Cheapest sim-based prepaid

[Raduque]

Which one is it? This is for my sister who uses maybe 10 minutes a month, and MAYBE 100 sms a month... she also uses no internet. She'll be using my old Galaxy S II.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Cheapest that I know of is that $30 a month T-Mobile prepaid plan. Gets 5GB of 4G data, 100 minutes, unlimited texts.

 

[bearxor]

The thing we need to know here, is TMobile coverage acceptable for her service area?

If it is, you have a lot of choices. If it isn't, that's really going to limit you.

 

[GTRagnarok]

AT&T GoPhone lets you buy text packages including 200 texts for $5 a month. Calls are 10 cents a minute. $10-$24 refills expire after a month. $25-$99 expire after 3 months, and $100+ expires after a year. Basically for her usage, it'll cost $100 a year + $5 a month (if she chooses) = $160. With how little she uses, she could probably do without the text package and it'll cost around $100 a year.

 

[pm]

The cheapest bring-your-sim that I've ever heard of is T-Mobile prepaid's $10 for 90 days service (or $3.33 per month). This is what I have my daughter on. Texts are $0.10, so 100 of them is $10, and then calls are $0.33/min so that's $3.30 (10 calls), so this is $13.30/month total. And if you prepay $100, it drops to $11/month.

AT&T GoPhone lets you buy text packages including 200 texts for $5 a month. Calls are 10 cents a minute. $10-$24 refills expire after a month. $25-$99 expire after 3 months, and $100+ expires after a year. Basically for her usage, it'll cost $100 a year + $5 a month (if she chooses) = $160. With how little she uses, she could probably do without the text package and it'll cost around $100 a year.

I would have thought the prepaid charge would cover the texts at $5/month. You give them $100 and then they'd take $5/month off for the text package. So it would cost $100 at the start and at the end of a year it would $40 left on it (which would expire) for a total cost of $100. If so, this is an even better suggestion than my T-Mobile one.

 

[Raduque]

So the way the prepaid works is, you pay the $100 for the year, and then everything you use is just deducted from the $100 bucket at the per minute/message rate?

And you can add some data at a monthly rate and it gets paid for out of the same bucket?

 

[cronos]

You want the absolute cheapest for very minimal use?

Lycamobile: 2c/min, 4c/text, 6c/MB http://www.lycamobile.us/en/national-plans
$10 PIN is good for 90 days.

It's T-Mobile based, so make sure she has coverage.

Also T-Mobile based, the second cheapest option:

Platinumtel: 5c/min, 2c/text, 10c/MB http://www.platinumtel.com/plans
$10 PIN is good for 60 days.

Lycamobile is very new (although popular in UK and Europe, I believe), Platinumtel is a well known MVNO that used to be CDMA (Sprint) based but just switched to GSM (T-Mobile) back in December.


I just wanted to add that if T-Mobile coverage is unacceptable and AT&T is good, look at the minutes plans at H2O wireless (https://www.h2owirelessnow.com) or AirVoice (https://www.airvoicewireless.com/). They both have $10/month plan with reasonable rates.

For super low usage as you said, my suggestion is to NOT pay any amount of big money up front for a year as mentioned above. It's just going to be wasted. Pick a plan with a tight 1-3 month period with no more than $10/month. I think it's much better this way.

 

[GTRagnarok]

I would have thought the prepaid charge would cover the texts at $5/month. You give them $100 and then they'd take $5/month off for the text package. So it would cost $100 at the start and at the end of a year it would $40 left on it (which would expire) for a total cost of $100. If so, this is an even better suggestion than my T-Mobile one.

Ah yes, that's right. Assuming you don't use the 200 texts that the $5 package provides, you're left with $40 for other things. You can refill before it expires to have it roll over. Unused texts will also roll over each month.

So the way the prepaid works is, you pay the $100 for the year, and then everything you use is just deducted from the $100 bucket at the per minute/message rate?

And you can add some data at a monthly rate and it gets paid for out of the same bucket?

Yep. But data is expensive, at least on AT&T. They have 50MB for $5, 200MB for $15, and 1GB for $25 . Their text rate is expensive too at 20 cents per message sent AND received. Probably a good idea to get one of the packages.

 

[Pretty Cool]

You want the absolute cheapest for very minimal use?

Lycamobile: 2c/min, 4c/text, 6c/MB http://www.lycamobile.us/en/national-plans
$10 PIN is good for 90 days.

It's T-Mobile based, so make sure she has coverage.

From what people are saying, Lycamobile does not work that way where they give you a certain amount of days before your credit expires. Instead, they just deactivate accounts that are dormant for 120 days. In addition, there are reports that incoming texts are free even on the 2 cents pay-as-you-go plan. As you emphasized, T-Mobile coverage is required as there is no roaming.

Provided T-Mobile is adequate in the OP's area, Telna Mobile is also worth considering. For $20 a year, they give you free inbound texts & 1000 outbound texts a month. Essentially, she would only be paying the $20 + minutes she use. They even have Wi-Fi calling where rates are lower than cell tower calling. Telna is a postpaid service which translates to added taxes. Furthermore as they have been in beta forever, porting is not yet supported.