Nifty03

And just to let you know how behind we are the Cell phone is to replace the wife's beeper. Anywho, I'm looking for the best cheap plan. The "Pay as you go" plans seem ok but it looks like you are still going to pay $20 a month just to keep it working, at it would be about $0.10 a minute.

I'm leaning toward the MetroPCS $30, unlimited local calls plan. What are the downsides that I'm not seeing and what are your suggestions. I won't need Text or data. Thanks much!

X

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hot-deals/5...an-merged.html
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hot-deals/4...hone-deal.html
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hot-deals/3...e-service.html

Virgin Mobile costs $5 per month.

The Infidel

If you're looking for a cheap phone with good signal service that you're not going to use too often, try out a Tracfone. They have one of the best, if not the best, signals no matter where you go. With the newer phones, you don't pay for roaming, and purchasing a card will get you 90 days of service. Also, the newer phones are automatically enrolled in double minutes for life, which means that if you pay for a $20 card with 60 minutes on it, that's 120 minutes to last for 90 days, and if you don't use the phone too often, that's plenty of time.

Groucho

Nifty03

Sorry I missed these, but

I was looking a Virgin Mobile, didn't notice the $5 a month except for the Text/Web options. I did like their plans though.

I hadn't looked at Trackphone, interesting plans, with double minutes for life (which it looks like it is pretty easy to get with them) it's 400 Minutes and 90 days service for $40. Not bad.

D.Pham5GLTE (>60GB)

I might have spotted your wife the other day...I actually saw someone with a beeper in their hand. I had to think for a second of what it was because i haven't seen them in so many years.

anyways, are you just looking for one phone, or for two or more phones? I know some family plans allow up to 4 phones and you can call to each other unlimitedly.

Nifty03

Oh, I should have mentioned that. Just one phone.

X

I've got that plan right now. It used to be that you had to buy $20 every three months to keep your service and unused minutes. But you can switch to automatic rebilling and get it for $15 per three months.

I believe the call rate went up somewhat per minute, but when you don't use it much it doesn't matter. I have over $200 credit right now.

Go here and click "Not that often (less than 50 minutes a month)" and"I don't use messaging" or " A couple messages each day (less than 200 per month)" and "I don't use the Mobile Web" and you'll see $5 per month.

Psi

I like Virgin Mobile plans too. Their rates are quite good, especially if you are not a heavy user and want the phone mainly for emergency need. They use the Sprint network, so check around to see how Sprint does in your area.

One thing to be cautious about. Some or many of the phones sold for VM have terrible battery life. They are cheap, but the battery often lasts just a little more than a day even when new, with minimum talk time. Choose carefully before you buy.

Nifty03

I see it now, (not the $15 option but it looks like you need to have a Virgin phone to see it). I think that might be what we go with, very nice option.

What does that $15 get you in terms of Minutes? Is that $0.20 a minute so 75 minutes for 3 months?

That Plan eVALUEator only shows the $0.20 a Minute pay as you go with those options.

X

I get billed every 90 days for $15, so it's $5 per month. I don't know if they bother to bill monthly. The old $20 plan was something like 25¢ per minute and 10¢ per minute after the first 10 minutes per day, or something like that. Then I think it went to a flat 10 or 15¢ per minute. But with the $5/20¢ plan it's still 25 minutes per month just using up just the minimum you have to pay to keep service.

If it's used primarily as a pager it doesn't have to cost more than the $5 per month because you can still receive messages that you can retrieve via land line if you don't want to use call phone time to call in for them. And I believe receiving text messages is free.

There seems to be some $6.99/10¢ plan...

For Pay As You Go...
Add at least $20 every 90 days to keep your service working. That's all there is to it.
If you're on our 10¢/min for $6.99/mo offer, make sure you have enough money in your balance to cover the cost of the monthly charge (plus taxes and surcharges) plus enough to pay for the minutes you want to use.
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/howitworks.do

Nifty03

I gotcha, thanks for getting me the info.

D.Pham5GLTE (>60GB)

make sure text message receive is free. I have Verizon and don't really use text message, but one month, i received a few, and it was like 20 cents a text! Talk about highway robbery.

Nifty03

Yikes, and I thought with Verizon all received calls were free. Guess when they say calls they mean calls only.

D.Pham5GLTE (>60GB)

It's not, i'm looking at my bill right now, 20 cents per text sent OR RECEIVED.

They also charge 25 cents PER PICTURE SENT

and $1.99 PER MEGABYTE of data.

they really nickel and dime you on this crap

Luckily, i only used the web stuff once, when i saw that 1.99 charge, i figured it wasn't worth it. and text, maybe just a handful a month. i know you're not getting verizon, but for those that do, if you text or use data, they have add-ons for those, or you can buy an all-inclusive package.

personally, i don't like Verizon that much, but you know, they're all nickel and diming you now, and i've used several other providers, and Verizon just has the best coverage for what i use. i can call anywhere at work, whereas my co-workers who have other services have to put their phone in a specific location, or they won't get the call, or the call will drop. On the freeway, in a densly populated area, i would lose signal quite often with some other providers, with Verizon, never a problem in those areas. i almost never had a dropped call anywhere. that, to me, is the most important thing. you might save money here and there, but if you can't call or you keep getting dropped calls, then it's not worth it for me. if this is important to you, then i'd suggest you check with friends and family in your area for who has the best coverage and least dropped calls first before making a decision.

X

I can't find anything on Virgin's site about incoming text charges but I searched and found a post that said it was 5¢ per text, coming or going.

This page says there's a $5 for 200 text charge (2.5¢ per text), but doesn't say outgoing only. They may cost up to 15¢ each if you don't buy that plan.

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/files...mited_brochure

kenbuzz

I can recommend T-Mobile:

You can get their phones online for cheap (or use your own GSM phone and buy a $7 T-mobile SIM for it), and if you just go ahead and put a $100 card on the phone at the start, you'll get (a) 1000 minutes (that's $0.10/min); (b) all future recharges come with an automatic 15% airtime bonus; and best of all (c) your minutes won't expire for 365 days from the LAST time you plussed-up the account.

In addition, you can get the $100 cards online for 6-7% below face value, or wait for a coupon and get 10-15% off face. I just bought one for $88 from CallingMart.com last week using an easily found coupon. And if you don't use the phone often and are worried about the minutes expiring, you can often score a free $25 card that'll come bundled with a $20 phone from T-mobile. Buy the phone, get a card worth MORE than what you paid, and then eBay the phone or give it away/donate it/stash it for an emergency. Then apply the $25 card to your account to push your airtime expiration date out a full year.

Coverage is excellent - at least where I am. T-mobile has their own network, and they timeshare off of the AT&T network. But like most others, they do free roaming on all major networks, so I don't expect you'll find too many dead spots.

Texting is $0.10 outgoing, $0.05 incoming. If you text a lot, you can get on their Sidekick plan that charges a flat $1.00/day for unlimited texting, email, IM and web browsing, with NO charge for any day you don't use it.

T-Mobile Prepaid Service: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaid-plans.aspx
(current) T-Mobile Prepaid Phones: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx

Note, the phones frequently go "on sale", and you'll see $25 airtime cards get bundled in. Just wait, it'll happen again shortly, it always does.

Nifty03

Thanks for the info, there is quite a bit I've missed on the web sites for sure.

I got a free Verizon LG VX6100 phone which is really nice, but I'm guessing it can only be used with Verizon and they just seem too expensive.

Heat

I had looked at Virgin Mobile but they didn't cover where some relatives live (Southern Illinois), so I went with Tracfone. Tracfone uses either AT&T's or Verizon's towers (which one depends on where you live) so you are pretty much assured good coverage no matter where you go.

How many minutes do you think you'll use in a month?

I've been happy with Tracfone. I pay about $100 per year and get about 1,100 minutes. If you go with a Tracfone, be sure to get one that is "double minutes for life" ("DMFL"), like the LG600G (which is what my wife uses) or the Motorola W376G (what I use).

Anyway, with Tracfone, I pay less than ten cents per minute / $10 per month. And don't forget to look at the cost of the phone when comparing plans - the W376G which I use sells for $25 now at finer retail establishments like Wal-Mart, Target, Meijer, etc.

A good forum for doing more research is: www.howardforums.com

And text messages are 0.3 units incoming or outgoing, so a little less than 3 cents.

kenbuzz

^ Those are some nice prices, but I can't seem to find them on www.tracfone.com. Everything there, including their advertised prepaid plans, seem to come with a monthly charge of $10 or more. $10 x 12 > $100. What am I missing?