Pay as you go cell phones

[atgcpaul]

Anyone have a no contract cell phone for your family? My 2 year Cingular
contract is up. For our 2 phones, I pay $72/month. I'm thinking about going
to a pay as you go plan.

We have the 550 minute plan and use about that many per month--calling
each other. The calls don't affect our minutes so each month we have tons of
extra minutes.

I'm just wondering if going a la carte will cost me more than sticking with a
fixed plan.

Paul

[dkerfoot]

You are probably best off keeping your current plan.

We have two TracFone's for our teenagers. BUT - they are strictly for us to contact them & vice-versa. It is a good deal for phones that are used very rarely, but at your usage levels, I think it would cost you more.

I've haven't had a contract on my cell phone for nearly three years. I bought a Treo 300 from Sprint with a 2 year contract when I started my business in '03. I pay $45 per month for 1000 minutes so long as I am in Michigan. When I go outside the state I pay $0.50 a minute, but I don't use my phone except for urgencies when I travel. All in all, it is a very good deal and they no longer offer it, so I am hanging on to it as long as they allow.

I do also pay $7 a month for the insurance plan. I am not sure if it is actually a good deal or not, but when my Treo 300 died I got a Treo 600 for free. When it died, I got a Treo 650 for free.

[LCHIEN]

don't think with no-contract phones you will be able to call each other without time charges.
CIngular is now ATT, right?, with ATT I have a $40 family plan with 400 (450?) incl minutes, call each other free(MTM), almost unlimited night minutes and two additioanl phones for $9.95 each. About $60 per mo before taxes. we generally have minutes left over, we don't use heavily.
Check what they can do for you. Generally a good idea to check every now and then because they won't put you on a cheaper plan unless you ask.

[Stytooner]

I have a Tracfone and I pay less than $100 a year. I probably only talk on it 3 to 4 times a week though. Pretty much just for emergency or for LOML to contact me while I'm lost at Lowe's, HD, HF, etc.
I personally dislike using any phone and spend just as little time as possible on them.
Not intentionally being green, I just don't like it.

[leehljp]

I have a Tracfone and I pay less than $100 a year. I probably only talk on it 3 to 4 times a week though. Pretty much just for emergency or for LOML to contact me while I'm lost at Lowe's, HD, HF, etc.
I personally dislike using any phone and spend just as little time as possible on them.
Not intentionally being green, I just don't like it.

I am like Lee, I don't like long talks while traveling or out. When in the States, we use Tracfones for Emergencies, special needs and contact only. LOML hates that.

[jking]

My wife & I both have VirginMobile pay as you go phones. At the time we got them, they had the best per minute rate compared to other payg phones. The down side, however, is they use Sprint's digital network. So, in certain areas, you lose coverage (no analog capability), but, generally it is not an issue for us. We actually text each other more than we call.

[unclecritic]

I had verizon prepaid for awhile and the one good thing about it was verizon phones could call me and it was free to me. I used up minutes too fast but i think their prepaid time is only good for 60 days whether you use the time or not.

[dbhost]

LOML would love a permanently attached phone. We don't have land line anymore, and provide a cell phone for my FIL. I think our total plan minutes are something like 1500, and we come close to using them up. We have a lot of relatives nationwide, and use the minutes up keeping in touch with friends and family from the west coast, from the midwest, as well as north and south of the U.S. borders...

It all depends on your use if those prepaids are a good idea. For my family they are a great way to lose money...

I am pretty happy with Cingular / AT&T as far as cell service goes. It beats the tar out of Sprint. I had them for a long time and they were a nightmare.

[Woodshark]

The wife has the pay as you go phone from Virgin. She seldom uses it so I doubt if we pay $100 a year.

[Knottscott]

We don't use our cell phones for "chatting", and have a couple of pay as you go phones on hand. The cheapest deals I know of are from Net-10 and STi Mobile. ~ $0.10 per minute.

STi Mobile charges $0.10 per day in addition to the per minute charge.

Net-10 has a deal for a Motorola V176 and 900 minutes for ~ $60....the phone is free, buy the 600 minute card and get 300 bonus minutes when you activate it. There is a limit to the activation time...the one I just got expires in March 2009, but should get extended when/if I add more minutes....I like this plan and the phone better than the STi Mobile plan. Sound quality is superior too.
Ordered Qty:Item:Each: 1NET 10 NTV176R + 600 MINS SIM4 55.00 Item(s) Subtotal:$55.00 Shipping:$0.00 Tax:$4.40 Total:$59.40
Thank you for your order.

[MilDoc]

Consumer Cellular gives you 800 shared minutes for $40 a month or 500 shared minutes for $30 a month (taxes etc not included of course). Phones run $25 each or more depending on what you want.

https://www.consumercellular.com/Car...sAndLines.aspx

LOML had Tracphone - too many areas where she had no service. She switched to AT&T PayAsYouGo - same thing - many areas with no service.

I have Consumer cellular - never have had no service.

[footprintsinconc]

i am like Lee as well. it has cost me about $110 x 2 phones for two years so far. my wife still has half her time left, so i will just add another $10 card in october, and then she can carry those minutes to next year.

[TheOne]

I have a pay as you go phone also. I can buy a $100 card that is good for a year. I am on my second card. The first lasted 9 months. I would suspect that if you are a big minutes user then you would probably be better off purchasing an extended monthly plan.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

don't think with no-contract phones you will be able to call each other without time charges.
CIngular is now ATT, right?, with ATT I have a $40 family plan with 400 (450?) incl minutes, call each other free(MTM), almost unlimited night minutes and two additioanl phones for $9.95 each. About $60 per mo before taxes. we generally have minutes left over, we don't use heavily.
Check what they can do for you. Generally a good idea to check every now and then because they won't put you on a cheaper plan unless you ask.

I agree with this. Also with out a contract you still get the option that if a phone dies on you or something happens you can always upgrade your phones with some of their offers for free or pretty inexpensive phones. Also if you have AT&T or Cingular (same company now) you also have rollover minutes that you can use. I use our rollover when I call my best friend in Omaha because we usually talk for about 2 hours every couple of weeks. We are actually thinking of adding a line to our plan because we do not have a land line and since the older kids are staying home for a few hours on their own at times and we need to keep a phone at home for them.