Anyone have a prepaid wireless phone?

DmansPadge · Feb 13, 2005

I refuse to pay $40+ a month for a wireless phone! But I have come to realize that I need one! I will use probably 100 min. or less a month and it seems that a prepaid phone would be the best route for me. I was wondering if anyone else has a similar setup. I have looked at the TracFone and Virgin Mobile which both have prepaid plans and are available in my area. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

gsxr1100 · Feb 14, 2005

I had a TracFone. Only pitfall was the "every 3-month" upgrade you need to buy (minutes). And the other bad thing was reception.

I now have verizon for $59 per month but they is my cell phone AND my house phone with local and long distance, call id, blah blah...I cna use the phone anywhere in my house or basement and signal is perfect.

dlabrie · Feb 14, 2005

I have been using tracphone for years. If you buy a refurbished one It will cost you about $30 including about 200 minutes. Check their site for specials. After that you have to buy time at a minimum of once every 2 months to keep the service active. If you are going to use 100 min/month, it will be very costly. I think USCellular has a plan for $25/ month with about 125 minutes.

I don't use more than 20 min/month so the Tracfone has worked very well for me

DmansPadge · Feb 14, 2005

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I now have verizon for $59 per month but they is my cell phone AND my house phone with local and long distance, call id, blah blah...I cna use the phone anywhere in my house or basement and signal is perfect. )</font>

That is what I would like to do.. but out here in the sticks I still have dial up internet because no high speed connection is available. So I'm stuck having a home phone.

PitbullMidwest · Feb 14, 2005

My wife uses a TracFone and it can be a pain in the butt. You have to remember to buy the time card while you're at the store and load it onto the phone every couple of months or whenever you use up your time. Even with email alerts and their call service to remind her when to buy time, my wife can't seem to remember to buy it when she's at the store.

If you don't buy airtime, you loose your phone number and when you reactivate you get a different one, I have no idea what my wife's cell number is this month.

Ozarker · Feb 14, 2005

If you push them hard enough they will sell you a "Emergency Phone" plan pretty cheap. I had that for my wife and paid $12 per month for service w/ no free minutes. I have that service through SWB which became Verison and just canceled it about a year ago when my wife decided she needed an expensive new phone with expensive service.

Wingnut · Feb 14, 2005

the problem I always have ... with ANY cell phone/system is the coverage.
After looking carefully at all the options, I decided I needed to go with whatever offered me a good deal on NO roaming charges, NO long distance charges, and a moderate amount of minutes , with EXCELLENT coverage.
Turned out that the only system that could meet all that was Verizon. I pay $35/mo for 150 minutes ... haven't ever gone over that yet. I also use an older flipphone (Startac) that is multi-modal ... so I can get an analog signal if there's no decent digital cell tower available.
I ride my motorcycle all over in the non-snow seasons, and my wife likes me to keep in touch ... and it's seldom that I can't get a signal at all.

ThistleKop · Feb 14, 2005

"Simple Freedom" has worked well for me. Buy the phone at Wally World. Comes with some free minutes then every two months buy an 80 min. card for $20. Extra minutes are carried over. Reception is good and no roaming charge. The local calling area is very large. The phone will tell you when your minutes are about to expire or be used up.

TK

KENSFM · Feb 14, 2005

I have used Virgin Mobile for over 2 years. No problems and service only costs me $20 every 3 months, that's less than $7 a month. Can't beat that.
Ken /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

BXMMCC · Feb 14, 2005

Virgin Mobile - very good prepaid service. They use the Sprint network, so if you have Sprint in your area, you should be OK. But, if your 100 minutes are one minute at a time, it'll add up! Check the Virgin mobile site to get a better idea!