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Cheap cell phone ser vice?

18 years ago

Hi, DH and I rarely use our cell phones. We have them for emergencies, or special circumstances. We average less than 1 call a week. We need 2 phones, which is not the problem. It's the monthly service charges (around $80 total for the 2 of them). We're looking for a more reasonable plan, perhaps pay as you go. Can anyone point us in the right direction?

Thanks

Lynne

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Comments (16)

bigack
18 years ago
I have Cellular One, which is now Verizon. Paid 50. initially for the phone and first couple months, after that it's about 22. every 3 months. Only thing is, you don't know when your minutes are up, but otherwise I like it. It's a pre-pay.
bigack
18 years ago
Sorry, it's now AT&T, not verizon.
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doxiemom
18 years ago
Hi Lynne. I just bought 3 TracFones for me and my 2 daughters. I tried every cell phone company that we have in this area and none of them worked very well--we are out in the country in North Carolina. The service plans were expensive to begin with but not being able to use the phone was really bothering me. Any way--I bought the 3 phones and, I think, 60 minutes for each phone and I paid less than I would have paid for 2 months service of the last cell phone I had. The minutes were less than $20 and at the time I bought them, they were offering double minutes for the life of the phones. I don't have to renew the minutes on my phone until August and the girls minutes have to be renewed by July. OH yeah, the phones work better than any other cell service we had in this area. Sorry this is so long!!
lydia1959
18 years ago
DH and I use Tracfones as well. For about $100. you can get a phone plus a whole year of service with probably about 400 minutes (you can always add additional minutes if you need them). Order the service online and you can use coupon codes for extra minutes. Let me know if you decide to go with Tracfone and I can give you some codes. Sometimes you'll get a pop-up screen with a good deal right on the Tracfone website.
tannatonk23_fl_z9a
18 years ago
When we first moved to Florida we used Virgin Mobile pay as you go. Loved it! Great service and cheap! I think we paid about $5 a month per phone. They had great customer service too. I would highly recommend them.
~Betsy
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
18 years ago
You might check out the link below.

I have the Page Plus. Initial cost $20. Minutes are good for 4 months. Buy an additional $10.00 Minimum (70 minutes every 4 months) ...total yearly cost $40. One can also check the available amount of minutes left, and when they will expire. If your minutes are purchased b4 the prev 4 month period 'expire' they will roll over.
Phone has texting, and voice mail capabilities, which I never use.
I 'was' buying 200 minutes for $25 but I never used them, so now I just buy $10 worth. I have over 400 minutes on it now due to not just buying the minimum a couple of times.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Prepaid Plans
sjarz
18 years ago
I use Virgin Mobile - phone cost me $100 two years ago, minutes are 10c each, no monthly fees, I wouldn't use anything else. Don't know about in the U.S., but in Canada they give you 10% of your minutes purchased back in more minutes - I get between $5 - $7 each month in free minutes.
My daughter has Bell Mobility and the fees are awful. As soon as I am able I am going to buy her a virgin phone.
Suzan J
shea
18 years ago
My son wanted a phone just in case of emergencies. He has a plan with Sprint in which he gets 50 minutes (local, not long distance) per month for $10. Additional minutes are pricey, $1 per minute, so you really don't want to go over!
kayjones
18 years ago
Walmart has this phone, which is prepaid minutes:

TRACFONE Motorola GSM C139-4

I used this for a couple of years, refilling the minutes for $10 every three months. It is a cheap way to go.

Go to Walmart.com and put in 'prepaid cell phone' for details.
irishdancersgram
18 years ago
My DD gave me a phone for Christmas last year...It's the Oyster, through Virgin...I believe she got it at Target, under $25.00, great reception and every 3 months, I have to put $20.00 worth of minutes to keep it activated....I really can't see paying all that money for those plans... This little baby is a great phone...
country_bumpkin_al
18 years ago
I recently bought DH, my MIL and then myself the Net10 phones. Phones were about 20.00 and came with 300 minutes. I think the minutes are good for a couple of months, but you can add as little as $15 (150minutes) before those expire and they roll over.

I already have a contract with Verizon, but bought this as a backup in case I go over my minutes!*S*
Silverdove
18 years ago
My daughter bought me a cell phone a few years ago. I have a Virgin Mobile pay as you go plan which is only five dollars per month. It's 25 cents per minute for the first ten minutes per day, and ten cents a minute after that. I seldom use it, so I have about $100 worth of credit because the unused amounts accumulate.
lynne_melb
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks very much, everyone. We are going to try the T-mobile service, since the teenagers in the neighborhood told us that it provided the best connections in our area.
Kathsgrdn
18 years ago
I just added time and minutes to my Tracfone, which I've had for about 6 years now. They were having a special, $99 for a year's service and 600 minutes. That's $8.25 a month. I only use it for emergencies and contacting the kids when I need to so it usually lasts the entire year without having to add minutes.
cynic
18 years ago
You need to check on the coverage in the areas you'll want to use the phone. They vary dramatically. I had Virgin as my first cell service and liked it. I miss it actually since it was the PCS service and clear as could be, when it worked. But PCS is in metro areas and major highways. When I travel I need coverage in the boonies too so I switched to Tracfone and have switched types too. Right now I'm using the CDMA which gets me on the Verizon network which is good in my areas. Clarity isn't as good but it works fine and the coverage is superior. I don't use more than about 20-30 min a month so it works great for me. I usually needed time extensions rather than minute additions so I just added the year card special too. I've got over 1200 minutes now that will go until July of 2009. I'm in good shape for cell service. I've been averaging $3-$9/month for my cell service. I won't even consider a postpaid service for that money. I look at it as a safety issue for traveling and a cost saver in town. I can make a call before driving somewhere and save on gas when I'm out. And if I should break down I can call someone.

Per minute is far cheaper than PagePlus for me. I'd have to buy another phone, pay 15Â¢ per minute for around town, which would be ok but I use roaming a lot and at 60Â¢/min roaming rates on PagePlus it'd get spendy. (and they recently dropped it from $1.99/min roaming!) I'll stick with Tracfone at 8Â¢-16Â¢/min cost with the promos and bonus codes.

For that money I think every vehicle should have one in it when being operated.
anne_ct
18 years ago
I'm another Tracfone fan. It's saved me during a couple of on-the-road emergencies. Other than that...I never use it...but knowing that it's reliable and at hand...is very important to me.

Anne

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