The other alternative is T-Mobile. I got mine at Costco. The price of
the phone was about $45 after rebate (I think, but it was several
years ago) and I can buy minutes in whatever denomination I want down
to about $20? I usually buy the 1000 minutes for $100. My first 1000
minutes easily lasted me the year. But like a teenager I found I
started using the phone more often. Now they last me about 6 months.
The phone is a cheap model. No camera. It can receive text, but if
you don't give out your number that shouldn't be a problem. It can
send text if you're young enough to figure out how to use that
function. I'm not. I sent 2 text messages as tests. I think it took me
about 1/2 hour to figure that out. I'll stick to voice mail if they
don't answer their phone.
Jeff Miles
jmile...@charter.net
Join my Mafia
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On Aug 23, 2009, at 4:09 PM, Sue Cubic wrote:
At 05:57 PM 8/23/2009 -0400, you wrote:
So far I have resisted getting a cell phone for myself. Wife &
daughters insist on having one, so that I am paying about $150/
month for same. Don't want to add on to my plan since it requires
another 2-year contract, plus wifey will be constantly calling me
for help, for chitchat, and for no reason other than she's bored.
(I don't like to talk on any telephone since meaning of words is
ambiguous without visual communication.)
Heard about prepaid cell phones on this Listserv, asking for
recommendations.
What I want cell phone for: for travel emergency and, possibly,
for travel advice from friends while traveling
Estimated monthly useage: <10 minutes/month
What I would use: voice telephony
What I wouldn't use: text or picture messaging, web browsing,
picture taking, anything else.
What I don't want: people text messaging me, or calling me to
chitchat.
What's not important: overseas calling, or long distance except
during travel emergency
My location: Northern Virginia and DC.
Question: is a prepaid cell phone cost effective for me? Cheaper
than adding onto a family plan? What prepaid plan is recommended?
I've had a TracFone for years. I never have it turned on unless _I_
want to use it. I don't give out the number. For $100/yr you get a
year of service and 700 (I think) minutes. Usage minutes are
doubled for out-of-area calls. You can buy minutes in many
increments--at a lot of gas stations, convenience stores, Walmart,
Kmart, etc. I never used my base minutes, so started using them at
home for LD calls--until I went with cable phone, and there's no LD
charges on that. There are cheaper plans for less amount of time,
but then you need to renew the plan more often. I just go into
Walmart, pick up the size of card I want, hand it to the clerk, and
they do all the renewal process if you ask them to. You need to
keep the account active, or you lose your phone number--if that's
important.
TracFone buys space on towers from most big carriers, and I've never
encountered a location where I wasn't able to connect...basically
coast to coast.
You can add services like text msging if you want--I don't know the
cost of that. The basic service doesn't include that, or pictures
or web interface. The basic phone is around $20, if I remember.
Sue
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