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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47 Posted by britlit1964 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:13PM EDT Report Abuse
I've had Virgin Mobile for several years and LOVE it. I bought one for my son when he was younger but when he went away to college, he wanted a "plan." I switched him to Nextel and have regretted it. Both the service and the phone STINK! Now that Virgin Mobile has monthly plans, he desperately wants to go back to it but we're stuck with the stupid Nextel contract. Virgin Mobile phones are awesome and frequently on sale at Best Buy. I just got the new Oyster phone for $9.99! My VM phone works everywhere, even in very rural locations. His Nextel does NOT. VM also has several minutes/package options and you can switch at any time! So, if you find that your child is talking more than expected, you can just switch to a different option that is more cost-effective. And if you want a new or different phone, no problem! They're inexpensive and it's very easy to have your minutes and number transferred to the new phone. VM's customer service is outstanding and their website is really fun, too. You can buy phones, accessories, top-up cards, etc. anywhere in the U.S. at several retailers. I highly recommend Virgin Mobile.
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48 Posted by paksmariner on Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:45PM EST Report Abuse
We had a tracphone for a while. We were just looking for a phone for emergencies or travel or special occasions and did not use it much. I found it incredibly annoying that after paying a decent chunk of money for air time and not using any of it that we were going to see it all go down the drain unless we bought more because it had an expiration date. We could save the minutes if we bought more air time so we tried getting more air time for a longer duration but the only way we could do that was buying lots more minutes. I also found that when I was roaming it used a great deal more "units" they called them than if I was driving around town. As I read this article and the responces about how much these phones cost and charge for calls, minutes, months and the like I cringe to realize how much you folks are getting taken to the cleaners. Some contract plans I've heard advertized for as little as $30 a month unlimited. With most plans you get a free phone. If you pay $20 for your tracfone then you might have paid for most of your first months bill with the same money. I am with T-mobile. Our plan is a national plan which means I never pay roaming charges (important to me because I travel a lot for bussiness.) We get 700 minutes for $50 (shared by two phones) which is just over seven cents a minute (not ten, or twenty-two or thirty-five like some of the examples discussed earlier.) Plus prepayed plans never give you free nights and weekends; they always cost the same rediculously overpriced rate no matter the time of day or day of the week. I understand not everyone can afford $50 a month but not everyone needs my national plan and there are many plans though many providers that are much, much better values than any prepay plan I have ever heard of. I might change my mind if the minutes did not expire, or roaming did not double or triple the minute usage, or you could use the phone free after 9pm or any number of other things. My final word is that it sounds like prepay plans cost the same as contract plans without offering you any of the benefits or convienience like actually being able to use the phone for example.
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49 Posted by sparkys_midnight_cowgirl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:35PM EDT Report Abuse
Virgin Mobile (which I work for) has some excellent plans that you can be on and the service is great! Topping up is so easy. You either can buy the cards or you can use a credit card to top up. If you use a credit card, you can have a automatic top up so you can keep talking and not worry about having to call in and top up every single time. No matter how you do it though..it is still a great service!
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50 Posted by whiteshado3w on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:44PM EDT Report Abuse
i got a altell from walmart.....39 bucks ,phone and mins , 60 mins or go online get 120 mins....and is the only pnone i found that works inside my house,,no more getting calls at 3:30 am sence im on call at work....and not haveing too walk outside too use it......live in the boonies...lol...or that got a cam phone for 59 bucks...same plan...roll over mins too.
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51 Posted by whiteshado3w on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:44PM EDT Report Abuse
o ya ..altell price per min...15 cents...but voicemail is not free its also .15 cents amin....so i had altell drop voice mail for me.....who needs it anyways.......eather im there or im not..i love it... now im in contol over my price....cell phone card 20 bucks ....wich is close too 130 mins....for 30 days i think..or 25 bucks for 166 mins for 3 months i think..
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52 Posted by sch3nauzer on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:08PM EDT Report Abuse
My husband and I have a pre-paid plan with Cingular for 10 cents a minute w/$1 acess fee. It works well for us and we are saving a lot compared to the plan we had. The nice thing about it is we can talk to our son in another state for free because he has a Cingular phone. We do have to pay the $1 acess charge, but that's all. We are not constantly on our phones though, and only a few of our family and friends have the number.
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53 Posted by russ_vl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:56PM EDT Report Abuse
we've had verizion and they wack you a charge everyday weather or not you use the phone or not...we've found that virgin mobile is the best one yet, alltell charges you 18cents a minute, and i know when i get paid im going to virgin mobile...good luck
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54 Posted by breaker3010@verizon.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:12PM EDT Report Abuse
We use Tracfone also. It is great as we have it mainly for an emergency. We travel to Maryland from New Jersey often. No problems in home state or in any other state in which we have been. The great thing is that the unused minutes roll over. The tech assistance is very good.
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55 Posted by nc62bob on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:34PM EDT Report Abuse
I have had Verizon prepaid for several years. Lost $165 accumulated call time becaused missed reupping by 1 day. Verizon dealer would not discuss the problem with me. Call center op finally suggested setting me up on automatic billing from my creditcard. It is $30/60 day cycle. No problem now with losing accumulated time. Still can not use phone as modem w/laptop. Also the phone is outdated, no camera, etc. Is there any way to transfer my accumulated time to a modern phone?
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56 Posted by hoochamooch on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:20PM EDT Report Abuse
I went with the alltel "U" prepaid plan and got a great deal on a Kyocera camera phone(about $40.00. I went with the pay by the month plan and get 200 daytime minutes and 1000 night and weekend minutes. The plan includes nation wide long distance, and a great coverage area. Since I use the phone very little, the $30.00 a month isn't too tough to bear and the phone has paid for itself time and again. Alltel offers other pay as you go plans and all of them are very reasonable.
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57 Posted by roadreadyrog on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:44PM EDT Report Abuse
about 3 years ago I obtained a tracfone and was very satisfied with it, untill dec.30 2006, while I was called away from home on a family emergency and had only a few minutes on my phone. I went to walmart picked up a 400 min. card and could not get it added to my phone. I called tracfone and got no answer. Now I am looking for another company. They are too busy for my business. Thanks for 3 good years. Roger Rix
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58 Posted by ccbailey on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:20PM EDT Report Abuse
We've got four Virgin Wireless pre-paid phones in our family, and love them. Since none of us are big talkers, we pay, at most, $15-20 month total for all four phones. If we do start using more time, we can switch one, two, or all the phones to monthly plans with Virgin. We can switch every month to a new plan if we want to do so. We've used the phones all across the country while on road trips, and have only found a few spots where the phones don't get service: a stretch of interstate in eastern TN, near Yellowstone National Park, and at my mother-in-law's farm. I highly recommend Virgin. I've already turned several of my friends onto the service, and I got bonus time when they activated their phones. I also use the SugarMama service and earn free minutes every month from Virgin.
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59 Posted by grannypnut1951 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:12PM EDT Report Abuse
I am a Senior Citizen and I have had a trakfone for about 4 years. I only used it in case of emergency, like calling my husband to tell him I would be late or if he needed anything while I was uptown. I did use it twice to call Triple A for road service. THAT was a BIG help. My husband recently died and I have not used it since. I just carry it because I have it I guess.
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60 Posted by lisamowery on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:53PM EDT Report Abuse
I got my 12 year old a Net10 flip phone and she loves it. Costs 0.10 a minutes, no other charges. I buy her a $30.00 card every month and she has learned to budget her minutes so they don't expire before the end of the month. I think sms costs 0.05 Prepay is the ONLYway for teenagers! I have TMobile prepay and use a Treo. I buy a 1,000 min card for $100 and it lasts me over 6 months. I don't talk much on my cell phone, mostly send sms to friends in Europe. Used to have a contract with Cingular; hated them, and I'll never do a contract service again until the cell phone companies shape up. When we went to the Grand Canyon this past summer, my Tmobile phone wouldn't work until we hit Vegas, but my daughter's Net10 worked most places. Good reason to have 2 different companies on the family phones.
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61 Posted by snuffles327 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:30PM EDT Report Abuse
I'm not a teenager or have one in the house but have been an I-Wireless customer for 4 years now. Their plan is the best thing I've ever found. Since I make few long distance calls, I have unlimited minutes...I can stay on the phone 24 hours a day 7 days a week and it still only runs me $39.95 (plus tax) per month. I can call almost anywhere in Iowa, Illinois and parts of Wisconsin for nothing ANYTIME! They contact you when your 30 days is about to run out and you just call their automated line and refill your 30 days with a credit or debit card. For long distance in the case of friends and relatives, I buy a phone that lets call them for around 2 cents per minute and 9 times out of 10, they call me right back and I don't get charged for incoming calls. It's great. Plus the fact that I don't have to mess with a bill and overcharges, not to mention the privacy of having a "throw away" phone. No long lists of numbers that I've called every month and the hassle of remembering to send in a payment and hope that the company gets it in time. Anyone that doesn't make alot of long distance calls should check in their area and see if there is something like this available.
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62 Posted by bawgfrog on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:03PM EDT Report Abuse
Tracfone is a good way to go without having a long commitment - but where you live can mean not having a local number - I ended up with a Seattle number (I live in Port Angeles) and it took me about 6 weeks to get thru all (9) the SIM card changes and complaints to get a local number. I have even called Hawaii with the Tracfone and it was clear as a bell..so consider it if you want an easy to use and inexpensive cell phone!
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63 Posted by bbswenso on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:03PM EDT Report Abuse
Does anyone know which prepaid card has the most minutes? I'm rather new at this, and after getting a bill from Verizon which totally shocked me, I'm ready for change. Not only that, but Verizon never sent me a break down of the minutes I used. It scares me when a company does not send a full detailed statement listing every call. My normal bill usually runs about 30 a month, and for some reason it was $236.14. The highest amount I ever paid was $65.00. Anyway, I'm having an audit done I my entire account and my contract ends in January 2007. So, if anyone knows of a really good prepaid phone card they would like to introduce me to, that would make Bebop a very happy camper! I live in the Atlanta area, well about 30 miles north of Atlanta. Thanks and happy New Year everyone! Bebop
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64 Posted by jaclaz on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:26PM EDT Report Abuse
Can anyone beat $39.50 a year to carry a cellphone which includes 30 minutes of talk-time? Talk-time which never expires? TRY STi Mobile. 10 cents a minute to USA or Canada. Plus 10 cents daily access fee ($36.50 a year). No roaming charges. Uses the Sprint network. So if you plan on talking less than 600 minutes a year, 50 minutes a month it's by far the cheapest plan. It would work great as pocket payphone for those like myself that just carry it for emergencies and for roadtrips T-Mobile is the next best Pre-Paid Plan. Buy the $100 card = 1,000 minutes which expires 365 days later and re-up for as little as $10 and it will carry over unused minutes and won't expire for another 365 days..... So there you have it. Where else can you find plans where you pay just once a year?
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65 Posted by junplugged on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:44PM EDT Report Abuse
and the other options for t-mobile, is $100 that expires in ONE YEAR. and a decent samsung for $70, walmart and target have them, but not the smaller stores or t-mobile stores or kiosks in malls, i don't know why not, i'd buy it from them too.
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46 Posted by alan_jacquemotte on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:49PM EDT Report Abuse
virgin mobile, $7/mo for 10 cents/min, no top-ups reqd. How hard is that?