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Pay as you go phone?



 
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joeyd50
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 11 Jan 2009
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:35 am    Post subject: Pay as you go phone? Reply with quote

I thinking of getting red of my contracted cell phone and getting a pay as you go phone. Does anyone know witch one has the best plan?
Thanks
Joe
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tony
Dan Should Pay Me


Joined: 04 May 2008
Posts: 509
Location: Vancouver, BC

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Pay as you go phone? Reply with quote

joeyd50 wrote:
I thinking of getting red of my contracted cell phone and getting a pay as you go phone. Does anyone know witch one has the best plan? Thanks Joe


Wow, that's a pretty open ended question. Try this site for info http://www.howardforums.com, it covers both Canadian and US carriers, phones, and plans.
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maine-iac
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me


Joined: 25 Mar 2008
Posts: 347
Location: GA

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tracfone. Cheap; works great.
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joeyd50
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 11 Jan 2009
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the input, I been looking on line and I was kina leaning towards the Tracfone.
Thanks Again
Joe
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mberlant
Dan Should Pay Me


Joined: 01 Feb 2009
Posts: 829
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I travel into the US several times a year, sometimes for months at a time. I find that Cingular's (now AT&T) $1.00 per day I use the service, 10c a minute works well for me. This plan includes mobile-to-mobile calling within the $1.00 daily fee. I add $100 once a year and they give me a $20 bonus. The balance lasts me the whole year.

I only use this service for telephone calls. No photos, no texting, no music transfer, no voice mail (they completely disabled it for me) -- none of the nonsense that jacks up a phone bill.
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az2008
MagicJack Sensei


Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 1404
Location: Tempe, AZ

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:32 pm    Post subject: Re: Pay as you go phone? Reply with quote

I like T-Mobile. $20 for their cheapest Nokia phone. 1000 minutes for $100. They last a year. There is a rumor that adding just a few minutes will cause the remaining minutes to last another year.

They have another pay-as-you-go plan. It costs $1 a day on the days you use it, plus 10 cents a minute. I guess it's less expensive initially. But, I liked paying for 1000 minutes and not facing $365 in a year (plus 10 cents a minute).

Mark
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cdwaldron
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me


Joined: 26 Jul 2008
Posts: 107
Location: Tucson, AZ

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I converted from a family plan on T-Mobile to their pay as you go. It is 10 cents per minute. The $100 upfront gets you 1000 min. good for a year. Any additional minutes you add before the year ends, extends the time to one year beyond the date additional minutes were added for all remaining minutes. ? That was confusing.

Example: $100 - 1000 minutes bought 1/1/2009 so minutes are good until 1/1/2010

Add 440 minutes for $50 on 5/1/2009 and those minutes are good until 5/1/2010 along with any of the minutes from 1/1/2009.

As long as you don't let all of your minutes expire, any minutes you add are good for 1 year.

That said, T-mobile is just OK as a provider. It uses GSM so it won't work on CDMA networks.
[/u]
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pagemen
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me


Joined: 15 Dec 2008
Posts: 128

PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Also, don't forget to check the coverage map.

AT&T prepaid has very limited coverage, as it seldom roams to other carrier, while TMo prepaid, has almost the same coverage as their postpaid plan. Tracfone/Net10, from I've heard, will roam to any GSM carrier available, has the best coverage but you'll be bonded to their phones.

I'm using T-Mo ToGo for my emergency only cell phone, despite the high initial cost($100 for golden reward), the long time cost is much less----tracfone/net10 is cheaper per minute but you have to refill every few months.
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mberlant
Dan Should Pay Me


Joined: 01 Feb 2009
Posts: 829
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

pagemen reminds me that you also need to consider the price of the SIM card startup kit (for a GSM carrier) or startup charge (for a CDMA carrier).

When I went through this exercise 3 years ago, both Cingular and T-Mobile were charging $25 for a startup kit, and both included about $15 of call time with the kit. Through many calls with Cingular Customer Service, initially looking for a sales outlet inside LAX (no cellular company has representation inside LAX), I finally learned that Cingular would sell me the very same startup kit over the phone for $6.50 and would have it to my US address (my friend's doorstep) in plenty of time for my arrival.

Cingular also credited me with an extra bonus on all additional minutes I applied to the account within the first 24 hours of activation, so I went out to Wal-Mart and bought a $100 card (for 2% off; the best rate I have found on any recharge cards). At that time, $100 was the only value that gave a one-year expiration, but they might have changed that to match what cdwaldron reports about T-Mobile.
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hsweiss
Dan Should Pay Me


Joined: 28 Mar 2008
Posts: 563
Location: Maryland

PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just came across an AT&T reseller called Consumer Cellular who have no-contract cellular service for as low as $10/month (w/no minutes) and $20/month (w/200 min), etc. They are endorsed by AARP because they don't have any early departure fees. www.consumercellular.com. I'm seriously thinking of switching over to them to get rid of Sprint - the only reason I had kept Sprint was it was $30 for 300 min and it was just too cheap to dump. At least in my neck of the woods, AT&T has *much* better service than Sprint.
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az2008
MagicJack Sensei


Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 1404
Location: Tempe, AZ

PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hsweiss wrote:
I just came across an AT&T reseller called Consumer Cellular


I clicked the link and received a warning that their secure cert. (certificate) was expired or didn't match their name. That's a little disconcerting for a business accepting credit cards.

If you've actually seen a reference to them on the AARP site, then they're probably legit.

Mark
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mberlant
Dan Should Pay Me


Joined: 01 Feb 2009
Posts: 829
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hsweiss wrote:
They are endorsed by AARP because they don't have any early departure fees.
Could this be because AARP members are more likely to make early departures [from this mortal coil] than the general population?
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