    We made sure they had at least three weeks of service left on they’re current Sprint accounts (in case of any delays) before initiating a number port to RingPlus (porting their old numbers on top of the recently activated RingPlus accounts). Turns out they didn’t need that long. One number ported in 36 hours, while the other took almost 3 days. Once the ports were complete, they chose the right service plan for them.

    Sure, this is a round-about way of doing it as there is a little extra time and money involved, but that has been compensated for with the savings on RingPlus. All of my family members that have been using RingPlus have been on from 2 months to almost a year with no complaints except for the occasional missed text or voice message which can happen on ANY carrier. They have never had to contact customer service (and, hopefully, they won’t have to). Maybe they’re some of the lucky ones.

    1. Sorry, I forgot to add that once those two my family members chose new RingPlus plans after the number port was complete, they then SWAPPED their previous devices (the ones they really wanted to use) on to their new accounts.

    2. how did you activate a non-android phone on Ringplus?

      Their activation menus, including PRL reset. does not work on a non-android phone…..really?

      Maybe another fake recommendation???

    3. How did you get the Virgin Mobile phone you bought at Best Buy to work? I thought it had to be a Sprint based phone

    4. Virgin and Boost both use the Sprint network. While I only have had experience with activating Virgin flip phones and Sprint prepaid phones on RingPlus (in fact, just activated a Sprint Prepaid Moto E last night on a free 1500 min, 1500 texts, and 1.5GB of data plan and it’s working great), I have read many reports of people successfully activating new Virgin and Boost prepaid smartphones. The Virgin flip phones basically just activated themselves once I signed them up on RingPlus. Note: I have only activated new Virgin and Sprint devices that had never had service before.

  27. C’mon, really? I’d go through that whole story to get people to buy phones that won’t work?

    If it had never been activated before, The Sprint Prepaid Alcatel One Touch Retro just programs itself. The instructions for manual programming for both Android non-Android phones are given on the RingPlus website when you sign up, your phone passes the ESN check, and you activate it. These instructions can also be accessed through the Help Center.

  28. entering ##72786# asks me for a service code; the only code I have is the MSL number when I enter it, it says invalid lock code.

  29. I don’t know which specific device you’re trying to activate or whether or not it has been activated before, but it sounds like there is a device lock/unlock code that has been programmed in by the previous user or there may be a default number. You’ll probably need that code first before you can enter the MSL. I believe the default lock/unlock code for a Sprint Prepaid Alcatel One Touch Retro might be “0000”, but I’m not 100% sure. I don’t possess the phones I helped activate, so I can’t check.

    1. If is IS an Alcatel One Touch Retro, also try skipping the “Reset Your Existing Carrier Data” step and just go straight to the “Manually Provisioning Your PRL” step.

  30. Well I’m not a ringplus employee, but I’m quite happy so far with their service.

    I came over from freedompop, using the same phone (I had to call freedompop and ask them to release the ESN first). I’m quite impressed. I selected the classical radio station which is a lot nicer in my opinion than the default, and the worst problem I had was when it didn’t quite stop playing when they answered (about a second late), but for the price of free, that’s quite easy to put up with. 🙂

    Recently they have been having a lot of special promotions, which have been REALLY nice; the one going on right now especially 😉

    1. I can tell you that I left FreedomPop because the calling was awful. They use the data connection for calls instead of the traditional cell lines which (for me, anyway) made calling nearly impossible.

  31. I used Ringplus for about 1 year. Phone service was fine but 2 issues.
    I found the music/radio sounds while waiting for a call to pick up SO ANNOYING.
    The sound quality is really bad over the phone speaker and unless you go in and change the “station”, you hear the same crappy songs over and over.
    You also hear crappy advertising; “press 5 for more info…..” while waiting for the call to pick up.
    I also noticed that if I call the number and either it does not go through or there is a busy signal, the recording will play for a really long time – many minutes before I have to hang up and try again.
    The major problem is their customer service is TERRIBLE! It is almost impossible to get someone on the phone and email support takes days for even the simplest issue.
    They have a Chat option but it is rarely staffed and super slow, sometimes minutes between simple replies.
    I eventually got tired and moved over to Cricket.
    So glad to get that behind me.

  32. Had to add my 2 cents, and no I’m not a R+ employee either. I switched from PagePlus (a verizon mvno) to R+ just to try out their current free promotional plan. I had never heard of them, but caught a Black Friday week deal. Had to buy an old Sprint phone (bought a refurb iPhone4, yes, I’m cheap), and the by the time it arrived, the promo plan was gone over the weekend. 🙁 But then showed up again for CyberMonday, so maybe it’s just this seasonal deal I got that makes this at all worthwhile, we’ll see. On 2 days use so far, with numerous calls & sms, I’ve had no bugs, but can see how this radio thing may get annoying. But! I have this plan that gives 1500 min, 1500 sms & 1.5gb for free. Well, not quite totally free, my initial cc statement to top off the acct for overcharges is $15 plus $2.44 in the weird tax addons. So I don’t know if those taxes will be charged monthly or not. However, YMMV since I am in a metro area with really good Sprint coverage, so call quality seems ok. Not perfect, but usable, considering free. We’ll see.

    1. The weird taxes and addons vary from state to state, but are only charged for that specific “top up”. It will not be an ongoing monthly charge.

    2. Of course, you’ll be charged those taxes again when your top up runs out and you have to add another one.

  33. You nailed it. Seems landline and other wireless, calls go right through, but with RP it plays on and advertises for a minute or two, even with our premium lines. Have any of their techies even used their own service? I’ve also tried Ting and Republic and all of them set new standards of awfulness. I dream someday of getting great service with something like an Apple 6S.

    1. Ads run for minute or TWO? Never on my lines, I’ve tested many calls to landlines and cell phones with different services. If the RingPlus outgoing call was answered withing the first few rings, the ad and/or music lasted for about 10 to 15 seconds. If I let it ring long enough on a call to a cell phone for it to go to voicemail, the time was about 40 to 45 seconds. Maybe the ads/music just seem longer because we’re used to standard “ringing”.

  34. I had used ring+ for a month, the overall experience is terrible.

    The onboard experience was very bad: My iphone went through their registration process without any trouble and they charged my credit card but I couldn’t use it for a whole week. I tried to call customer service number 10-20 times, nobody answered the phone, I submitted a service request, nobody replied. I tried to use their chat help many times, again nobody was there to help. I spent a lot of time browsing on web and after a week’s try, finally solve my issue and able to use the service. After 3-4 days of signing up the service, since it didn’t work and no help was available, I disputed the charge to my credit card company, intending to shift to a different provider. When it finally worked, I forgot to make a new pay. Rather than sending a notice about the amount due, it cancelled my service without any notice. Since I already hooked up all friends via the phone number, I tried to contact customer service again to restore my account. Again I went through same nightmare of phone, chat, service ticket:Nobody answered the phone at 10am after several tries; I waste one hour with their incompetent chat(when that person entered chat room after a long long wait, it took 15 minutes for him to respond to my message, he responded to every message very slowly, looks like a pattern of typing one line, then rest a few minutes), after that useless one hour, I was told the case was transfered to a “senior representative” and he would contact me by email on the case. On the same day after the chat, since my phone was already out of service for a few days, I was anxious to lose phone contact with everyone, so I also created a service ticket, in which I also complained the horrible customer service I experienced. Within two hours I received a prompt reply: follwing a quote of my complain is a picture of a disgusting clown , then a “Really? hahaha”. After I tried to check if there was any material help more than the rude reply, I found my service ticket got deleted and my login access got blocked.

    This is definitely the WORST customer service experience I have ever experienced. Basically the company is telling you: Because of your low fee status, we decide to treat you like a dirt.

  35. I have been using R+ for about a year now for both of my daughters. I did not want to pay a lot for cell service for them and R+ fits the bill perfectly. I pay about $11.00 a month for each of them after taxes and that gets me 700 minutes talk, 300 texts, and 1 GB of data. They have a variety of plan offerings to meet individual needs if these ratios are not right for you. In fact, I started my youngest on the $9.00 and month plan in which she was allowed 300 MB of data. Later R+ changed their plan structure and for the same money she was getting 1GB of data!

    Granted customer service is sometime slow to respond and they may not be a fit for someone who requires immediate assistance, but for the price it can’t be beat. So far we have not had any service issues in which I needed to call service one the phone was provisioned. The only issue I have had was initial provisioning, and only because their information page was a little confusing.

    R+ may not be for everyone, but for me, I can cheaply provide both of my kids with cell service. Unless something drastic changes with the service or price structure, I will continue to be a customer.

  36. I am not sure if you are a ring+ employee. I was not asking unreasonable prompt help. We are not talking about slow response, it’s about the customer service NEVER helped its customer in any genuine way to restore service, and what’s more, they tried to fool around and play with customer who needs help. Maybe you have a better luck due to your special status. I just wrote my true experience that over a 2-week period of time, I spent maybe 10, 20 hours trying to reach its customer service for help, and I never get any help.

    1. Same story. Signed up 10 days ago. Three phones of the same model. Two with new given numbers work just fine. The third with ported number had sms issues, and then everything stopped working even voice. now for two days without service and no response from them, i have to get a new number and i’m going with different provider. to summarize: if you fine with getting new number and won’t require any support – go with R+, but plan to loose that number if you want to switch provider later; if you planning on keeping the number – stay away from R+.

  37. I’m considering Ring+ for my young daughter. I have an iPhone 5 from Sprint I can activate for her. I mostly want her to have talk and text…. Reality is probably more text that talk. Very little data is needed if any. She is around wifi a lot anyway. I’m a little concerned from reading comments about getting this phone activated. Is there any reason to go with a paid plan instead of a free plan? Also are mms over wireless free or are that always 4¢?

  38. Good or bad you’ll likely have the same experience whether you activate with a paid or a free plan. I’d start with a free plan to make sure everything is up and running properly first before upgrading to a paid plan if you think you need to. And, yes, all picture messages are 4 cents each both outgoing and incoming. Picture messaging and data can be disabled in the online dashboard if you want.

    I have only had experience activating new Sprint prepaid phones that had never been activated before so with a previously used iPhone 5 “your mileage may vary”.

    1. I decided to go ahead and activate the iPhone 5 with one of the free plans that was offered this weekend. It was quite seamless and we were up and running within seconds. I am monitoring her usage closely to see if I need to upgrade to a “paid” plan with unlimited texts. I have made it clear to her that every picture message costs 4 cents. She has sent a couple, but mostly it is her friends sending them to her.

      2 of her friends have iPhones , as well. Would the picture messages sent to her while on wifi be sent using iMessage and not cost additional? I am unclear on this.

    2. That’s a good question. The way I understand how iMessage works with Apple using their own servers for messages, I imagine you should not be charged for anything while on wi-fi. I guess the only way to really find out is to test it at it may take a long time for an answer from RingPlus customer service.

  39. Li you are the one who is inept if you don’t understand simple English. No I don’t work for any provider and the experience I posted was my true experience. If you are lucky that you never run into any problem their service is ok; If you do like me, then it becomes hell: you spent tons of hours trying to contact them to get your problem solved. instead of helping you, they chose to fooling around you and censor you on their forums.

  40. Pictures sent via iMessage do not count as MMS. I have made the suggestion to friends without an iPhone to install Google Hangouts on their phones. Texts and pictures sent via hangouts count against data when not on wifi and don’t count against anything on wifi.

  41. Ringplus is excellent for light users. Setting up service requires a few tasks – including using additional apps for enhanced service. Customer service is limited. Ringplus Discourse is best source for input on technical matters and logistics- although
    Ringplus reps and/or management will occasionally engage. Their concept of subsidized or free phone calls(per advertising during ring back tone) is quite noble and unique due to their patent. It will take time for them to attempt to perfect latency and audio quality because the patented technology requires routing calls through their servers. Subscribers with good Sprint coverage have less call quality issues. For those who want a phone for their children,
    elders and even active adults you will find it is worth trying and recommending if you understand
    what your are getting. Again for light usage or secondary phone you can’t go wrong for the pricing. Toooo many plans and
    promotions-but harmless. Some even appreciate that type of approach. Beware of extreme
    immature behavior by some discourse participants. Particularly one in particular that Ringplus should and has not permanently censored. Although
    at times this member displays good knowledge of being a Ringplus user he may be annoying. The disconnect here of Ringplus’ management is that they may not realize this member may have the time to enhance his knowledge . Others may not have the time to read through past threads or the knowledge. So take the good with the bad and indulge yourself in a limited but unique and cost effective phone experience. Happy New Year All !!!

  42. Tried to sign up, keeps giving me an error saying that my credit card won’t work. Called my bank, they say that there was an inquiry by ring+ and that is it. Tried calling Ring+ just to get an answering machine and told to leave a message 🙁 Guess I’m better off with my current service.

  43. I’m happy with the r+ service so far and was ecstatic that it let me put on service on my sprint HTC m9 phone that right there was enough for me cuz I couldn’t find anyone that would put service on for me unless I rooted and unlocked my phone so all and all a happy camper

  44. Ive used R+ off and on since last year and not had a major problem. I run an iPhone 4 on it. I recently ported my standard Cricket number to them as I am not a huge phone user. Not that 35$ a mo was alot but 5$ with 500/500/500 is better. The data varies between 1x and 3G depending “on the weather” as I call it where I live but always connects. You get what you pay for, if your a light phone user it’s ok service. I don’t keep the cellular on if near wifi mostly to just save battery.

  45. I used Sprint for years, and finally got sick of paying $75 a month. So after research, I ported my phone/number over to Ting. Hardly turning on data unless I needed it and paying attention for 7 months, my bill averaged $30 w/tax. Since I wasn’t scared of the whole porting experience, I saw a RingPlus promo this past week and had a spare phone, so for new line added, $20 top u(+tax) 1000/1000/1000 for FREE. I said, why not! Porting over was relatively painless and after a few re-sets I got it working fine. It all depends on what you want from your phone service. It’s only been 24 hours since I switched to RingPlus, but here’s to FREE cell service and no contracts!

  46. I just started my ringplus phone service on Sunday and have had the service for a few days with no problem. I used an old android virgin mobile phone (Galaxy Victory) that I wasn’t using. I charged the battery followed the directions online and got the $20 top u(+tax) 1000/1000/1000 for FREE. Great plan as a backup or for a person who doesn’t feel like paying $50 month. I couldn’t be happier.

  47. I set up my son’s cell phone on a Ringplus plan and it has worked out great. I even got an old virgin mobile phone to access the RingPlus network. It is working fine without any problems.

  48. i saw the ringplus promotion for their top tier free plan (2000/2000/1GB) for free with $20 auto top off. i was skeptical but had a spare Galaxy S3 so i bought it to try out for a few months. so far the process was painless. was able to re-program the phone according to the directions without incident. The radio playing is annoying since I don’t know when someone picks up the phone. and the quality is lower from the handful of calls that I tried. But for a free cell phone plan i can deal with this. As time progresses I’m hoping that the quality will improve.

  49. Switching from Republic wireless I already had expectations of various types of red tape and reduced customer service; so the transition to Ringplus was mostly Painless to me. Squeezing those extra few bucks really matters in our family right now so the extra hassle is well worth it.

    I will warn you: make sure your billing address has good native Sprint cellular service- We had to switch our billing address to my grandmother’s house to start with R+; For some the extra hassle might not be worth it.

    Pros:
    Cheap or near free service
    Never have to go to a retail store
    Cheap or near free service (total bill with mms/data overages cost us less than $5/mo. For ALL 3 lines.)
    Use any off contract or unlocked Sprint compatible phone (Republic Wireless customers will like this)
    Did I mention Cheap or near free service?
    Broken phone doesn’t require replacement to be shipped (Republic Wireless customers will like this too)
    Can bring your existing phone number easily.
    Full dasboard to control data/mms/sms enabling and disabling, view usage stats, etc.
    Support for wifi calling

    Cons:
    Can’t go to a retail store…yep pro/con depending on how you look at things!
    Someone in your group needs to be a little tech saavy and have some patience for the initial setup.
    Ads played instead of phone ringing
    Data throttle speed is slow (after initial LTE alottment is used)

    Thank you Ringplus for an alternative for those of us who really need it! Don’t blast R+ for doing us such a favor!!

  50. I switched my 3 kids’ phones to Ringplus in Dec 2015. So far it has been great and costs me basically 0$/month. Actually some months it cost 50c – $1 for the MMS since each MMS costs 4 cents. Kids now prefer texting to talking so the radio-ads don’t bother them at all. They were on the Sprint Framily Plan previously which cost $25/line + tax = $30 which I considered good deal. Now the Ringplus plan is even better. I had no problem activating any of the line. Here’s how I did it.

    I had a spare Sprint phone. I waited for a great promotion such as 1500 minutes, 1500 texts, 1500 MB.
    – First activated Ringplus on the spare phone (phone 1).
    – Ported number from Sprint (phone 2) to phone 1 (you cannot activate Ringplus on a current active Sprint phone)
    – Switched the Ringplus service from phone 1 to phone 2. Now Phone 2 (earlier with Sprint) is now a Ringplus phone with no ported from Sprint.
    – So now I have the spare phone (phone 1 again)
    – You cannot sign up for Ringplus again on phone 1 for 30 days. After 30 days, wait for promotion and do it again for the 2nd line
    – Just yesterday, I was able to sign up for the free 3000 minutes, 3000 texts, 3250 MB LTE data with $25+taxes top up. They had flash promotion which lasted only 1 hours. Sign up for promotion and you will know the upcoming promotions. What a deal!

  51. FYI:
    Sprint Blocking Loophole That Allows New Prepaid Phones on MVNOs

    Effective April 17, 2016, Sprint will no longer allow new, never activated Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile or Sprint Prepaid phones to be activated on Sprint MVNOs. The CDMA carrier will make a change to its MVNO activation system that will result in the rejection of any phone from its Boost, Virgin or Sprint Prepaid brands unless said phone has been used at least 12 months on the Sprint prepaid brand it was sold for. The change was announced by RingPlus CEO Karl Seelig on March 28th, 2016.

    Seelig said this is not a policy change by Sprint but the closing of a loophole. Prepaid devices were always supposed to be blocked from MVNO activation until they had been “aged” for 12 months on their original Sprint prepaid brand. But Sprint’s MVNO device activation software, whether by accident or design, would allow brand new prepaid devices to be activated provided the phone had never been activated on the Sprint prepaid brand it was intended for.

  52. For a long time I was a RingPlus fan, when I didn’t need my service to be rock solid. I moved about 3 weeks ago, and decided to finally ditch my landline. Now I am looking for a new cel service provider. While RingPlus’ plans come across as gimmicky, I really had no issue with them. BUT, the call quality is seriously lacking. There is a noticeable lag in voice services, and if you are talking with another RingPlus user, it is even worse. We aren’t talking about a few milliseconds here, I have had voice lag as long as 2 seconds between when I speak and when the other person hears it. It is so bad whenever I call my husband’s cel (also on RingPlus), that we are now in the habit of saying “over” whenever we are done speaking a phrase and await a response. That just isn’t acceptable service, free or otherwise. This isn’t a new issue to RingPlus either, you can find posts on both their old and new forums with complaints about this lag, going back years. Previous I was in a rural area, and was told the lag would lessen or disappear with better coverage. Not so. Moved into the city, great coverage, still awful lag.

    I wouldn’t recommend RingPlus as anything other than a backup plan you keep in your glovebox. I hope they can resolve the issues, but seeing as how the complaints go back YEARS, it is doubtful.

  53. Not surprised to hear that TWOODS. Ringplus seems to have a difficult time perfecting their service. Sprint should invest more into their MVNOS. Considering the odd hybrid competitor/partner relationship they have with their MVNOS- it is of no surprise they limit investing
    in them. Hope RP survives !

  54. Remember, R+ isn’t your typical company – it’s internet, chat rooms, days for responses, etc. I’ve ordered a new phone, and will be switching to a major carrier, not R+, Ting, or Republic anymore. Three years of saving money, but three years to sample the worst customer service America has to offer. Good luck.

  55. Just activated two new Moto E phones from Best Buy on Total Free plan for kids. No issues activating. Voice calls have 1-2 secs lag. But won’t interrupt normal conversation. Will activate primary lines too in the next few days.

    1. It doesn’t seem like it will interrupt normal conversation, until you make a call to someone who isn’t expecting it. It didn’t bother us at first either, until we gave up our landline to use RingPlus for all our telephone calls. Then it became very very noticeable. We finally had to move our primary lines from RingPlus because of it. More concerning to us tho, was that this lag has existed for YEARS and despite hundreds of complaints, hasn’t been solved. that is what really nailed it for us.

  56. They seem to come up with a unique promo every week. No two promos are same. And those promos don’t match with pre-packaged “Plans” they have on their website. So confusing – lot complex than Big boys plans ;-). Once we sign up for those Promos, are we in that plan until we change it again or is it only for first month ? Whether first month or for life, how the heck is their system keeping track of so many plans, customers with so many different limits and how is it enforcing it ? As a programmer myself, I know it can be completely automated, but why do they want to complicate things for themselves ? Seems like RP guys are more of programming geeks than business guys. Thinking about it again, now I see where they are going with this. They are trying to make it “Software Defined Cellular Service” …I like these guys now. Great plan. They are trying to be Google of cellular world. So, I think Google will buy them eventually if they sustain financially and continue innovating like this. As long as the plans work exactly as they say it will, we are happy.

    We went over data limit on the Total Free plan. No credit card on the account. What happens now ? Are they going to deactivate our line or just block data until next billing cycle ?

  57. When you choose a plan, you’re with that plan until you change it or cancel.

    Once you reach your minutes, texts, or data limit on the Totally Free plan, that portion of the plan is turned off until the next billing cycle.

  58. Tried 3 times to buy a Samsung s4 and each time they cancelled the order and said there was a security issue WITHOUT telling me what I could do to resolve it. Can’t believe how hard it is to get thru to someone to just talk it over. Each of the 4 reasons they said could be the problem are not the problem.

    (a) because the institution that issued the card does not comply with the highest consumer protection standards
    (b) the address is a PO Box or dorm room
    (c) the card is a gift card or prepaid card
    (d) Sprint does not provide coverage in your area

    All 4 do not apply (I’ve used Amex and Visa, Single family residence, credit card, Sprint is my current provider and the service works no problem). They won’t even give me a correct hint as to the problem is so I can try to rectify it. Pretty frustrating.

  59. Be nice to see comments from
    PhoneGuru,RPROCKS,DLex (politeness please)Petermarinov,
    Busdriver etc.,etc.,etc.
    And Will the techie. These guys have been members from the beginning (except Will who came on later). They could give some long term perspective that would
    Be helpful to newer members.

  60. I just got my r+ phone and it wont activate. No one answers a phone. Paid $70 fir a junk Samsung galaxy rush. To eend back cist $11 shipping an 20 percent restock fee. Buyer beware

    1. Kim
      Did you check the MEID on RingPLus chart before buying? Did the MEID show to be compatible, but still won’t activate.
      I am almost ready to click onto an Amazon deal for a Galaxy SII that has a MEID already checked to work with RingPLus, but there will be that shipping plus restocking if it doesn’t actually work!
      Let me know, even though this is months later from the post!
      Thanks
      marcy

  61. RingPlus has been well documented on their virtually non-existent phone support. If you’re having a problem, try posting your issue here:

    https://social.ringplus.net/

    Either a RingPlus representative or a RingPlus user will likely be able to help a lot faster than by phone.

  62. I used Ring+ for about six months now. I do not recommend them. I’ve used ATT, Wal-mart Family Mobile, Straight Talk, and now Ring+. As soon as I switched to Ring+, I was unable to call MOST ATT customers! Reception in my area is poor, but my phone shows 4G most the time( Meridian, MS). Also, MMS hasn’t worked from the beginning of service. I’ve submitted three service tickets(can’t call them as they don’t have over the phone technical support). On two tickets, they timed out and never resolved either of my MMS or call issues. The advertisements weren’t a big deal. Price was good. But for service I give them 0 of 5 stars. Just really terrible.

    1. @ Colton Campbell
      Yes. Customer service is poor on RingPlus if you have a problem. You might want to try posting your issue at https://social.ringplus.net/ in the ‘Community’ section. There are lots of RingPlus users (not staff) there that can be eager to help.

      Based on your comment about the networks you’ve used before, it looks like Sprint is probably the weakest in your area. RingPlus is on the Sprint network. AT&T, Walmart Family Mobile (which is on T-Mobile), and Straight Talk (which is either Verizon or AT&T) all usually have better network coverage than Sprint.

      RingPlus is definitely not for the faint-of-heart. You have to give up something (like technical support) in order to get their free or almost free rates. When you’re in an area with solid Sprint coverage, it usually works pretty well.

  63. I have been with RingPlus since November 2015. I must say I’m very happy with the service. I have not had any major problems with service. I have used Verizon Pay as you Go, MJ and FP but R+ voice beats them both (MJ & FP). No more “you are breaking up”, “you sound choppy” or “I will call you later”. I have swapped phones about 3 or more times with No problems Once they are unlocked from the services listed above. I have used LG, mostly Samsungs and iPhone 5.
    My daughter’s Only complaint was NOT getting MMS messages to and from her friends using the iPhone 5s. I admit I have not had a chance to research the issue.
    I will give them 4 of 5 stars as of June 2016.

  64. I have been using RingPlus for several months now and couldn’t be happier. My cell phone bill is $0/month and the service is outstanding. You get access to a very nice dashboard that details all of your usage and plan history. In addition to customer service, there is also a very helpful social community who can help answer questions.

    I would highly recommend giving RingPlus a try.

  65. I want to make sure that this is the kind of service I am looking for. Does it work like Republic Wireless where you can still receive texts or calls if you have wifi access but aren’t in an area with good Sprint service? Do I need to download an app to do this?

    1. They do have a service called “FluidCall” which uses a SIP client app on your phone to make and receive calls over wifi. No texting, though. Google “RingPlus FluidCall” for more detailed info.

  66. Ringplus can be very slow – *take over a month* – to respond to support requests. We purchase 2 phones from them. The first one we spotted sooner that it was defective (loose back–Local tech said repair would be more than the value of the phone); the other support ticket was sent in soon after about the problem with the second phone, closed by accident (and the ticket deleted from their system), reopened, and it has been well over a month with NO real support response.

    Ironically we bought the phones to use right away. When the first phone was returned but our account kept open, they deleted my son’s phone number. Though you can guess we bough him another phone *somewhere else*, he is still without a usable phone since we’ve been waiting for the resolution regarding the second phone.

    They say there is no phone support.

    Anyone else being aggravated at the speed of RingPlus’ response?

  67. I want to bring over an IPhone from straight talk that uses the Verizon Network. Does anyone know if the phone will work on R+? IMO it should since hey both use CDMA technology.

  68. Ringplus been at it since before 2011. Hopefully they will grow and become successful. You have to admire the persistent attempts to
    get the company to live up to its
    business model. Very noble approach to providing phone service.

  69. RingPlus is sort of awesome. BEFORE I give my story, note that you can keep your current service AND try Ringplus’ FREE service with a cheap phone + new number NO CREDIT CARD NEEDED! (check with Ringplus first) and then make a decision (I did after 2 months).

    I live in a very rural area. I was with AT&T years ago..no home signal and $$$. Then, I went to StraightTalk (Verizon towers gave me min. 1 bar), at $30/mo + taxes, and a flip-phone, but when later I wanted a smartphone, they req’d $45 + taxes. Bummer.
    Went w/o for a while. Then, with Ting, at $10-20 a month, depending on usage. The service was ok (1 bar, but I used WIFI at home); I planned to stay forever.
    Clark Howard mentioned Ringplus. While on Ting, I got an HTC Desire 816 (an incredible phone, whose only weakness is the small internal memory) for $79 and tried the FREE Ringplus for 2 months. Granted customer service is only via email or limited chat, but I have never been disappointed with the help. I usually have a weak signal, at times 1 bar, but I integrated Google Voice and w WIFI, I never miss a call.
    The BEST part is when I caught a Mother’s Day offer, 1200 min, 1200 txts, 1.2gb, ALL for a reserve of $12. Since May 2016 (it is now Oct), I still have the same $12!!
    In town, Sprint works, and on trips, the GPS and data works great with Google Maps most of the time.

  70. Now, I am not recommending Ringplus anymore although I liked them initially. They have stopped the data completely and want me to pay more even though I have paid a lot. They are doing this all over again.

    1. Please explain, “They have stopped the data completely and want me to pay more…”. I have had a Mad Plan with 6000 Min/Txt/MB for a few months now and have had no issues.

  71. I think ringplus is awesome, it doesn’t get any more frugal than free, until a company comes out that pays me to use their phones i think this is the best deal around. Even the paid plans are cheap. The key to it is read the forum, deal with the community, and be willing to use logic aquiring phones and setting them up. I found all the answers to any problems through the rp community. I have set quite a few people up on their plans as well so I’ve figured out how to turn on everything from a old school android running gingerbread to a basic flip phone. The new plans have excellent call quality, good coverage, roaming if I need to, and data. As far as I’m concerned two months with ringplus saved me what it cost to top up. I hope this company succeeds, phone prices in the U.S. are crazy expensive. And well, we desire to be frugal, right.

  72. Ring Plus was also awesome until Ring Plus cancelled the two phone I had on a free plan. Explanation, they discontinued these plans. A bit disconcerting it you’re a fan of stable service. In addition to the plans being cancelled I attempted to add a third paid line but was unable to activate the cell phone. I communicated this problem to Ring Plus and they responded by billing me for the next three months. To stop the billing I cancelled the credit card on file with Ring Plus and opened a ticket requesting they return my charges.

    This is when my two free service phone were cancelled. In order to keep the two phones I had to select another free plan and this time deposit $10.00 per each phone. So adding a credit card to my account to facilitate the $10.00 payment, Ring Plus bill me two more months for the phone I could not activate.
    I have opened a second ticket to no avail. I’ve called the listed number which advises Ring Plus does not provide phone support and to open a ticket or go to their chat line. If anyone can find their chat line please let me know as I am unable to locate it.

    Bottom line, if you are computer savvy Ring Plus is probably a good deal. If you make a mistake then you’ll most likely be unhappy. Mostly because of non-existent customer service. Good luck and proceed at your own risk.

    1. Hi Kenneth, a good way to use their system is the forum, the moderators can even bring your ticket to the attention of customer service. The forums are set up so the users can be of assistance to one another.

  73. I was originally set up on a samsung galaxy s3 one year ago. I kept using the plan for half a year until I lost that phone then I went ahead to get s4 which had that weird activation which I couldn’t seem to input the prl numbers to activate the phone. I seek their help to activate which takes weeks to respond but they responded with one sentence which got me really mad. Then I had to get yet another phone to attach the phone to. After that I opted not to change the plan but still kept the phone number that kept for over a decade. Last month I still had 9 bucks still in the account and they sent me a notice that they’re shutting down my account the last 60 days. I used the phone for 25 minutes the day they sent me the notice. But they still shut down my number and ate the rest of the amount in that account. You will never get a proper response to your inquiries. They will shut down your account without consulting you. And lastly they will keep the amount without anywhere that can be called customer service to contact.

  74. My experience: Happy paying $5/month for the right plan that gets me good service in the city I live in (Atlanta). I can put up with the advertising for a ring-out.
    Then, without so much as a text or email, they suspend my service. They say “Sorry. We discontinued your plan. Just select a new plan.” It will cost me $5 activation fee (and remember I’m not activated because they discontinued my plan) and a pre-paid $15 auto-top up. On top of that I get fewer benefits for more $ per month. I’m fine with increased service costs, but kicking me off and then stacking on a bunch of charges seems rude and dishonest.
    I ask them to reinstate me without these ridiculous charges and all I get is silence, them knowing they can play the waiting game while I’m stuck without service. I’m guessing they can out wait me. Just how often will they pull this crap?
    Jerks.
    Phone Service: B+
    Price: A (when they aren’t screwing you over)
    Customer Service: Hardcore F

  75. I’ve been with RingPlus for about a year, after PlatinumTel died and I needed to find a new source of cheap phone data. I almost never make phone calls, use less than 50 texts per month usually, but like having internet access when I’m away from home. PTel used to give me that for a few dollars a month.

    R+ was fine at first. The audio quality when calling was terrible, especially their awful garbled “radio” music as a dialtone, but like I said, I almost never called anyone, so I didn’t much care. Worse was when my phone simply couldn’t make or receive phone calls at all mysteriously for several hours at a time and then would fix itself. My husband would be trying to call me and my phone wouldn’t even ring. Any attempts to get this fixed through customer support fell on deaf ears.

    But then a few months ago, I got a notice that my plan was being discontinued, and I’d have to select a new plan. Didn’t mind at the time, the new plan was just as free and actually gave me 250MB more data than I’d been getting.

    But a couple of weeks ago, my voicemail stopped working. I missed a call, got a voicemail, called the voicemail number, put in my PIN just like I’d done many times before, and it told me my PIN was wrong. I know it’s not wrong, it’s the same PIN I was using since the new plan asked me to set up my inbox again, the same PIN I use to unlock my phone every day.

    After trying all I can to fix it myself, I try to send a ticket into support, using their fancy new support ticket system (that does not have an option in its dropdown menus about this problem nor does it have an “other” option). Takes several days to get any reply, their response doesn’t fix the problem. Takes several more days to get another reply that doesn’t even TRY to fix the problem (just tells me to talk to Sprint to resolve the issue. I asked Sprint, they say they can’t help me). I try replying again asking them to help, and they CLOSE MY TICKET.

    I’m so pissed off right now. I tried submitting another ticket, but I was actually a month or two away from switching my husband over to R+ as well to save a bit more money every month. Now it seems I’m going to be joining him at US Mobile instead. He hasn’t had any problems there and it only costs him $9/month for basic service.

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