I have the prepay from At&T. I pay 25. about every three months. It shows up how much time/money is left. Rarely use it either, works for me!

I use Tracfone, and am pleased with it. The phones are very inexpensive (about $15), and for $99 you can get a year of service with 400 minutes. I've had mine for 4 years and have never used all the minutes--plus they carryover into succeeding years (I currently have 1,200 minutes).

My DIL and her boyfriend have expensive cellphones with all the bells and whistles. I was out in the country with them one day and they couldn't get a signal on their fancy phones, but my cheap little Motorola phone got a signal with perfect reception.

I have Virgin Mobil and pay $20 every three months. Like Bigack, I rarely use it, but have started now because I have a big balance in there.

a couple of warnings

First--do those prepaids need to be charged like a regular cell? DO NOT use a car charger, except in a true emergency. One of Dd's coworker's husband has a cell phone store, he warned us that using a car charger is a good way to burn up your battery (car chargers overcharge the phone, they don't have a 'shut off' when the battery is charged). So you will need to remember to take the phone inside to charge it with a wall charger.

Second--emergency use only? right. that's what I thought when I bought mine. It quickly became the phone I use first. It's more convenient, cheaper (free long distance), takes messages (my house phone doesn't), is always with me, so I rarely miss a call anyway. It's much more convenient. Just be aware that you may decide to use it more than you think, so don't lock yourself into a tiny corner that you can't get out of--make sure you have options with whatever you choose.

Mind you--I don't have a fancy phone. When my credit for a 'free' new phone comes due, I just buy the cheapest, simplest one available--I don't need internet, texting, camera, etc on my phone. So I never pay more than $5 or so for a new one.

I have a Tracfone. For $100. you get a years worth of service, plenty of minutes and usually you can get a free phone if you order online.

It does have to be charged. I keep mine in my purse and turn it on whenever I leave the house.

I, too, have a Tracfone and am very pleased with it. It does need to be recharged on a regular basis...with or without use...but that's no different than the more expensive variety. Because mine is strictly for emergency use when I'm away from home...I never turn it on...although it's a permanent fixture in my purse. But the battery does wear down whether it's turned on or not. I find the older the phone itself is...the less time it will hold a charge...so once my phone reaches a year in age...I start checking it at least once a week.

Thank you BIG bunches for the car charge warning, Azzalea. As I rarely use my phone...I've always relied on the fact that I could use the car battery to recharge it if it ever became necessary. I won't keep that notion
any more. Thanks!

One other comment. I live in a cell phone challenged area. ;-) My Tracfone works/connects in areas where my friends other service suppliers won't...and...one of the biggest cell phone carriers in my area is AT&T. I don't know what Tracfone has that the big boys don't...but I'm glad they have it.

Anne

When I bought my cellphone, it was through Walmart Simple Freedom. I had to refill minutes every 60 days at a cost of $20 with a card that I bought at WM(I only use phone for emergencies). Then it went to Alltel and I was able to add minutes without a card for $10 for 60 days by phone, able to do it online eventually....so easy. Now Verizon has bought them out and I literally hate it. It often takes me up to 8 to 10 hours to be able to log in to my acct on their website. The only way I can refill online is PER MONTH at $15 each time. So now I have to go to their store, buy a 90 day card for $30!! I feel I've stepped back in time!!!!

Shirley

he warned us that using a car charger is a good way to burn up your battery (car chargers overcharge the phone, they don't have a 'shut off' when the battery is charged

Sorry. Myth. Owning a cell phone store doesn't make one a good electrical technician.

Most car charges use voltage regulators such as diodes or voltage regulator chips. Most run on 3-5V. Also, when a cell phone charger manufacturer makes a charger they have to account for the fact that when the car is off the car provides 12VDC and when the car is running the car will provide as much as 15.5V in some cases. So the voltage is regulated just as in a home charger. Otherwise you'd immediately blow the battery.

As for the charge being automatically shut off on a home charger that is not true either. You can overcharge a battery on a cell phone at home. You should never charge a phone overnight. A completely dead battery and they never really go completely dead takes only about 5 hours to fully charge at most.

There are some smart chargers (more expensive) out that will shut themselves off but most chargers just go to "trickle" charge.

"One of Dd's coworker's husband has a cell phone store, he warned us that using a car charger is a good way to burn up your battery (car chargers overcharge the phone, they don't have a 'shut off' when the battery is charged). So you will need to remember to take the phone inside to charge it with a wall charger. "

NOT true!

DH ONLY charges his cell phone in his car. He gets a new phone every two years as part of his plan, and the battery is fine through that period. Never "burned up" a battery.

Actually the new lithium-ion batteries do better with short frequent charges. Discharging and charging completely seems to shorten their life.

All a cell phone really needs is a plug in to a charger in the car on the way to the store and back or at home while you're in the shower.

"First--do those prepaids need to be charged like a regular cell? DO NOT use a car charger, except in a true emergency. One of Dd's coworker's husband has a cell phone store, he warned us that using a car charger is a good way to burn up your battery (car chargers overcharge the phone, they don't have a 'shut off' when the battery is charged). So you will need to remember to take the phone inside to charge it with a wall charger.
Prepaid cell phones are cell phones like any other. In fact many of them are older models that were used in contract phones and when the new models come out for contract phones, the leftover supply gets converted for prepaid use. There are a couple prepaid places where you can use another phone and set it up.

As far as car chargers, let's clear this myth up. I've used car chargers since I got my first prepaid cell phone. I wasn't about to go out and have a dead battery at a time I might need it most. Either you misunderstood what he said, or he gave you very bad information. Perhaps he sells only junk chargers, but there's plenty of good chargers out there. I have bought car chargers for every type of phone I've had. I probably charge my phones on the vehicle more than at home. As I'm going between calls, I'll put a charge into it or top it off. And YES, it does shut off when it's fully charged! That feature actually is part of the phone usually but also there is a switch in decent chargers. All of mine have it.

On my current LG phone has been in use for about 2-1/2 years. Many suggest that phone batteries are only good for a couple years. Mine is still going strong. But batteries vary. I can go about 5-6 days without having to charge it. My one Motorola had to be charged about every other day so the car charger was mandatory to have use of it.

You can research it on the internet and check the chargers when you look at buying them. But if you're still overly concerned about this fallacy, there's another easy option. Get an inverter and and extra AC charger (but there too, beware of quality). Then you can use the AC charger through the lighter outlet.

There are conveniences to having the cell phone. If you're out somewhere and want to see if a friend is home before driving over there a quick call can save some gas. If you're at a store and see something on sale and want to know if you should pick it up for someone, it could save an extra trip. There's a lot of legitimate uses for them other than chit-chat so although having one for emergencies is a good idea, and prepaid is the way to go in this circumstance, you'll build up time so you'll have that time to use for other things.

I always caution people to check the coverage areas for phones you're considering and also, consider the areas you travel! Cell phones don't work everywhere. My first phone was Virgin Mobile and I liked it. They use the Sprint PCS system and it's very clear. However, you need to be in a major metro area or on a major freeway or highway to use it. If you get a mile or two off, you don't have a phone. So price shouldn't be your only concern.

Also, for a while I carried two, and at one point, 3 different cell phones for expanded coverage. I got them so cheap that the cost wasn't a factor. Now I'm down to one, a CDMA TracFone and I'm very pleased with it. I get coverage where many others with $100+/mo contract phones don't get coverage. After I tested and experimented with cell phones to determine if I had a use for them I researched the coverage in the area and for me, around Minnesota, the Verison CDMA was the best. GSM wasn't bad and I used that for a while but I go out into the boondocks up norh and this is vastly superior. And with my age and health, I'm concerned about coverage.

Don't be fooled. There's NO cell phone that gets reception everywhere. There's dead spots all over and the signal can be affected by a variety of things.

I have been happy with TracFone, but I'm willing to look for the bonus codes, the special deals and the like to keep costs down. I bought a "double minutes for life" card for my phone, (some phones come with it, but no CDMA that I know of), and also have a deal where I get a bonus 30 minutes each time I add a card so adding smaller cards is better if I get deals on them. I also use the promo codes so for instance I just added a 120 minute card to my phone a month ago and got 190 bonus minutes for "free". Since I have about 700 minutes on the phone I needed to add time and you can purchase just time, which I did. For my use, I look more at monthly cost than the per-minute cost. I just added 310 minutes and 455 days for about $80 including the extra days purchased so the per-minute is tainted. So I have cell service for about $6/mo.

Now, I don't give out my cell number to just anyone. I also have a Grand Central number that forwards to it that I give to people I don't totally trust with the number so I can shut it off if they abuse it.

Enough rambling. I think everyone should have a cell available for emergencies and many will find them handy for other things and not have to spend $30-$300 per month for it! AND DON'T BELIEVE THE CAR CHARGER STORY!

I got rid of my expensive monthly phone service and bought a Tracfone at Walmart for around $ 20.00 and it is great. You can buy a double minute card and when you need to buy extra minutes your minutes double.
Lois

Oh, and one other thing, not all AC chargers shut off at full charge so if you're going to be afraid of chargers beware of AC ones too. Nokia changed their chargers to charge at a slower rate several years ago. I happen to own both kinds. The slower one they called a "travel charger".

Ditto phyllis__mn:
"I have Virgin Mobil and pay $20 every three months. Like Bigack, I rarely use it, but have started now because I have a big balance in there."
And I have to buy ANOTHER $20/3 month top-up card by Sat. even though I have a balance of over $135 on the phone. @ .25 cnts/min. that's a LOT of minutes I haven't used.

I've run into a surprise on this thread ... as it appears that several posters here, carrying the surplus minutes that they do, need to become somewhat more talkative ...

... which appears to be problem that I wouldn't have said that many have here on the KT, were anyone to ask.

That said ... I appreciate your input, as I've become a new cell phone carrier as of Christmas and I expect to be a low-level user, as the intention is that it's to be mostly for emergencies.

Your experience may be somewhat different than the plans available in Canada, and we heard it claimed a number of times that our rates for cell phone usage are, comparatively speaking in relation to those in other countries, very high.

ole joyful