Really confused about prepaid cellular, please help! - Big Big Forums

cathych · 02-20-2003, 10:19 AM

I am looking into a prepaid cell phone plan, but do not know which is the best buy, nor how much the refills are-on amazon I am just given a price, like $25. How much time does this buy? Does it include long distance??????????

hotwheelstx · 02-20-2003, 10:44 AM

cathych,

I hope that I can get this across w/out sounding "stupid". I worked for a major cell phone co. here in Houston for many years.

When you purchase a pp phone cards it gives you a limited amount of minutes for a certain amount of time. I.E. $25.00 30 mins. to use for 3 months, $50.00 90 mins. for 3 months.

Usually w/the pp cards (sometimes not always) they have incentives to go w/it. Free minutes, free weekends, extra minutes.

I personally prefer the phone cards. W/mine I receive free weekends and triple minutes after 6:00 pm.

I hope this helps. I really do like the pp cards better than the service contracts.

cathych · 02-20-2003, 10:55 AM

I need to know what is the best company for the price paid!

hotwheelstx · 02-20-2003, 11:03 AM

cathych,

I usually use Cingular. It's the company that took over the cell company I used to work for. I get a $50.00 pp card every 3 months w/free weekends and triple the time.

Sprint is good as well.

Nextel/Aggie had a phone thru them at one time. They aren't worth the time and trouble. They deduct time while you're dialing a number and so on, charge for customer service calls. It's not supposed to be like that. You shouldn't be charged until either the phone is ringing (airtime) or you're talking to someone.

I only use my phone when I'm out. I won't do like some people and talk on it while I'm driving, at the mall, out to dinner. I usually keep it for emergencies or if I need to call someone while I'm out and ask something, if it can't wait.

I usually don't use all my time by the end of 3 months. Cingular will carry over the unused minutes and I have extra for the next 3 months.

Usually a $25.00 card will buy you anywhere from 30-45 minutes.

I also would go buy one of those phones I.E. Walmart, Best Buy. Usually if you buy from the supplier of your service you wind up paying more for the phone and accessories than you do for the time you bought to use your phone.

Anymore ?????'s let me know...............

kabcrisp · 02-20-2003, 04:22 PM

My husband bought me a prepaid phone for my b-day.

It was 59.99 from Best Buy, and it came with 50.00 in minutes, and if I activated the phone online I got an additional 15.00 in minutes.

I register with a c/c on the Virginmobile.com website and when I run out of time I just "Top Up" from my phone.

Hope this helps you out. . .I really enjoy this phone.

It has rescue rings that you can set to call and "get you out of a jam" if necessary.

TheOnly · 02-20-2003, 04:56 PM

I use Boost Mobile, it is like a prepaid type of nextel, phones start at $49 at www.boostmobile.com/home.htm or your local retailer, they give you $25 in free call credits when you sign up and you have to re add time 90 days after you activae your phone to keep your service acitve.

sarahj · 02-20-2003, 07:22 PM

If you really want the long distance, you might want to look into Verizon. I do have a contract which I am under for a total of 2 years. I have the America's Choice plan which is the one they have been promoting for awhile. I get unlimited nights and weekends (including long distance), 1000 minutes to other verizon customers (to use whenever), and then 300 "day" minutes per month. (Nights are from 9 pm to 6 am.) I pay about $45 a month with taxes and everything. I haven't really had any problems with them.
I think Verizon has shorter plans (one year versus 2). I got my cell phone last year when I was in college and most of the calls I was making were long distance. I used to be on the phone every night from 9 till midnight, talking to family and friends.

GinnyS · 02-20-2003, 08:22 PM

My husband and I got cell phones last night at Best Buy. We chose Virgin Mobile. We paid $79.99 each for the phones, both have $20 rebates...so $59.99 each for the phones. It comes with $10.00 worth of time on it, when it you activate it...if you activate it online, you get an addition $5.00 worth of air time. Also, while registering, there was an area called "Share the love" where you can give $20 worth of air time to any other virgin mobile user...we of course gave $20 to eachother...so we both got $35.00 worth of call time for nothing...and all the time registered instantly...and could be checked on the phone itself. We also each bought $20 top-up cards at the time we bought the phones...so now we just have to see how long $55 lasts...to figure what we'll be spending monthly for the phones.

Virgin Mobile's calling charges are as follows:
$.25/minute for the first 10 minutes of each day...and $.10/minute thereafter. Whether it's local calling or long distance (Within the US, including AK/HI and the US Virgin Islands) No time frames...these prices are 24/7.

They do require that you add money/time to your account at least every 90 days...each time you "top-up" your account is activated for another 90 days.

If you use $50 worth of calling in one month (I think this is how this goes, I think it's per month...hope it's $50 in general, but think it's monthly) they add $10 to your account.

The lady we talked to at Best Buy said it's better to buy the cards, than to top-up online or through your phone..she said the pre-paid cards go on sale about every 2 weeks, and you get a better deal buying the card and entering them online...than just doing the auto top-up or topping up through your phone.

Anyway, this looked like the best deal for us, they don't make you sign a contract, they don't lock you into anything. And there is no monthly fee. We aren't the type to stand in line at the grocery store and just make a call to chit-chat. This is for emergencies and the occasional "I'm on my way home from work...do we need milk?" kinda phone call...lol

Sorry so long...didn't want to leave anything out...I'm sure I did. Oh...and you can get ringtones right from the website, they're $1.00 apiece and it's deducted right from your account when the ringtone is sent to your phone...I think that's it...all I know so far anyway.

HTHs...Ginny

Watchman · 02-21-2003, 12:01 PM

I really like tracfone.com, for $95 you get a phone, and 250 minutes that last for 1year. thats perfect for me cause I only use maybe 10mins/mo.