Question on Prepaid Plans or Service

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Just Me - 23 Jul 2004 20:49 GMT

Hello. Can anyone tell me what might be the best deal on a prepaid
plan?

My daughter has a Nokia 3390 phone with a T-Mobile Prepaid plan. They
sure ream you on these prepaid minutes! Works out to be approx. .30
to .40 cents per minute. She basically uses it for text messaging
because of the high cost of minutes. You literally cannot use it for
"talking" or you'd be never-ending paying for more minutes! Isn't
there anything better out there with another provider?

Help... thanks!
Me

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Cyrus Afzali - 23 Jul 2004 21:32 GMT

>Hello. Can anyone tell me what might be the best deal on a prepaid
>plan?
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>"talking" or you'd be never-ending paying for more minutes! Isn't
>there anything better out there with another provider?

Prepaid is always going to be substantially more expensive than
postpaid. You pay a higher rate because the company won't be able to
count on your revenue for an extended period, yet doesn't want to
extend the ability to pay after because of credit. It's one of those
situations where you're hit both ways.

You could check out other providers to see if any would give her
postpaid access or see if someone's pre-paid is cheaper than TM's. I
just participated in a market research study for a company considering
launching a new pre-paid service, so the market is heating up which
may bring down prices.

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Rod - 23 Jul 2004 23:36 GMT

Tell her to buy the $100 card and it's 15 cents a minute with 665 minutes
and after she puts $250 on her account that same card will get her a 1000
minutes at 10 cents each.

> Hello. Can anyone tell me what might be the best deal on a prepaid
> plan?
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Help... thanks!
> Me

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John S. - 24 Jul 2004 14:59 GMT

>Works out to be approx. .30
>to .40 cents per minute.

My minutes are typically around 10¢ a minute based on the number of minutes
that I have used over the years. Look at their web page.

Now for the confusing part. T-Mobile has all minutes in their system set at
40¢. That is not what you are paying but what their system is set at.

As an example, you buy a 100 minute card and put it in. When you check your
balance (#999$ it says that you have $40 available.

Wait, you only paid $25 for the card????? Well, when the minutes are put into
the Easy Speak accounting system they are converted to that 40¢ number.

Very confusing until you understand ALL their literature.

--
John S.
e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net

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Bob Joesting - 27 Jul 2004 03:36 GMT

>Hello. Can anyone tell me what might be the best deal on a prepaid
>plan?

That depends on use. If you need a lot of talk
time, some prepaid plans are as low as about 10
cents per minute. If you mainly need a phone
available for emergencies and text messages, it
can cost as little as 20 dollars per year, including
about 80 minutes of talk, with services like JusTalk.

Whether it is prepaid or postpaid, a cell phone
with a lot of talk time is likely to cost at least
20 or 30 dollars per month.

Most prepaid services have refills for amounts
like 100 dollars that are about half the cost per
minute of the small refills.

Bob <valen (at) trust-me (dot) com

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