January 13th, 2006
Why Pre-Paid Cell Phone Plans Are a COMPLETE Rip-Off
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
It started as a Christmas gift idea. My mother is from the generation that thinks a cell phone is only for an emergency and then also forgets to keep it charged. (Don’t get me started on that.) When you do the math on her calling plan -$30.00- and the number of calls she makes a month – I would say three five minute calls would be tops- that comes to something like 1.90 per minute to place a call, plus whole months where she doesn’t even use the phone. There had to be something more economical.
During the holidays I came across the cell phone section at Best Buy and they had all these slick-looking pay-as-you-go cell phone displays and a light went off in my brain. Sure the brochure said some calls would be .25 a minute for the first three minutes, but even if my mother made 5 five minutes calls all at twenty-five cents a minute, the cost each month dropped from $30.00 to $6.25. All she would have to do was use the phone at least once a month to keep the number active, and keep the $%%$ phone charged.
When you start to activate your pay as you go phone, you get a nice little surprise. Instead of acting like a calling card where the “top off” or “refill” card is worth a certain amount of money and minutes, you have to pay .99 a day for Verizon’s “inPulse” service to keep your phone activated and then you get charged 10 cents a minute per call or 69 cents a minute if you roam outside your calling area. Some bargain, especially when you add in buying the handset.
When I asked if they had a true pay as you go model without a daily charge, the operator said they did but you had to pay at least $50 month (they also have a $75 option) and the minutes did not roll over. You also had to use the phone once a month (ensuring they got your $50) to keep the number active. Forget a month and your number is history. And then every time you re-activate your phone, that’s another $35 activation fee on top of the $50.
Outrage!
To make matters worse, the little top off card I bought with the phone could not be returned to the store. In case you miss the 1 point typeface on the back of the cards, you are out of luck unless you pick the inPulse plan, and pay the .99 cents a day. You also cannot use it as the pay as you go credit towards the $50 option – the cards only work with the .99 cent a day plan, and that still doesn’t count an activation fee. So, now I have a $30 inPulse card that is essentially worthless. (Let me know if anyone wants it.)
So I asked the woman on the phone, who would ever buy into such a stupid and expensive system. She said that some people think that $50 is a decent amount for a phone bill, but if you do the math, that’s still twenty cents a minute per call. Any regular cell phone plan will give you thousands of minutes and free nights and weekends and roaming and on and on. It’s not a bargain in any way.
Finally she admitted that some people have bad credit and this was their only way to own a cell phone. So that, in the end, is the truth about these plans; they exist to fleece those who have bad credit.
We say: shame on Verizon and all the others for this sneaky bit of marketing. Unfortunately there are people who need cell phones who have bad credit and there are people who just need occasional calls and not a hefty monthly plan– here was a way to make having a cell phone affordable and instead it turned into blatant highway robbery.
What I did instead: Verizon also has a family plan. For $6.00 a month extra my mother is now part of my calling plan. She can chat to any Verizon cell phone user for free, has a ton of weekend and free nighttime minutes, and knowing her, she won’t even dent the number of minutes my plan has. The $25 or so she save each month now picks up her DSL tab and all is right in the universe.
Bruce says:
Ummm. Let’s see - so the $60 a year I pay to keep my Virgin Mobile phone active is a ripoff? I used to pay $34 a month to Sprint, for a phone I seldom used, but needed for the rare occasions when I’m on the road. Not sure how Virgin’s service is a ripoff. You just didn’t do your homework when shopping for cell service for your mother. I forget what I paid for the phone - $29? I save hundreds of dollars a year from such prepaid plans. Virgin has an automatic top off service on their website that brings the cost down to $15 every 90 days. The only down side is that Virgin uses Sprint’s cell network, which isn’t the best. But I really don’t know of many people who get good coverage from ANY carrier unless they live in a major urban area, and sometimes not even then.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Alice says:
That’s how all these plans worked, but they are moving to the Verizon model, and I will bet Virgin is not far behind. I was going to pick Virgin but the handsets were too flashy and pricey, but if they truly let you simply activate and pay by the call, then I do applaud Virgin Mobile for keeping the spirit of the idea in place.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
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January 13th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
xingxing says:
I thought you only pay the 99c on the day you use the phone. So if you only used the phone 10 times a month, you would owe at the most $9.9 for the daily charge plus the per minute cost.
I think the real catch is that all the $$$ you charge on the phone would expire after a certain date no matter you use them or not.
January 13th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Alice says:
I thought so too, but for inPulse you have to pay .99 every day bforeyou make a single call or you do the pay-as-you-go options and pay a starting fee of $50 for the month and 250 minutes.
January 13th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
Eric N. says:
Ugh. And here I thought I was gonna switch over to pay as you go!
I think, for me, the ideal setup for me would be one low price — for a set amount of minutes, and a block of minutes for an incremental fee.
25$ for 200 minutes
30$+ for 300 minutes
35$+ for 400 minutes
40$+ for 500 minutes
45$+ for 600 minutes
I doubt it will become so easy any time soon.
Down here in Honolulu, they just opened a place called Mobi wireless… unlimited in state calling for 39.99$. I haven’t looked at their other fees, but it seems like a move in the right direction — if you don’t make state-state calls, or international calls, or use text message, or picture message… ugh.
January 13th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
Don Schaaf says:
I simply do not use the phone that much.
I have one of those Simple Freedom phones and pre-paid phone card. Wal-Mart.
I think the phone cost me the one time price of $29.95 and I just buy a card ($19.95 for 80 minutes @ 0.25 cents a minute) as I need them.
I get coverage that spans the entire U.S. of A. and for 0.50 cents a minute.
I get great coverage, I have never lost a signal, I have called from about nine states in the continental United States and have made calls from Hawaii as well.
I absolutely do not feel as though I have been ripped off.
I have no plans to ever sign on with any of the “regular” cellualr carriers. This whole thing works perfect for me.
Thanks,’
Regards,
Don S
January 13th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
John Tidball says:
I use TracFone. I buy minutes at set prices, and as far as I can tell, the minutes on the phone are used up just as minutes. There aren’t any extra charges. Text messages are .5 minutes each. I think minutes are $29 for 100 minutes, and less if I buy
a bigger lump. That comes to about 29 cents a minute, but that lasts me a couple months or more, or about 14 cents a min. Too bad there isn’t Vonage for cell phones. $15. for 500 minutes.
January 13th, 2006 at 5:27 pm
Brian S. says:
I have Virgin Mobile- it’s $20 per 90 days to keep it, no other charges. Buy more money if you run low. That is a fair deal.
January 13th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Brad says:
what about T-Mobile’s prepaid plan? Buy 1000 minutes for $100, your minutes don’t expire for a year, they rollover (I think..), and texts are 10 cents to send and free to recieve. Best deal out there, of course you have to spend $100 at a time.
January 13th, 2006 at 6:41 pm
Cheese Toast says:
I have Cingular’s pre-paid @ 25¢ a min an 5¢ text msgs. It gets great coverage Up here in the CA hills and I just have to add as little as $15 a month to keep it running. If you want something that has a long expiration time, get the pre-pay service from 7-11. Yeah, I know that sounds strange, but the minutes last 1 year no matter how many you buy. It has some drawbacks though, if you buy the phone in say the 415 area code it will have a 415 area code phone number and it can’t be changed. The phone comes preloaded with the minutes and phone number. The only good thing is it uses Cingular’s network. Here’s a link to the info for any interested parties: http://www.7-eleven.com/products/product_detail.asp?catalog%5Fname=7ElevenNew&category%5Fname=Cash+%26+Communication&subcategory%5Fname=Cash+%26+Communication&product%5Fid=1012&thumb=1
January 13th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
Michigan Telephone, VoIP and Broadband blog says:
Cell phone companies taking unfair advantage of the poor?
I came across an interesting article on the RealTechNews site entitled “Why Pre-Paid Cell Phone Plans Are a COMPLETE Rip-Off”, that I wanted to pass along: It started as a Christmas gift idea. My mother is from the generation that thinks a cell phone…
January 14th, 2006 at 12:06 am
jeanannd says:
You should have checked into T-Mobile Pay as you go. I purchased one for my Father on his Birthday last March. The phone came with a $10.00 prepaid card. To activate you just call in. You don’t have to pay so much a month. When you run out you can pay more by store (like a grocery store) or at 7-11 or a T-Mobile store, or just call in and buy minutes by check, Credit Card or Debit.
He’s long since used up the $10.00 pay as you go card, and purchased more minutes. He doesn’t use it a lot, maybe a phone call once or twice a week. None the less, it gives me peace of mind to know in an emergency he now has a phone where ever he is.
January 14th, 2006 at 1:02 am
Ted Young says:
Pre-paid phones have their purpose and are surely a ripoff for people that use their cell phones frequently. My wife and I are in our 70s and we purchased a Tracfone contract last year. We use it only for emergency purposes and carry it with us when one or both of us are traveling. I paid $89 for a year’s service, which includes a free Nokia phone and 350 anytime/anywhere minutes (including 50 bonus minutes for internet signup). We’ve only used a small portion of the minutes but that’s not important. We have instant communications in the event of problems on the road for approximately $8 per month.
January 14th, 2006 at 6:52 am
jb says:
I do as Ted Young — works great for me. In my case, the service provider for Tracfone is Verizon. A service I need for a very reasonable price — the service is available for less than $9 per month.
January 14th, 2006 at 7:17 am
B.Hare says:
I have been using a Tracfone for several
years now. I am happy with it, get service
all over the US and also bought the years
activation plan. If you do not use all of
your minutes at the end of the year….when
you buy another year activation the units
roll over. My years service cost $89 also.
Caller Id, Call waiting, text message, and
several other items are available also.
January 14th, 2006 at 7:26 am
Georgef says:
For your aricles, not that I have any right to complain for something I am not paying for, you might compare plans. Virgin and TracFon are probably the only two worth considering. Verizon does have a better network in NYC. I have had bad reception but never no reception with Virgin (In NYC and ‘rural’ PA, NY, and NJ). I think Verizon is the best choice for a ‘mission critical’ phone.
January 14th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Dick says:
Originally I had a “special plan” with Verizon worked out by erox many years ago with frontier - before they were sucked up by various companies and wound up with erizon. Apparently there is some kind of law that “forced” companies to honor outstanding contracts - so my plan caried thru. Eventially I got sick of the $14.99 for 20 “free minutes per month” - and wound up with CIngular. A GREAT plan!! Buy your phone (I got mine at a MediaPlay sale for $10.00 LESS than Cingular had it for on the web)- (you get $10.. in your account to start you out). I buy the $25.00 card for 100 minits - good for 3 months - when I have to buy another 100 minutes. The great thing is the minutes you have left accunulate(!).. (Great if you need an occasional “long time” conversation! This works out to be less than $8.50 a month - I have a great carrier AND NO ADDITIONAL TAXES, Charges,etc. Go Cingular! Oh by the way - they have “regular plans that essentially duplicate almost anything out there!
January 14th, 2006 at 8:28 am
Jo L. Will says:
Thank goodness I must be grandfathered on an older Verizon prepay plan that maybe is no longer offered. I pay a flat $30/month automatically charged to my credit card. For that I get two numbers/two phones. Time used costs 15ct/30ct per minute off/peak times, and they work all over the US with no roaming fees, long distance, etc. Plus the unused time rolls over, so by now my wife’s phone has around $175 on it, and I have over $100 on mine. Verizon calls it the FreeUP plan. I had to buy the phones, but that’s cheap on Ebay.
January 14th, 2006 at 9:16 am
Art McClure says:
I’ve had Virgin Mobile prepaid phone for two and a half years. Never had a problem. I don’t use it alot, so it costs about $10 a month. It runs over the Sprint system.
January 14th, 2006 at 10:59 am
Diablo says:
Like Ted, jb, and George, I own two TracFones…Service runs less than $10.00 a month, and excess minutes roll over whenever I add airtime. This year all airtime purchased is doubled (buy a 100..get 200) IIRC. My credit is fine (in fact my phone service provider has been after me for years to sign up for their service at $45.00 + per month)…You just didn’t do your homework and got stuck by a company that from what I could tell, not only rips off the pay as you go crowd, but also their regular subscribers.
January 14th, 2006 at 11:36 am
carl says:
Virgin has worked well for us. It’s $15 every 3 months if it auto tops up. Phone cards shouldn’t cost you more than .05 minute. You just need to shop first instead of impulsive!
January 14th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
rmw says:
thanks for a great article, i have been trying to convince relatives that Pre-Paid phones are expensive.
January 14th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Del says:
I have Boost Mobile - it is from Nextel/Sprint. It works out okay for my wife and I who only use our cell phones as a last resort method to get ahold of each other. My Phone was $60 my wife’s was $80. Calls between Boost Mobile phones are .10 a minute otherwise they are .20 a minute. After 9 pm and I think on weekends they are only .10 a minute too. To get access to their mobile internet it was .20 a day but that feature is not required. There aren’t any other fees. I think we have to add money to our account once every 90 ninety days to keep them open but all in all we cut our combined cell phone bills from $150 a month with our contracts which came with an ungodly number of minutes which were wasted each month to about $60.00 a month. The down side is that when we had contracts we could get nicer phones less expensively. No doubt we paid for it though with the contract. One other positive - because we can see the cost of each call we are more conservative with the phones. On our old contracts we had probably 1500 minuts available for use but between the two of us only used about 500 minutes a month. So really the calls were costing us about 30 cents a minute.
It really depends on how much one uses their cell phone.
January 14th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Stuart says:
WOW! To us in the UK, that all sounds incredible! We have Pay-As-You-Go over here (I, and many, many others use it) - here’s the deal for my Virgin Mobile account.
1. Buy the phone
2. Top it up (go to almost any shop and pay for 10 UKP or so worth of phone calls)
3. Use it (I think you have to make sure you call somewhere once every 60 or 90 days, I can’t quite remember)
You have our sympathies!
January 15th, 2006 at 7:12 am
Stuart says:
whoops!
Point #2 - “any shop” = any small, local shop
Point #3 - “you have to call somewhere” = “make a phone call”
Just re-read my comment and realised that I probably didn’t make much sense there!
January 15th, 2006 at 7:15 am
Shawn says:
When I tell people I use a Tracphone they laugh,but I’ll tell you that after trying 3 different company’s monthly plans,I now feel like I get my money’s worth,and I use it as my only phone! I have been thinking of trying Virgin,as I would love to have a nicer phone,but I can’t see how verizon is considered prepaid,when they charge you a monthly fee?
January 15th, 2006 at 9:54 am
George says:
I used a pay as you go for a few months. I looked at about four different plans, and Verizon’s were horrible. Exactly as you state. They exist only to get you onto a ‘real’ plan. Any of the other pay as you go providers were better.
FWIW, I was on Boost Mobile, which was by far the cheapest for my needs. Worked out to about $7/ month.
January 15th, 2006 at 10:44 am
NivoXZ says:
it’s far too expensive, besides as said, it’s the only left alternative to those with bad credit… sighs… it’s a totally rip off, from any viewpoint
January 15th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
RecycledElectrons says:
I’ve been with TRacFone for several years. I pay about $8/month to keep the phone on, plus about $0.10 per minut foe calls.
Having said that, I get the service I pay for. Their customer serice people have yelled at me, threatened me, and demanded that I die…all for trying to buy things from them.
You get what you pay for.
As for the batteries never being charged, get her a large battery (check ebay for 40 day batteries.) Also, insist that she keep a car charger in her car. Other options include an emergency charger / fuel cell, or maybe a solar or hand-crank charger.
I keep lithium batteries in my devices, a car charger permanently in my pickup, a hand-crank charger in the toolbox to my truck, and a solar cell on my backpack. Any of these will also charge AAs in my hand-soldered adapter.
Andy
January 15th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Bill King says:
Ditto with comment #25, over here in .au, we have true pre-paid (Virgin, Vodafone, Optus, Telstra). Top it up when you want, or even install a “when it gets down to $10, put another $30 credit on via direct debit”). I spend maybe $30 every 2-4 mths… and thats wholely and solely on calls.
January 15th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
Bill King says:
(Forgot to put an Ow, telephony over in the US really really sucks @ss)
January 15th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
Lukw says:
For the Verizon customers, just pay the deposit. You can get it refunded at either 6 months or a year (depends on situation) and then you work towards the real goal. Establishing good credit. This will also make you a post-paid customer which will give you access to all of the phones, better pricing, and promotions.
January 15th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
The Sister Fister says:
Yeah go with TMOBILE. It’s the only one that really makes sense.
January 15th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Stephen says:
Liberty Wireless, $30/month prepaid service for 300 minutes. Here’s my post with details why I think it is better than any Cingular, Verizon, etc prepaid
http://gorndog.blogspot.com/2006/01/liberty-wireless-training-wheels-for.html
January 15th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
chuck says:
i bought a prepaid from staples i got a samsung a600 phone for 99 bucks with a 100 dollar rebate 12 cents daytime 10 cents nighttime internet access for 13 cents a day got it to retrive my e-mail was paying 20 dollars a month to do that with my plan phone now i pay 4 dollars nice small size flip phone the catch is you never go to your voicemail or recharge the card by the cell would reccommend to anyone no hidden charges
January 16th, 2006 at 8:45 am
threebrain says:
check out the T-mobile pre-paid system. I’m very happy with it. If you spend $100 then it’s like $.20 cents a minute and the phone is guaranteed service for a full year. I got a really nice nokia phone WITH BOWLING
and it came with $15 of minues for $40. It’s a no brainer really. Having no contract is such a great feeling. I got screwed so bad and so many times by Verizon. Every month they said I went way over my minutes but I was only calling my girlfriend and she is ALSO VERIZON. Then there was all these hidden fees and surcharges. Then when I cancelled they charged and extra $200 penalty. Devils! Verizon will never get one more penny from me.
So far the Tmobile service has been great. I did go through $25 of minutes in one day though but I was driving cross country and had an emergency so what can you do. But still, no contract. If i get pissed about it i can just ignore it and pay no more and it will just fade away. I love it. The phone came with 5 kick ass games too and hilarious ringtones. Buy nokia all the way. and free headset too. all for $40 weeeeeee! look up
January 16th, 2006 at 11:15 am
eve says:
I have Cingular’s plan where you pay $1 for the day that you use the phone & then 10 cents per minute. If you call another Cingular customer, you only are charged the $1 for the day. As long as you refill your minutes before they expire, they are rolled over - so you don’t lose your time. I have been very happy with the service.
January 16th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
korz says:
I have been using the Virgin Mobile prepaid service for about three years. Althought I believe that Tmobile has a better plan, it is just recently available in my area. Virgin meet all my needs for a cell phone. I keep my phone in my car, use it once or twice a week, and the plan only needs renewal once a year.
My only complaint with Virgin is that is markets primarily to teens, and when communicating with their customer service, the prerecorded computer generated attendant sounds and speaks like a 14 year old girl trying to be “hip”.
January 16th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
nico says:
They try to fool us too
http://www.about-nokia.com/blog/item-206.html
January 18th, 2006 at 1:33 am
News: Nokia cell phones, accessories and software. says:
About Those Damn Operators Cheating US
Alice Hill wrote that Why Pre-Paid Cell Phone Plans Are a COMPLETE Rip-Off. I have always thought that the situation here in Finalnd is better and I still think it is. Sometimes we have our small…
January 18th, 2006 at 1:34 am
Lockergnome's Tech News Watch says:
inSPOT, The Anonymous Online STD Reporting Service
Maybe Im old and jaded, or just too old to do more than stare at a new online service called inSPOT that lets you notify sex partners by an anonymous and very edgy-looking e-mail greeting card, to let them know that oh by the way, I have an STD….
January 19th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Victor S. says:
We were on Verizon, about $84/mo incl. taxes (and how many taxes - good God!)- family plan, 600 mins, + roaming and long-distance charges. The plan was $60 by itself, the taxes-upon-fees on top of taxes pushed it to about $84 - the other dirty little secret about “contract plan” mobil phones. One memorable monthly bill was $180 with the long distance/roaming charges. Our actual use of per month minutes was about 370 (ours 70, my daughter’s 300). In the past September our (2yrs) contract was up, we went to T-mobil $30/phone, 3 phones, (at Walmart) - included 60 minutes/phone. Bought the $100 refills for all three, 10 cents/min nationwide(!). Do the math: our cost will be about $700/first year - including the phones., and no contract! Compare that with the other, averaged out w/the roaming/long distance to about $95-100/mo. that’s about $1200/yr., vs the $700 first yr., and $600 the 2nd. In two yrs I will have saved about $1100. No chump change. So I don’t have a camera in the phone, big deal! That’s a very expensive (mediocre) camera. Per my calcs, T-mobil was the most economical for our use.
January 20th, 2006 at 7:38 am
craig says:
I just purchased a Net10 package. I bought it because it was clearly promoted as a pay as you go phone with roll over minutes. This is very attractive for people who have a very limited use for cell phone service. I wasted three hours setting up the service and programing the phone. When I went to install my 300 minutes I discovered that even if you have a lot of minutes left over at the end of the month you still have to buy an additional minimum of 300 minutes more or you lose your service and your phone number. I understand that these companies need to get a return on thier investments but that doesn’t excuse the highly deceptive advertising. The telecommunication industry has been screwing the public with these kinds of practices for decades and there doesn’t appear to be anything anyone can do about it.
January 29th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
Mike says:
I have the Virgin Mobile prepaid minute2minute plan. My only gripe with them is that a 50 second call is rounded off to 2 minutes! They claim it takes 9 to 12 seconds to disconnect.
February 9th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Brandon says:
I represent a new carrier that requires no credit and the plans are not prepaid or pay as you go. The phones are free with most plans. We have over a 90% coverage in the US.
An example of our most popular plan is 400 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends, free voice mail, caller ID, call forwarding, call waiting, and a freee phone or free phone financing ($3-$4 per month). Free in-network calls for all plans 400 minutes and over. All this for $39.99 per month with a 1 month deposit.
www.approvedmobile.com
February 13th, 2006 at 8:37 am
frank says:
verizon is the worst when it comes to customers. not only that but they disable their phones ability to communicate with other devices (including other phones)so that a customer HAS to use their network so they can make more money. you, there from the island, I don’t know who owns the network you use but Verizon is owned by Verifone. The U.S. government lets the cell companies take advantage of the consumer in this country that your government will not allow.
February 20th, 2006 at 12:34 am
Babiegurl says:
I have read at least several websites pertaining to pay as you go services and I wonder why noone has mentioned US Cellular TalkTracker as an option…For 40 bucks a month you get 500 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends and unlimited Call Me minutes (that means anyone calling you is a free call for you)! They have the best deal around! I have had At&t GoPhone and that was good until Cingular took over and jacked up the price and added additional taxes…T-Mobile is a joke with its minutes pricing…They don’t offer anything to their prepay customers! The only good thing about them is I have the Sidekick 2 on prepay and it cost 30 bucks a month (a $1 a day) for unlimited internet service. Anyway, check out US cellular….They are cool….
March 11th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
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July 25th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
paula says:
I have had pagers,then i tried verizon,pre-paid,50.00 an that was good then.then til,i had my number mixed up,code also.sooo i could not get back into my mess,even if i took it to the sales for help..i gave up..then tried cellone..it was okay but couldn’t call out to other cell numbers..unless they would call.then got on to Sprint.
was okay although i lived up on the hills that made my calls to roaming..was still okay until the changes i made that i was told took affect,turns out i got high bills…i got a gift from my dad.Sprint-not even a week his bill went over 300.i gave in..i asked about other plans,net10..ect.our area only covers a lil,area.i keep asking an stuff on other deals…now i went to alltel,an started with the lowest pre-paid..went good although soon i went to differ packages.
im with them since Oct…i’m at 700 anytime min long distance ffor 69.00 includeds.after 9;00pm unlimted,unlimtedtext mess,unlimited weekends,unlimited alltel to alltel.three -way calling ,other features…no contract,..a day before your mins r up you can change your plans…although you buy your own phone,an pay the active fee..one time only.i started with 2oo mins.then 400 mins,now 700 mins.go to your nearest alltel store ask about the pre-paid,not month to month..(pre-paid)I STARTED WITH THE LOWEST PHONE,AN LATER WHEN I HAD THE MONEY TO GET A NICE PHONE I GOT A FLIP PHONE….
check it oout…
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July 31st, 2006 at 3:11 pm
Theresa says:
I’ve had tmobile pre pay for almost 6 years now. I only buy the amount I want and my minutes don’t expire for a whole year. As long as I refill by the expiration date my minutes roll over. They even you give more time once you’re in the gold rewards program.
August 6th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Diane says:
Had to drop my Tracfone because there’s very poor service in the Oxford, OH to Richmond, Ind. area. Cingular go phones are actually cheaper anyway since I use it only for emergencies…and the network is so much more dependable. (And I only need to refill every three months instead of every two months.)
March 15th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Ted says:
Cingular has a great plan! I bought my phone “on sale” at a local media play outlet. You can add minutes in incrments of 3,6 or 12 month inrements at $25,%0 or $100. Any unused minutes “roll over” (I’v accumulated about $150 of “excess” minutes. 25 cents per minute - no roaming, grest coverage) The only catch is you HAVE to renew at least every 3 months. It figures out to $8 plus per month. (I missed once and lost about $60.00 worth of minutes - but - my fault!!)I also had a problem with my phone (which they replaced under warranty) - then about a month later the same model crapped out on me. Somehow it had a “red dot” (MOISTURE EXPOSURE”. I talked to Cingular and, after switching me around a bit, they actually replaced the replacement - at NO COST! I have heard of all sorts of “horror stories” about Cingular - but let me tell you — I am “happy as a clam” with my service!! (note: They had billed me for the 2nd phone - however, when I called and referenced my previous phone comverstaion - they pulled up my record - agreed they had made a billing error - and removed the charge!!)
March 23rd, 2007 at 6:49 am
Diana Roberts says:
I am with Jo L. Will. I guess I am grandfathered like she is. I only use my cell phone for emergenies or a very rare long distance call; I don’t have long distance on my land line; so I didn’t some plan that has mega-minutes and costs a fortune. I had an old Motorola StarTac that I lost (or thought I had), so I bought an Inpulse phone for $20 and added it to my account in place of the Motorola, which didn’t change my old FreeUp plan. I have always paid $15 a month, which is automatically taken out of my checking account every month, which pays for 99 minutes. The minutes charge at the rate of $.10 a minute for local, or $.35 for roaming long distance. If I don’t use my minutes, they just keep rolling over month after month; right now I have over $45 credit on my phone. I have since found my old StarTac, but haven’t put it back on my account. No reason except I have to go to one of their stores to do it, and I just haven’t bothered. The old FreeUp plan can’t be beat, that I know of and I have done a lot of researching and have never found anything close to it. No contract, roll-over minutes, $15 a month, only pay for out going calls, voice mail and just $.10 a minute. Sure suits me!! Good luck to everyone.
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:56 am
Gary Anderson says:
I’ve done a lot of research on the pay as you go plans. T-mobile stands shoulders above all others at least in the US. Many phone deals for as low as $29.99 including a $15.00 card to start which gives you like 60 minutes of call time. But the big bonus is the $100.00 card that gives you 1000 anytime anywhere minutes working out to 10 cents a minute and no daily fee and they last for a whole year, and if you add more before the year they roll-over on top of your new minutes. T-mobile last year added their roaming areas to the service plan making reception possible just about anywhere any other phone will work. No hidden fees and no irritations, I probably put about $200.00 into my cell phone a year and believe me I get a lot a bang for my buck.
April 9th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Ne'Leisha says:
this verizon pay as you go is krayzie i mean they take 99 cents from your account and you dont even have to use ya phone that day. Then the other thing about the in pulse sh*t is that you dont have free weekends and that’s what really makes it not worthed might as well stick with a regular $15 OR $20 tracfone from Dollar General.
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Rick James says:
F*** Verizon. Cingular, T Mobil, Sprint, N Telos, Virgin Mobil, Alltel,Suncom, Cellone, Cellular One and whoever else Boost Mobil and everybody thats all I have to Say excuse my language i apologize but they all are ripoffs though they are all MONEY HUNGRY really…and they just piss me off!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!…-Sorry!!!
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:13 pm
efdo says:
Don’t rent from Piccell wireless-highway robbery-deceptive advertising
May 9th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Mark Tuttle says:
To get 10% extra airtime out of your prepaid plans readers should check out http://www.mobilereup.com/
I agree, the carriers are trying anyway possible to get the most out of a customer but with a little research we can take back a bit.
I believe mobilereup.com works with Cingular Go Phones, T-Mobile ToGo Phones, and Verizon InPulse prepaid accounts and instantly credits your prepaid phone without the need for a PIN
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:10 am
6a9efe11bd8124652e0126bb1d0f17a2 says:
6a9efe11bd8124652e0126bb1d0f17a2…
6a9efe11bd8124652e0126bb1d0f17a2…
July 15th, 2007 at 12:15 am
tommy says:
I’ve been using verizon feeup plan for years.I just pay $15 per month and all unused minutes rolls over.But here’s the catch,that plan is no longer available.The only reason i can keep it is because they said it was grandfathered in.So i’am still a happy camper.And since i don’t use much i have a ton of minutes that rolls over.
July 21st, 2007 at 7:29 am
Desperate Horny Housewives says:
Desperate Horny Housewives…
Desperate Horny Housewives …
August 5th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Desperate Horny Housewives says:
Desperate Horny Housewives…
Desperate Horny Housewives …
August 5th, 2007 at 11:40 am
David says:
Tracfone has been the best and cheapest for me, a seldom cell phone user. I pay $94 - $99 a year or $8.25 per month and have been doing this since 1990. Unused units (minutes) roll over from one year to the next and I currently have over 1,000. I have used Tracfone customer service several times and it seems they will bend over backwards to solve any problem. They probably aren’t such a good deal if you “live” on a cell phone but if there’s a cheaper way to maintain a cell phone for “normal” use, I’d love to hear about it!!!
August 30th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Ricky says:
PicCell Wireless is absolutely the best option available. I’ve had only great experiences with them. They get a bad rap from careless students (students who make 1 hour drunk phone calls from outside of their home service country, students who don’t report stolen phones and are suprised by the high bill that results) and their parents for problems caused by student ignorance. I’ve used them many times and will continue to. Take the criticism of this company with a big grain of salt and consider the source. Their rates are perfectly competitive and I found their service to be much better than any other company because most of them have been study abroad students.
November 26th, 2007 at 6:37 am
ian says:
Pre-paid minutes are good for 1 yr with T-Mobile if you pay $100 or more. So once a year, I pay T-Mobile $100. There have been no hidden, or monthly fees. Please tell me why this is such a ripoff.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:03 pm