that any carrier I have had will do about anything to keep me from cancelling their service. Last one was Verizon. Went in and told them I was switching to a service that only charges $45/month. The guy said hold on and went to talk to someone else. Came back and said he just found a new plan that could match that.

That is the first thing to try.

The speeds were incredibly slow and I switched to Charter.

Planning on dropping my cable and keeping my internet and home phone. Can't wait to see what they can now offer.

I've learn to always buy my iPhone from Apple. If you take the Verizon or AT&T phone you have to get a new phone if you change. Not so if you buy from Apple and you get a 2 year warranty, not the year one.

I was going to drop the TV part of the service, but we decided to keep things as they are when the pandemic hit.

I have been buying my phones as you mentioned for awhile. Take them from the Apple store to T-Mobile and have them activated. In the last case the fellow switched over all my information for me and set it all up.

Charter not an option in North O.C. California. Only need internet, hungry for suggestions.

I live in a semi rural area of Nor Cal where there is no cable and AT&T refuses to do long promised upgrades. Finally worked out internet access from a fixed wireless provider. Long story short, If you have line-of-sight to a fixed wireless transmitter you can get blazing speeds. The google tells me that these guys offer fixed wireless in OC. Check

https://vectus.com/wireless-internet-orange-county

are horrible and frustrating and text do not go thru. I have to call them and have put it off.