Best "pay as you go" cell phone?

[busy mom]

We are considering cancelling our home phone service. Any recommendations for a good cell phone that we would just pay for minutes, no contract???

Thanks!

 

[letsgoreds]

Phone or carrier or both? What type of phone...smart or dumb ; )

I got sick of how in the US we tether phones to carriers, so I purchased a Google Nexus directly from Google and use it on a month to month Tmobile plan ($30/mo unlimited data, text + 100 minutes talk). Sometimes I add minutes at $.10/min but still a great deal. The phone was not cheap...but exactly what I wanted.

 

[mommylovesdisneymore]

we just went with U Prepaid through US cellular for $40 it is unlimited everything or $30 it is 1500 minutes and unlimted text

 

[Nayan]

Before you buy any phone from any carrier I'd ask around about coverage. Some folks swear by certain carriers but in my area I went with an AT&T Gophone because they were the only ones that were reliable. While at home I had good coverage with others my hubby had none where he works.

 

[RitaE]

The "best" Cell Phone largely depend on who has the best cell phone coverage in your area.

Basically what you want to do is figure out what network you want to be on based on the coverage of where you live and frequently use the phone

Verizon
ATT
Sprint

etc and then you want to look at the Major Carrier's prepaid plan and the smaller Carriers that run on that network (for instance PagePlus Cellular runs on the Verizon Network, Straight Talk can run on ATT or Sprint etc).

Then you want to do some web searching and try to get some info on if people in your area who are using the plan you are considering are getting good cell service before you make your decision.

Even with all that it is best not to sink a large amount of money (like a year's worth of minutes on a prepaid card) into a phone until you test it for awhile. Stick with the small dollar ($10 of minutes cards or one month unlimited) cards and plans while you test it for a month or two and then decide if you want to commit further.

Remember, you can move the phones from plan to plan if they are compatible, but when you buy one of those cards, it is not refundable if you don't use the minutes.

 

[JB2K]

Two excellent resources when shopping for prepaid:

www.prepaidphonenews.com

www.howardforum.com

Both also have Facebook pages with equally good resources.

To piggyback off RitaE, make sure you know who is operating in your local area, because as with anything mentioned on the BB, YMMV...

 

[StephMK]

DH & I use tracfone and have not had any coverage issues. If you want to use internet, it stinks on the phone I have so I just don't use it. I only use my phone to make quick calls and texts if I"m meeting someone, not for primary communication.

DD has gophone and has good luck w/that too. She likes their phones better and needs a text plan. She is on a monthly no-contract plan that gives her 250 talk min & unlimited text. I think it's $25-35, not sure, that's her bill now. She has a lot of wifi spots on her campus and says she can get online easily.

 

[englishteacha]

I have a Straight Talk phone, 1000 minutes, 1000 texts for $30 a month, no contract. I have a Samsung refurb phone with a QWERTY keyboard. I hate the phone. It's not intuitive at all like my old LG phone was. But, it was $20, and it was the cheapest phone with a QWERTY keyboard they had that worked in my area. I hate the phone, but the service is fine in my area. It's the cheapest I found besides Tracfone. My husband has a Tracfone, which works fine in our area, too (Straight Talk is owned by Tracfone), but I needed more minutes/texts/picture messages than he does.

 

[charliesmom86]

My boyfriend and I use Virgin Mobile. We pay $25 a month for 300 minutes and unlimited text and web with no contract. I have a PCD Venture and he has a PCD Chaser and both are Android smartphones that are awesome. I think each phone was $50 and we pay $50 a month for both of them together. Not too bad. We text more than talk so it works well.

 

[rock_doctor]

Phone or carrier or both? What type of phone...smart or dumb ; )

I got sick of how in the US we tether phones to carriers, so I purchased a Google Nexus directly from Google and use it on a month to month Tmobile plan ($30/mo unlimited data, text + 100 minutes talk). Sometimes I add minutes at $.10/min but still a great deal. The phone was not cheap...but exactly what I wanted.

In my opinion this is a brilliant way to go. The only down side is the 100 minutes of talk but they give you 5gig of data. You get the phone from google play. I went with a galaxy S2 Epic 4 on Boost. Only costs $55 per month but if you get the refill cards off the web you can get the card for less then $55 and no taxes. They also have day to day service.

 

[HFred]

I've used a tracfone for years. I pay about $100 a year for 1000 minutes (during a double the points promotion). I always have carry over...it works for brief calls, and basic texts. I don't use my phone for much else. Depends on what you are looking to do with it!

 

[DawnM]

This entirely depends on what you need. How many min. do you need? Do you plan to text? Do you need data?