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Cellular Phone Forum / General / General Topics / June 2005Low cost prepaid
Hi, Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites? I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or so and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that. I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price and get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes. Regards and thanks in anticipation. Ankh Per Ankh: >Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites? > >I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or >so >and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that. I just signed up for tMobile's "To Go" plan. Startup cost was $74.19, of which $30 is supposedly coming back as a rebate on the Nokia 3595 phone I got with it. After start-up, it's $106 per year for 1,000 minutes. So this year was about $180 total and next year will be $106, and so-forth until the raise the price or discontinue the offer. I did this for two of my three phones: the ones tb used by my daughter and wife - neither of which uses the phone more than 2-3 times per year. I looked at TracPhone. Pluses for TracPhone were that it rides on Verizon's net (probably better coverage) and the phone is simpler (a plus for somebody who wants nothing more than to be able to dial a call....), and that it shows minutes remaining with each call. OTOH, tMobile tells minutes remaining with the push of an auto-dial button....which might be a wash... The big minus for TracPhone to me was the *really* high per-minute rate: about a dollar per minute if one purchases a 1-year/100 minutes card for $100. tMobile's coverage? I bought one plan a few days ago. Checked signal strenghtg against my Cingular phone everywhere I went and they were mostly comparable. Will this hold up in the long run? Dunno....but I'm going for it as I will migrate my own Cingular phone to a tMobile Pocket PC as soon as I can find a store that sells them.  SignaturePeteCresswell > Per Ankh: >>Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites? [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > as I > can find a store that sells them. ... ditto your comments on Tracfone - I like mine because it uses the Verizon network which has great range/reception and I use it less than 10 minutes a month. As long as Tracfone sells a phone that uses Verizon's CDMA network I will have a Tracfone. But if you are a yakker you will go broke using a CDMA/TDMA Tracfone unless you get one of their phones that uses the Cingular GSM network but in my area Cingular coverage stinks. One possible solution is to go to Tracfone's website and buy one of their cheaper refurbed phones with 100 minutes and 60 days service - then if it doesn't fit your needs you are not out alot of money. >I looked at TracPhone. Pluses for TracPhone were that it rides on Verizon's >net (probably better coverage) Make that *some* places use Verizon. Others use either AT&T's TDMA network or a GSM network such as cingular. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >>I looked at TracPhone. Pluses for TracPhone were that it rides on Verizon's >>net (probably better coverage) [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - That's correct. I've heard reports that TracFone prefers Cingular networks. I'm in Florida and all the TracFones seem to be TDMA or GSM. >>>I looked at TracPhone. Pluses for TracPhone were that it rides on Verizon's >>>net (probably better coverage) [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >That's correct. I've heard reports that TracFone prefers Cingular >networks. I'm in Florida and all the TracFones seem to be TDMA or GSM. I mentioned to a Radio Shack salescritter recently that TracFone uses Verizon and he said no, they have their own network. I said Oh really? and let it go at that. I ended up buying a US Cellular phone the next day (and regretting it). (This was a special thing for my father. He was, from last September until about ten days ago, unable to get out of his apartment due to physical disability. About a month ago, there was a fire in his building, which burned all the phone and cable TV lines coming in. SBC was at least reasonably quick to understand that there was a problem and start doing something to fix it, but his phone service is Vonage and it took Comcast a full week just to send out a tech, and then he looked at the scene of the fire and said "I can't fix this." The next three techs did the same. Meanwhile, my father had no phone, no internet, finally connected an antenna to his TV, and yakked everyone to death (even more than he normally does) on his (actually my) ham radio. I got him the prepaid phone as a stopgap until his cable got fixed. (Within a week of that, a Comcast tech who must have been a human being in a former life ran a temporary cable just for my father until they send out a whole crew to fix everything properly.)) (If there are any Chicago hams out there, I must say I'm impressed with the North Shore 440 repeater; I was able to talk to him on it from a parking lot on the west side of Naperville, about 30-35 miles from the repeater.) SignatureDavid Streeter, "an internet god" -- Dave Barry http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time. "Basketball develops individuality, initiative and leadership. Now get out there and do exactly what I tell you to do." - Dick Vitale There is a new wireless service from Tracfone that is called Net 10 They have cheap per min rates (10 cents per min) but are definately no for the person who uses it very little. You have to pay at least $3 every 30 days or you lose your service. But for the $30 you get 30 min. And the min roll over as long as you keep your service active Plus no extra charge for roaming or long distance, and 5 cents per tex message. And its the same network as Tracfone. Im thinking about tryin this service, I have T-Mobile to go right now, which is great, but th service isnt very good. I use my cell phone alot, and end up paying $2 a month anyway. But I hate to give up my current phone. :( If anyon has heard anything about this service or has it, please leave som info If their coverage area is adequate for you, http://www.t-mobile.com/plans/default.asp?tab=payasyougo can be a good deal. > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Ankh You want cheap? You can pay less than $1 per month if you want to, Beyond Wireless' cards do not expire. It has its limitations, though. I agree T-Mobile is one of the best prepiads, but Free2Go and 7-Eleven are also very good choices. There is a great prepiad comparison chart at: http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm Which is up to date and very informative. Bill Radio Click for Western U.S. Wireless Reviews at: http://www.mountainwireless.com > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Ankh Hello, This post has been useful to me too!!! While I use Verizon for my Wireless Broadband Access, I wanted to have a cheaper cell phone plan as I need to make just a couple or so calls a month using a handful of minutes. I checked out this site that proves promising: http://www.gobeyondwireless.com/catalog/default.php (Actually, somebody else posted this URL in response to a post I cannot recollect some days back here) Does anybody know which network (VZW, Sprint, ATT...) this company (Beyond Wireless) uses? I plan to buy one of their phones and get rid of the one I have now! I am paying over $ 125 per month between my VZW Wireless Internet and cellphone right now! Everybody have a nice day. JP > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Ankh >Does anybody know which network (VZW, Sprint, ATT...) this company (Beyond >Wireless) uses? AT&T Wireless TDMA network. Anything off that network is roaming and you'll pay four times the regular rate for calls. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >Regards and thanks in anticipation. Beyond Wireless. 15¢/minute with rates as low as 10¢/minute. Only real disadvantage is that they don't offer local numbers everywhere and you might have to get a number that is not local to your callers. Also they use the old AT&T Wireless TDMA network. Any phone that was on the AT&T TDMA network will work with them. They also sell phones if you don't have one. To keep your account active you must make a call before the end of every 60 days. You could theoretically keep your account active forever provided you make the minimum call every 60 days. http://gobeyond2.chainreactionweb.com/catalog/airtime_rates.php - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Per Joseph: > To keep your account active >you must make a call before the end of every 60 days. That's the deal breaker for me. I guess they have a reason, but what? Some sort of regulatory fee that accumulates? SignaturePeteCresswell > Per Joseph: > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Some sort of regulatory fee that accumulates? I would almost wonder if it's the availability of phone numbers, as NANP didn't account for future times when a person could easily have 5 numbers (fax, personal land line, personal mobile, work mobile, pager; for example) and numbers are scarce. That way, if someone is not using the number, it can by cycled through again. TH >I would almost wonder if it's the availability of phone numbers, as NANP >didn't account for future times when a person could easily have 5 >numbers (fax, personal land line, personal mobile, work mobile, pager; >for example) and numbers are scarce. That way, if someone is not using >the number, it can by cycled through again. Since the telecom bubble burst a couple of years ago there's almost no demand for numbering space. The biggest user of numbering space is not cell phone, fax, teenager lines and the like but the biggest user of numbering was CLECs (Competing Local Exchange Carriers.) Now that things are very slow and quest for numbering space has all but stopped numbering is not a concern. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >Per Joseph: >> To keep your account active [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >Some sort of regulatory fee that accumulates? It's likely that they have to pay roaming to other networks. They don't want to give that away for free so the end user ends up paying a premium to access other than home network. It's likely that the reseller agreements that Beyond, JusTalk, CallPlus and others with agreements with AT&T don't get off network calling for free so costs are passed on in the form of higher roaming fees. TracFone's per minute fee is high anyway but don't know if they charge a premium for off network whichever network you are signed with (assuming roaming is even available - there may be no roaming at all on GSM networks. I'm not sure on what the situation is with GSM roaming. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hi! Here ('_www.taiwan-electronics.itgo.com_' (http://www.taiwan-electronics.itgo.com/)) it is possible to order 2 mobile phones free of charge! I once have already ordered. Second time any more do not give! It is necessary to write to them the letter correctly only. SignatureSulimak brought to you by http://www.wifi-forum.com/ >. To keep your account active > you must make a call before the end of every 60 days. You could > theoretically keep your account active forever provided you make the > minimum call every 60 days. Do you think it would work if you RECEIVED a call every 60 days? I'm thinking about getting one for an elderly parent for emergency use, who might not remember to make a call every 60 days-- but if *I* placed a call to that number, and it was answered-- would that count? > >. To keep your account active > > you must make a call before the end of every 60 days. You could [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > might not remember to make a call every 60 days-- but if *I* placed a call > to that number, and it was answered-- would that count? You could simply ask your parent to call you back, that would certainly work... > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price and > get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes. If the AT&T/callplus network is useful to you, you can squeak by for $10/quarter, which gets you 40 minutes good for 3 months. Time is cheaper if you use more, and unused minutes roll over as long as you spend $10 every 3 months and make one phone call every 30 days. Buy a phone or use one you already have. http://www.pharosint.com/ I've used them for a couple of years and have 311 unused minutes so far. I just don't need a cellphone very much... SignatureCheers, Bev *----------------------------------------------------* *Are you *sure* there's a hyphen in "anal-retentive?"* |
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