Are Prepaid Wireless Phones a Good Deal? - Comments Page 4

TracFone: I have had only 3 phones in nearly a decade of time with them and one was due to a system upgrade, and the last one was purchased cuz I dropped the one before one too many times... So the phones have lasted for years without problem. I have also purchased TracFones for two other people. All have come from WalMart or from the website. I pay about $100/year for service and have built up around 2000 minutes by using promo codes and specials like triple minutes. In our area TracFone uses either AT&T or T-Mobile. Service depends on how good those provider's networks are.

I do agree that in the beginning "Customer Service" sucked. From the accents I think it was in India. The scripts they had to follow were awful. "Service" was awful. The last time I called (this year) it sounds (from the accents) the center may now be in Mexico, it is easier for me to understand what they are saying, and the scripts are far better. Service much better as well. They did manage to screw up my minutes transfer when I got the new phone (so make sure you make notes of how many minutes you have before "upgrading" to a new phone) so I had to call a couple of times to straighten that out.

Drawback is they lack a true smartphone at this time.

Hi Bob, I was very interested in what you had to say about Virgin Mobile, however, it appears you were interrupted before finishing that paragraph. Wondering what was after the "...but the..."

THX for great info that always helps me figure out what I'm currently working on...letting go of the AT&T GoPhone I purchased just last month.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sorry, fixed now.

There are always trade offs. Pre-pay gives up coverage and customer service in trade for cheaper service. With the exception of tracfone/net10 the coverage map is always less than you expect. A cellphone that doesn't work where you are is just a paper weight.
After many years of selling and calling both pre- and post-pay (several companies), I can say that prepay customer service leaves a LOT to be desired; you get exactly what you don't pay for.
If you trash phones a lot, prepay is often cheaper than insurance. If you demand a lot of hand holding stick with post pay.

Sometimes life doesn't go the way you plan. We had some real hardships and I am swearing off those contract plans!

Now we all have unlimited text only for $15/month with Tmobile, monthly plan. (We all had Tmobile phones prior) You add money for minutes at .10 a minute. The extra money rolls over. My kids only text me anyway.

But I found a plan for my son who wanted a Smart phone. I just got a great Samsung for my son at Walmart with Tmobile for $200. It was listed on their site for $370.00 $30/month unlimited web! (well 5Gb at 4G, the rest at 3G) His new phone also has wifi.5Gb is $70/month with a contract. Unlimited texting! And 100 min of talk (this doesn't roll over like you said).

For the price, I think it's great! And again, NO 2 YEAR CONTRACTS!! I'm real happy!

Low volume TracFone user for several years. Get 450 "units" by renewing for a year at about $95. Have built up so many units that I now just auto-pay the $6.50 a month to keep it active. Have dropped it several times, picked up the pieces and turn it back on. Worse thing is trying to use in the sun...forget seeing the screen. May go for an updated phone some day.

What has worked for me is the LG500g from Tracfone. I have double minutes with this phone which means that I get two minutes for every one that I purchase. This is a really smart little phone that does it all and more. AND NO the per minute rate has NOT gone up, it is exactly the same as it was before, there are no catches and it is a genuine bargain and money saver.

TracFone charges you for incoming and outgoing calls/messages. Your minutes are used when calling voicemail and when calling 800 toll-free calls. Essentially, any time you use the phone, you are using your minutes.

I use a TracFone LG800G bought from Amazon its cheaper,it comes with triple minutes just buy a $20.00 60 min card now =180 minutes every 3 months from Walmart = $80.00 bucks a year
Have used TracFone for many years can't beat it.

I have T-Mobile Pay by The Minute Plan. My wife and I use our phones sooo little that we pay $10. every 90 days for 30 minutes. If there are any minutes left, they are carried over. This comes to about $3.33 per month. If for some reason our minutes get really low before the 90 days, we just add $10. Hate to think about the years we wasted money and minutes on plans we didn't need.

Bob covers this topic every year or so and I'm always amazed that excellent small resellers like Page Plus Cellular are rarely mentioned. (By the way, a great source of information about prepaid is: http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm)

Years ago, I spent weeks researching before picking Page Plus. It's ideal for light users, at least those with basic (non-smart) phones. I stay with their "standard rate" and don't bother with unlimited this or that. For only $30 a YEAR (i.e., $10 required every 4 months) I have a number and 300 minutes. Of course, you can buy more minutes at that same rate (10 cents/min), but I buy a higher-value refill and the minute rate effectively goes down as low as 4 cents a minute (and texts likewise become less). On the downside: a 50-cent fee is debited monthly. Also, their most cost-effective refill (which is $80 and gets you 2000 minutes and a full-year before next required refill) cannot be bought from them directly, only from certain dealers who are few and far between.

What sealed the deal for me was the fact that unused minutes DO carry over and refills are only needed every 120 days (even if your balance runs out before then). You get the same network coverage that Verizon uses for its own prepaid customers, including Voicemail and other basic features. ANY Verizon-compatible phone can be used and you don't have to get a phone from Page Plus. (I got a used LG from eBay.) I'm still happy after 4 years and have yet to see others that come close to matching the deal.

FYI: I recently learned Sprint may shut down their IDEN network in mid-2013.

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I think it's a better choice to get my son a prepaid phone. I don't know what to go with though. It's only going to be for emergencies so he doesn't need anything fancy.