4KRG

Net10 is Tracfone, same company

The only reason the phones would not interchange is company policy and you would have to speak with them directly on that issue.

C_Fletch

Any new deasl out there? They all seem confusing to me. YOu can use them at certain times but when you use them you have to pay a daily fee of $1.00. That seems to be the GO phones.

Any other ideas? I am seriously looking at one.

beavismom

Not a new deal, but Target occasionally runs the T-mobile $100 card for around $90. This is how we fund our kids emergency cell phone. Also, if you have an old T-mobile phone laying around or can get one cheap, you can pay $10 for an activation kit at a T-mobile store and it will include $10 worth of minutes.

clappj

Thanks for the info!

felcher

the best service is alltel because it lets you load 10.00 minimum when the others are 20-30$ plus. it negates .75 a day from the 10.00 and you have free calling nights and weekends for the .75 a day plus unlimited text messaging 24-7. that means you can take a picture with the awesome 20.00 phone worth 150.00 no contract and you can send it via email anywhere in the usual service areas.ya. unlimited emailing also. when you hit zero in the balance they shut off your service and you don't go minus so you can use it travelling or whatever and let it run out. simple as that. oh ya, calls are .10 a minute in peak time which is't bad.

kenbuzz

Do TracPhone and Virgin Mobile and the others work with every network (Verizon, AT&T/Cingular, Nextel) or only with certain ones? I might be interested in switching to a PAYG plan as well - I'm paying ~$70/mo (including taxes and nuisance fees) for two lines on the least expensive Cingluar plan (no data, no texting, just phone calls) and am pretty sure we can do better.

Nick Danger

I bought a TracFone card on Ebay. There are tons of them over there.

Brett

I know that Virgin uses the Sprint network, that's why I haven't tried it yet I suspect I'll get much worse coverage than my current AT&T. Not sure about tracphone.

bloopbleep

the key here is make sure its only for emergencies, I gave one to my mother and she ended up talking to all her friends and now is constanly running out of minutes and buying more cards.

felcher

hey dude, i think i know your mother..........

Original Desmond

Not long now till my visit to the US

I will be visiting New York first, then Vegas, then maybe some other places

Only a few weeks

I want to get a prepaid mobile i can use all over the US. Any recommendations ?

and where is the best place to buy them ?

BuddhaWake

tracfone seems to be very popular

4KRG

Hey Des, Tracfone will do what you want

Here is the coverage

http://www.tracfone.com/cellular_cov...p&task=cellcov

Are you looking to buy it mail order before you arrive or in a retail store when you get here?

There is also a less expensive per minute plan by tracfone, but it is sold through a company called net10.com You can buy these in any WalMart store in the US, pretty quick and easy.

Original Desmond

Cool thanks, gotta check out Walmart

Manos

Tracfone is a better choice if you're going to use the phone only occasionally. I just joined Net10. Their sweet spot is 150 minutes a month. If you spend less, you're better off with Tracfone. (They're the same company.) Spend more, and Net10 is a better value. Both use the AT&T network in most, but not all, places. My coverage has been outstanding so far. You can buy time online and on your phone.

postalpez

target has tmoble $100 card for $88 And you get a Free Phone with it. (nokia 2610 norm $30)

Heat

I've been looking at Tracfone and Net10 (same company as you noted) - I'd have to say that Net10 is much better for everybody unless they really use the phone for less than 400 minutes per yerar.

Both have phones for $20 to $30. With Tracfone you pay $100 for 400 minutes and one year of service, with Net10 you pay $150 for 1,500 minutes and one year of service.

With both you can buy smaller cards of course with shorter terms of service, and you can of course add minutes at any time.

C_Fletch

I was thinking of boost. Do they have the best price. It lists it as .10 minutes night and weekends. Then .20 for any other time. Are there any other hidden fees?

What is Tracfone per minute of use?

Heat

20 to 25 cents, or 10 cents. Tracfones’ pricing plans get really complicated but basically you are paying 20 or 25 cents per minute. The advantage of Tracfone is that the phone itself is cheap (under $20) and you can get a years worth of service by buying a $100 card which gives you 450 or 500 minutes. Adding minutes will cost you 20 or 25 cents per minute.

But if you think you might be on the phone for more than 450 minutes in a year, go with Net10 which is owned by Tracfone. With Net10 the phones cost a little more ($30 to $50) but you get 300 free minutes / 60 days of service when you activate the phone. You can then get a years worth of service by buying a $150 card which will give you 1,500 minutes. Adding minutes on top of that will cost 10 cents per minute.

Taking a look at Tracfone’s website, I see that they now have a $50 phone that gives you double minutes per life, thus if you buy that you could get a years worth of service and close to 1,000 minutes for $100. But you pay $50 up front. Really, it depends on how much you think that you will talk in a year:

500 minutes or less, definitely Tracfone.
1,000 minutes or less, still Tracfone.
More than 1,500 minutes, definitely Net10.

Check out their websites, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Edit: I think that the yearly Net10 card is new ($150 for one year of service and 1,500 minutes), the first time I saw it was last night at my local Meijer store, I don't see it on the Net10 website. But it is out there.

psxfan2

I need a phone without monthly fees and all other hidden charges, no gimmicks (camera, music player etc.) on the phone itself as well.
Just a basic phone.

4KRG

www.net10.com

dleedlee

I'm still with Virgin Mobile (Sprint). What's best for you might depend on how frequently you plan on using it.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....ghlight=virgin

kenbuzz

^bump

Are there any T-mobile monthly customers here who might be able to help?

We've got a T-mobile monthly plan for our two phones (wife & I), and even on their lowest tier of service AND with the discount I get through my company it's still costing $60/mo for nearly twice as many minutes as we'd ever use. We average 250-350 minutes per month, no data services, no texting... just phone calls. In a heavy-use month (350 mins), our cost is 17 cents per minute, and it only gets higher if we don't use the phones as much.

I'm looking at switching to their prepaid plan. For $100 we'd get 1150 minutes (1000 + 15%) or less than 9 cpm, which is half our current cost. Cost-wise, it's a no-brainer.

What I don't know is whether I can roam for free on a prepaid plan the same way I can with my monthly plan. For example, my workplace has NO T-mobile coverage, but there's a nice fat AT&T tower there, so I'm okay because my plan includes unlimited roaming. I don't know if that's the same if I switch to prepaid.

Also, is there any reason why we couldn't continue to use our existing phones?

big whoppa

There are no roaming charges on T-mobile's Prepaid. You probably can use your existing phones. T-mobile also has a sale on a blue-tooth prepaid phone (Motorola) for $30 that comes with $30 bonus talk time with activation if you're interested.

kenbuzz

Thanks for the gouge on roaming/phones. Also, thanks on the Moto heads-up... I'm just doing the preparatory leg work now, our contract isn't up for another 6 weeks. If the dealio is still active come mid-January, I'll have to look into it. Our current phones are bluetoothable, and we really like what we've got, but if the Moto phones are effectively free, and if the $30 can be applied to a prepaid account attached to our existing phones, we might be able to eBay the Motos.