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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / ATT Wireless / December 2007basic cellular bill + added taxes ?
My son is out looking at different cell plans so he can get a smartphone.. However, I've warned him - for budgeting purposes - that the real monthly cost is not just the detailed voice and/or data plan, but it also includes the local TAXES. Looking at some of my old Sprint bills, it looks like a $39 plan had about $7.50 added in taxes = 20% So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added taxes ? >So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added taxes It would probably help greatly if you said what state you were in, so you would at least get a reasonable comparison of taxes. > Looking at some of my old Sprint bills, > it looks like a $39 plan had about $7.50 added in taxes = 20% > > So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added > taxes ? Alltel in South Carolina, here. The $39 plan is over $47 after the bureaucrats get their cuts. Every fiefdom wants some. It's obscene. There'll be more taxes, now with the additional $25/mo EVDO data added to that. $64/mo will total over $75. I justify it by not having an AT&T landline at home, which I consider obsolete. I'll never figure why someone with a SELLphone they're paying so much for has another drain on their funds with a useless landline with even MORE stupid addon charges, like "long distance", a throwback into the 1930's. People are stupid. Larry  SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v NYC area: t-mobile. Basic fee $39.99. Taxes raise it to $50. (a couple cents up or down from that $50. I have a couple of small periodic extra charges, so can't calculate the exact exact amount). Signature_____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] >> Looking at some of my old Sprint bills, >> it looks like a $39 plan had about $7.50 added in taxes = 20% [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > >People are stupid. 2004, hurricane Frances (or Jeanne, your choice) makes landfall a few miles south of here. My neighbors couldn't get a cell phone call out for four days or more. Towers down, overloaded circuits, joy! On the other hand my 'obsolete', 'useless landline' a 'throwback to the 1930's' survived both hurricane strikes and we were able to make calls. Hell, I called my insurance company and made our initial insurance claim during the height of the storm. You go on staring dumbly at "No Signal" I'll be talking to my family around the country... Anyone you want me to call for you, Tech-boi? >>> Looking at some of my old Sprint bills, >>> it looks like a $39 plan had about $7.50 added in taxes = 20% [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > talking to my family around the country... Anyone you want me to call > for you, Tech-boi? In 1989, around midnight, I stood in the street outside a friend's wrecked home we were staying at, staring up at the stars through the center of the eye, talking on AMPS with my bagphone to my friend's family in Ohio to tell them we were ok, but the house had moved 3" away from the garage, cracking the wall. We'd been huddled in the bathroom for hours wondering if it would ever be over. Whole pine trees were flying horizontally down the street, lit up by the falling electrical power system it took months to rebuild. I guess I was lucky the old bagphone still worked. Of course, that was on 800 Mhz AMPS with real transmitters and a better system than PCS. My family is all dead. Do you think your landline can call them? Larry SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v >My family is all dead. Do you think your landline can call them? Are you always this much of an a.shole or are you extra special bitter becuase of the holidays? Don't bother letting me know, I really don't give a sh.t. >>My family is all dead. Do you think your landline can call them? > > Are you always this much of an a.shole or are you extra special bitter > becuase of the holidays? Don't bother letting me know, I really don't > give a sh.t. Wha'd I say?? It's true! They're all dead! It's not my fault they're dead! Most died in their 80's! Geez.... Larry SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v > 2004, hurricane Frances (or Jeanne, your choice) makes landfall a few > miles south of here. My neighbors couldn't get a cell phone call out for [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > talking to my family around the country... Anyone you want me to call > for you, Tech-boi? Tech-boi? What're you, a child? Land lines are great, unless said hurricane topples the house, the lines or the central office. >> 2004, hurricane Frances (or Jeanne, your choice) makes landfall a few >> miles south of here. My neighbors couldn't get a cell phone call out for [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >Tech-boi? What're you, a child? Aww, cute. New to usenet or just really pathetic? >Land lines are great, unless said hurricane topples the house, the lines or >the central office. Hopefully you'll be under the pile with Larry. > I justify it by not having an AT&T landline at home, which I > consider obsolete. I'll never figure why someone with a > SELLphone they're paying so much for has another drain on their > funds with a useless landline with even MORE stupid addon > charges, like "long distance", a throwback into the 1930's. Because it's a lot easier for a child to find the phone mom drills him to use in an emergency when the phone is *always* attached to the kitchen wall, and because the landline will *always* accurately report its number and location to the 911 center, unlike cellphones. Wooly <nobody@nunya> wrote in news:47554baa$0$2365 $4c368faf@roadrunner.com: >> I justify it by not having an AT&T landline at home, which I >> consider obsolete. I'll never figure why someone with a [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > kitchen wall, and because the landline will *always* accurately report > its number and location to the 911 center, unlike cellphones. Hmm....If a child is that young, shouldn't it be with its parents or a trusted adult? If a child is 12, these days, the child has his/her own phone and knows much more about its use (and hacking) than all the adults in the house, combined. As to 911, the SELLphone in the child's pocket is accessible, from anywhere the child is located.....not just if the child is trapped against the kitchen wall where the wall phone is located. The kitchen phone won't help the child on her way home from school or at the store or at the neighbor's house locked up by the pedophile daddy of her friend, will it? Larry SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v > Hmm....If a child is that young, shouldn't it be with its parents > or a trusted adult? If a child is 12, these days, the child has > his/her own phone and knows much more about its use (and hacking) > than all the adults in the house, combined. A child can pick up the phone, dial 911 and say "my mom has diabetes and I can't wake her up". That's much easier to do when the phone isn't a moving target, and there are only three buttons to push. Be snyde and ignorant all you want - if you had kids or medical conditions or both you might have a little more appreciation for a hardwired phone. > As to 911, the SELLphone in the child's pocket is accessible, > from anywhere the child is located.....not just if the child is > trapped against the kitchen wall where the wall phone is located. > The kitchen phone won't help the child on her way home from > school or at the store or at the neighbor's house locked up by > the pedophile daddy of her friend, will it? You obviously don't have children. Show me one who remembers his pencil, his homework, his lunchbox and his jacket every morning and I might agree that's a kid who is responsible enough to own a cellphone. Until you prove to me that you're talking about MY kid I'll continue to be a responsible parent by knowing his friends, his friends' parents, his hangouts, his hobbies and his habits - all of which goes a whole lot farther toward keeping a kid safe than a gadget in his pocket. Wooly <nobody@nunya> wrote in news:4755647f$0$2314 $4c368faf@roadrunner.com: > You obviously don't have children. Show me one who remembers his > pencil, his homework, his lunchbox and his jacket every morning and I [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > his hangouts, his hobbies and his habits - all of which goes a whole lot > farther toward keeping a kid safe than a gadget in his pocket. The modern kid will lose everything EXCEPT his video game and SELLphone. My kids all grown and gone, she's 38. She lost everything...it's a blonde thing...including a LOT of boyfriends. But lose the COMMUNICATIONS link to the boyfriends? Uh-uh.. Larry SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v > I justify it by not having an AT&T landline at home, which I > consider obsolete. I'll never figure why someone with a > SELLphone they're paying so much for has another drain on their > funds with a useless landline with even MORE stupid addon > charges, like "long distance", a throwback into the 1930's. Because they do different things? Achieve different goals? Sure, you can talk on both of them. I guess you'd fail to understand why a contractor who has a dump truck would bother to have a car at home. After all, they both have a steering wheel and a gas pedal and can take you places, right? <snip> > I justify it by not having an AT&T landline at home, which I > consider obsolete. I'll never figure why someone with a [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > People are stupid. You need to learn to look at the big picture. There are many reasons to retain a landline that you don't understand. 1. DSL is generally much cheaper than broadband cable, and naked DSL is usually no cheaper than a landline plus DSL. 2. Using a landline allows you to select a lower cost cellular plan with fewer peak minutes. Usually the savings more than offset the cost of the landline. 3. A landline is better for 911 service. You can achieve the same results by registering a physical address on a service like Vonage or Voicestick (but not with Skype), but these services can cost as much as a standard landline and they require expensive broadband service anyway. If you have kids or elderly people in the house then you don't want to rely on a cell phone in an emergency. 4. In natural disasters, the cell phone network is often unavailable because towers have been knocked out, or the system is unable to cope with the capacity demands. Even a recent minor earthquake in California caused capacity issues with all the carriers (the trick was to set your phone to AMPS only, but this trick won't work for much longer). 5. If you need to do FAXing, you can't do it with Vonage unless you pay an extra fee. Faxing doesn't work with Voicestick most of the time. One workaround to this is to use a PC faxing service, but these can be somewhat of a pain in the butt to use, and they are not free for sending. I use Faxaway on the occasions that I need to send a FAX outside my LATA. 6. With a long distance service such as OneSuite, it's cheaper to make international calls, without using up your peak cell phone minutes for the call. You _never_ want to call internationally on your cell phone (you can use OneSuite from your cell phone as well, but you're paying twice if you're using peak minutes and having to get a plan with more minutes). 7. Alarm systems often need a landline. 8. Satellite TV boxes need a landline, and satellite TV service is much cheaper than cable TV service. The important thing to remember with a landline is that you don't really need all those stupid add-ons like 3 way calling, call-waiting, caller-ID, voice-mail, etc. You can even go to measured-rate service and save more. ["Followup-To:" header set to alt.cellular.verizon.] > 1. DSL is generally much cheaper than broadband cable, and naked DSL > is usually no cheaper than a landline plus DSL. In California's Victor Valley, Charter Cable internet seems to consistently beat Verizon DSL and Verizon FiOS in terms of reliability, so at least in my case, I wouldn't use DSL anyhow. (Even though I'm around the corner from the Victorville CO and my house is surrounded by Verizon buildings.) > 2. Using a landline allows you to select a lower cost cellular plan > with fewer peak minutes. Usually the savings more than offset the cost > of the landline. If you like the carrier, that's great. I will never use AT&T for anything again due to the royal screwing they tried to give me when I was an SBC customer in Ohio. "never use for anything" includes wireless. > 3. A landline is better for 911 service. I'll agree with this and point #4. > 7. Alarm systems often need a landline. Alarm systems often need a dry copper pair. You don't necessarily need a working landline. However, that depends on the provider and specific service you're receiving from them. > 8. Satellite TV boxes need a landline, and satellite TV service is > much cheaper than cable TV service. When I had DirecTV the only reason they recommended a landline was to enable me to place orders for programming directly through the box. SignatureSteve Sobol, Victorville, CA PGP:0xE3AE35ED www.SteveSobol.com Geek-for-hire. Details: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesobol > 8. Satellite TV boxes need a landline, and satellite TV service is > much cheaper than cable TV service. My DirectTV uses my wireless broadband connection. No need for a landline. >> 8. Satellite TV boxes need a landline, and satellite TV service is >> much cheaper than cable TV service. > > My DirectTV uses my wireless broadband connection. No need for a > landline. You guys have TV? Why? There's nothing on it to watch except a constant barrage of commercials. Buy Winrar and get a Usenetserver.com account. There's no way to ever watch 10% of the movies, documentaries, music videos or listen to the MP3 files posted every day. How silly it is to listen to that spamcrapped BILLBOARD in your living room! I'm still working on BBC-TV to put up a subscription broadband server for all their channels. I offered to pay my radio and TV taxes, but they very politely refused. The radio ratings people called me and asked what my favorite radio station was on a survey call. "Hmm...That's a tough one!", I said. "I'm torn between BBC2 and BBC4. I like 'em both!", I mused. "No, I meant what was your favorite LOCAL radio station?", she persisted. "Oh, I haven't listened to that string of constant commercials since 1992 or so.", I replied. "There's nothing to listen to on radio in America except commercials, the God Squad trying to pry money out of you or Public Radio, where the academics are trying to take us back into the Middle Ages of Classical Music." As we parted, I could hear BBC2 playing from the speakers on her desktop in the office. She needed a little instruction on how to make it play...(c; It seemed to make her day! Amazing. I knew some people were still watching that Livingroom Billboard. I think it's insane to be brainwashed like that. Larry SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v > >> 8. Satellite TV boxes need a landline, and satellite TV > service is [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > > Larry I Have DirecTivo. I don't watch live TV or commercials. 30 second skip. SignatureTo reply by email, remove the word "space" Kurt <labolide@spacegmail.com> wrote in news:labolide- DA2740.15124805122007@news.giganews.com: > I Have DirecTivo. I don't watch live TV or commercials. 30 second skip. That cuts the 1 hour show down to what, 20 minutes, now? It'll cut a Nascar race down to 30! Larry SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v > Amazing. I knew some people were still watching that Livingroom > Billboard. I think it's insane to be brainwashed like that. well of thirty years ago, my dad would turn the TV at 5:30 for the national news, then 6:00 local news...he like Wheel of fortune at 6:30. Then the Tonight Show would be over by midnight. I called it Video Wallpaper. DTC <me@nothingtoseehere.zzx> wrote in news:LiH5j.51777$eY.15280 @newssvr13.news.prodigy.net: >> Amazing. I knew some people were still watching that Livingroom >> Billboard. I think it's insane to be brainwashed like that. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > I called it Video Wallpaper. In my father's house, and including the TV in the nursing home before he died at 83....from his first TV in 1947, the first one in our small town that had a tiny oscilloscope screen from Raytheon...TV ran 18 hours a day, between him and my mother...and her soaps. I escaped into the Navy in 1964 from the stench of their cigarette addictions and TV addictions. It warped me for life.... Larry SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v We've had the gross generalizations discussion before. This is another of those situations. Painting an entire medium with such a broad brush is really VERY stupid! You really are one negative SOB... OK, let me just address just a few reasons. #1. Quality - as in HD - the combo of HD and (2 actually) Tivo series 3 simply means I have the ability to watch 1080i almost exclusively now - and I don't watch any of those pesky commercials. Boop, boop, boop... Try to watch a sh.t quality, compressed as hell MP3 on a 50" plasma. #2. Legality - I can watch DRM stuff - no, I'm not going to argue RIAA here... But, HBO, Showtime, etc's HD content is all protected... #3. Real time - I don't have to wait (and be a Larry bandwidth hog) I can watch it NOW, vs hours or even days later. Sure, I'm going to download the local news to get the latest on the flooding - get real. There are MANY more.... > You guys have TV? Why? There's nothing on it to watch except a > constant barrage of commercials. Buy Winrar and get a > Usenetserver.com account. There's no way to ever watch 10% of > the movies, documentaries, music videos or listen to the MP3 > files posted every day. How silly it is to listen to that > spamcrapped BILLBOARD in your living room! > and be a Larry bandwidth hog Oh, horseshit......If only this were true! You'd think from Nessy I could bring the internet to its knees with my little PC. Larry SignatureIsn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you you're downloads threaten their networks...... ....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems? http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v > People are stupid. People have different needs. > I justify it by not having an AT&T landline at home, which I > consider obsolete. I'll never figure why someone with a > SELLphone they're paying so much for has another drain on their > funds with a useless landline with even MORE stupid addon > charges, like "long distance", a throwback into the 1930's. I have to have at least two phone lines. both with 5 Mbps DSL. One has unlimited long distance to use a dial-up ISP in another city to test my web servers from the outside. I can't use one DSL line to look back into the other DSL line. If line one is busy, it rolls over to line two. Cellphone is too awkward to take a second call and flip between the two, compared to hitting the hold button on the phone and answering second line. I have a multi-line phone system at home with voice mail. I can receive or place a call on my home phone and transfer the call to my cellphone on the fly (and it frees up the land line). > > Looking at some of my old Sprint bills, > > it looks like a $39 plan had about $7.50 added in taxes = 20% [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > Larry > -- tnx again for immediately dragging a thread off-topic... a simple basic research question on billing facts became a personal discussion on landline vs cellphone.... >a simple basic research question on billing facts >became a personal discussion on landline vs cellphone.... Welcome to usenet. Get used to it or go play on the web... We use prepaid, buy 1000 minutes at a time for $100 and only pay sales tax on that (less we find refill card on EBay). We live in Illinois and our local sales taxes are 7%. The minutes last a year then are rollable if you don't use them. Of course we don't use that many minutes to begin with and the prepaid phone selection isn't that great. We have 2 non camera phones and a Sidekick II I only use for 10 days every 3 months ($10 a crack) when we go on vacation so we don't have to lug the laptop around. > My son is out looking at different cell plans so he can get a smartphone.. > However, I've warned him - for budgeting purposes - that the real monthly [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added > taxes ? wonder which prepaid you are using ? We have our son on Virgin Mobile right now.... but he's starting to eat up the minutes :) It seemed the best at 90 day interval for adding funds. > We use prepaid, buy 1000 minutes at a time for $100 and only pay sales tax > on that (less we find refill card on EBay). We live in Illinois and our [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added > > taxes ? T-Mobile > wonder which prepaid you are using ? > We have our son on Virgin Mobile right now.... [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >> > So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added >> > taxes ? > wonder which prepaid you are using ? > We have our son on Virgin Mobile right now.... > but he's starting to eat up the minutes :) > It seemed the best at 90 day interval for adding funds. Virgin is one of the worst prepaid plans in terms of cost. Also, there is no roaming, which limits you to Sprint's native coverage which is downright horrible in many parts of the country (including much of California). When you have Sprint postpaid coverage you are allowed to roam on other carriers which often makes up for Sprint's own limited coverage, but you don't get this with Virgin. T-Mobile is 10¢/minute with an $100 card, which gets you "Gold" status, which means a one year expiration on air time, even on future purchases of less than $100. The down side is that the T-Mobile network is not all that great in many areas. PagePlus is probably the best option with 120 day expiration and it's on the Verizon network which has the best coverage in the U.S. by a large margin. Roaming is extra, but in most areas of the country you won't be roaming. AMPS roaming is also available. It does not work in Canada or Mexico. 1400 minutes cost $80 (5.7¢/minute). 700 minutes are $50 (7.1¢/minute). 300 minutes are $25 (8.3¢/minute). These rates are relatively new, and they have come down significantly from a few months ago. I have my two kids on PagePlus and there are several benefits: 1) If they do get into a gabfest (which they haven't yet) it's at least limited to whatever money they have on their account, plus unlike a postpaid account the per minute cost doesn't sky-rocket when you go over your monthly allocation. 2) Coverage is excellent. In my area, Sprint and T-Mobile coverage are awful, AT&T is adequate, but Verizon is excellent. My daughter often lets her friends use her phone to call their parents when her friend's phones have no coverage. 3) Low per-minute cost 4) They can use my old phones from my Verizon account. Of course they may not be too pleased about that when some kids at school have iPhones, but tough luck. I don't want them taking a $400 piece of electronics to school. 5) Longer expiration time than many prepaid services. You can use any CDMA/AMPS phone that works on Verizon (I think I read that Alltel phones also work). I know that you used to be able to use Verizon InPulse phones on PagePlus, but I don't know if this still works. You can buy a refurb phone from PagePlus, or find a Tri-Mode CDMA/AMPS phone on craigslist or eBay. I recommend the Motorola V325i. "http://www.pagepluscellular.com/" > PagePlus is probably the best option except, you can't buy it. Go ahead. Try to buy any of what you claim. It doesn't exist. Even on Ebay. >> PagePlus is probably the best option > > except, you can't buy it. Go to https://www.pagepluscellular.com/ to buy minutes and handsets. For activations search eBay for "PAGE PLUS PREPAID ACTIVATION" > Go ahead. Try to buy any of what you claim. It doesn't exist. Even on > Ebay. What are you trying to say? Since activations are available on eBay, and minutes can be purchased both on eBay and direct from Pageplus by phone or online, clearly you have something that you're not saying. > > PagePlus is probably the best option > > except, you can't buy it. > > Go ahead. Try to buy any of what you claim. It doesn't exist. Even on > Ebay. Activations available on eBay: http://search.ebay.com/page-plus-activation_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQfromZR40 ...or directly at http://www.uglyeric.com Refill minutes available here: http://www.babblebug.com/product_wireless.cfm?type_id=23 or, http://www.telecomservices.net/cgi-bin/tame/cellular/index2.tam?tcon=21130 ...among others... PagePlus is certainly a weird outfit in that they don't really sell phones (that I've been able to find- they simply activate phones you acquire yourself. I bought a used Verizon phone on eBay last month, e-mailed the info to "Ugly Eric" along with a few bucks via PayPal, and my $25 eBay phone was active within an hour. >> > PagePlus is probably the best option >> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > "Ugly Eric" along with a few bucks via PayPal, and my $25 eBay phone was > active within an hour. Page Plus sells phones. http://www.pagepluscellular.com/online%20store/phones.aspx > > > PagePlus is probably the best option > > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Refill minutes available here: > http://www.babblebug.com/product_wireless.cfm?type_id=23 Go to that page. Now, pull down the menu. Where are the $80 cards? Only in someone's imagination, apparently. PagePlus is a f.cked up company. >>>> PagePlus is probably the best option >>> except, you can't buy it. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Where are the $80 cards? Only in someone's imagination, apparently. Go directly to PagePlus, not to a reseller. Go to "https://www.pagepluscellular.com/online%20store/minutes.aspx" The $80 card is the last one listed. PagePlus has greatly improved their website, which was indeed very poor up until recently. The $80 card was gone for a while, but is now back, and is a better deal than before, at 1400 minutes for $80. What I like about PagePlus is that a) they have the cheapest per minute rate, by far; b) they have the best coverage, by far (just look at the most recent Consumer Reports survey of 48,000 cellular subscribers and see how Verizon is ranked), c) the expiration is 4 months on even the least expensive refill which is better than any prepaid company other than 7-11 Speakout which is 365 days. > PagePlus is a f.cked up company. They're a small MVNO offering the best rates and coverage, but they don't have the retail brick and mortar presence of AT&T, Virgin, T-Mobile, Verizon, or even 7-11. You have to expend a little effort to get started with them. > PagePlus is certainly a weird outfit in that they don't really sell phones > (that I've been able to find- they simply activate phones you acquire > yourself. PagePlus does sell a couple of refurbished phones. PagePlus also sells through dealers, who presumably offer either new or used phones, but I've never visited a dealer though there is one not far from me. Reality is that used CDMA phones are very cheap on craigslist or eBay, or free on a Freecycle group (http://www.freecycle.org/), and people are often happy to give away their old phones rather than tossing them. On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:20:28 -0800, SMS ??? ? <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote: >> wonder which prepaid you are using ? >> We have our son on Virgin Mobile right now.... >> but he's starting to eat up the minutes :) >> It seemed the best at 90 day interval for adding funds. > >Virgin is one of the worst prepaid plans in terms of cost. <snip> If I can find a less expensive service, I'll switch to it. My wife uses less than 10 minutes of wireless service per month, so Virgin costs me $15 every 3 months, plus taxes and fees. I haven't found anything cheaper. SignaturePaul Miner > If I can find a less expensive service, I'll switch to it. My wife > uses less than 10 minutes of wireless service per month, so Virgin > costs me $15 every 3 months, plus taxes and fees. I haven't found > anything cheaper. For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten) each additional year. Target stores run a "free phone" with $100 card (1000 minutes/one year) purchase as a promo occasionally Page Plus is $10 every 120 days, or $2.50/month. Check out Dave Markson's excellent prepaid comparison chart at: http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm >> If I can find a less expensive service, I'll switch to it. My wife >> uses less than 10 minutes of wireless service per month, so Virgin [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >Check out Dave Markson's excellent prepaid comparison chart at: >http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm If you don't use a lot of air time there's no beating T-Mobile. We'll be going into our third year of pre-paid service for another $10 in Feb. Not counting the cost of the phone $120 for three years cell phone service is amazing. Judging by the minutes we've used over these last two years and as long as t-mobile doesn't change it's way of doing things I expect to get five years of service before having to spend another $100 on another block of 1000 minutes. > If you don't use a lot of air time there's no beating T-Mobile. We'll be > going into our third year of pre-paid service for another $10 in Feb. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > things I expect to get five years of service before having to spend > another $100 on another block of 1000 minutes. I don't think they'll change their policy for existing customers that did the "Gold" thing of $100 for 1000 minutes and future airtime expiration of one year for all future purchases. That was essentially a contract when they said that future airtime purchases last a year. What they _could_ do is to stop selling $10 airtime cards, or no longer offer the 1 year expiration to new customers. The problem I have with T-Mobile is that their coverage in my area is poor. I have no coverage at my house in Silicon Valley, and I'm not out in the boonies. NIMBYs have stopped T-Mobile and Sprint from putting up more towers, and at 1900 MHz they need a lot more towers than AT&T or Verizon to cover the same area. T-Mobile was recently granted permission to put up a tower near me, on an office building, with the only caveat being that they needed to shield the equipment from the view of neighboring residences with some sort of a low wall. They dropped their plans because of that restriction, which would have added only a few thousand dollars to the cost. > For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten) each > additional year. No, after the second year everything expires and nothing rolls over. You're back to $100 every other year, if that's what you're doing. >> For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten) each >> additional year. > >No, after the second year everything expires and nothing rolls over. >You're back to $100 every other year, if that's what you're doing. That's the first I've heard of that in the two years I've been reading this group. Odd you're the only person in all that time to bring it up. >>> For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten) each >>> additional year. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > That's the first I've heard of that in the two years I've been reading > this group. Odd you're the only person in all that time to bring it up. That poster is a source of misinformation on a wide variety of subjects. It's clear that "Gold Rewards Status" isn't something that needs to be requalified for. Once you're "Gold" you're "Gold" for as long as you keep the prepaid account. If "Gold" status had to be requalified for every two years then they would have to have explicitly stated that fact. See: "http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/default.aspx?plancategory=4" "http://support.t-mobile.com/knowbase/root/public/tm22440.htm" > > For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten) each > > additional year. > > No, after the second year everything expires and nothing rolls over. That's incorrect. First you piss on PagePlus for being unavailable for purchase (which wasincorrect) and then on T-Mo with more misinformation. What's your interest in this Elmo? Are you a Sprint stockholder? > You're back to $100 every other year, if that's what you're doing. No. Not only is that not mentioned anywhere in T-Mo's website or literature, I can tell you from personal experience that you're dead wrong. As long as you don't let the account expire, all future refills on "gold" accounts (over $100 of airtime added) have a one year expiration. I have three active T-Mo prepaid accounts now that I don't even need, but for $10/year I can't let them go. One is going on it's fourth year this month (the first year cost me $25, due to a special Christmas promo T-Mo ran a few years ago that gave you "Gold" status for $25 instead of $100) so I have invested $45 in that account- $25 for year one, and $10 each for 2 and 3. Another $10 is due later this month to carry me through 2008. >>> For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten) >>> each additional year. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > account- $25 for year one, and $10 each for 2 and 3. Another $10 is > due later this month to carry me through 2008. I can confirm this. Both my parents bought an initial $100 card and then they just buy another $10 card every year. They've had the service for 3 years. <snip> > I can confirm this. Both my parents bought an initial $100 card and then > they just buy another $10 card every year. They've had the service for 3 > years. Same with my mother and stepfather. They were conned into converting from AT&T TDMA/AMPS to AT&T GSM, then went to Cingular when AT&T was bought out. Coverage sucked with AT&T GSM at the time, and they switched to T-Mobile prepaid. I walked my mother through unlocking her Nokia handset from AT&T because she didn't want to enter all her contacts again. They went from $40/month to about $7/month, and they also got a bunch of their friends to dump Cingular postpaid in favor of T-Mobile prepaid as well. T-Mobile works fine where they live. Page Plus would have been too complicated for them. They want to go to a store to have someone help them with stuff. > On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:20:28 -0800, SMS ???• ? > <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > costs me $15 every 3 months, plus taxes and fees. I haven't found > anything cheaper. 7-11 Speak-Out has a minimum cost of $25/year. It's 15¢/minute plus $1.25 per month. You only have to add time once a year. Ten minutes per month would be $1.25 + $1.50 = $2.75 per month. AT&T network. PagePlus is 50¢/month and the cheapest card is $10 for 83 minutes, or 12¢/minute. Ten minutes per month would be 50¢+$1.20=$1.70, but since you must buy airtime every four months, $10/4=$2.50/month. With T-Mobile, if you buy $100 to start (1000 minutes), your airtime lasts a year, and then future airtime purchases, even the least expensive amounts will last a year. So while the first year is $8.33/month, future years will be $10/12 months (33 minutes for $10), or 83¢/month, as you deplete the initial 1000 minutes, which would take you about six years if you add 33 minutes a year for $10. There is no monthly fee. If T-Mobile has coverage where you expect to need it, it's the cheapest by far, after the first year. Alas, in many areas, including where I live, their coverage is not good. In the latest Consumer Reports, T-Mobile got a black circle for coverage in my area (though they still were the second rated carrier). In terms of coverage, look at the January Consumer Reports Magazine that just came out. In _every_ market, a CDMA carrier was #1 (Verizon in 17 out of 20, and Alltel in 3 out of 20). PagePlus uses Verizon (and can roam on Alltel, though at extra cost, plus there is AMPS roaming when needed, also at extra cost). With Virgin, you're on the carrier that was rated worst in 19 out of 20 cities, and second to worst in one city, and you aren't able to roam onto other CDMA carriers, or onto AMPS. AMPS is _not_ going away in rural areas in 2008, only in metro areas that have overlapping digital. See "http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm" but I notice at least one error in his table, 7-11 is now 15¢/minute not 20¢, > See "http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm" but I notice at least > one error in his table, 7-11 is now 15¢/minute not 20¢, Oops, he does have the proper rate, I was looking at the SpeakOut CDMA rate, not the SpeakOut GSM rate. Sorry. On Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:51:56 -0800, SMS ??? ? <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote: >> On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:20:28 -0800, SMS ??? ? >> <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >With T-Mobile <snip> Thanks, everyone. Looks like I have a few options I wasn't aware of. SignaturePaul Miner > We use prepaid, buy 1000 minutes at a time for $100 and only pay sales tax > on that (less we find refill card on EBay). We live in Illinois and our > local sales taxes are 7%. The minutes last a year then are rollable if you > don't use them. Of course we don't use that many minutes to begin with and > the prepaid phone selection isn't that great. I was told at a T-Mobile store that you can have any phone they offer, for the equivalent of the one-year-commitment price plus $50. SignatureA staffer for Democrat Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington has been arrested for trying to arrange a sexual tryst with a 13-year old boy. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1203072senate1.html >> We use prepaid, buy 1000 minutes at a time for $100 and only pay sales >> tax [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > I was told at a T-Mobile store that you can have any phone they offer, for > the equivalent of the one-year-commitment price plus $50. Good point. Didn't know that. You'd think they would mention that on their web site. ["Followup-To:" header set to alt.cellular.verizon.] > I was told at a T-Mobile store that you can have any phone they offer, for > the equivalent of the one-year-commitment price plus $50. This is correct. Look online or at the pricing in-store and you should see exactly that. SignatureSteve Sobol, Victorville, CA PGP:0xE3AE35ED www.SteveSobol.com Geek-for-hire. Details: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesobol My $39.99 monthly bill totals out at $47.79. I'm with T-Mobile in Pennsylvania. > My son is out looking at different cell plans so he can get a smartphone.. > However, I've warned him - for budgeting purposes - that the real monthly [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added > taxes ? > My son is out looking at different cell plans so he can get a smartphone.. > However, I've warned him - for budgeting purposes - that the real monthly [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added taxes It's not just government imposed taxes, it's the garbage fees that the carrier adds-on to be able to appear to offer lower rates than they actually do. Does he want a SmartPhone to be able to use it primarily with WiFi, or does he also want to use the 3G network where it starts to get really expensive. There are so many variables in choosing a "SmartPhone." -If voice coverage is an issue then get Verizon -If 3G coverage is an issue then get Sprint or Verizon -If Wi-Fi is sufficient and 3G isn't needed, an unlocked iPhone used on T-Mobile prepaid at 10¢/minute may be the best deal. The next iPhone will have 3G, so it's worth waiting if he wants an iPhone for use with the AT&T data network. -Will he have a landline phone to be able to use a monthly cell plan with less minutes? It's often amusing to see people give up their landline which typically has a cost of under $20, and end up with an $80/month cell phone bill, versus a $40/per month bill, plus also spending $50/month on broadband from the cable company versus $20-30/month for DSL. When you look at the big picture, a low-cost cell phone plan plus a landline with something like OneSuite or Talkloop ends up being a _lot_ less expensive if you have the discipline to minimize your cell phone use. With PagePlus now down to 5.7¢/minute, $40 buys you more than 700 minutes. > My son is out looking at different cell plans so he can get a smartphone.. > However, I've warned him - for budgeting purposes - that the real monthly [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > So - what do you see on your bill as far as actual plan cost vs added > taxes ? Sprint SERO plan 500 anyminutes 7pm nite weekends, unlimited data, unlimited text; $37/month with taxes in FL. > Sprint SERO plan 500 anyminutes 7pm nite weekends, unlimited data, unlimited > text; $37/month with taxes in FL. Those are great deals. If Sprint had coverage where I live I'd be there in a minute. Lots of Sprint Employee e-mail addresses are available on the web to use in getting SERO pricing. |
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