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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67 Posted by aliciadismukes@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:50PM EDT Report Abuse
hello i am a virginj mobile oystr user it was only $15.00 it is a prepaid phone and it never gos dead you can buy it at best buy And radio shack.
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68 Posted by ldystrge on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:58PM EDT Report Abuse
We have the pay as you go due to credit issues, however no matter what the reason, I find that it is much cheaper than my previous 1 year contract with cingular, my bill was running up to arround $80.00 per mo with text and such but the pre-paid is only around $20.00 per month for my son as long as he only uses it for what it is intended, to get ahold of myself or his father. If he uses it to talk to friends or text then the bill will run higher, the good thing is that there are no surprise bills, if he does download or text it comes out immediately and then he will have to tell us right away that he needs more minutes, this prevents a huge bill coming and we can then punish or lecture before providing more minutes and I have found that he will then only use it for it's intended use.
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69 Posted by meilingntuffy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:15PM EDT Report Abuse
I have two phones on the prepaid plan and wouldn't have it any other way. My boyfriend has one and I have the other. He pays his and I pay mine, however, both are in my name, soooo, if we break up I can shut his off anytime. I don't want to get stuck with a contract.
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70 Posted by mimiswiti on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:21PM EDT Report Abuse
I am surprised no one mentioned Revol. For one price, you get a phone, and then for what seems alot of money, it is $60.00 a month, which seems a lot it is unlimited, day, night anywhere in the united states, with insurance on loss or damage of phone. No plans and no contracts. I had verizon a with unlimited, that meant 9:00p-6:00a is unlimited, but there is a 30 dollar month fee, plus a card. This gets more expensive, with the cards. If one needs an unlimited, this is the best offer. The phone cards get .10 min =$6.00 which is cheap, and one would think reasonable, but the usual phone call is around 20 min. especially for a business. It adds up fast. 3 phone calls for one hour. What is the average time a week, and so on. What about the other things like calling parents, who work and have to be on hold. Two people is not that much of an add on with Revol. Look into it. Two on a phone for 70 dollars, with unllimited min. with more than three children. Just remember, a few years ago, we had to pay these same prices in our houses. 3 in college at one time, was an average phone call of $200 a month.
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71 Posted by robtrang on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:46PM EDT Report Abuse
I hate the phone cards and PINS with some of these prepaid phones and have started using www.mobilereup.com (seems to bejust cingular right now) 'cos it tops up from your credit card and you get the minutes straight away.
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72 Posted by hwichern on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:21PM EDT Report Abuse
I have a virgin mobile slice I top up aleast $70.00-80.00 a month do u thing thats too much for a prepaid phone?
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73 Posted by prepssuck4evr on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:18PM EDT Report Abuse
I have Alltel U, their pre-paid service. Previosuly I had a Go Phone and I had that they charge you 25 cents a minute, versus Alltel which charges 10 cents a minute. I get unlimited text messaging and unlimited night and weekends for .75 cents a day and my anytime minutes are 10 cents a minute. I strongly recommend Alltelu.com One thing I do not like initially is the $35 activation fee but the benefits of Alltel's pre-paid service outweight that one little negative.
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74 Posted by tx_77002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:25PM EDT Report Abuse
the thing about pre-paid is that if someone calls you and leaves you a 5 minute message you get charge for those 5 minutes and then when you want to listen to your message you get charge another 5 minutes. If someone calls you and waits until the answering service comes on, and hangs up before they leave a message you will be charge 1 minute. So if you call someone with a prepay hang up after the 3rd ring and don't leave a message. Other than that if find it a good deal if you use the phone only for emergencies or for infrequent use.
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75 Posted by cyhollowayking on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:33PM EDT Report Abuse
I found that it was cheaper to go ahead and pay the extra money to add a phone to our current plan for $20 via Sprint (right now 2 lines can be added for $10 or $20 depending on the plan you have). We got two phones for the price of one, and purchased the unlimited text plan for all phones on the account at $15 (for unlimited texting for all of the phones combined, than paying for a new phone). My teenagers text most of the time and rarely speak on their phones. When they do talk it is after 6pm and the minutes are free by then. Having my teens use up the prepaid cards in weeks, then having to get to the store to purchase new ones or call and give my credit card number over the phone or internet to purchase more minutes got to be a bit too much. None of the prepaid phones are free. It is much cheaper and more convenient to add a line to current billings, than bother with prepaid phones.
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76 Posted by earth2dcw on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:51PM EDT Report Abuse
I had a good experience with AT&T Free To Go until Cingular took it over. I was paying 12.5 cents per minute and the same plan would have cost me .25 per minute under Cingular. With the flexibility of no contract, I was able to change to Tracphone with a double minutes option for a year. If you buy $50.00 worth of minutes at a time they are .10 per minute. My monthly phone cost went from around $30.00 to about $25.00 monthly. I mainly use my phone for business and have found that Tracphone coverage is actually better in the Puget Sound region than Cingular's coverage.
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77 Posted by fpnjr44sy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:02PM EDT Report Abuse
you forgot TRACFONE best deal for usage especially if just need a phone just for limited yearly usage (around 100.00 a year incl. taxes VS 500.00 a year plus taxes ect. ect.) including phone with 250-450 mimutes included and you can add more if needed
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78 Posted by iridered44 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:24PM EDT Report Abuse
Trac phone is the way to go !
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79 Posted by ja32us on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:26PM EDT Report Abuse
Ive used TracFone for 6 yrs at 19.00 for 60 Mn. have to buy mn.every 60 days or buy a 1 yr card for around 100.00 which gives you 450 free mn. Also there is Net10.com which sells time for 10cents a mn and renews every 60 days.You can alos buy a 1 yr card with them also. I am very satisfied with eather of these plans.
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80 Posted by tposler@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:18PM EDT Report Abuse
How about the tracphone. I've had one for almost a year now and still have over 300 minutes and the cost was under a hundred for the whole year! Use it only for necessary calls and when in Canada.
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81 Posted by mcmillankris on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:13PM EDT Report Abuse
My husband and I just came from a three year stay in Italy. Our phones were pre-paid which is the standard over there. We had all incoming call free. We only paid for outgoing calls and all text messages. Does anyone know of a plan like that here in the states?
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82 Posted by ladycdubya on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:55PM EDT Report Abuse
i have had a prepaid cell phone for 8 years. It is much better for me than the contract. I use tmobile. after you have purchased 250 minutes of airtime, they give you free minutes (15 - 25% more), and the minutes don't expire for a full year. i don't do much text messaging, as it costs 25 cents to send or receive, and teenagers love to text. in my area of the country, there is a company called cricket, which i use for my teenagers. it is a prepaid plan, and you can choose plans from 30 to 50 a month. it has unlimited text messaging, voice mail, caller id, 3 way calling, everything that the branded carriers have. it also has a punishment plan in case your child misbehaves, that allows you to put the phone on vacation hold dor up to 4 months. they are pretty much nationwide, so you might want to give them a try. you can look them up at mycricket.com
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83 Posted by james_b38 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:28PM EDT Report Abuse
I use net 10. Just 10 cents all the time. I bought the cheapest phone they had and it stopped working after a month. I called their customer service to fix it and they sent me a more expensive phone at no charge! The customer service guy was hard to understand but they provided great customer service, I had my new phone within 3 days. I just turn it on when I am going to take a trip.
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84 Posted by lucky33000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:59PM EDT Report Abuse
Having gone with a contract phone for many years, I looked and bought a trac fone for my wife. After seeing how well it worked, I decided to get one too. I went to Tracfone.com and was given a preowned phone free. It looked new and it works excellent. One of my co works has one as well. Everyone finds no fault with them. One thing I did not care about was all of the extra features like e-mail camera, text messaging, music and such. How can we go wrong with a phone that costs us about $10 a month.
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85 Posted by bettyannbettyann on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:05PM EDT Report Abuse
Its a problem for me trying to determine which phone and/orphone service would be right for me. And no matter how i try, I just cant absorb all the info. about it. im just not adaptable to this new age of electronics, and i dont think i ever will be!
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66 Posted by inbrace on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:23PM EDT Report Abuse
I had got this new prepaid phone and i love it $20 or $30 last me a month I love that it is so easy to add minutes on it.or i can have it charged to my debit card and have free nights and weekends I would not trade my phone in for nothing its great I tell other people about the phone.