Prepaid phone

[Nithin]

Thinking of getting a tracfone. Any other good ones out there?

Thanks,
Nithin.

 

[axelfox]

Tmobile.

Fill up at $100, you get 10c/min, gold reward (+15% on minutes after being gold rewards member at $100 fillup). Pay per minute, and no pay per day usage.

 

[Toasthead]

I love my tmoblie prepaid phone

 

[Nithin]

tmobile gives 1000 mins for 100$. it seems like $100 is the only reasonable option.

 

[imported_Imp]

Wish I were in the US. Best option up north is Virgin mobile for $0.30 a minute and at best $100 prepaid a year. Otherwise, prepared to get raped by 30 day expirations for $10/month (minimum), also $0.30/minute, $5 a month "system access" fee and finally $1/month for 911.

 

[Parasitic]

Price wise T-mobile is the best. $0.10/minute and $100/year expiration.
However if you are looking to do some data or text messages Cingular is the only one that comes with packages that might come out cheaper.

 

[ppdes]

Virgin Mobile has been working well for me. The phone was 20$, no contract required. They force me to buy 15$ of minutes every 3 months to keep it active, so it works out to 60$ a year. The money seems to keep building up instead of expiring too.

 

[Nithin]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
Price wise T-mobile is the best. $0.10/minute and $100/year expiration.
However if you are looking to do some data or text messages Cingular is the only one that comes with packages that might come out cheaper.

no this is only for emergencies. no texting etc.

 

[Twista]

I had virgin mobile.. they jipp the hell out of you though. I just got tmobile 2 year contract 2 days ago.


That said.. get tmobile prepaid.

 

[PELarson]

Originally posted by: ppdes
Virgin Mobile has been working well for me. The phone was 20$, no contract required. They force me to buy 15$ of minutes every 3 months to keep it active, so it works out to 60$ a year. The money seems to keep building up instead of expiring too.

For a minimum use phone Virgin is the way to go. Especially with their free phone to new user offers.

 

[drpootums]

I've had no problems with Alltel. $.15 a minute + $.05 for text messages. Tracfone is nice but the minutes are pretty expensive for the service.

 

[RossMAN]

1) Find which providers offer coverage in your area.
2) Find which has the best deal.
3) ...
4) I just thought of another website and $$$ idea from this, thanks

 

[Parasitic]

Check howardforums for more details. Target and Walmart have T-mobile prepaid packages on the cheap most of the time.

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: Imp
Wish I were in the US. Best option up north is Virgin mobile for $0.30 a minute and at best $100 prepaid a year. Otherwise, prepared to get raped by 30 day expirations for $10/month (minimum), also $0.30/minute, $5 a month "system access" fee and finally $1/month for 911.

eh? last i checked, fido was cheaper than that

25 cents / min (maybe 30 now.. i forget)
$100 card is good for a year
no SAF
$0.50 911.

rogers is the same but 30 cents, or 40 cents day / 1 cent evening/weekend.

 

[Kelemvor]

I use Virgin Mobile. $.18/minute and as long as you put in $20 every 3 months, your money never expires.

Plus they have a lot of phones that cost $20 but include $20 of airtime so it's basically free. And no contract of course. Uses the Sprint network so coverage is good.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Nithin
Thinking of getting a tracfone. Any other good ones out there?

Thanks,
Nithin.

pageplus. they're a Verizon reseller.
$0.08/min for $25 card = 300min.
expiration = 4months
min rollover when u add more min, and resets expiration to another 4months

phone:
Target has a Verizon InPulse phone on clearance for $18. do NOT activate on verizon. u can activate directly w/pageplus.

edit:

Originally posted by: Nithin

Originally posted by: Parasitic
Price wise T-mobile is the best. $0.10/minute and $100/year expiration.
However if you are looking to do some data or text messages Cingular is the only one that comes with packages that might come out cheaper.

no this is only for emergencies. no texting etc.

doh.. that is VERY important info u left out of your OP!

pageplus also has $10 cards. it's like $0.12/min. but still expires in 4 months. 3 cards/yr = $30/yr

 

[ttown]

I use virgin mobile for $45 a year prepaid

It should be $60/year, but Target often has $20 top-up cards for $15 each -- so 3 X $15 = $45/year with minutes adding up

minimal use phone only, though -- which is perfect for me

it wouldn't be good for high-use

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
1) Find which providers offer coverage in your area.
2) Find which has the best deal.
3) ...
4) I just thought of another website and $$$ idea from this, thanks

Haha.

betterprepaidcell.com

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: RossMAN
1) Find which providers offer coverage in your area.
2) Find which has the best deal.
3) ...
4) I just thought of another website and $$$ idea from this, thanks

Haha.

betterprepaidcell.com

I just registered BetterPrePaidCell.com - thanks

It will forward to BetterCreditCard.com until it gets developed :thumbsup:

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: RossMAN
1) Find which providers offer coverage in your area.
2) Find which has the best deal.
3) ...
4) I just thought of another website and $$$ idea from this, thanks

Haha.

betterprepaidcell.com

I just registered BetterPrePaidCell.com - thanks

It will forward to BetterCreditCard.com until it gets developed :thumbsup:

NP. I want a mention!

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: RossMAN
1) Find which providers offer coverage in your area.
2) Find which has the best deal.
3) ...
4) I just thought of another website and $$$ idea from this, thanks

Haha.

betterprepaidcell.com

I just registered BetterPrePaidCell.com - thanks

It will forward to BetterCreditCard.com until it gets developed :thumbsup:

NP. I want a mention!

There might be a "thank you gift" ($$_ when it starts making $$

 

[Blayze]

Originally posted by: Nithin
Thinking of getting a tracfone. Any other good ones out there?

Thanks,
Nithin.

I've had two of the cheap (< $20) Tracfones and both have been fine. The first phone died while I was moving early this year. It was my fault cause the phone got "crushed" during the move. It looked fine, but didn't work anymore.

Recently picked up a Nokia 1112 at Office Depot that had 60 minutes with it for $20. Activated it online and it gave me 80 minutes total.

I rarely use a cell phone, so I've found Tracfone to be better than having a monthly bill. The minutes for Tracfone cost more than others, but they have promotional codes almost all the time, and if you want you can get a double your minute card that doubles all minutes added to your phone for the life of the phone.

 

[ppdes]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
I use Virgin Mobile. $.18/minute and as long as you put in $20 every 3 months, your money never expires.

Plus they have a lot of phones that cost $20 but include $20 of airtime so it's basically free. And no contract of course. Uses the Sprint network so coverage is good.

If you use the automatic credit card top up it is only $15/3 months. At least back when I set it up.

 

[shortylickens]

Tracfone has always been good for me.
Get a sturdy model, probably a Nokia. You'll be OK.

UNLESS, you talk a lot. Tracfone is very expensive for those who like to chat for hours at a time. I average about 20 minutes a month. Regular plans are a great big rip-off for me.
If you need around 200 minutes a month you should probably look at some other plans.