Another Option: Prepaid Cell Phone Plans
Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:53PM EDT
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When I signed up for a new two-year cell phone contract with Verizon, we opted against a family plan and adding another phone for another $30 a month. It's not that we don't want the extra phone for our 13-year-old, who is starting to venture out more and could use a phone to call home for a ride, or in case of emergency. But we're not in a rush to add another $30 to our phone bill if the extra phone doesn't get daily use.
I'm checking out another option for our teen: Pre-paid cell phone plans. These plans, which basically require you to pay for minutes up front but do not demand you sign a one- or two-year contract, have gotten better lately. (For an overview, check out this Cnet guide.) But if you're not careful, you could end up paying more than you would with a family plan.
That's the way Verizon Wireless has its pre-paid plans configured—costing upwards of $30 to $70 a month, plus the cost of a phone. When you upgrade to a family plan when renewing a two-year contract you can count on getting a free phone.
But other major carriers offer pre-paid calling plans starting at lower fees:
T-Mobile ToGo: Offers plans starting at 10 cents a minute for prepaid totals, such as $10 for 30 minutes for 30 days and $25 for 130 minutes for 90 days.
Cingular GoPhone: Options include 10 cents a minute plus $1 access fee for every day you use the phone, and a 25-cents-per-minute plan with no access fees.
I'm up for trying one of these plans with no long-term commitment and see how much we use the extra phone. Has anyone tried a pre-paid plan for a teenager in your house, or for yourself? Let us know how it worked out.
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27 Posted by gypsymomma on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:15PM EDT Report Abuse
Cricket commumunications is by far the best deal. $45 for unlimited use, text messages, everything. No worries about running over and the phone always works! My friends all have other plans and all of them cost more than ours. It's a great deal!
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28 Posted by crnatobe1994 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:31PM EDT Report Abuse
I currently use prepaid service with Cingular, and am totally satisfied with it. I have the plan where it costs $1.00 for each day you use the phone, and 10 cents a minute to talk (unless it's to a Cingular customer, and then I can talk for free... it allows unlimited M2M). This plan is great for me because I don't use my phone all that much. 99% of my friends use Cingular as well, so other than the initial dollar a day, it doesn't cost anything to talk to them. Some people might think the dollar charge is a bit much, but I don't. Even contract plans could come out costing more in the long run. Most plans only allow so many daytime minutes. Once you go over the limit, they start charging. I used to have a contract with Cingular a couple of years ago. One month, I went over on my daytime minutes, and it cost me a bundle. Other times, I would hardly use my phone, so a lot of the minutes would roll over (however, you have to be careful, because if you don't use them within a certain time, they expire) -- and I was paying for a lot of stuff I didn't use. Also, the text messaging is only 5 cents per message (which is what it costs when you "pay as you go" for them with a contract). Contrary to what some people might tell you, you don't have to use one of their prepaid phones. If you have the money, you can buy any of their phones you wish (which is what I did). As long as it's a Cingular phone, it'll work. I've been all over the country with my phone, and have never lost service. Also, if you need to use your phone to access the Internet, the charge isn't that bad (it's reasonable if your phone is GPRS-capable, because it charges by the amount of data downloaded rather than how long you're connected).
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29 Posted by taylorconverse on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:57PM EDT Report Abuse
I have Cingular GOPhone service and I love it so far. Almost all of their prepaid phones have high end features. There service is great and i always have at least 3 or more bars. Never had a drope call either.
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30 Posted by mjfprod on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:22PM EDT Report Abuse
Net 10 has always been a great value! Really..Just 10 cents a minute. 5 cents for Text Messages. You control minutes... And no overage charges..ever again. Great for little to moderate phone useage. No Roaming charges ever. No connection fees. No $1 a day charges EVER! And great coverage areas. I Do NOT work for Net10..but I havebeen using their service for a couple years. 2 Thumbs up.
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31 Posted by edithc45 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:52PM EDT Report Abuse
If you live in an are where Cricket wireless service is available it is worth the investment. Their minutes are unlimited for a flat monthly rate starting at about $30.00. You can get unlimited local, long distance, text messaging, voice mail, caller id,etc. There are two downsides: one is you can use it only in your local calling area although they do have travel time and two you don't get a break on the phones. You pay top dollar for their phones. I'm constantly on my phone so it works for me.
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32 Posted by fubarblabla on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:04PM EDT Report Abuse
Metro PCS Not the best coverage it only has it in select areas here in the south. But if you dont travel too much and are in their coverage area UNLIMITED TALK 30 bucks no contract no activation fee just buy the phone
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33 Posted by webnut58@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:42PM EDT Report Abuse
I have VirginMobile and love it. I'm surprised to see so many people commenting here who still have the original minute by minute plans. They have several plans now that come out much cheaper. I currently pay $35 for 300 anytime minutes and 1000 night/weekend minutes. If you need extra (which I personally never do), you pay something like $5 for extra time which comes out to 18 cents per minutes. They have additional plans that cost a bit more but provide more minutes. That comes out to way less than 10 cents a minute like their original plan or any of the competitors. I used to have Tracfone but I did not like their customer service and I feel I have more options with my current plan.
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34 Posted by effsports on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:52PM EDT Report Abuse
Virgin Mobile is the best prepaid carrier. It's good for kids because it has downloadable ringtones, games, text messaging, AIM, and many of their phones are camera phones. You can visit their website www.virginmobileusa.com
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35 Posted by algeo37@verizon.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:50PM EDT Report Abuse
Has anybody tried 'BOOST' which is another 'PREPAID' plan. I have the plan and I pay $15.00 Quarterly for 75 minutes which amounts to 25 minutes per month. I don't use the phone that much and the remaining minutes may be carried over to the next term. I have actually accumulated over 100 minutes to the following term because I had no need to use the phone that much.
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36 Posted by francaburd on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:02PM EDT Report Abuse
I don't understand why pre-paid phones cards aren't cheaper by the minute than a plan. Think of it - there's no bill, so the company saves on paper and mailing costs; no calls to track, so no trained employee's and expensive software needed to record every second of every call and no building required to house them all in. I think that eventually pre-paid cards will take over the industry once consumer demand reaches a certain level and competition drives the cost down. Personally, I can't wait to tell my cell phone service company to shove their contracts where the sun don't shine
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37 Posted by johnhebbler on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:39PM EDT Report Abuse
I USE THE CINGULAR GO PHONE AND I THINK IT IS GREAT NO PROBLEM ,YOU BUY THE MINUTES YOU CAN AFFORD,PUT THEM ON YOUR PHONE ,AND USE THE PHONE ..I HAVE IT GREAT BECAUSE I DONT GET ANY LARGE PHONE BILLS THAT I THINK I DID NOT USE AND IT HARD TO PAY. MY BILL IS CHEAPER ON CINGULAR GO PHONE THAN WHEN I WAS ON 2 YEAR CONTRACT JOHN IN TEXAS
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38 Posted by johnhebbler on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:39PM EDT Report Abuse
ON CINGULAR GO PHONE 10 CENT PER MINUTE PLAN YOU GET 15 DOLLAR CARD AND YOU GET 150 MINUTES OF AIR TIME BEST DEAL GOING IN MY BOOK
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39 Posted by joyful_lament on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:41PM EDT Report Abuse
I am 16 and last christmas when I was 15 I was in no rush to get a cell since it's so main stream. I'm not that kind of gal. Then one day my dad forgot to pick me up from karate and I couldn't use the phone at the studio until after mom left for choir. The solution was a brand new Net10 prepaid plan with a motorola flip phone. Mom and I each got one. We had to pay for the phones, but that was a one time expense and we've each kept the same phone for over a year. I have seen my classmates break phones on purpose because they want a new model, but as I said, I am not that kind of gal. When we started out there was a 2 for 1 deal going and that deal lasted as long as you renewed your phone minutes on the time specified. The deal basically said you get three hundred minutes every two months for two phones, but you only pay for the first three hundred minutes which cost $30. Texting and using has no extra fee either. Texting is cool. You pay in hald minutes. For every page you send/recieve, you're minutes are bumped down by .5. The phone does ask us to renew our minutes every other month, however as long as you pay for 300 minutes, everything rolls over. There are cheaper deals where you can buy 100 minutes every other month, but the minutes don't roll over. And our two for one deal has been going on for over a year. We have never paid for the total of 600 minutes we both get 6 times a year. Net10 also offers new phones often. They had three modles a year ago and I got the newest one: the flip phone. However they just added a camera phone and I think they are working to get more modles to choose from.
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40 Posted by davidthomson_98 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:38PM EDT Report Abuse
I travel to the US on average 4/5 times a year. International roaming rates for my cellphone are ridiculous so I have a tracfone too. I pay the one year subscription fee and use it all over the US, wherever I am. Convenient and it saves me money.
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41 Posted by davidthomson_98 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:38PM EDT Report Abuse
I travel to the US on average 4/5 times a year. International roaming rates for my cellphone are ridiculous so I have a tracfone too. I pay the one year subscription fee and use it all over the US, wherever I am. Convenient and it saves me money.
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42 Posted by threeduggaduggas on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:08PM EDT Report Abuse
I use a working assets plan ( www.workingassets.com )that gives you a brand new Katana phone and 200 minutes a month for only $25 a month (actually as a long time user I get 250 minutes)
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43 Posted by tinlizzie442002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:11PM EDT Report Abuse
We have the verizon prepaid.We have used it for around 2 years. We bought one of our phones at a junk store with car charger, home charger, and case for $5.00.The battery is still chargeable and we have been using it for over a year.Wal-mart has a nice flipphone for $49.99, our other phone.Our bill for the 2 phones run us around $80.00 a month, with our kids, in their early 20's, using them. We also have a home phone that has long distance. Verizon is 10 cents a minute and 99 cents a day, with unlimited calling from 9:00 p.m. till 6:59 a.m.Some of the others are 10 cents a min. but charge a dollar a day for access.It is also free for us to call each other, a real plus with the kids.They tend to call us a lot!! My friend has Trac-Phone and would not trade it for anything.One good thing is, that the minutes last for 2months and it doesnt take any each day. It does cost each time you dial. I've had several and keep going back to the verizon. My son is a truck driver and loves his verizon pre-pay. He says the only place it has not worked was somewhere in Texas. It might not be cost efficient though for a teen-ager.My daughter talked so much on our cingular service we couldnt keep up with the bill, and that was with free nights and week-ends!!We do not allow her near our pre-pay!! These are just my thoughts, I hope it has helped. I personally think it would be better to add another phone w/unlimited mins., even if it cost $50 a month, but you can use the pre-pay then make up your mind.
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44 Posted by jagordon1942 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:27PM EDT Report Abuse
I have a pre-paid "T Mobil" I have my number for one year and the average cost pr month for me us under $25..it works great for me. However, if you use the phone a lot then going with a monthly plan is a lot better.
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45 Posted by rgklein21 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:38PM EDT Report Abuse
I had a really bad experience with T-Mobile. A local agent signed me up for a plan. The first bill came to over $600. Instead of T-Mobile's customer service advising me that I had obviously signed up for the wrong plan, they kept billing me month after month for a similar amount. Finally, a clerk at the payment center advised me that I had signed up for the wrong plan. When I called T-Moible customer service, they refused to sign me up retroactively for a more reasonable plan. I had to send a letter to the FCC to get this straightened out. T-Mobile immediately gave me credit for the tremendous overbilling stating that it was to maintain a better customer relation, but they never admitted that they had made a mistake! My advice, to anyone having trouble with a Mobile phone company, is to immediately file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission! Richard Klein
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26 Posted by hopper19782000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:20PM EDT Report Abuse
I used to subscribe to cricket, and its true the service plan is great! Unlimited minutes, text messqaging, internet service, etc. The only problem is that cricket is limited to certain areas, I live in the Dayton, Oh area and can use it in this area fine, but when I leave for another area like St. Louis or Kansas City, Mo the service doesn't work. If you stay in one area and have $50 bucks you can talk as long as you want and to whomever you want, but don't move!