pay as you talk phone

[stacy2197]

I also have a simple freedome phone. I love it. You can also get them at sams club the card there are $25 and these last 3 months and the $55 last 6 months. Maybe try sams club website.

 

[Lory]

It's ME yet again---I'm ready to pull my hair out. Every phone I put in all say No Service available in your area!
If anyone is extremely bored could you check to see if you can find any service in my area. My zip code is 54806. Our local Walmart (the only store we have in this town practically) sells the tracfone and someone said I could probably use it but when I put it in it said no service
Never thought it would be so difficult to find a phone, maybe i will call Walmart and see what they say, if i can talk to somebody who knows what they're doing.
Thanks for all the great information.

Lory

 

[Wishful]

Hello,


This may sound loopy, but have you tried going to a 7-11 or a Target in your area? Here in Southern California the 7-11 stores sell the AT&T and Virgin phones, and I've seen various pre-paid phones at Target off and on. The phones are in the phone carrier's packaging with all the info and it's legit as far as I can tell. Might be worth a shot if you want to ensure you have the coverage in your area (I don't think they'd sell phones in areas that would not provide coverage). Mind you, I'm talking about major chains, I don't think the generic market on the corner would carry AT&T phones, but you could always call the customer service number on the box before you buy the phone.

FYI, even if you save money monthly with pre-paid, consider the cost for the initial phone purchase. If you spend $125 for the phone and say $20 a month to add minutes, that is $125+$240=$365 for one year. If you find a good cheap plan like $19 a month for 30 or 60 minutes, free phone, free activation, but a 1 year plan, that's about $240 plus taxes.

I know how hard it is to find decent pre-paid, I ended up signing up for a 1-year plan so I wouldn't have to worry about losing minutes, long distance, etc. My plan was $19 a month with AT&T and 60 minutes a month (may not be available in your area). I have since moved up to a different plan with T-Mobile, more minutes for $29, but for me the costs are cheaper than with pre-paid since the phone, activation, shipping, voice mail, etc. are free.

Good luck!

Reg

 

[powellrj]

I know our blockbuster also sells them. (trac phones) If you have any old phone you can use those too. We had an old cingular phone and took it to cingular and added pay as you go to it. I think it was $30 to get the number and then you pre-pay your minutes.

 

[Mskanga]

Lory, who is your carrier right now?

 

[Lory]

Right now we are through Cellular One and have a monthly bill. I made a few calls and it seems like the only one in our area for prepaid wireless is the tracfone. Doesn't have a very big coverage for our area but we only use ours locally for emegencies or quick calls. I think it would still be cheaper than our $36.00 monthly charge now because it said you could get a card for $20.00 and only have to do that every other month. It's not a dramatic difference but a little here and there helps!!

Lory

 

[TandyR]

I have a Virgin Mobile phone. I paid $50 for the phone which included $10 airtime. I have to put $20 in it every 90 days. Anytime you use your phone money is deducted at $.25 per minute for the first 10 minutes used in 1 day. After 10 minutes in 1 day's time, your rate drops to $.10 per minute. Everyday, you start over at 0 minutes used. If you do not use your phone that day, nothing is deducted. You must use the credits you have in 90 days or lose them. There is no extra charge for long distance.

My DH has Virgin Mobile and loves it...but with his he doesn't lose the credits if he doesn't use it in 90 days there has been a few times that he still had plenty of credits but needed to top up anyhow and then he would have the old credits and the new. So I wonder if they changed that...he has had his for over a year now.

 

[starwood]

Does anyone know of a phone where the minutes don't expire? I want to get one for my mother (in case of emergencies). I'm pretty sure she'll never use it otherwise.

 

[mad4themouse]

Originally posted by starwood
Does anyone know of a phone where the minutes don't expire? I want to get one for my mother (in case of emergencies). I'm pretty sure she'll never use it otherwise.

Are you looking for a 911 emergency phone or one that she can use to phone AAA, you or another person? There are 911 emergency phones that you can purchase for her use that require no activation or monthly fee. In fact, I believe that even an old cell phone of your own can still be used to dial 911 even if you no longer have an account for that phone.

But if you want her to be able to reach someone other than 911, your best option would be one of the pay-as-you-go plans. You can always add time for her if needed. It may cost you $80+ per year but the peace of mind may well be worth it.

 

[Kes]

Does anyone know if the Virgin phones have coverage in Disney World? I need to get a new phone and would love something that would work on our upcoming vacation.

 

[TandyR]

My DH never had any coverage problems in and around WDW during our trip a couple weeks ago.

 

[Mskanga]

Are you looking for a 911 emergency phone or one that she can use to phone AAA, you or another person? There are 911 emergency phones that you can purchase for her use that require no activation or monthly fee. In fact, I believe that even an old cell phone of your own can still be used to dial 911 even if you no longer have an account for that phone.

You can make phone calls to 911 from ANY cell phones, with or without service. This is something that the phone companies don't tell you , but if there's 911 service in the area, the call will get through.

 

[La2kw]

Originally posted by slimplaw
I have a Virgin Mobile phone. I paid $50 for the phone which included $10 airtime. I have to put $20 in it every 90 days. Anytime you use your phone money is deducted at $.25 per minute for the first 10 minutes used in 1 day. After 10 minutes in 1 day's time, your rate drops to $.10 per minute. Everyday, you start over at 0 minutes used. If you do not use your phone that day, nothing is deducted. You must use the credits you have in 90 days or lose them. There is no extra charge for long distance.

We also use Virgin. Text messaging is also free and there are no roaming charges. We pay less for 4 phones than we used to with 2 phones from Cingular.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

I also use Virgin- and I love it- I dont use it very often so the pay as you go works wonders. I also like that calls under 1 min dont get charged- My "home station" is provo/orem UT and I didnt have any trouble when I was at DL- The only bad part I noticed was its tendincy to roam (and kill the battery) in the attractions- But if you take your charger and recharge daily (forgot my charger) it wont be a problem- Often times calls would hit my machine before itd ring but that wasnt that bad a problem after the first few (guess it just had to find me...) I plan on taking it to wdw and I hope itll work there

-em

 

[tzvdmd]

My wife has a Trac phone and when we had an emergency the call to 911 wouldnt go through. Twice the phone has let us down when we needed it most. I dont think we will be buying anymore air time from them.

 

[summerrluvv]

Originally posted by Disneyland_emily
I also use Virgin- and I love it- I dont use it very often so the pay as you go works wonders. I also like that calls under 1 min dont get charged- My "home station" is provo/orem UT and I didnt have any trouble when I was at DL- The only bad part I noticed was its tendincy to roam (and kill the battery) in the attractions- But if you take your charger and recharge daily (forgot my charger) it wont be a problem- Often times calls would hit my machine before itd ring but that wasnt that bad a problem after the first few (guess it just had to find me...) I plan on taking it to wdw and I hope itll work there

-em

I didn't know calls under a minute weren't charged!! Learn something new each day!

 

[summerrluvv]

Originally posted by Kes
Does anyone know if the Virgin phones have coverage in Disney World? I need to get a new phone and would love something that would work on our upcoming vacation.

Mine worked at WDW. There were some areas that I didn't get service (at the hotel), but I remember talking on it quite a few times in the MK without a problem.