Suggestions needed for a pre-paid cell phone

[lisam427]

my dd will be 18 y.o. in april. we currently have verizon but plan on dropping it because it is expensive. my daughter is a very heavy texter. also, she goes away to visit her fathers side of the family so we would need something that she could use in nj as well as at home. any suggestions for a reasonably priced pre-paid phone/ phone plan for her?

 

[thebeesknees]

I have a Net10 phone and like it. It works anywhere, and you can get unlimited texting/talking plans with them for $50 a month. I don't really text much, so I just get a certain number of minutes with them and split the usage between talking and texting, so it costs me closer to $15 a month. A text deducts 1/2 a minute to either view or send, if that helps with your planning at all.

 

[Hannathy]

My Dd 19 has Virgin Mobil the beyond talk plan and loves it. It is $25 a month and has unlimited text, e-mail, data, and web and 300 anytime minutes. there is no contract. It is the cheapest we could find and especially with the internet access.
additional minutes are 10 cents but she has never gone over 300. they mostly text and I think she really only uses the minutes to call home or if she has to ask a question at school -like financial aid, etc.

 

[lisam427]

thank you so much. ill check into both!!

 

[dfchelbay]

I second the Virgin Mobile plan.

 

[Pigeon]

Dd13 has had the Virgin Mobile $25 plan for a month and loves it.

 

[Dismom55]

I have trac phone, it is great for me, but my teen son has trouble running out of minutes. I used to have Cricket, it is around $50 a month and unlimited but I personally will not pay that much per month. Feel if the kids can not stay within the prepaid amount, they need to get a job and pay for it themselves.

 

[corie161]

check into pagepluscellular.com. In a nutshell, they use Verizon towers and you can use most any verizon phones. They have several different options for paying. It's easy to set up if you use a dealer like kittywireless.com. Howard forums have lots of information. I've been using them for over a year and have been happy.

My plan is 1200 minutes, 1200 texts and 50 mb data for $29.95/month. I pay $25.00/month for my daughter and get her the unlimited texting and use the leftover funds for standard minutes and my DH is just on a standard minute plan.

 

[ChickieToo]

I also recommend the Virgin Mobile plan. The only thing to remember is that you have to buy the phone and you aren't covered on that phone for loss and repair, so if your teen routinely breaks or loses her phone, you need to really think about it.

My DD11 wanted a phone badly and we refused to pay for a pricey texting plan with other carriers, but she had a certain phone in mind. She ended up with the LG Touch through VM which was $150. However, that plus 12 months at $25 per was still less than half the cost of the other plans with unlimited texting. VM also has less expensive phones BTW.

 

[*Seanaci*]

I think t-mobile had a pre paid as well. However, I do not know details.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I have heard good things about the Walmart "Straight Talk" service. It is supposed to use Verizon's network.

 

[Shmily1]

We have used the Alltel pay-per-day plan before. It starts at .75 a day and you can get unlimited texting with it. It worked great and the service was good here too.

 

[Robinrs]

I had tracfone for years but moved to Virgin Mobile for my teenaged son who needed the "cool" factor. Tracfone has no smartphones so we used Virgin till stupid me washed it in the washing machine...

On to Boost Mobile and the Blackberry Curve. It was $60 for the everything plan and he BARELY used it. The battery died right before our vacation. We went to Radio Shack to get a battery only to be told it was $45

EBay had it for $3.99!! But he needed a phone on vacation so I purchased the Net10 LG900. Love it!! It LOOKS like a BlackBerry but for the price you can't beat it. Radio Shack had the phone for $20 less than the website, $39.99. Net10 offers several plans, we got the $20 200 mins which is really more than enough for my 18yo son since he uses it rarely. If your child uses the phone a lot, they offer a $50 a month everything plan also.

 

[HM]

my dd will be 18 y.o. in april. we currently have verizon but plan on dropping it because it is expensive. my daughter is a very heavy texter. also, she goes away to visit her fathers side of the family so we would need something that she could use in nj as well as at home. any suggestions for a reasonably priced pre-paid phone/ phone plan for her?

My kids are on Virgin Mobile. DD pays $35 a month for using her Blackberry, and DS has a Android that is $25 a month. Unlimited texting and media, 150 (?) minutes phone. The cost of the phones is high....but because the "plans" are so inexpensive you start saving money over other plans in just a couple months.

 

[Dsnymouse]

As an adult I didn't want the hassle of a contract or the bill of a media package. I recently went through Metro PCS and have been happy. I have an Lg phone that I purchased through their website and got a special holiday promotion with refund. I just purchase cards at our local walmart. I get unlimited texting, 500 minutes of talk for $20. It works for me!

 

[justbishop]

+1 for the $25 Virgin Mobile plan

The 300 talk minutes might be a bit restrictive for a teenager, but I barely use 200/mo, so that part is fine for me. The real draw was the unlimited texting and data. I was paying around $40/mo with AT&T for 450 minutes, 200 texts, and no data. I got the most expensive VM phone (Samsung Intercept $250) and had to pay to end my AT&T contract early ($130), so it was a wash, financially, considering how many months I had left on my contract. I still feel like I'm ahead, though, because I gained unlimited texts and data, as well as the peace of mind of not being tied into a contract.

All-in-all, I'm loving VM!

 

[rvchat]

If we get the virgin mobile, can i use my i phone or another phone?

do i have to buy a phone with these plans? how much are they? thanks

 

[bop28]

Straightalk @ walmart. $45 per month unlimited text/talk/web.

 

[justbishop]

If we get the virgin mobile, can i use my i phone or another phone?

do i have to buy a phone with these plans? how much are they? thanks

No, you would have to buy a VM phone. The Intercept is probably the most iPhone comparable in their lineup (it runs Android).

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans.jsp

I really am enjoying mine (the Intercept), and prefer it to the iPhone because it has an actual slide out keyboard, rather than being limited to the onscreen virtual one.