Prepaid Phone Advice for Friend Down on His Luck

[timswim78]

So I Just learned that a friend lost his job, house, phone, and car and has no money. In short, he is in a bad spot.

I want to give him a prepaid phone that he can use to look for a job or do whatever he needs to do. It's important that he can add minutes with cash, because he has no credit cards either.

I looked at the TracFone's at walmart.com. The phones seem pretty affordable, but the minute rates seem a little high.

Do you have any other suggestions?

 

[DayLaPaul]

Virgin Mobile?

 

[lxskllr]

I use, and recommend Net10. 10¢ per minute call, 5¢ text. Use with a GoogleVoice number to save a bit more money.

 

[timswim78]

Virgin Mobile?

That's an idea. RadioShack has an LG 101 phone for $15. Where can he buy minutes for it?

 

[RavenSEAL]

Yeah, never mind on t-mobile, either tracfone or virgin.

 

[lxskllr]

Virgin is expensive as shit with their minutes.

 

[Schadenfreude]

I just recommended Page Plus to my parents just because it's cheaper - 1200 mins/mo + text + data (not sure how many, I think 2k txt and 100MB data?) For $30/mo.

In fact, I'm prolly going to change over once my contract is finished; they use the Verizon network and even if I end up paying for a smartphone up-front the cost difference in 2 years' worth of use is worth it.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I forgot about this:

http://www.assurancewireless.com/Public/Welcome.aspx

 

[Phokus]

I just recommended Page Plus to my parents just because it's cheaper - 1200 mins/mo + text + data (not sure how many, I think 2k txt and 100MB data?) For $30/mo.

In fact, I'm prolly going to change over once my contract is finished; they use the Verizon network and even if I end up paying for a smartphone up-front the cost difference in 2 years' worth of use is worth it.

I recommend page plus as well, but NOT that plan for the OP's friend.

Page Plus has an unadvertized $80 per YEAR prepaid plan that includes 2000 minutes on it. You can't buy it on Page Plus' website, but you can buy it on reseller sites like callingmart.com

It doesn't sound like the friend needs data. .


Edit:

I forgot about this:

http://www.assurancewireless.com/Public/Welcome.aspx

Totally forgot about this... this is funded by the government and is a great option as well since it's free (and if you need more minutes, it's dirt cheap).

 

[vailr]

Page Plus has an $80/2000 minutes/1 year prepaid plan.
Or: $10/100 minutes/3 months, if you only rarely need to make a call.
Check the pageplus.com web site for local outlets, or: kittywireless.com also handles Page Plus accounts.
Note: Using Page Plus requires having a (CDMA) Verizon compatible cell phone.

 

[Wheezer]

with Tracfone if you can get one with double minutes and Google for codes you can get some good deals.

I can usually get 180 minutes good for 90 days for $20.00. 60 minute card +DBL minutes+60 bonus.

 

[bhanson]

T-Mobile is $0.10/minute with a minimum of $10/year.

http://www.telna.com/ is $19/year and $0.05/minute IN, $0.08/minute OUT with billing to the second.

 

[hdfxst]

i got a tracfone lg 420 for 20 dollars with double minutes for life,http://www.tracfone.com/e_store.jsp?task=buyphone&lang=en

 

[Ksyder]

Definitely Page Plus. Being on their standard plan eliminates a monthly bill, you never lose anything out of your balance except for $.50 a month if you don't use the phone and you refill within the time limits. Normally it is 4 month expiration date on a refill card except for the $80/2000 which is good for a year. Also the larger the refill card the cheaper the minutes. The best bet is the $80 a year.

 

[todpod]

Tracfone now have triple minutes phone on there website, the start at $50

 

[Homerboy]

TRacfone ALWAYS has multipliers for their minute plans.... buy 30 mins, get it doubled for free etc etc. Not to mention if you google up any codes for TRacfones there are additional deals (and it seems the codes rarely expire too).

I've had a tracfone for years now. Not a complaint.

 

[MWink]

Page Plus can be good depending on your usage and if you need Verizon's network but for someone who needs something really cheap PlatinumTel is generally the cheapest. PlatinumTel runs on Sprint's network and their "Real PayGo" plan is a flat 5c/min, 2c/text, 10c/MB. You only have to add $10 per 90 days which works out to $3.33 per month. Unlike most other prepaid services those rates stay the same regardless of which denomination you add to your account. With Page Plus you have to add $80 to your account to get the best rate of 4c/min. If you use the $10 cards you have to pay 10c/min.

I will say that it is nice that you can use old Verizon phones on Page Plus while you can only use certain phones on PlatinumTel. I've used both services and I would recommend them both but PlatinumTel does tend to be cheaper and in my experience slightly more reliable. My Page Plus phone sometimes does not get calls/texts despite sitting there with full reception.

Also you mentioned being able to buy the cards with cash and I'm not 100% sure about that. I THINK I've seen Page Plus cards at the store but I'm not sure about PlatinumTel. You would have to look into that.

 

[Ksyder]

Page Plus can be good depending on your usage and if you need Verizon's network but for someone who needs something really cheap PlatinumTel is generally the cheapest. PlatinumTel runs on Sprint's network and their "Real PayGo" plan is a flat 5c/min, 2c/text, 10c/MB. You only have to add $10 per 90 days which works out to $3.33 per month. Unlike most other prepaid services those rates stay the same regardless of which denomination you add to your account. With Page Plus you have to add $80 to your account to get the best rate of 4c/min. If you use the $10 cards you have to pay 10c/min.

I will say that it is nice that you can use old Verizon phones on Page Plus while you can only use certain phones on PlatinumTel. I've used both services and I would recommend them both but PlatinumTel does tend to be cheaper and in my experience slightly more reliable. My Page Plus phone sometimes does not get calls/texts despite sitting there with full reception.

Also you mentioned being able to buy the cards with cash and I'm not 100% sure about that. I THINK I've seen Page Plus cards at the store but I'm not sure about PlatinumTel. You would have to look into that.

Interesting, $.10/mb on pay as you go is excellent... is there any byod/smartphones available?

And regarding your comments about Page Plus vs. Ptel reliability, I'll say that I've used other Sprint mvno's and also set up many people on page plus and have personally no issues with Verizon network reliability, generally overall the Sprint coverage is definitely worse unless you are in a metro area or on the highway.

 

[MWink]

Interesting, $.10/mb on pay as you go is excellent... is there any byod/smartphones available?

And regarding your comments about Page Plus vs. Ptel reliability, I'll say that I've used other Sprint mvno's and also set up many people on page plus and have personally no issues with Verizon network reliability, generally overall the Sprint coverage is definitely worse unless you are in a metro area or on the highway.

It looks like they have a few smartphones. I'm fairly sure you can NOT BYOD or it is very limited.

I just mentioned MY experience with them both. I would generally expect a Verizon MVNO to work better than a Sprint MVNO but that was not my experience. Also I don't know why but all the cell companies seem to have good coverage in MD. I have used all of the big 4 and they all have great coverage around here. Even out here near the middle of nowhere I can get full reception on any network. Funny thing is Verizon was actually the last one to get good reception here.

 

[jteef]

when i lost my droid charge, i picked up one of the samsung clamshell verizon prepaid phones for 19.99 from best buy. it's 1.99 / day for unlimited calling. and if you don't call anybody on it that day, you don't get charged. texts are 2 cents each.

 

[Pretty Cool]

The other 2 services for people down on their luck are:

Safelink (Tracfone)
https://www.safelinkwireless.com/Safelink/home

Reachout (Verizon)
https://www.reachoutmobile.com/index.php

If your friend is not on any government assistance and have acceptable Sprint native coverage, then another option would be Zapp Unlimited. You can get a dealer to activate almost any Sprint phone even those with bad esn's for about $20. The paygo rate is about $17 for any combination of 400 minutes or texts. Minutes expire in one year but rollover if with a refill. Unfortunately, there is no data on paygo.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I have a tracfone and put $100 on it at a time since that amount is good for 1 year and with double mins plus the bonus mins I'm usually good for the whole year on that $100.

 

[Ksyder]

I just mentioned MY experience with them both. I would generally expect a Verizon MVNO to work better than a Sprint MVNO but that was not my experience. Also I don't know why but all the cell companies seem to have good coverage in MD. I have used all of the big 4 and they all have great coverage around here. Even out here near the middle of nowhere I can get full reception on any network. Funny thing is Verizon was actually the last one to get good reception here.

I hear ya, it is odd that you had better service with Sprint and you obviously know it is usually the other way around.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I hear ya, it is odd that you had better service with Sprint and you obviously know it is usually the other way around.

Agreed, I only know one place around here that only has 1x Verizon access. Haven't been anywhere with simply no signal. On that same note I put my fiance on Virgin Mobile with a Spring PRL hack and she still can't even get a signal inside the buildings at her college (I get full bars of 4G). I had no idea Sprint was so sparse in network coverage.