Pre-pay cell phones - looking for recommendations! [Archive]

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redfox

4-6-11, 6:01pm

So, the last kid has flown away, our family plan expires in a few weeks. YAY! DH & I are looking into pre-pay. Here's what I want: a cell plan which lets me use & pay for minutes like I use & pay for gas in the car. I fill it just before it's empty, if that takes a week or 5 months.

I'm going to analyze my minutes use - which is about 1200 a month - and look for the best company. DH uses far fewer, and we can get separate deals. I do some texting as well, though not much. We have no land line.

What have you had experience with? What do you suggest? And cheap, of course! no fancy smart phones, no picture phones, etc.

Thank you!

Madsen

4-6-11, 6:12pm

A couple friends have Straight Talk and say it's really good (it's got unlimited everything) --

http://www.straighttalk.com/ServicePlans

redfox

4-6-11, 11:10pm

A couple friends have Straight Talk and say it's really good (it's got unlimited everything) --

http://www.straighttalk.com/ServicePlans

Unlimited everything sounds great! Thanks.

Poco Pelo

4-7-11, 3:06pm

i've had str8 talk since last June. i like it, $48 a month for unlimited and i buy 3 months at a time so i can forget it. i do wish the phones were more current

Jemima

4-8-11, 12:48pm

Float On

4-8-11, 3:57pm

I have a TracPhone which costs me about a hundred a year, keeping in mind that I hate phones and bought it mainly for emergencies on the road. Some of the really nice things are that you can get a snazzy phone for about twenty dollars and unused minutes carry over from one year to the next. I think they have other plans for shorter durations, but since I'm not a phone person and don't know the details, here's a link: http://www.tracfone.com/why_tracfone.jsp

Ditto! I have 4 tracfones but even between the 4 of us there is no way we'd use 1200 minutes a month... (maybe between all of us we use about that many in a year). I don't know what to recommend based on that kind of usage.

Alan

4-8-11, 6:21pm

Ditto! I have 4 tracfones but even between the 4 of us there is no way we'd use 1200 minutes a month... (maybe between all of us we use about that many in a year). I don't know what to recommend based on that kind of usage.
Same here. My wife has been using Tracfone for years. I think she averages about 900 minutes a year at an expense of about $79. I don't think I'd be looking at pre-paid phones for 1200 minutes a month.

ljevtich

4-8-11, 7:41pm

Both DH & I use Net10. No contract, no problem. We paid $15 for the phone, $30.45 for 300 minutes and two months. They do have unlimited plans too.
Net10 pay as you go (https://www.net10.com/direct/Purchase?payGo=true)

happystuff

4-9-11, 6:18am

Tracfone user here, too. I buy a $19.99 card every 3 months which is good for 60 minutes and 90 days. I can usually find a bonus minute promo code for an addition 20 to 40 minutes on top of that.

babr

4-9-11, 8:25am

also trac phone user; but don't use the minutes much not to the degree that you are talking about; and don't do texting
just buy the 19 something a month and i have gotten deals with them before; i always ask, like at a bar or something, "got any specials going on right now"?

Brian

4-9-11, 5:09pm

At 1200 min a month I suggest you look at month to month prepay and there are many options. In my experience, cheapest is Metro PCS @ functionally $40 month unlimited ($10 more for Blackberry), then Boost (Sprint) $50 month unlimited (voice, text, data, push to talk, pics etc etc but no streaming video internet), price drops further the more continuous months you stay as customer, but push to talk phones, so more expensive, say $120 start, then Virgin Mobile (Sprint) $60 month unlimited (same as Boost but no push to talk and much cheaper phones, my smartpone was sale special @$40 reg $195). I stay with Virgin M as use my phone only in US about 90 days a year so can go off and on monthly plan as I require, leave $10 balance on phone so stays active. Have diff VM phone in Canada as diff system but that phone means I can swap sim cards to use it in Europe on pay as you go and have finally a diff one at home, as again a diff rapacious system operator cough-Cable&Wireless-cough... shhh they hear ALL. :)
There are second and third phone family disount plans on some month to month operators, but not of use to me so I am not sure price other than I have read of on the websites.