Thoughts on pre-paid Cell service

[trillium]

DH and I have had a cell phone accnt (2 phones + service) w/ Cingular for years. But I'm thinking now that the contract has expired and I'm a primarily work from home kind of gal, we don't need two cell phones! (he uses his for his business primarily). This will save about $30 / mo off the bill (for dropping the extended family plan) as well as looking at decreasing the overall plan we have and just getting the minimum for nationwide calling.

The only time this DOESN"T work is when I'm on the road traveling for work (which happens two or three times a year). We communicate primarily via cell then which means if I don't have a phone *poof*

I was wondering anyone's thoughts on doing the pre-paid cell thing. That way I'm only charging it/using it when I'm traveling, and the rest of the time it's pretty much offline.

[Scanner]

I've used this for a year - www.tracfone.com

No complaints.

The phone was a Christmas gift and then I paid about $100-120 for 360 minutes for a whole year.

I only travel a couple times too.

I was reading another thread where this wouldn't work - if you use your cell phone as your "landline." You would expire the minutes too soon.

For my landline, I use Verizon's Value Package - phone bill is bundled for a $52/month for everything (taxes, long distance, toll). I do make phone calls to my father during the day, toll calls during the day so a "comprehensive plan" made sense to me.

The trick is to only give the number out to a few key people - my staff at work and my wife are the only two who have it. I wouldn't even give it to my mother.

[jodi]

DH and I had two lines through nextel costing us near $100/month. I use my phone for business, so I need to have more minutes. DH does not - he uses it socially and for emergencies. We dropped his phone about a month ago and bought a Trac phone. He only gave the number out to a few people, telling them that he could no lnoger use it for casual conversation and to call him at home instead. He has only used 2 minutes in a month, compared to 30-60 previously, because he knows that each minute costs him now. I'm so proud! And our phone bill has dropped to $45/month. I will buy him a year's worth on minutes once these initial 10 minutes that came with the phone are gone, and then we shouldn't have to buy any more for a year. So far, we're loving it.

[shelbylovesmelby]

I have used Virgin Mobile for 3.5 yrs now. Great Customer Service, like when my dh lost his phone in the woods while hunting (clearly who would or could find it out there, BUT someone did) & we had them transfer her minutes to my phone w/o any hassel ect. You can pay $20 every 90 days or more if you like. I have it set up where they charge me $15 eevery 90 as I'm a sahm & I rarely go thru that many minutes. Also they have a program on their site called "SUGAR MOMMA" & you can earn free minutes for watching lil ads ect.

Dh had used Cingular, Tracfone, & Virgin Mobile & just went back to VM as he was never using his minutes (another I TOLD YOU SO fight) to justify a huge monthly bill. & Tracfone he didn't like how much the minutes were & the minimum you had to buy on your phone card was more than $20 & more often than 90 days.

But since you do travel once in a while for buisness I would definatly check calling areas too! I know if we go "up north" we don't get a signal usually but it's the "STICKS" so you can't always expect to KWIM?

JMHO

[rduell]

We use Tracfone also. I bought us a year's plan and they also had a special to double the minutes that you bought (it was an email offer). We both ended up with almost 900 minutes for this year. I still have over 800.

[Cheetahwoman7]

At the beginning of this year, I changed over from T-Mobile on the monthly plan, to T-Mobile To Go. A $100 card gives you 1,000 minutes for a year and any additional minutes you add are credited at the .10 a minute rate since you've already achieved "gold" status by buying the $100 card.

Right now (started today and will go for this week only), Target is selling the $100 phone cards for $88 and they give you a FREE Nokia 6030 phone with an additional $10 card in the package. It's a great deal if you ask me. I went and bought another $100 card for myself and gave the cell phone to my sister who has never had one. She was thrilled!

[txex86]

My husband and I both use Virgin Mobile and it works great. We only use our cell phones for emergencies or quick phone calls to let each other know where we are, so a pre-paid plan like that works for us. It's $21.65/90 days including fees. Hope that helps.

[fairy74]

DH uses T-Mobile to go, his daughter uses Tracfone and likes it. My dreaded cingular 2 year contract is up in June and I'm going to go with Tracfone. I used Virgin Mobile when I lived in FL and liked it.

[LuxLiving]

Thanks for posting - I've been meaning to check my US Cellular contract for awhile now and just never got around to it, until today - when mine expires in mid-October I'm planning on going w/tracfone. Drats, I had thought it was up in Feb/March. Two of our sons have tracfone. When their minutes run out they are done for the month! Easy-peasy!

If they decide they want to invest their money that way they could get a year card - may be possible if they get a month with higher income because of overtime or extra hours.

[Aleta]

As I have posted earlier, I have a tracfone and love it. I also buy the yearly contract. It's only for short messages or maybe a short call to wish a Long Distance happy birthday to someone. It's mostly a piece of mind. My elderly aunt has one and said that her contract was coming up to her birthday and they were going to give her 100 extra minutes for her birthday. There are all kinds of things out there that we don't think about asking for. So, if you have a birthday within a month of buying a phone; it may be something to think about.

[Fern]

Interesting. Thanx for asking this question, as i've been thinking about this too.

I have yet to enter the Modern Age, aka own a cell phone. Anything with a recurring monthly bill i just hate. This might be the way to go based on the peace of mind while driving factor, altho i've heard that TracPhone's customer service is awful.

[poundwise]

DW has Virgin Mobile. No complaints. It has worked great for us. I like the fact that we can spend as little as $15 every 90 days.

[Aleta]

I haven't had a problem with their customer service and I've had the phone for a little over 3 years now. Every once in a while, there may be a mix-up, but for the most part - I've been pleased with them. Plus, the phones are relatively reasonable to buy. I had to pay $50 for mine and now they're about $15 and for modern phones at that.

[Thrif-t]

Originally Posted by poundwise

DW has Virgin Mobile. No complaints. It has worked great for us. I like the fact that we can spend as little as $15 every 90 days.

I'm in the market for a pay as you go phone, how many minutes do you get for $15?

[crazy4deals]

I use and recommend Net 10 for pre-paid service. It is way cheaper than Tracfone.

300 minutes for $30
600 minutes for $60
*and just this past week they introduced their lowest minute card:
150 minutes for $15

The phones can be purchased at Walmart, Kmart and Target. I have the Motorola c139, it goes for $49.99 comes with 300 minutes of airtime.

NET10 Wireless - Pay As You Go Made Simple

[Thrif-t]

Thanks for the link!! I'll check it out.