I have tracfone and it has worked very well for me for over 2 years. I would recommend it. I only use my phone for emergency use myself. I only pay for time once a year, on the internet, and then i get it right then and there! Only problem is that you have to buy the phone. I pay 80 dollars or less a year for the service. It is only really cheap if you don't use it much, so it may or may not be good for you. They sell the phone and phone cards at places like K-mart and Target also. I think staples and office max may have them also.
Don't go cingular. You will regret it.
-renee

Thanks Renee. I'll look into the Tracfone at Target. Curious why you don't like Cingular. I had no problems with them for several years. Granted, I only used the cell phone about two dozen times, but it worked fine in the Chicago area and on Maui.

I had problems with reception. Also they have one of the worst customer service departments. They are not highly rated. They kept charging me more and more too. If you are trying to save money I don't think they would be good for you. I think my plan was the cheapest (19.99) a month and i ended up paying about 30 dollars a month after taxes and wierd charges. I NEVER used any of my minutes.
I like tracfone because of 3 things:
I only pay 1 bill 1 time a year
I keep my minutes from the previous year if I don't use them
You buy min and you get what you get, there aren't any hidden fee's that you see on normal cell phone bills.

I would double check the tracfone website to make sure that the target in your area carries them.
-renee

Thanks, Renee. Yes, by the time every governmental entity tacks on a percentage, our bargain monthly plan with Cingular ($9.95) becomes about $14 per month -- with no minutes used.

The same is true of all the cell phone providers -- your stated monthly charge is several dollars below what you actually pay due to FCC fees, access fees, taxes, etc.

The quality of service provided by Cingular or any of the other companies is a local issue. There are certain places where friends' Cingular phones get a great signal and my Sprint phone doesn't get anything, and there are locations where it's the reverse. One thing you need to do with any provider is make sure they provide a good signal at your own house, place of work, and any other places you frequent. Insist on at least a few days' return privilege if the phone does not perform well in those locations. A phone that has a weak signal will keep dropping calls, and if that happens in a place where you frequently are, such as home or work, your frustration will be endless.

Thanks, cowboyind. I looked up Tracfone on Epinions.com and found that they had a lot of negative reviews up to the end of '04. After that, the reviews were generally positive, although *everyone* says not to ever call Tracfone. Evidently you get people who are not native speakers of English, if you get anyone at all. The company does have a 30 day return policy, but again, some reviewers who got malfunctioning phones were having a hassle to get their money back. (I'd be charging this, so would expect my credit card company to weigh in there.) The company features include reconditioned Nokia and Motorola phones, but they also offer new phones. I think I will visit a Target to actually *see* the phones before deciding.

One other thing: Tracfone uses digital technology. One of the reasons I couldn't get a new phone and continue my bargain rate with Cingulair was because they no longer offer digital. What's with that?

I have had a tracfone for several years now and love! I got mine at Wal-Mart and usually buy my minutes online. I also subscribe to the annual plan. But you get great deals all year long if you register online. For example I just had a birthday and I got double minutes! Keep in mind I don't talk on it alot but I wouldn't do it any different.

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).

I believe Verizon is CDMA 1900 MHz, the same as Sprint. Verizon and Sprint share a lot of cell sites, and much of Verizon's extended coverage area is provided by the Sprint network. Cingular is now largely GSM, but my understanding is that there are still some problems merging the AT&T customers and Cingular customers into the same system, so they probably still have a lot of TDMA areas.

The only problem with pre-pay cell phones is that their per-minute cost is high. They are good for someone who uses the phone relatively few minutes a month. Most people who have gotten used to regular monthly-billed cell phone plans have probably evolved into somewhat regular cell phone users, and this may make it hard for them to save anything with pre-pay. But it's easy enough to figure out, of course, by just taking several months of bills from your current carrier and adding up the minutes, and seeing how much that would cost with different pre-pay phones.