No Frills Phones and Service Plans

Hello Rob,

PureTalkUSA (puretalkusa.com) is also a very good option to really save. My monthly phone and text is $25 per month for a family of 4. This includes 700 minutes for the master line, and 70 minutes for each sub-line on the account. Net, I am receiving 910 minutes per month that rollover, all on a no contract. We get 3 texts per minute of talk time. Great plan!

Bob,
I think you meant that Tracfone service was 400 minutes with a YEAR of service (not 400 minutes per month).
Stu

why not Tracfone wireless?

Mr. Rankin,
Your newsletter heading states "Thanks, But No Smartphone For Me" and I am wondering who that "Me" refers to...
It is very difficult to continue being a refusnik these days, and I (personally) don't know how much longer I can hold out w/o owning a smartphone. For example, most 2-Factor Authentication sites almost mandate ownership of one. I am glad that Google provides their free gVoice (now part of Google Hangouts) service since that is the only means of being able communicate/text (SMS) with smartphone owners; for those of us who are still refusniks.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Usually the 2-factor services will let you confirm via text message.

I discovered this back in May - finally had to replace our Verizon phones - they don't have much of a selection in the basic phones, but I wound up with a much better deal than our previous plan. I even added a line for a total of less than what I had been paying before. I now have unlimited voice and text (previously, 1400 mins/mo and pay-per-text) for $100/mo +tax for five lines (I'm also paying about an additional $20/mo for 2 yrs to finance the cost of all five new phones).

Bob, was it you that spoke about another cell phone service in one of your emails ~ https://ting.com/?

I've been reading this and it looks amazing. According to their rate calculator, I can save almost half on my current cellular plan. And that's adding an additional line. They bill at the END of the month and your charges are based solely on your usage. Genius plan.

All your readers should check this out.

Are you sure about that Tracfone price of $94/yr for 400 min a month? I've been with them for a while and that sounds like the yearly min rate.

Ptel is good.

As I posted previously on a related topic, for 8 years now, I have used PagePlus Cellular, a "reseller" of Verizon's tower network. If your usage is really low-frills/low usage, their "Standard Pay-As-You-Go" service costs just $30 for the ENTIRE YEAR ($10 every four months). The big advantage with this is that you only need to "refill" every 4 months and unused minutes always roll over, as long as you don't forget to refill on time. You can put in the minimum $10 which gets you a rate of 10-cents per talk minute and 5 cents for texts, for four months. If your need is not quite that light, refill with higher amounts, which also get better per/minute rates. I go for the highest ($80) which actually gets me 2000 talk minutes (that's 4-cents/min, though texts are still 5-cents) AND lets me go one full year (instead of four months) before the next refill without losing the rollover balance.

Data (3G) is available but expensive on their prepaid (10 cents/Meg!) so if you need that, go instead for a monthly plan, either from them, or another company. For PagePlus prepaid, you need a Verizon-compatible phone (any, except for the Verizon prepaid type) that you no longer have registered at another carrier. (Don't close your old account entirely until Page Plus has ported in the phone number for you.) Athough you can setup and pay online, the best refill type ($80) can only be bought at a dealer location. Unfortunately, there are not many dealers (and the website's list seems out-of-date), so there might not be one near you. A lot of the above may eventually change however, since I hear that Tracphone bought PagePlus a couple of years ago.

Big fan of Consumer Cellular - especially with the AARP discount. They made it easy to transition to a Smartphone, have very affordable, no-contract plans, add a second line to share the plan for $10 a month. Plus, they allow you to change your plan mid-month, even retroactively, should data usage, for example, spike one month. And you can then change back again for the next month. No negatives to report, as the coverage has been very good.

I bought an old refurbished Verizon flip phone from Cellular Page some 15 years ago...still works and it costs me $10 every 3-4 months for 100 minutes. No data, I had text turned off. Use it only for calling--mostly when traveling or making long distance calls from work (where it is not allowed). Fine for me.

We use tracfone and have the big easy alcatel. It's a nice phone. However, Tracfone is 400 minutes a YEAR, not per month for the $99. But all phones now double the minutes so it is really 800 minutes - which is a fair amount if you don't talk a lot. And all of the unused ones roll over.

About a year ago, I went shopping for an all frills phone, with a provider that has no contract, and cheap. I found GoSmart. For $30/mo, I get unlimited calls and text with 2.5 G of data, but that's with automatic payments. It's $35/mo with internet payments. As far as the cell goes, I found a Samsung S5 (unlocked by Samsung, to keep the 1 year warranty. If a third party unlocks it, the warranty is void) for $400. Unlocked means that I can take my phone and go to any provider that will accept it (ie, if you buy a Verizon phone, and want to change to AT&T, you have to buy an AT&T phone. With an unlocked phone, you can take your phone with you to a different provider, if they will take it. I shopped around and found GoSmart). Just to let you know, I use 2-3000 (not a typo) cell minutes a month. Text is not my favorite, but I use it every now and then, and it's handy when you want to send photos. GoSmart has their own cheap cells, no contract, and great coverage.
PS I don't work for GoSmart. It's just a good buy.

Thanks, Bob, for the options and carriers that are available to those of us that are too busy to learn all of the "Way Cool" features of a smart phone. One question: When did the Colts get moved back to Baltimore? Do the Ravens know about this?

Use an old flip phone with $80 for 1 year 4000 minutes on page plus. Lasts me about a year; 2nd plan lasts 6-8 months for my wife's flip phone. The smartphones are limited to WiFi only (on my Internet service or public WiFi),including SIP phone & text messages.

We have been (mostly) satisfied Tracfone customers for over 10 years. We have a small summer cabin northern CA on the edges of cellular service zones and found that smart phones just weren't able to connect to the far away cell towers at all, but a modest Huawei H110C ($15 through Radio Shack online) no-frills phone+basic texting device works great. For really stubborn connection days, we add a Wilson Electronics cell signal booster to ensure a stable connection. We theorize that these phones, designed to be just phones without a lot of other features, may work better as phones than the jack-of-all trades smart phones. Thanks for another great article.

I have a verizon plan at $5+tax per month. Minutes accumulate. I don't use it much. Free to other Verizon's.

I have a verizon plan at $5+tax per month. Minutes accumulate. I don't use it much. Free to other Verizon's.

What are the no frill options if AT&T is the only carrier I can use for my area. Just calls and texting (no camera, no internet etc.)?

Agreed, but where do I get a simple cell phone I can make a call using a physical key pad and then turn off the phone. Please name the cell phones that have no camera and one end to speak into and the other end to listen. It is absolutely ALL I want and I too do not have time for anything else. it shouldn't need a tutorial and I just hate touch screens.

Bill