Budget cell phone plans

[pittsburghmom]

Talk to me about budget cell phone plans/phones. Prepaid?? Looking to spend around $10/month. No smartphone, data package, etc. Just bare bones. I have a landline. Thanks!!

 

[Muushka]

How many minutes do you think you will need a month?

 

[pittsburghmom]

How many minutes do you think you will need a month?

I had to go back thru some statements to see, 'cause I am currently on an "unlimited" family plan. Looks like I average about 300-400 minutes a month, but could cut that down by telling people to call me on my landline more....

 

[kimk2230]

Try looking at page plus. I know you said you didn't want a smartphone plan but I bought my son a used verizon phone and he has a 12.00 month plan which includes 250 minutes/250 texts and 10 mb data. Page plus uses verizon prepaid network. My daughter has one of my old phones. She doesn't have data on hers. I added a 10.00 card to her phone on 9/11 and she just ran out of minutes December.

 

[Jedimom]

A few years back I bought a $50 Tracphone which offers triple minutes for life. I buy 1500 minutes (x 3 = 4500 minutes) for $200 and it lasts me quite a while. I think it's been over a year now since my last purchase and I still have 424 minutes left. I've thought about switching to a low cost monthly plan, but couldn't find anything that allowed me the flexibility to be OK if I went over the monthly usage limit.

It's not a perfect phone; I have reception issues sometimes when it gets weathery out. But for the price, until my reception becomes horrible, I'll stick with Tracphone.

 

[crazelion]

All my kids have tracfone androids with triple for life and they love them. Tracfone has regular simple for too. Like LG800 G I seen on amazon for low as 11.99 I think that comes with double minutes for life

 

[disney1990]

Make sure that is counting all your used minutes. Ours only keeps track of minutes to non-Verizon users.

 

[supersnoop]

You just missed a great deal. Spring and Best Buy were offering students (you have kids in school, right?) a free year of unlimited service if you paid full price for a phone. One phone was only $50.

Be aware that prepaid coverage will be a lot different than the big names. Prepaid generally doesn't include roaming on partner networks, so, if you travel a lot, you might find yourself with much worse coverage.

 

[ceecee]

All my kids have tracfone androids with triple for life and they love them. Tracfone has regular simple for too. Like LG800 G I seen on amazon for low as 11.99 I think that comes with double minutes for life

We have those and really like them. DH got a refurbished LG800 for $5 on their website and gets triple minutes. I have one and I get double minutes on mine. I just got my year card for $99 and it gave me a year of service and 2400 minutes (I was supposed to get 400 + 250 bonus doubled and it gave me 2400???) Maybe I have triple minutes also.

 

[mickeyplanner08]

What carrier are you with now? How is Sprint coverage in your area?

I currently have Ting which runs on the Sprint network. It is $6 per line/per month and then you pay as you go for data/texts/minutes. 500 minutes is $9 per month. A little more than you wanted to pay, but if you want to have a smart phone, it is a great way to go. I think I will be under $40 for two smartphones this month.

 

[WeLuvTink!]

Another big supporter of PagePlusCellular here! $12/mo pre-paid using the Verizon network. Includes 250 minutes and 250 texts.

 

[tink2dw]

WALMART - STRAIGHT TALK - $35.00 CARD, OR - $45.00 UNLIMITED TALK AND TEXT CARD, AND YOU CHOOSE THE STRAIGHT TALK PHONE YOU LIKE AND BUY CARD MONTHLY AT WALMART, OR CALL STRAIGHT TALK AND PAY FOR 6 MONTHS OR A YEAR!!!

 

[crazelion]

We have those and really like them. DH got a refurbished LG800 for $5 on their website and gets triple minutes. I have one and I get double minutes on mine. I just got my year card for $99 and it gave me a year of service and 2400 minutes (I was supposed to get 400 + 250 bonus doubled and it gave me 2400???) Maybe I have triple minutes also.

I am cool mom now they all have smartphones that is not costing me a arm and leg either.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Try looking at page plus. I know you said you didn't want a smartphone plan but I bought my son a used verizon phone and he has a 12.00 month plan which includes 250 minutes/250 texts and 10 mb data. Page plus uses verizon prepaid network. My daughter has one of my old phones. She doesn't have data on hers. I added a 10.00 card to her phone on 9/11 and she just ran out of minutes December.

I agree that PagePlus is worth a look

 

[DawnM]

Not a great deal from what I can see.

$36 activation fee
$10/mo data

After one year, $70/mo plus tax for a full year before you can get out of that deal.

If you average that out, it is $41/mo not including the cost of the phone! OP wants a $10/mo plan.

Dawn

You just missed a great deal. Spring and Best Buy were offering students (you have kids in school, right?) a free year of unlimited service if you paid full price for a phone. One phone was only $50.

Be aware that prepaid coverage will be a lot different than the big names. Prepaid generally doesn't include roaming on partner networks, so, if you travel a lot, you might find yourself with much worse coverage.

 

[supersnoop]

Not a great deal from what I can see.

$36 activation fee
$10/mo data

After one year, $70/mo plus tax for a full year before you can get out of that deal.

If you average that out, it is $41/mo not including the cost of the phone! OP wants a $10/mo plan.

Dawn

The $50 phone was not a smart phone, and the $10/month data was only for unlimited, but the plan came with 1GB, which would be plenty for a feature phone. There was no contract; you could cancel any time. You got me on the activation fee, though. I guess that works out to about $7/month total, which met the request. But the deal is over now, so I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[DawnM]

I guess I didn't see that one. All the ones I saw required a 2 year contract and only the first year was free.

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/11/1...a-free-year-of-talk-and-text-on-new-contract/

I am googling but not finding it.

The $50 phone was not a smart phone, and the $10/month data was only for unlimited, but the plan came with 1GB, which would be plenty for a feature phone. There was no contract; you could cancel any time. You got me on the activation fee, though. I guess that works out to about $7/month total, which met the request. But the deal is over now, so I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[hsmamato2]

my personal fave is pageplus cellular .com in my area they have the best service.... and it's cheap You can purchase a card for 80.00 that lasts a year (so prepaid) and has 2000 talk minutes on it.... that's about 6.00 per month and 166 talk minute per month...great for minimal cell users...

 

[hsmamato2]

sorry I didn't read OP said 3-400 minutes..... I like pageplus in general, and the $80 card is cheaper than the 12.00 top up, you have to buy it from an online pageplus retailer and they apply it to your phone.... you can also use any 3g or less verizon phone on this network (not a prepaid phone) which i great if you have an older phone you can use..... FWIW, if you have a smartphone, and don't want to use data, you can just shut it off manually...and still use the phone.....

 

[supersnoop]

I guess I didn't see that one. All the ones I saw required a 2 year contract and only the first year was free.

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/11/1...a-free-year-of-talk-and-text-on-new-contract/

I am googling but not finding it.

That droid-life article is wrong; there was no contract.
http://support.sprint.com/support/a...am/5600ef1d-a21f-4de9-bfed-28a3258f154b#faq11

"Sprint will send the account holder a text message 30 days before the completion of free service on the student's line. Upon completion of free service, the student line will be charged regular price for service for Unlimited, My Way ($70/month for unlimited talk, text and 1GB of data on smartphones ($50/month on basic phones with blocked data); additional $10/month for unlimited data, if applicable). To avoid charges, the account holder can terminate the student line by calling Sprint or dialing *2 from their mobile phone before the end of 12 months."