Cell phone plan where I only pay if I use it?

[annsteere]

We have a land line and DH has a nifty Blackberry that is almost always on.

I have a cell phone that I hate to use and do not give out the number for. I use it like a glorified walkie talkie when the family is out together. Or, for a genuine emergency. Max of 10 calls of 2 minutes each per month.

Does anybody sell a plan where you just pay by the minute or where you can use a phone card that you buy at Target (or somewhere) with a set number of minutes on it?

ATT has our 3 phones and computer. The cell phone is a Nokia (dinosaur).

 

[chris31997]

Tracphone?? Is that what you are talking about? I think there are a couple of others. Going check Walmart and see what they have.

 

[furb & dez]

I have a Virgin Mobile plan that only requires you to charge up $20 at least once per 90 days. You can do as much as you want over that, though.

 

[Tinknalli]

I have 2 AT& T Go Phones. I put $100 on each once per year and never run out of time. They have several different plans to choose from. We do the straight .25 /minute. They also have one that is a $1.00 fee the first time you use it each day but them all calls to other AT&T phones are free. You can buy data plans and texting plans too. Your time rolls over if you refill before your one year expiration. They have some of the cooler pre paid phones on the market.

 

[luvmy3]

PagePlus has a card for $80, includes 2000 minutes and lasts 1 year. You can find a code for 5% off at Callingmart so it ends up being $76. It works on the Verizon network so you can't use the same phones as AT&T though.

 

[scootch]

I have a tracfone and it has great reception. I paid $20 for it, got double minutes for life and buy a $19 card every three months.... so I figure it costs me about $8 bucks a month. Perfect for what we need, to just call home or for the school to get ahold of me if one of my kids needs me.

 

[RitaE]

PagePlus has a card for $80, includes 2000 minutes and lasts 1 year. You can find a code for 5% off at Callingmart so it ends up being $76. It works on the Verizon network so you can't use the same phones as AT&T though.

I've always heard that PagePlus is the cheapest option for those that rarely use their phone.

 

[charming23]

I use t-mobile's pay as you go. I like it because you only have to put $10 on it every 90 days and then once you have put $100 total on your account your minutes never expire and you can refill it as necessary. I use mine more than my mom does so she spends $10 every 2 weeks while I spend about $10 a month.

 

[luvmy3]

I've always heard that PagePlus is the cheapest option for those that rarely use their phone.

They also have $10 cards that you have to add every 120 days, so if you rarely use your phone they are definitely cheap!

 

[soccerbabies]

Tracphone.

 

[MomToOne]

What you want is a "Pay as you go" plan that charges by the minute. VirginMobile has one (although it takes a bit of digging to find it - it's not as front and center as the fixed rate, no-contract plans that are also considered pay as you go), as does Tracphone and many other companies.

The thing you need to realize, though, is that all of these plans require you to add a certain amount of money on your phone every x days, or your number will be deactivated. The amount of time between reloads, and the amount you need to reload varies by the company. Be sure you carefully research this part of the plan, and know what you are getting into. Also pay attention to whether any unused money or minutes in your account roll over after that time period, or are lost.

I personally have a VirginMobile plan that I have to add $15 every 90 days. I don't use that many minutes, but VirginMobile allows the money to roll over at least, so I spend all the money that adds up in my account every few years to purchase a new phone.

I have a TracFone plan for my daughter. I got a cheap phone for her that included double minutes every time I reload, for the life of the account. But those minutes/$$ don't roll over, so if she doesn't use them, they are lost. Let's just say she has less of a problem using up those minutes than I do , so the double minutes plan was a better deal in her case.

 

[MomToOne]

I have a tracfone and it has great reception. I paid $20 for it, got double minutes for life and buy a $19 card every three months.... so I figure it costs me about $8 bucks a month. Perfect for what we need, to just call home or for the school to get ahold of me if one of my kids needs me.

I believe TracFone can use a couple of different networks, depending on where you live, and that determines how good the reception is. There's a way you can tell from the serial number on the phone which network you will be on with it, although I don't remember exactly how (goggle it and you'll find the info). Research which network you will be on and how good that network is in your area. My daughter's phone uses the AT&T network. AT&T is not great in my area, the can be a lot of dropped calls, but I'm OK with my daughters phone not having perfect coverage (she's not in situations where she needs the phone for personal safety at this point - it's more of a convenience item).

VirginMobile uses the Sprint network I believe.

 

[debknight]

QUOTE: "I personally have a VirginMobile plan that I have to add $15 every 90 days. I don't use that many minutes, but VirginMobile allows the money to roll over at least, so I spend all the money that adds up in my account every few years to purchase a new phone. "



I also have VirginMobile. How do buy a new phone with the money that has built up in your account? How does that work?

 

[dzorn]

What you want is a "Pay as you go" plan that charges by the minute. VirginMobile has one (although it takes a bit of digging to find it - it's not as front and center as the fixed rate, no-contract plans that are also considered pay as you go), as does Tracphone and many other companies.

The thing you need to realize, though, is that all of these plans require you to add a certain amount of money on your phone every x days, or your number will be deactivated. The amount of time between reloads, and the amount you need to reload varies by the company. Be sure you carefully research this part of the plan, and know what you are getting into. Also pay attention to whether any unused money or minutes in your account roll over after that time period, or are lost.

I personally have a VirginMobile plan that I have to add $15 every 90 days. I don't use that many minutes, but VirginMobile allows the money to roll over at least, so I spend all the money that adds up in my account every few years to purchase a new phone.

I have a TracFone plan for my daughter. I got a cheap phone for her that included double minutes every time I reload, for the life of the account. But those minutes/$$ don't roll over, so if she doesn't use them, they are lost. Let's just say she has less of a problem using up those minutes than I do , so the double minutes plan was a better deal in her case.

Tracfone minutes do roll over as long as you keep the phone active.

Denise in MI

 

[MomToOne]

I also have VirginMobile. How do buy a new phone with the money that has built up in your account? How does that work?

Just go onto the website, log into your account, and buy the phone you want. You should get an option to charge it to the balance in your account (you might not see it until after the point where you have to put in credit card info though, I don't remember exactly where it was). When I've done it, I always had enough in my account to cover the entire cost of the phone, I don't know if you get this option if your account balance doesn't cover the whole amount. Now, it is VirginMobile and they are constantly changing things, but I assume this option still exists - it's been a year though since I last did it.

When the new phone comes, log into your account again, and select 'Swap Phones' under 'My Account' - that should transfer your existing phone number and all account information (including any remaining balance) to your new phone.

 

[JB2K]

Does anybody sell a plan where you just pay by the minute or where you can use a phone card that you buy at Target (or somewhere) with a set number of minutes on it?

If that's the extent of your phone usage, I would suggest getting a Tracfone that offers the "double minutes for life" feature on the box (nearly all of them do), and adding a 1 Year/400 minute card (which doubles to 800 minutes and gives you well over a year of continuous service).

 

[Dismom55]

I have tracphone, I get the $99 card once a year and always have lots of minutes left over that DO roll over as I put in the new card before the old one expires. I have also had those minutes rolled over to a new phone when the older one did not hold a charge for long periods. I have taken the new phone to WDW and it gets good reception for my needs while there. I do not use a cell phone much and have found the once a year purchase of the minutes more than satifies my needs. (have the double min phone now) Over 900 minutes with an expiration date in about 2 months or so.

Basically you have to decide what works for you. My son on the other hand runs out of minutes in a short time, so for him I purchase the $20 card just to keep him from using a whole years worth of minutes all at once.

Good luck!

 

[JB2K]

I believe TracFone can use a couple of different networks, depending on where you live, and that determines how good the reception is. There's a way you can tell from the serial number on the phone which network you will be on with it, although I don't remember exactly how (goggle it and you'll find the info). Research which network you will be on and how good that network is in your area. My daughter's phone uses the AT&T network. AT&T is not great in my area, the can be a lot of dropped calls, but I'm OK with my daughters phone not having perfect coverage (she's not in situations where she needs the phone for personal safety at this point - it's more of a convenience item).

VirginMobile uses the Sprint network I believe.

Correct - Tracfone has arrangements with most of the major carriers (with AT&T and Verizon being Tracfone's biggest service providers). And, yes, Virgin Mobile does make use of the Sprint Nationwide Network for their phones.