Tell me about pre-paid cell phone plans.

[Randi]

first off, I rarely use a cell phone. Actually used it for 1 minute in all of 2009. But I do want it for emergencies. So the plan I have was through my work where I paid $20 a month & had 500 minutes.

Now that I am retired, I can't stay on that plan. But neither do I want to pay a lot more. I have heard about the pre-paid plans through various carriers, but all I can find is that you buy minutes but they expire after a certain amt of time. so it seems like I would be paying a lot for something I would not use.

What i would like is a plan that allows me to pay a small monthly fee, & then per minute instead of an allowance of minutes per month. Does anything like this exist?

Course, then I have to see if it is available in VT where I will be moving in a couple of months. I found that some companies are not available there. I think I am asking for the moon. LOL

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

www.kajeet.com It started for kids but if you read the blog yo'll see adults use it as well. 4.99 a month will get you 10 min.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I'm in the same boat as you. I like having a cell phone for emergencies or for when I travel, but on a day-to-day basis..... I normally have no idea if it's even charged. I also have to carry a cell phone at all times when I am coaching (according to my contract) so it's nice to have one that I can use if I have to call a parent or if another coach is running late.

I chose to go with T-Mobile pay as you go. The minutes do expire if you don't use them, but if you top up $100, it is good for a full year. So the way I see it, I'm paying just over $8 a month for the convenience of owning a working cell phone. Local calls are 10 cents a minute, which obviously comes out of your balance. There is no set monthly fee or "maintenance fees". T-Mobile also seemed to have the biggest network, at the most reasonable pay as you go rates and terms. Virgin Mobile is cheaper, but it's not available everywhere. The reason I really prefer this system to a system like kajeet where you're paying a flat fee and then the minutes on top of that, is that it gives me a bit more flexibility. Some months I will use no minutes at all, so I pay nothing. Other months (like if I am travelling and making phone calls home or to book hotels while on a road trip) I will use $15 worth of minutes, and I just pay for that. With kajeet, you're paying at least $5 a month every month, plus the minutes you use (if any). However, if you really never use the phone, you might prefer to just pay the flat fee and be done with it.

 

[mickeymedic]

I use a tracfone. You can get one for around $10. Then you just buy however many minutes you want. I end up spending around $30 per month - but I'm talking on my cell phone all the time.

 

[poohbear2]

T-Mobile.

Switching to pay as you go was the best decision I had made in a long time. Sometimes I get jealous of my friends when they pull out their fancy phones but then again I enjoy saving the money for trips to Disney.

 

[RNMOM]

I love my Tracfone. If you go to their website you can purchase many varieties of phones and cards for time. My phone was about $20 and automatically doubles the amount of minutes of every card I buy. I purchased it one year ago and still have minutes left. I too use my phone very little.

I also get very good reception and have used it while traveling with no reception problems.

This phone replaces the Verizon one I had I paid $70 monthly for 700 min. I didn't use.

 

[clovergirl5]

I'm in the same boat as you. I like having a cell phone for emergencies or for when I travel, but on a day-to-day basis..... I normally have no idea if it's even charged. I also have to carry a cell phone at all times when I am coaching (according to my contract) so it's nice to have one that I can use if I have to call a parent or if another coach is running late.

I chose to go with T-Mobile pay as you go. The minutes do expire if you don't use them, but if you top up $100, it is good for a full year. So the way I see it, I'm paying just over $8 a month for the convenience of owning a working cell phone. Local calls are 10 cents a minute, which obviously comes out of your balance. There is no set monthly fee or "maintenance fees". T-Mobile also seemed to have the biggest network, at the most reasonable pay as you go rates and terms. Virgin Mobile is cheaper, but it's not available everywhere. The reason I really prefer this system to a system like kajeet where you're paying a flat fee and then the minutes on top of that, is that it gives me a bit more flexibility. Some months I will use no minutes at all, so I pay nothing. Other months (like if I am travelling and making phone calls home or to book hotels while on a road trip) I will use $15 worth of minutes, and I just pay for that. With kajeet, you're paying at least $5 a month every month, plus the minutes you use (if any). However, if you really never use the phone, you might prefer to just pay the flat fee and be done with it.

This is what we do for me, dh and dd13 exept its tracfone. We each have an LG flip phone and pay for the $100 card/400 min/365 days. We also purchased the double minutes card (one time $50 charge) for each phone right when we got them. So thats 800 min/365 days for $100. That figures out to around $8/month. Also everytime I go to add another year card, I always get bonus minutes using promo #'s or codes. Great price for all of us to have a good phone and plenty of minutes to last a year +.


This is the phone I have--
http://www.compare-prepaid-cell-phones.com/TracfoneLG3280.html