So you're saying you're only going to use it 3 months? That's only one card for a Tracfone and they don't charge you a daily fee. $100 will get you a lot of minutes. Plus factor in the daily fee, how often will you use it? The more you use it the worse the deal is on that plan. Virtually any prepaid phone would be better, depending on your coverage needs. Tracfone, Virgin, T-mobile, etc all have cheap enough prepaid. Granted they're not unlimited but like I said, you can get a lot of minutes. I didn't bother shopping for deals and I added about 400 minutes to my phone, 180 days service time, for about $45 w/taxes & fees. I opted to add a year of service time for another $50 (which you wouldn't need. For less than the Verizon annual fee, I got 400 minutes and 18 months of service with no daily charge for use. And I'm on the Verizon network.

I don't use a phone much so my needs are convenience and emergency uses. Would really need to know more about your talking habits to suggest anything for you.

I agree with Cynic. I just renewed my Tracphone minutes.

For $109.00 I received 365 days and 1300 minutes. There are other options ( and specials) available.

My prepaid TMobile comes out cheaper than that $100-a-year plan. I think there was a discussion way, way back here about the $1.99/day fee on top of the $100 a year costs, and it was roundly rejected as not cost-efficient. Basically, you can't think of it as unlimited if Verizon's getting you for $1.99 a day.

So if you're in the U.S. 90 days, even if you use the phone just half of those days, (not just making calls, but receiving them, too, because with pre-paid that's on your tab too, as well as any text-msging you do or receive, incl. spam texts, misdirected texts or calls) Verizon's getting you for $100 plus $90 for just 3 months of use!

Also, I wonder whether overseas calls are billed at a higher rate -- you should look into that.

I think there are true "disposable" cellphones out there, too. They are bare-bones phones-- usually no screen (which means it doesn't give you the technology to text or play games, which is why they're like $40.) You should Google those, too. Drugstores, discount stores sell them.

I won't be making any overseas calls. I'm from USA but live in UK and go "home" over the summer. I don't use the phone that often but I do like to have one when I'm on the road and to stay in touch with family and friends without having calls going to my daughter's phone (they only use cell phones no land lines). I'll look into tracfone, last time I had one (2001) I had to top it up every 3 months, perhaps they have better plans now.

Thanks for the advice and more advice/suggestions is welcome.
Diane

I just got an all inclusive deal on an LG800G Tracfone with 1000 minutes for $99 good for a year. I get double minutes for life of the phone. I've had the phone for 3 weeks and I really like it; no issues at all. I'm on AT&T's network so the signals are great and Tracfone's coverage is good, with some outside the states (so you would have to consider who covers your UK area).

From my research, Tracfone seems to have the best plans of pre-paid phones. Verizon and other big names will get you with the extra fees. You have to do your research to see what's right for you.

I have T-Mobile prepaid and love it. $100 a year and minutes I haven't used rollover.

Don't use my phone often. So T-Mobile suits my needs.

Had a Tracfone and didn't care for it.

I have a Tracfone and actually am going to add my one year card to it today. Like Maddielee, mine will cost $109. and I will get 1100 minutes (I get double minutes with my phone plus I have a coupon code for 300 free minutes). I don't use my phone all that often so I never have to add minutes or time except once a year. Works well for me.

look at boost, it has some very good plans and no pay for when not in use.

Here is a link that might be useful: boost

thanks everyone, I wish I could get tracfone.com to work on my computer to check them out but for some reason it doesn't work here (in UK)
I'll only be using the phone while I'm in USA I have a phone for here. I'll have to check into the prices/plans when I get back to Ne in 4 weeks.
Thanks again
Diane

Tracfone user here too.

Diane, you can wait till you get to the US and then buy a Tracfone at Walmart or other retailer. The phone can be bought with how many months/minutes you will need. It would then need to be activated via computer or with a phone call.

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.