T-Mobile pre-paid phone deal

[mhillary]

Seems like a good deal.

 

[vfrjim]

Even @ $100, it's great to have a year before recharging, does anyone know if it roll's over (when you add a new card the next year?)

 

[syzygy]

i think t-moblie's pre-paid is one of only two services that rolls your unused minutes over continuously, assuming you purchase another card of at least 25.00 within 3 months.

after you've purchased 250.00 worth of pre-paid cards, all subsequent cards become 'gold' and that automatically doubles the number of minutes you purchased.

gold - 25.00 for 60 minutes becomes 120 minutes after the 250.00 mark. all unused minutes continue to roll over.

att prepaid also allows roll-over minutes but those buggers are far stingier across the board (fewer minutes, no doubling of anything, etc.)

the one important drawback, imho, to t-mobile is that they do not provide a toll-free number to allow you to check your voice messages from a land line.

 

[uurda]

Originally posted by: syzygy
i think t-moblie's pre-paid is one of only two services that rolls your unused minutes over continuously, assuming you purchase another card of at least 25.00 within 3 months.

after you've purchased 250.00 worth of pre-paid cards, all subsequent cards become 'gold' and that automatically doubles the number of minutes you purchased.

gold - 25.00 for 60 minutes becomes 120 minutes after the 250.00 mark. all unused minutes continue to roll over.

att prepaid also allows roll-over minutes but those buggers are far stingier across the board (fewer minutes, no doubling of anything, etc.)

the one important drawback, imho, to t-mobile is that they do not provide a toll-free number to allow you to check your voice messages from a land line.

yes, the gold doubling is amazing. we have one pre-paid phone that just crossed the $250 threshold and were surprised when they doubled the minutes w/each purchase w/o any prompting on our part. Great pro-active retention marketing!

I lost my Virgin pre-paid phone a week ago. Was hoping it would show up as the charge was gone and by the time I found my charger the phone was AWOL. Still, Virgin is .25/min for the first 10 min of each call, so it's a silver lining to have lost the phone, save for the $20 top off I had just paid for.

I'll be heading to Staples today to pick up a new phone. Thanks OP!

 

[Athena]

Originally posted by: syzygy
i think t-moblie's pre-paid is one of only two services that rolls your unused minutes over continuously, assuming you purchase another card of at least 25.00 within 3 months.

after you've purchased 250.00 worth of pre-paid cards, all subsequent cards become 'gold' and that automatically doubles the number of minutes you purchased.

T-Mobile changed the program at the beginning of March: You go Gold at $100 and the number of extra minutes depends on the refill level (it's only double for $100) but the 1-year roll-over expiration applies to all refill levels.

att prepaid also allows roll-over minutes but those buggers are far stingier across the board (fewer minutes, no doubling of anything, etc.)

AT&T stopped marketing the "Free to go" program a while ago. You can buy cards if you already have a phone but you can't get a new prepaid phone from them or Cingular anymore.

the one important drawback, imho, to t-mobile is that they do not provide a toll-free number to allow you to check your voice messages from a land line.

You can retrieve your voice mail messages via a land line by calling your own number and following the voice mail prompts. So it's free if you are in your own area but a toll-call if you are traveling.

 

[vfrjim]

So, Unlike Cingular, they do not charge for VoiceMail if you retrieve them from a landline? I get charged for minutes when people leave messages, even wrong numbers with cingular, hence I turned off voicemail.

 

[TechDreamer]

So you can check the voicemail for free, but are you charged when people leave voicemail? I almost got one of the 7-11 phones, but the voicemail fees killed that.

 

[GotSomethingCheaper?]

Originally posted by: Athena

Originally posted by: syzygy
i think t-moblie's pre-paid is one of only two services that rolls your unused minutes over continuously, assuming you purchase another card of at least 25.00 within 3 months.

after you've purchased 250.00 worth of pre-paid cards, all subsequent cards become 'gold' and that automatically doubles the number of minutes you purchased.

T-Mobile changed the program at the beginning of March: You go Gold at $100 and the number of extra minutes depends on the refill level (it's only double for $100) but the 1-year roll-over expiration applies to all refill levels.

att prepaid also allows roll-over minutes but those buggers are far stingier across the board (fewer minutes, no doubling of anything, etc.)

AT&T stopped marketing the "Free to go" program a while ago. You can buy cards if you already have a phone but you can't get a new prepaid phone from them or Cingular anymore.

the one important drawback, imho, to t-mobile is that they do not provide a toll-free number to allow you to check your voice messages from a land line.

You can retrieve your voice mail messages via a land line by calling your own number and following the voice mail prompts. So it's free if you are in your own area but a toll-call if you are traveling.

Hmm, so if I am getting this correctly - The one year plan minutes dont roll over when you renew for another year?

 

[Athena]

Originally posted by: GotSomethingCheaper?
Hmm, so if I am getting this correctly - The one year plan minutes dont roll over when you renew for another year?

No, they do roll over. Whenever you add minutes -- whether $10 or $100 worth-- the remaining balance rolls over to the new expiration date.

 

[Tal]

Is this nationwide? I live in Minnesota, and I know that with my T-mobile phone, I get coverage through Dobson US when I'm in northern Minnesota. Would this phone and plan roam to other GSM in the US like Dobson if other tmobile phones do? If so, this would be a HOT deal for my dad. He would mainly use it for emergencies and such... He has an hour long drive on back roads to work.

 

[Greg04]

Originally posted by: TheLogLady
Virgin Mobile's pre-paid offering, despite it's cheesy teeny-bopper marketing, has been great for me as an occassional-use phone. You just have to buy at least $20.00 worth of minutes every 90 day to keep your account active, and you carry over unlimited minutes which never expire.

The per-minute usage charge comes out of that $20.00 at $0.25/minute (or $0.10/minute if on calls longer than 10 minutes). In simpler terms, if you're like me and talk less than 26 minutes/month, you're only topping up 4x/year @ $20.00 each, which breaks down to $6.67 month.

If you talk a lot more than that, though, it's probably not the best deal for you.

AGreed, I'm in NYC and my virgin mobile occasional use has been outstanding. Cheap, the phone works and no damned $50 monthly bills to the MAN.

 

[dud]

This IS a great deal for prepaid or pay-as-you-go cellular service. I know because I did a TON of research a few months ago when I was looking for such service.

HOWEVER, as good as this deal is it is NOT the best IMHO. After I did my research every piece of data I collected pointed to one and only one provider:

GOBEYONDWIRELESS

Here's how it works:

1 - This service works on the old AT&T TDMA wireless network. You can buy a used phone (there are tons available for cheap on fleabay) or you can purchase one of Gobeyondwireless's refurbed phones. I bought a nice, used Nokia 3360 for 99 cents plus shipping off of fleabay.

2 - With your phone in hand you call Gobeyondwireless to activate the phone. After activation you get 30 (or 35 - can't remember) minutes free.

3 - You then can log onto their site and purchase additional minutes, as much or as little as you wish ($5 up to $100 minutes). Here is the beauty of this service: THE minutes NEVER expire, so long as you use the phone once every 60 days.


I have used their service for 2 months here in Orlando and it has been great. I have about $36 invested in total ($6 for the phone and I purchased $30 in airtime) and I received 295 minutes (260 purchased + 35 minutes free) at startup. I don't use the phone that much but I still have about 230 minutes left.

Remember to check their coverage map for your area and if you have any questions call their toll free number and ask. They treated me so well. Good luck!

 

[DanDaMan315]

I have a TracFone, if you buy the doubleminute/yearservice card the rate is $0.10 per minute with no daily access fee. I found this was the best way to go.

 

[DMM246]

Originally posted by: GotSomethingCheaper?

Originally posted by: Athena

Originally posted by: syzygy
i think t-moblie's pre-paid is one of only two services that rolls your unused minutes over continuously, assuming you purchase another card of at least 25.00 within 3 months.

after you've purchased 250.00 worth of pre-paid cards, all subsequent cards become 'gold' and that automatically doubles the number of minutes you purchased.

T-Mobile changed the program at the beginning of March: You go Gold at $100 and the number of extra minutes depends on the refill level (it's only double for $100) but the 1-year roll-over expiration applies to all refill levels.

Where did you find out that $100 gives you double after gold? I don't see it on their web page.

Originally posted by: Athena
" and 5¢ for an additional batch of 2000 minutes. " -

Where did you find that from?

 

[TerryMathews]

Anyone know if you can use this for T-Zones and GPRS?

 

[uurda]

Where did you find out that $100 gives you double after gold? I don't see it on their web page.

Originally posted by: Athena
" and 5¢ for an additional batch of 2000 minutes. " -

Where did you find that from?

I purchased the phone from Staples (Seattle area) today - nice phone, btw; it beats the heck out of what I was using from Virgin w/color LCD, ringtones, wallpaper & text messaging with MSN, Yahoo, AOL, ICQ.

The $30 Instant rebate meant 49.95 + tax OTD, then another mail-in only (no Easy Rebate) from T-mobile to get the final price down to 19.95 & tax.

Anyway, after speaking at length with the service rep, I feel pretty safe saying that the best rate/deal going is the GOLD membership which occurs with a $100 purchase, at which time you get 1000 minutes; this is the best it gets - there is not any greater cost/minute ratio available, nor could I identify any additional bonus programs.

If I'm wrong my apologies and please correct me as I'd LOVE to find something like the 2000 for 5 cents.

 

[uurda]

Originally posted by: lsman

Originally posted by: JDJr
Current T-Mobile Customers:
I called them about this and this is what they told me. As long as you are out of contract (So you don't pay early term. fees), all you have to do is go and buy a prepaid card then call them up to activate it and they (should) be able to switch your sim from a postpaid account to a prepaid account.

So anyone know a good place to get a 1000/1yr card?

JDJr

t-mobile.com

From your phone dial *233 which gets you to a refill by credit card system.

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Originally posted by: Athena

Originally posted by: mscdex0
The day I see the rates be $0.10/min. for prepaid wireless will be the day I sign up for it. But with the $1/day required charge (even if i don't use the phone that day), just doesn't make it worth it to go prepaid.

T-mobile doesn't have a daily charge and if you start with the $100 card, you are paying 10¢/minute for the first 1,000 minutes and 5¢ for an additional batch of 2000 minutes.

Also, once you have purchased $100 worth of minutes, the expiration period is automatically extended by a year, any time you add to your balance. So if you only use half of the 1000 the first year, you can just buy $10-$25 worth and the entire balance is good for another year.

Wow. That does seem like a very good deal. Knowing my parents, they probably won't use even half of the minutes in a year. And then they can extend the unused minutes for another year by simply buying a $10 card? Cool.

 

[uurda]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Anyone know if you can use this for T-Zones and GPRS?

The Nokia 3595 phone I got on the deal today at Staples in the Seattle area supports t-zones. I also see in my user guide that the phone does indeed support GPRS, and I recall seeing the mobile internet under Services in the menu when I was exploring the phone UI earlier.

I dunno how much it costs but I will be finding out...I expect it is not part of the 10 cents a minute plan but I could be wrong as I have been before.


http://support.t-mobile.com/knowbase/root/public/tm21390.htm#top

 

[uurda]

you are paying 10¢/minute for the first 1,000 minutes and 5¢ for an additional batch of 2000 minutes.

Please tell me how to get this amazing 2000 minutes for 5 cents (i assume you mean per minute) because the rep I talked to knows nothing of such a deal.

 

[TechDreamer]

I am also confused about all this talk of double minutes and .05 cents a minute. I scoured the T-Mobile site and did not see this. The only thing I see is that you get 15% more minutes after you go Gold. The 1000 minute card seems to always be $100, but the lower cards give 15% more after you go gold. Also I was still wondering if people can leave you voice mail for free or does it use your minutes?

 

[vfrjim]

Originally posted by: uurda

you are paying 10¢/minute for the first 1,000 minutes and 5¢ for an additional batch of 2000 minutes.

Please tell me how to get this amazing 2000 minutes for 5 cents (i assume you mean per minute) because the rep I talked to knows nothing of such a deal.

*Gold Rewards

Once you've added $100.00 in refills to your account, you automatically become a Gold Rewards customer and get at least 15% more minutes with every refill and your minutes do not expire for one full year.

more info here: http://www.t-mobile.com/prepaid/rates.asp

 

[Jawadali]

Ok, let me get this straight (I'm new to cell phones, and am looking for a cheap prepaid one). Theoretical situation:

1) You buy the phone at Staples today (4/10/2005) for $20 after rebates.
2) You then buy a $100 card to add 1000 minutes to your account. These minutes will not expire till 1 year after purchase (4/10/2006).
3) Additionally, this $100 minute purchase makes your account gold, which means that any minute purchases after that will be increased by at least 15%.

Now (this is the confusing part), from what else is said here, any minute purchases ($10, $25, $50, $100) after the initial $100 purchase will automatically extend all of the remaining minutes for an addtional year. If I buy that addtional $10 card on lets say 4/20/2005, My total minutes would be extened to 4/20/2007. Also, if this second purchase is another $100 purchase, I will get 2000 minutes instead of 1000 minutes because of the gold status.

So all I have to do is keep buying a prepaid card (like $10) every year for additional year extensions (there is no way I'm going to be using 1000-2000 mintes of talk time, so I'd just like to extend the minutes for the cheapest amount).

Also, does this phone have any internet-capable functions? If so, where I can find the hotspots/fees?

Sorry for all the questions, but I just wanted to clear a few things up. Thanks.

 

[DMM246]

Originally posted by: TechDreamer
I am also confused about all this talk of double minutes and .05 cents a minute. I scoured the T-Mobile site and did not see this. The only thing I see is that you get 15% more minutes after you go Gold. The 1000 minute card seems to always be $100, but the lower cards give 15% more after you go gold. Also I was still wondering if people can leave you voice mail for free or does it use your minutes?

Yes they can leave voicemail for free. Call your number from a regular phone to check your voicemail. Tzones are free. You can check news but thats about it.

 

[syzygy]

Originally posted by: Athena

Originally posted by: syzygy
i think t-moblie's pre-paid is one of only two services that rolls your unused minutes over continuously, assuming you purchase another card of at least 25.00 within 3 months.

after you've purchased 250.00 worth of pre-paid cards, all subsequent cards become 'gold' and that automatically doubles the number of minutes you purchased.

T-Mobile changed the program at the beginning of March: You go Gold at $100 and the number of extra minutes depends on the refill level (it's only double for $100) but the 1-year roll-over expiration applies to all refill levels.

att prepaid also allows roll-over minutes but those buggers are far stingier across the board (fewer minutes, no doubling of anything, etc.)

AT&T stopped marketing the "Free to go" program a while ago. You can buy cards if you already have a phone but you can't get a new prepaid phone from them or Cingular anymore.

the one important drawback, imho, to t-mobile is that they do not provide a toll-free number to allow you to check your voice messages from a land line.

You can retrieve your voice mail messages via a land line by calling your own number and following the voice mail prompts. So it's free if you are in your own area but a toll-call if you are traveling.

you must add at least 25.00 to your account every 3 months for service to continue. failure to do so results in the termination of your number and service.

i don't believe your unused minutes will roll over if your new card purchases are less than 25.00 plus tax (over a three month period). thats at least 9.15 per month to continue your service and to carry any unused minutes over into the next pay period. your new paid period begins whenever you cross that 25.00 threshold.

as for a toll-free calls from a land line, my number has a local area code prefix. i can't
make a toll free call from a public phone without charge. the prefix they give (805) for their message center (which you can also call to check your voice mail) is the local area code of thousand oaks, california.

as to whether you can contact your cell number from private land line free of charge, that i'm not sure of. i would guess not.