Suomi Summer
7 hours ago
Friday, June 25, 2010
Pre-paid phones?
I'm anxious to get rid of my cell phone and cell phone plan. All of the regular phone plans I see out there are too much: too many minutes for too much money. So I am looking at pre-paid. So far, Virgin Mobile looks to be the best: the phones are decently priced, and it is $25 per month plus tax. Does anyone use Virgin or have heard anything about it? Any other information about experiences with pre-paid cell plans would be appreciated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
My only experience with pre-paids has been with my youngest son, who found himself without minutes a LOT. I assume that won't be an issue for you. My main advice would to ask around to people right in your area to make sure Virgin offers consistent reception in your neighborhood.
Jim and I use Tracfone prepaids (Verizon is the carrier). What I like about Tracfone is that you do not lose your time or minutes as you buy them and they have basic monthly plans. Don’t use your minutes? They just keep building up. Buy their DMFL (double minutes for life) phones and that will be the best deal, or get the card (normally $50, on sale on-line for $20) and minutes go from $0.20 to $0.10 each. Need more minutes to add to the monthly plan and they are easy to buy right on-line. Look for a phone with a single rate, meaning 1 minute for 1 minute talk roaming or non-roaming. We didn't find this out until after we bought our model so roaming costs us 2 minutes for 1. Will probably upgrade our phones for next year though. Texting is not unlimited, but I believe a message is only .3 minutes. Wal-Mart has a good selection, and you can check your zip on-line to make sure. Traverse City seems pretty much good to go. Not so in VT. The GSM 4 phones will not work here.
It all depends on what you are looking to do with your phone. Virgin has much more expanded capabilities, neater looking phones, but at a higher cost. You only get 300 minutes per month (which expire) and are automatically charged $.20 more each minute you go over.
http://www.cellutips.com/gsm-vs-cdma-which-one-is-the-best-for-you/
I don't talk on the phone much, cause I'm not in eighth grade.
When everyone else was getting their cell phones, I just could not justify that sort of expense. But I did want an emergency phone, just in case my car broke down or something like that. I can't remember exactly, but three or four years ago, my mother bought me a Tracfone with the 400 minutes and the double minutes for one year card and all of that. Since then I have paid about twenty dollars every three months to keep the phone working. This adds sixty minutes to the phone (and usually I get some bonus minutes, though I'm not sure how, cause I rarely even check the website for the promotion codes).
I so rarely use the phone that sometimes when I want to use it I can't, cause I forgot to charge it. I have over a thousand minutes now. I'm starting to use it once it a while when I don't really need to, cause I might as well, cause I've got a thousand minutes that aren't getting used cause I'm not in eighth grade.
I still have the old land-line phone, which I don't use that much either, and I don't answer anymore cause it is usually a bill collector or a salesperson. The machine gets it, and then if it is a "real person" like my mom I pick up the phone or call her back as soon as I can. I should get rid of it, except that I'm thinking at some point I might need to call 911 and either they wouldn't find me with the cell phone, or I wouldn't be able to call cause I forgot to charge the cell.
Trac phones work for us, too. But we only use them to call, not to receive calls.
I started out with Tracphone and switched to Net10 pre-paid. The T phones had spotty coverage in my then more remote area and service was often down. I switched when I had car problems in the gorge and had no cell service to help me out. So be sure of what sort of coverage you have in your area. I think some are better in certain locations.
On my Net10 I am limited only by how much I am willing to spend. The truth is that I mostly text on it because I can do twice the texting for the same money as a call and no one rambles on in a text!
However, I am about to switch to Vorizon because my fella has his whole family on there and he can add me to that group where it will all be free for me except for the small fee to add a phone to his.
I looked into Boost, but there seems to be a hidden charge of $30 a month. Or not. It varies depending on who ask.
Laura: Yes, I don't plan on using up the minutes.
S.Am., Laughing - Thanks for the helpful info. The carrying over of minutes seems pretty cool.
I remember 8th grade, and I seemed to be on the phone for hours. I still need a cell phone, even though I am not talking for hours on the phone like I was in 8th grade.
As for those extra minutes, you might find them going down if you have any troubles traveling or anything like that.
PJ. Yes it can be wise to not give out the number to many people!
Ananda: That sounds like the best deal, getting a your line as one added on someone else's group plan.
It doesn't look like those $50 or $70 per month cell plans are very popular at all.
Post a Comment