cool thread. I've been wondering how to reduce my cellphone bill (from Verizon). Tracfone's annual plan sounds great. Note that most markets now allow you to retain your phone number when you change carriers. Tracfone leases time on Cingular and Verizon networks, so quality of phone service will be that of Cingular or Verizon dependant upon which is being used at the time and in your area. If I'm not mistaken, Cingular is TDMA at 1900 MHz and Verizon is CDMA at 800MHz. So for your area, check on the phone (datasheet or FCC sticker) to see which network is being used. Some phones may be dual mode. Verizon probably has the overall best coverage in the US. Cingular merged with AT&T (no?) and their networks are merging (or merged already). Hmmm, also, to be fair, I think that you should calculate an 'effective' cost per minute depending upon the (traditional or pre-paid) plan you're using. Use the monthly bill total including all the fees, divided by the actual minutes used (traditional).

1. There will be a sense of disconnection Smartphones have dramatically changed the way we communicate with other people. They made it easier and more accessible. Technology used to limit us as we were forced to languish in front of a landline while waiting for a call. Today people have become much closer to each other. Now, in order to talk with the desired person, a couple of touches on the smartphone are enough. However, the absence of this miracle gadget will make you feel separated from the world, which often leads to an acute feeling of loneliness. In addition, you may succumb to incessant boredom. 2. It will become harder to navigate without GPS The days of people using maps to get to the right place are almost gone. All smartphones are equipped with GPS, which helps us to reach our destination without much difficulty and wandering. Life has actually become much easier thanks to GPS, because this navigator shows us the right direction right down to the smallest turn. Therefore, in the absence of access to the global system, many people will not be able to correctly and quickly navigate in an unfamiliar area. Navigators have become such an integral part of our lives that most travel enthusiasts and those who often go on business trips can hardly imagine their lives without a smartphone with its indispensable GPS.

OK, with Tracfone, a standard card is good for 90 days and minutes, like on virtually all prepaid phones rollover if you keep the phone active. You can buy a 30 day card, most are 90, and some are a year. You can buy a small card and add days to it too. You have a lot of options. The best part of Tracfone is they use multiple companies to provide service, unlike T-mobile, Virgin, Verizon, etc. Around here, in the small areas, CDMA band (Verizon & some of Sprint) is more popular than GSM (AT&T, Tmo, etc) or PCS (Virgin, etc). Another company is PagePlus but I've found them more expensive than what I can get from Tracfone. The other thing I really like about the situation I have is I can roam for no extra charge which expands the area. GSM and PCS do not roam on prepaid (or at least didn't when I checked a few years ago). I keep trying to caution people every time this comes up to not just go by what someone has unless they're in your area. Really, that's of no help to your needs unless they're in the area you'll use it. I can only share with you what I've found and give some suggestions. With cell service you need cellular access or the phone is worthless. And not all phones will have coverage everywhere. And don't compare contract phones to prepaid. Even within prepaid, the phone itself can make a difference on coverage. You need to check the coverage area for the companies you're considering. Here in MN, PCS (Virgin, Alltell, etc) is great for large towns and *major* roads and PCS, when connected is as clear as any I've used. Smaller roads won't have coverage. I had this for a couple years and liked the clarity but I started traveling more in northern MN and WI and coverage wasn't good. I tried a GSM (both AT&T and T-mo) and their coverage was better but spotty (if you have Tmo you can't connect on AT&T towers and vice-versa) and still didn't give me what I wanted. Clarity not as good as Sprint's PCS but slightly better overall than CDMA, and far better than TDMA or analog, both of which are now obsolete. I settled on a CDMA Tracfone (so it can use Verizon or Sprint networks if Tracfone allows it) primarily because of superior coverage in the areas I frequently travel and ironically I get better coverage than some people I know with contract phones, but again, this is the upper midwest so *my* usage experiences will not directly apply to *your* situation. I'd suggest a basic prepaid phone with enough time to last while you're here. Don't go overboard and let it expire when you're done. If you spend a lot on a phone, it's kind of a waste for what's essentially going to be a disposable phone for you. If you like the phone, you can always keep it and reactivate it when you return or just buy another phone. You could also sell the phone on ebay or give it to someone who needs it. I'm sure you know someone elderly who should have one in their vehicle for emergencies. It'd be kind to give them a car charger too but that's a different thing. Another caution: Coverage maps are at times inaccurate. Sometimes (as T-mo often does) they'll show the contract phone coverage area instead of the prepaid phone coverage areas and they're different. There's a lot of virtual providers, like Tracfone, PagePlus, Boost, etc who contract with companies. I don't know of any other than Tracfone who contract with multiple companies to provide access. Some make their money from the phones while some give away or lowball the phones to make the money on the connection. Be cautious of requirements that you might have to keep it active for a certain period of time but that's not a big issue with prepaid. Also, AT&T is in the process of buying T-mo. Not sure what the status is at this point but you can expect that to have an impact if it goes through.

There's many different Verizon coverages. Well actually, the same is true with all providers. Verizon cut back their area significantly for all accounts activated after February. For example, there's America's Choice version 1 & 2, InPulse, etc. And for some reason, the prepaid is always a more restricted coverage. They don't want to give the tightwads the same coverage as the more profitable areas, I guess. Probably think they'll hook people with prepaid and then opt for the postpaid to increase coverage. Doubt that'll happen. So far it doesn't seem to be happening either. And interesting too since the prepaid market is where their future is for adding customers since the postpaid market is virtually saturated and people can't change too often because of the cancellation fees in the contracts. It's irritating, but that's the way it is. The coverage map for PagePlus shows essentially the Twin Cities metro area is covered and St. Louis County in northern MN. Technically the rest of the state has "coverage", however, it's at the $1.99/min roaming rate. Way too rich for my blood! I don't mind some roaming charges for traveling since I don't use the phone much, but I'm not about to spend $2/min. Additionally you have to tack on the cost of a decent tri-band phone and PagePlus is out of my budget. SimpleFreedom has cheaper (about 50¢/min) roaming but they're discontinuing a lot of their service with no credit back to the customer. They have the option to sign up with another carrier. So I wouldn't mess with them at this point. At least without more research. Although the Sprint PCS coverage isn't great around here, I'm finding that it's not all that bad compared to the others. At least they cover the major freeways and some highways where PP, Cingular and others don't. And I do tend to stay on the major highways. And since I like the phone I got for Virgin, I might just hang on to it. But I'm still tempted to try out USA1rate and see if their coverage is what they claim. The prepaid coverage leader overall would have to be TracFone, unless the maps are accurate for USA1, but TracFone's rates are pretty high unless you play games with transferring back and forth between a couple of phones and/or beg people to sign up to get referrals. I can justify what I'm spending for a phone. Could justify a bit more to have better coverage even at roaming rates. But I'm not crazy. Argh! I've been looking around again. Head's spinning again. Why don't I simply slam my hand in the car door? Be more enjoyable than trying to interpret their websites!