Are Prepaid Wireless Phones a Good Deal? - Comments Page 1

Many of the phones you can buy from Tracfone offer double minutes, and there are a few available now that offer triple minutes. In other words, buy 200 minutes and get either 400 or 600 for no additional cost. There's also a "year activation" with a certain number of minutes (400, I think) that don't expire for a year, and if you haven't used them at the end of the year, they roll over. Also, if you buy minutes online rather than purchasing a card in a store, you can usually get even more bonus minutes.

One very interesting thing is that text messages cost a fraction of a minute.

I have been using Verizon "pay a you go" for about 4 years. Payment is $15/month using my credit card. I get advice messages on when to add additional money to my account. Any excess funds are transferred to the next month's use. It's a great plan for those who use their cell phones for infrequent or emergency calls.

I usually find that your advice is "spot on", but I am afraid that your Net10 write up is adding to the confusion you mentioned. I have been using this prepaid option for years and have never experienced any "expired minutes". The minutes I purchase remain on my phone until I use them or until I choose to let my service days expire. For $15/month, I receive 200 minutes and that is normally plenty. When I do not use all of those minutes, they rollover to the next month. When I do use them all, I can simply add more minutes via a modest charge ($0.10 or less per minute) to my credit card. This is an excellent option for anyone who does not require data plans and does not use their phone excessively.

I found that none of these prepaid plans made sense but bought a phone and a plan from Verizon for my preteen daughter last year. We ended up losing almost all the money we spent on minutes because she rarely used the phone and the minutes expired. You have to be really careful with these plans because you can end up losing a lot of money. Oh, and the reason we needed to use a prepaid plan is because we had maxed out our family plan with five lines. So, now my daughter just borrows a phone from a friend when she needs to make a call. I'm now waiting for Ting to offer better phones. Ting actually makes sense, so I hope it succeeds.

Was using Net10 had lot of trouble getting texts long delays Went to Boost Mobil Unlimited and will never look back excellent coverage and price also very good offering of smart phones available if you want one.

Bob didn't mention Boost Mobile which is very popular around here. BM is owned by Sprint (like Virgin Mobile) and both are now CDMA phones. The big drawing card of BM is that they give you unlimited everything for $50 ($55 for smart phones) but they have what they call shrinkage. Every 6 months the monthly bill drops by $5 until they are down to $35 (or $40 for smart phones) and they work nationwide everywhere Sprint phones work.

I use Straight Talk (by TracFone) for $30.00 a month plus taxes I get 1000 minutes and a 1000 texts a month and 30 MB of data and free 411 calls. They have a unlimited 30 day plan for $45.00 a month plus taxes, which I don't use. I have had this service for over a year now, and I love it. You could buy prepaid cards at Walmart or sign up at their website to be billed every 30 days so you don't have to go through a hassle buying cards and entering the card number, etc.

Our family has had Tracfones for over 4 years and we love them and find them to be the most economical way to have a cell phone without contracts. My husband has accumulated over 1200 minutes because he only uses the phone when HE needs it. He gets double minutes every 90 days (120 minutes) and it costs $20. I have my phone on all the time and use it more but I only need to add the 60 minutes (doubled to 120) every 90 days at $20. Tech support is exceptional. I washed my phone and had to buy another ($19.00) and when I activated the new one, they transferred all my minutes from the washed phone. It is a great value.

You mention under the "Some Tips to Help You Decide" that with prepaid, you can buy the phone you want. Actually, I have had Verizon for about 7-8 years, and ATT/Cingular before that. They usually offer only 2-3 different phones with their prepaid plans. I don't know about other providers, but overall the cost works out best for me with Verizon. I can buy $100 of time and it won't expire for a year, and you can roll over unused minutes (unless that's changed recently). So for me, I can get by for $10-$15 a month. Lately the $100 lasts me around 8 months. I haven't found any other plans that cheap.

I have AT&T and my wife has Net 10. As a AT&T insider I thought I'd give you the straight dope. You put money on your account, the more money, the longer till it expires. You can extend the expiring by buying more later keeping your minutes.

There are two plans, both have $0.20 texts. Simple $0.25 a minute. With daily access you pay a buck to make a call that day, but then pay $0.10 a minute for calls that day. And calls to certain cell phones are free.

I have opted for the daily access plan as I find I tend to have several calls on one day and days and days with no calls. Does tend to piss me off when someone calls for stupid reasons.

My wife's Net10 is just $0.10 period. Not sure what texts cost. I've thought of switching over, but oddly our coverage areas are somewhat different and one phone works well some places and the other works better in different places. So it's a benefit to have both. Also my wife cell is free after the Buck access charge so if we're at a con or something it's great (for me).

I pay about $8 a month ($25/3mo) and she is $10 a month ($30/3mo). That's enough to keep me and her in minutes. I don't have much a balance but she's got several hundred dollars collected.

Oh, both plans include boogerhead internet access on dumb phone. It works, it's slow and clunky, but you can look stuff up most anywhere and it's pretty cheap they just deduct a couple cents from your balance.

I don't see anything about the T-mobile plans, yet I thought I'd seen that they offer a pre-paid option.

Is Tracfone GSM or CDMA ?

You failed to mention that unused minutes roll over with AT&T's GoPhone if you keep your account active.

Just wanted to offer that I've been a happy T-Mobile prepaid user for many months. I got a phone over Craigslist for a great price, and now have unlimited text, call and web for $25/month. The support is a little limited but cell support is bad anyway. I'm so happy to be free of nearly a hundred dollars a month to AT&T with a long term contract! I'd never go back.

I use Net10, on a $15 + tax plan per month. Unused minutes carry over as long as you make your monthly payment. Yes texts are fractions of a minute.
The problem is tech help is usually by english limited people and by the book, with continuous waits to check with a supervisor. They try but it is sometimes very frustrating.

Slightly off-topic: I'm going to Germany for two weeks this summer and would like to be able to keep in touch with my family in the U.S.

Are there any pre-paid phones that work in Germany to call back to the U.S.? Or what "regular" U.S. plans work with iPhones? (Thinking of getting one soon.)

I've had Tracphone for at least 4 years and I get the 1 year plan with 200 minutes which they double to 400....This is for $100....This plan works out great for me..No smartphone but it does have internet access

Tracfone works the very best for my wife and I. When we purchased the phone, they gave us double minutes for life. And yes, Tracfone will carry over minutes. We always purchase the 60 day plan and always carry over 100 plus minutes(we do not use the phone much except to make call out
calls). I never carry it unless I go out of town. For some this may be the best deal in town.

I have had a plan with Virgin Mobile for a few years. I don't use my mobile often, but I carry it for emergencies. I pay $100 a year for 30 cent/min. rate and if I buy before my year expires I carry over unused minutes.It works out to $8.33/mo. There are no extras on the phone. I paid $60 for it years ago.

One of the better prepaid plans is from Iwireless through Kroger stores. they offer reasonable phones with some good options. I have the 1000 minutes, unlimited texts and 0.5 Gigs of internet access for $45.00/month. The unused minutes roll over up to 500 minutes and the unused web also rolls over. You also earn minutes when you shop at the store.