Anyone know anything about pre-paid cell phones?

[Dan Mitchell]

I have a cell phone which is part of my wife's business cell plan. Now that we are splitting up, she plans to remove me from the plan. I use the phone only very rarely, but would like to have a cell for emergency use. Has anyone had any experience with "prepaid" cell phones? I'm assuming they're as the name implies, and you "prepay" for a specified period, but if anyone knows of things to look for & avoid with these, I'd appreciate hearing them.

TIA

Dan

[Cary Falk]

WE had one for our daughter before she wanted a "real phone"(her words). Unless things have changed you buy prepaid cards at Wal-mart, Best Buy, etc, and you have to enter the code on the back of the card into the phone. It is similar to an Itunes card. You do have to watch out because even you paid for the minutes, if you don't use them in 90 days they expire. I would keep a $10 card on the ready. I sorta remember if the card expires you have to reset up your account. Don't quote me on that.

[Michael Wetzel]

I got a Gophone for my parents. It was around $140, that included the phone and a $100 card. A $100 card is good for one year. Lesser cards are only good for 90 days or so. $100 a year is a steal compared to a normal plan...

[mickey cassiba]

My wife and I have been using them for three years now, with no major inconvenience. You do have to keep in mind though, that your balance decreases even when you make no calls.(at least on the V plan we have).
Mick

[Dan Mitchell]

My wife and I have been using them for three years now, with no major inconvenience. You do have to keep in mind though, that your balance decreases even when you make no calls.(at least on the V plan we have).
Mick

All sounds great, except for the "disappearing minutes" part. I wonder if there are any plans that DON'T have that "feature"?

Thanks for the replies,

Dan

[Pat Germain]

Another disadvantage to pre-paid phones is you're charged minutes no matter when you call. Whereas, a typical monthly plan has free weekend calling, for example.

[Scott Donley]

All sounds great, except for the "disappearing minutes" part. I wonder if there are any plans that DON'T have that "feature"?

Thanks for the replies,

Dan

ATand T, if you renew befor the end of your current time they are carried over. You can also renew online.

[Kevin Groenke]

I use a Tracfone. I recently bought a 1 year card for $99, by using promo codes when I added the "airtime" (done on the phone or on the web) I got a total of 1080 minutes. You don't loose any minutes unless you let the phone "expire".

I only use the phone for occasional travel and 10-20 short calls a month so it works fine for me. Phone has text, camera, calendar, etc... capability. I cannot imagine paying $50/mo (minimum) for a monthly plan.

[scott spencer]

Dan - We've been using STi Mobile for about 4 years now with good success. It's been the least expensive prepaid plan I've found, and has a fairly straight forward deal. We just picked up our third for Christmas this year. The phone is currently about $37 with 200 free minutes. The plan is 8.9¢ per day (~ $3/mth), and additional minutes are 8.9¢ per minute and they don't expire, so is a good choice for people who don't make many calls.

Last year my wife picked up a Net10 phone that's around 10¢ per minute, but the minutes have an expiration, so they require regular renewal minutes to keep the plan active. It averages ~ $15 month for 150 minutes per month, which is their minimum. They have a promo for $50, phone, 300 minutes/60 days, free activation. There are several options. She uses it everyday now, but keeps the calls short so it's been a good plan for her. I think the sound quality is better with Net10 than STi Mobile, but it's hard to know all the variables involved with that.

[Dennis McGarry]

Look at t-mobile FLEX PAY

You can get it w/o credit check, you also then pick a plan and have monthly mins just like a reg. account only no term, and you pre-pay the monthly service.

Gophones, tracphone etc, are all in my opinion a waste what you spend on the phone and mins ends up costing more then a deposit would cost you elsewhere. T-mobile has the best there buy the phone, sign up for flex pay and then you are done.



If you have bad credit, but want a regular service, goto sprint, the max deposit they charge for a line is 50.00 now, they re-did their credit model completly.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have used a Tracfone for a number of years now. I can say it is one thing I am 100% happy with. You never lose time unless you let the service expire. and there is no daily fee like some phones have.
You can buy cards at the store and enter in a series of numbers (like the old days) The best way is to buy your time on-line and they just send them to your phone. Nothing for you to enter on the phone.
I buy the one year card so my service cost me $100 a year.

I have told a number of people at work about the Tracfone. At first they think I am pulling their leg about the cost being so cheap. but after they sign up, they thank me and can't believe they were spending $35 a month.

* Now if you are a cell phone junkie who calls your friends every time you pass gas and talk for hours, then a pre paid phone would be more expensive. But if like me, I make calls to say "I'm going to be late" or "do you need anything from the store" it's perfect.

http://www.tracfone.com/

[Dennis McGarry]

Another to look at in your area is Cricket, they have unlimted plans around 35 bucks a month, talk text and data

[Dave Johnson29]

I have had a Tacfone since about 2004. Very happy with it as I do not use it much. The minutes never expire but they have two separate systems, minutes and service. If the service runs out then I think the minutes may go too but not sure. If the service expires you lose the phone number so I never let mine run low.

I buy the minutes and service time online as they have special deals all the time. You only need the phone serial number and the thing is updated immediately.

They use Verizon as a carrier so they have about the best coverage you can get. It is true they charge minutes for calls, but if you do not use the phone a lot, it is much, much cheaper than the plan systems. I use it about 30 minutes a month and it runs me less than 8-bucks a month all up. The cost of the phone was 10-bucks.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My wife and I only use a cell phone when traveling. So we got a Trac-phone. It works for us and costs about $100 per year.

[Jamie Buxton]

I use a cell from Virgin Mobile, on a pay-as-you-go arrangement. I just pay for the minutes I use. That's it. No rollover shell game or anything. No contract. They bill my credit card in $15 chunks. They gave me a basic phone for signing up. The per-minute rate is higher than other plans, but I use the phone perhaps 30 minutes a month, and this is by far the least expensive plan I could find. I generally spend $5-$10 per month on cellual. I also just like the simplicity of the deal.