Pay as you go Phones??

[mikkiblueeyes]

My 15yr old son wants a cell phone for Christmas. I told him that the only way he could get one was like his older sister and brother. He would have to get a job to buy his own and pay the monthly bill. I was talking the other day to a mom of a 15yr old and she was saying she might get him the pay-as-you-go cell phone.

Anyone have one? If so, which brand and how does it work?

Thanks for any info

Michelle

 

[Imzadi]

These are also called "pre-paid cellphones."

I have a Tracfone and I love it. I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of my land-line phone & only use my Tracfone. http://www.tracfone.com/

Tracfones are great if you are going to use the phone a moderate amount, for emergencies only or if you want to monitor a teen's usage. The battery & charger come with the phones. They have a package deal for 100 minutes with a reconditioned phone included for $29.99. There are now many deals at stores before Xmas, dropping the price down to $14.99 (Target) - $19.99 or $24.99.

The best way to utilize this deal is getting a referral to activate the phone to get a bonus free 100 minutes. Depending on how much you are going to use the phone, the trick is how & when to ADD the airtime minutes on in a way to get 4 -6 full months of airtime before needing to buy another minutes card! Plus there are ALWAYS promo bonus codes for another free 40 minutes, so you will be getting a total of 260 minutes + 6 months activation, all for the $29.99.

On the Tracfone website, there is a place to enter your zip code to see if they have coverage in your area. Tracfone Coverage

Tracfone doesn't have their own cell service, per se. What they do is RENT cell service from existing carriers in your area. Instead of getting a Verizon cellphone, & only having serviced dedicated to Verizon, when I've traveled, the Tracfone SWITCHED to whatever carrier was available to me, in that area.

When I've been in the boonies with friends & we all turned on our phones. The Sprint people almost never had coverage because of the all digital network. If there was a carrier out there that Tracfone works with, I usually had service. Something to think about whether you decide on a cellphone carrier, Tracfone or otherwise. Of course, in some areas, none of us had any service.

Tracfone does give you 30 days to RETURN your phone if you find out, it doesn't have enough service/coverage for you or not the plan you want. I think this is what the "reconditioned" phones are that Tracfone is selling for the $30 +100 minutes. When you return a used phone, Tracfone has to wipe the old telephone number from it's memory before selling it again.

I can send a referral and detailed directions to you or anyone else who needs one, to get set up. Just send me a Private Message.

 

[we3disneygo]

we have 2 of these phones, one dd12 and one for myself and dh.....dd is getting a new one for her birthday-right before Christmas-we have never had any problems with them and bought the 1-yr service with double min. and I have not gotten any more min. since May !!!

 

[pumba]

I have one and hubby has one and the grandkids are going to get one.......we only use ours in case we are someplace that we need a phone and the other one is always in our truck for emergencies......the grandkids will have them for that same purpose.......

 

[MrsPete]

I'm interested in this too. If I were to ditch my existing cell plan (at the end of this contract, which is still months away), would I be able to switch over my existing cell phone number?

 

[clarabelle]

I got my parents one. They are not cell phone people. I did not want them to be burdened with monthly bills for something that they just needed for emergencies. I got a trac phone factory reconditioned for 20.00. It is a very basic phone -but they wouldn't use the other stuff it they had it. I got a car charger for them and I can give them minutes for Christmas etc....
I also got one for myself. I had a REALLY hard time getting my number "ported" but other than that it has been easy and cheaper -because I don't use my phone much either.
It it not such a deal if you make tons of calls

 

[luvmyfam444]

YES! WE've hand prepaid phones for quite some time..I LOVE not getting a bill every month & if I don't have the $ I just don't talk. We've had Alltell...you can get the phones from Walmart & they'll activate it & then you can jsut buy refills @ WM too - they come in $10-$100 range. IT is more expensive per minute to use the prepaid cards (it's like 25cents) & there's no free time, but it's the way to go so you won't have any overages & you can still use 911 even w/o minutes (just as long as it's charged.)

 

[luvmyfam444]

no I dont' think you can change your exsisitng cell phone #...they wouldnt' let us - but then again we also changed states @ the time, but I think it's processed differently so they won't let you - but just call 611 on your phone & ask...

 

[luvmyfam444]

I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of my land-line phone & only use my Tracfone


YOu must REALLY not talk on the phone to be able to do that! We got rid of our land line & use only cell phones but 'cause I talk too much I had to go to a regular cell phone plan still w/Alltell....that way in case of dd's school calling me or tsomething of the sort they'd be able to get a hold of me I'd hate to think I ran out of minutes & they couldnt' get a hold of me when needed.

SO when we went w/o the landline we did the family plan where dh & I talk mobile to mobile for free we use like 800 mins in a month! AND then 'cause my folks & brother ise Cingular I got added to dads family talk plan & talk to them for free & both my girlfriends that I talk too (way too much!) are also Cingular so I chat long distance for free to them---so yep - I always tote 2 phones! WE also added MIL to our Alltell plan so she can call free.

SO this has been the best for us to go w/o the landline & use only cells - dh's work pays $50 a month towards his cell phone (it's a $79.99 plan) so not bad!

If we still had a land line & work wasn't paying for the service we would have stuck w/prepaid.....