Five Low-Cost Mobile Phone Plans - Comments Page 1

I seldom use my cell. I have it just for emergencies. I pre pay
$100.00 a year at Rogers (Canada) and what is left over goes to my account when I make a payment the next time. I am a senior and my Doro phone has large screen and large numbers. Perfect if you don't need to be glued to your phone.

I have been using Net10 for several years now. Unlimited everything for about $50 mo.(tax included) And now you can bring your AT&T or T Moble phone with you. I'm presently using my iPhone 4S, gotta love it.

We have used Tracfone for several years now and have been quite happy with them. With the specials and promo codes we have at times used the service for as little as $5.00 a month. We don't need or want a fancy phone. We want something for when we are on the road. Our home phone has a package deal that includes long distance so Tracfone is perfect for us.

Very interesting, Bob. Since we are on this topic, what are your thoughts regarding Ting?

I have AT&T go phone (prepaid). I'm on the dollar a day/$0.10 plan which is free to many other cell phones (cept for the $1). I am on this plan because when I DO use it I tend to use it more. Texts are around $0.20 which isn't great. I pay $25 every three months or $8.33 a month.
My wife is on Net10 which is similar but with no dollar thing and just $.10 a minute. She pays $30 every three months or $10 a month. She has thousands of saved up minutes so I often just use her phone if we're out.
Then there's my Android which isn't hooked up, but has Skype on it. I can pull into any McDonnalds and place a call. It's a lot less than $10/mo for wifi only and the same Skype account I use for other stuff.

bob, you forgot to add that Consumer Cellular is the only cell service [at least that i know of] in the US to NOT use minutes for incoming calls.

just a quick note to plug TracFone. I got mine three or four years ago. the phone cost $20; the plan cost $20 for 90 days + 60 minutes.

I currently have >300 minutes. I don't have it set up for text or voice mail, and nobody knows the number except a very select group of friends and family.

Note: I have learned NOT to renew the service until two or three days before expiration. then they offer 20 extra minutes, so I got 80 instead of 60 ;-)

further note: I would have gotten this years ago, if I had known about it. I have said, for as long as cell phones have been around, that I would pay as much as $8.95 a month and never use it . . .

Why pay ANY monthly charges for mobile phone service??? If you are satisfied with "WiFi only" phone service (for which Republic Wireless charges $5/month) and only need outgoing phone service, buy any iPod Touch and install a free app like GV Phone, Bobsled, netTALK, or Viber. Then your iPod Touch will work just like a mobile phone without any monthly fees. In fact, with Viber, people can call you. However, they would have to have Viber as well.

Nice Bob, I do feel you need to mention TING. Although they say you need a SPRINT phone, they have a whitelist to check your phones compatibility. The rates are cheap, cheap, cheap, for talk and for text. Even data is cheap if you are not a gluten. They also allow limitations and/or blocking of T/T/D (Talk/Text/Data). You can even block Data on your phone and then allow WiFi connections, which I have done. Under your "Account" select "Device Settings" and then select the phone you want to manipulate. Check or uncheck selected boxes and then click "Save". I have:
Voicemail
Can make calls
Can receive calls
Can send text messages
Can receive text messages
My phones are setup for WiFi only connections to the internet.
My wife and her daughter use the Hell out of the talk and text.
My Sprint Bill was $196.65 on a 1500 minute Family share Unlimited Plan (3 phones).
My Ting Bill for December 2013 was $69.74.
As you can see my bill was dramatically reduced. Mainly due to data over WiFi. Which is everywhere. All 3 phones are smartphones, I'm hoping I'm smarter. At $130.00 a month savings I believe I am. Ting offers incentives for signing up and help with paying ETF (Early Termination Fees). Check the website for details. You can use this referral link. https://zh4s022o825.ting.com/

I also would like to mention that TING is "TUCOWS", One of the BEST software sites on the WWW. (most is freeware)

I pay only $ 25.00 per YEAR with pre-paid pay-as-you-go Gold with T-Mobil. How did you miss this deal ?

Thank you for being aware that there among us who only use our cell phones rarely or for emergencies. At home I have NetTalk wifi-based service, and I don't feel any great need to talk on my cell phone when I'm out of my home. Only two people have my cell phone number so we're not racking up the minutes.

I used Virgin for a number of years, but their billing became elusive so I switched to Consumer Cellular and I have enjoyed doing business with them.

In the New York area there is TING (TING.com)that lets you pay for what you use, plus a $6 monthly fee for the device. My monthly bills are generally around $28, the highest was $56 (blabber mouth that month 8^). That is for voice, text and data. The cost for each, in increments, is on their website. I'm very satisfied with their business plan and their customer support. They piggyback on the SPRINT network.

The most important thing to consider when choosing a mobile phone is the service availability in the area you'll be using your phone. I see all of the adds about coverage etc.... The low cost phone plans have a few disadvantages. I know because I tried some of them. Both Boost and Virgin Mobile use Sprint. Sprint is very weak in my area. Alot of the phones operate on 3G not 4G speed. By the time you add up all of the things you can sometimes pay as much as you would from a premium carrier. What I've done is split a plan with a friend. I was paying almost $50 per month with Virgin Mobile, and the phone had virtually no memory. I now pay $70 per month and got a new Apple 4S phone in Dec 2012, for $99. The same phone would cost over $500 on some low cost carriers. By the time you factor in that for $24 months, how much are you really saving. Most people don't use a phone much because the phone doesn't do much. I've found I use mine a lot more than I used to. I haven't unlimited talk and text with 3GB of data I share with a friend. We never use hardly any of the data, and have never went over in 13 months. I am with AT&T and the service is very good in my area. Verizon is also very good here, but I got a discount as I have a home phone and internet with AT&T. For those that don't use a phone, and don't care to, maybe the cheaper plans are good for you. But for those of us that would like to, they may not be if you add (all) of the cost for a decent phone, and a good carrier for service. I read many complaints when I researched this topic, with the Walmart etc..... phones and plans. If you only have a phone for an emergecy, it needs to work or what's the use! Hope this helps some of you on the fence like I was. In 11 months I might consider taking my phone elsewhere, if they can give me decent service, for a reasonable price. All I know is the phone I have now works great, and the service is exceptional.... It was well worth $20 a month extra.......

Maybe they have discontinued it (I will find out next summer) but for years I have used T-Mobile pre-paid $100 a year plan with 1000 minutes. If I have minutes remaining at the end of the year, I pay $10 for as long as the remaining minutes last. Sometimes for the next full year.

Kudos for another well-timed article!
After ditching Dish for Netflix and Hulu Plus, saving myself over $70 a month, I'm now looking at doing the same thing to AT&T.
Now if there was only some way to save on basic internet service ......

After many years I switched 3 smartphones from ATT to Consumer Cellular. For the three, 2000 minutes, 2gb of data and 15,000 texts are shared for $90/month, at least $50 less than the same would cost with ATT, even with their new plans. Consumer Cellular doesn't charge for switching plans, there's no $36 connection charges and their representatives are great. If CC serves your area and you have ATT now you would be nuts not to switch.

I only use a cell phone rarely and only carry it so I can be reached during an emergency. My cheap phone solution was AT&T's GO PHONE. I pay $100 per year plus taxes for 400 minutes of talk time. In a typical year I only use about 150 of those minutes.

I have been using Virgin mobile for years. Recently added my iPhone to my account and am pleased with the service and the price. The beyond talk plan is 300 anytime minutes and unlimited messaging and data is $35 a month or $30 with automatic payment plan. 1200 anytime minutes plan is $45 and unlimited anytime minutes plan is $55 both with unlimited messaging and data and $5 off for automatic payments

I have T-mobil pay as you go for 3 years now and it is great for me as I do not use a cell phone very often as they cause cancer.
I payed $100 for 1150 min, I only used 200 min the first year. I then paid $10 at the end of one year which added 33 min allowing me to roll over my 800 minutes so my cost for 2 years came to slightly less that $5 a month. did the same thing this year and still have 750 minutes left. That brings my cost down to less than 3.50 a month foe the 3 years

I use Republic Wireless. I have their $19 plan with the Defy XT phone which cost $99. Not sure if that plan or phone is still available for new subscribers but I sure to like the plan and the phone is not bad either.