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
Pay as you go phone?
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Re: Pay as you go phone?
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.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
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.
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.
Re: Pay as you go phone?
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
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
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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.
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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.
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Holman TC5700 512/1gb
MJ user since 7/08
' bout ready to go Call Centric
MJ user since 7/08
' bout ready to go Call Centric
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.hsweiss wrote:I just came across an AT&T reseller called Consumer Cellular
If you've actually seen a reference to them on the AARP site, then they're probably legit.
Mark
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