Hi guys Question on prepay Phones

[NyGiantFan]

First post on the site... great job here.

Got lucky that my contract with cingular is winding down, and since it is an old contract cingular reducing the penalty by $10 a month! So to break it, it will cost me only $60 now (I almost jumped out of my pants, cheaper then my bill). Anyway I never used a prepay, but I want to, no more cell bills for me unless my job gives me one. So looking to see who has the best prepay phones and service etc.

Thanks

[sweeps]

Take a look at Tracfone.

[NyGiantFan]

Thanks.. looks good

[slimcustomer]

Definitely check for coverage before selecting plans. Cingular, T-Mobile, and Virgin mobile all have inexpensive plans available. My Cingular phone costs $100/year. T-Mobile has a $100 card that gives you 10 cents per minute and is good for 1 year. If you rarely use your phone, I believe you can get 18 cent a minute when you load $20 on to a Virgin Mobile phone every 90 days. Plus, there is SugarMamma!

[Diolla]

I have a pre-paid through T-mobile but I must confess I didn't really shop around. I used to pay $60 a month for 2 phones but in Feb. I bought $100 pre-paid for my phone (1000 min) and $25 for my sons (100 min) and I still have 400 min left and I have refilled his twice for a total of $175 for 5 months instead of $300. These are our only phones (no land line) so I am really happy with the pre-paid plan. If you don't use all the minutes on a contract, in my opinion, pre-paid is the way to go.

[jaksilee]

Becareful when you are shopping plans check for the following:
~ no per month or refill (an extra fee to put more time on your phone) charges
~ how you can refill, ie online, at a store, with a card.
~ do your min rollover when each time period ends.

I have used Trafone before, for about 2 years. My sis and grandparents both use them. Cards were easy to buy online, and at target or walmart & most chain drug stores. Time is simple to add at any time. On tracfone you do have to add something each month of you phone, and their smallest card is 20 min. The bigger the card is the less your price per min.
I really liked it till I started useing too many min (I use 300-500 a month) and was allways running out to buy a card. So I switched to a contract.

[djaco]

Here's a website where you can compare different prepaid cellular plans:

http://www.telebay.com/govoip/compareprepay.html

Not sure how prices compare, but sometimes these lesser known carriers offer better deals.

[NyGiantFan]

Thanks guys I checked out Tracfone and it is definitely better then what the Brand name wireless companies offered. And I can port my number to them which is great. Not even my current subscriber would do it and I wanted to stay in the cingular family just prepaid.

[MarianneJ]

I was just released from prison, er... I mean my 2 year contract with Sprint and did alot of looking around. I ended up buying 4 different phones to find one with reception in my house. Unless you live in a big city the coverage maps on the provider websites are just not accurate.

I finally ended up with Cingular Pay-as-you-Go. During the summer months I do not use my phone everyday so I am on the plan which is $1/day if you use the phone and $0.10/minute thereafter. Once I start back to school at the end of August I will change to either the straight $0.25/minute or they also offer a third alternative in the PrePaid category: 200 minutes for $30/month auto-withdrawal from bank account/CC/DebitCard. This is the one I am leaning toward.

My other findings:
* Verizon's PrePaid are astronomically expensive.

* Tracfone only uses a small percentage of towers - i.e. in my area they contract with T-Mobile for all GSM phones but you will not necessarily get the full coverage that a person who has a contract with T-Mobile gets.

* Same for Virgin Mobile who uses Sprint towers

* You can save yourself some money on your PrePaid phone by calling to listen to your voicemail messages from another phone such as your landline - you will not be charged for those minutes unlike if you listen directly from your cell phone.

[poundwise]

My wife has a Virgin Mobile phone and we like it because it is used relatively little and with the auto 'Top-Up' option we've selected we only have to 'recharge' the minutes every 90 days and only have to do so with $15. We most often Top-Up prior to 90 days but greater than 60, so this works out well for us.

I'd recommend Virgin for infrequent/lite usage. Otherwise, take a look at Alltel. They have a good per minute rate and, unless they've changed recently, don't make you recharge at any pre-set interval, so its completely in your control how much you spend. The only negative (I am recalling this from memory and it may be different now so check) I believe is that they do have a roaming rate (yes, on a pre-paid) that is different than the standard rate. If you live and work where you won't incur this though, then that would not be an issue.

[MarshallMiddle]

I also just finished my 2 year contract with Verizon, and they are offering to sign me up again with a new phone. I think that I'll go with either Tracfone or the Cingular pay-as-you-go. This thread has been very informative.

[NyGiantFan]

Thanks for the great thread guys. I am going with Tracfone . My old number should be ported over within few days. What difference financially. I have changed my mind set away from anything plan product oriented when it comes to consumer goods and services if I can help it. It really makes a difference.

[Tree0164]

Trafone is the best one to go with. I think you are making a smart decision.

Check out the pro and cons of prepaid cell phones on this site as well.

[shelbylovesmelby]

I have a Virgin Mobile phone. I've been happy with the service for the past 3 yrs that we've had it. Since becomming a sahm I can't afford nor do I need to have tons and tons of minutes or a bill every month.
I pay $20 (or a few pennies less if you buy the card @ wal-mart) every 90 days & if you sign up with them to do an auto (via credit card instead of buying a minutes card @ the store) "top up" they will reduce the minimum amount to $15 every 90 days or if your minutes go below $5 they will auto top up for you as well. BTW whatever minutes/$ you don't use it rolls over to the next 90 day period so you never loose your $ minutes.

they just changed text messages to .05 / message from .10 / message

hth