Prepaid cell phone?

Now this looks like something - any thoughts?
http://www.tracfone-orders.com/direct/tr/itemdetl.jsp?prod=1473&tech=COGSM1

I was checking that out earlier Husker, but unfortunately it'd not available in Canada :-( If I was in the US, I would have jumped on that.

I checked out Radio Shack Canada and they have some pre paid phones that I'm going to go check out tomorrow.

Hey, nice avatar ;-) Is that you?

Thanks. Yeah, you can normally call long distance, even though certain packages don't allow it or charge extra cents/minute.
I reviewed a few options and what bothers me (again) is that in the fine print it is stated that "the customer agrees to pay for outgoing AND incoming calls" - meaning airtime is actually whenever you use the phone, not only when you make a call. I don't know - is that normal? I always thought that only outgoing calls are being charged. But maybe I was just always wrong.

It is just kinda sneaky in my opinion that they put this in fine print, which most people don't even read. All little tricks are usually hidden that way, and I guess that is why I don't trust these things. They just aren't straightforward enough - put the facts on the table. Instead you have to search the whole website in order to find basic info such as rates and card expiration.

Anyway these are some options that I found, available in alot of areas:
T-Mobile EasySpeak... 20-33c/min, cons: only covers your local area, cards expire fast
Verizon Wireless Prepay-Freeup... 30c/min, 99c/min roaming, there is a setup fee, cards expire in 30 and 60 days and allow you to rollover minutes
Cingular Wireless KIC Prepaid... 35 or 10c/min (off peak), 95c/min roaming, no additional charge for long distance, cards expire in 30 and 90 days
AT&T Wireless Free2Go... 12-50c/min depending on the $size of the card you buy, 85c/min roaming, cards expire in 45 days and minutes roll over
Virgin Mobile Pay as you go... 25c/min and 10c/min after the first 10min in one day - flat rate (including roaming and long distance), cards expire in 90 days
Alltel Prepaid Wireless... 35-50c/min, no expiration of minutes (?), activation fee, cons: you need to buy a phone separately (I think)
TracFone... was mentioned before

All these (except Alltel) include a cell phone, prices of these packages vary somewhere from $50 to $150.

After reading the fine print, I found that most everyone charges for both incoming and outgoing calls (airtime) Virgin, AT&T, Cingular - didn't check about the others, but it may be the same.


Sorry if I rant too much. I'm always like this when it comes to long term inverstments, even if just a cell phone. I don't like to regret buying stuff. So what do you guys think? I'm so picky. :wink:

One other thing to consider (possibly anyway...) Most of these phones are capable of text messaging. I know Cingular charges you per message (I believe it's $.25 per message on the pre-paid package) plus minutes for the time of the transfer where AT&T only charges you for the minutes used for the text transfer itself.

You may also want to look at calling time billing increments. I know Cingual and T-Mobile use whole minutes (so if your call is 1 minutes and 3 seconds they charge you for 2 minutes.). I'm not sure on the others.

I think most services charge you per message (from 5 to 20cents/message). In my case I probably wouldn't be using this option a lot since my husband's cell phone doesn't have it. On the other hand I know that the cell phones in Europe allow you to text message anywhere, even internationally, at the same rate. I wonder if this works with US cell phones also, it would be cool.
And also, I think most services use 1 minute increments.

AT&T IS NG!!!

Welcome to A2K MissBee. You're going to like it here.

We're just coming off one of the most "horrible " consumer experiences we've ever had: Purchasing an AT&T GO-Phone and accompanying prepaid service over the Web (no contract). The dealings with that company have been sickening. The phone arrived Nov. 3 and their system had been down from Nov. 1 onward. We spent untold hours on the phone, being pushed from one phone number to another. When we wished to return the phone it was nearly impossible to get anyone on the line to do this. Finally, on Nov. 13 we connected to a person who told us they would send the required shipping label. This was the first day the system was up. We were no longer interested several days before that (We had notified our credit card company that we were putting the charges in dispute and were trying to return the phone.)

The VERIZON phone was activated within a few very short minutes. Maybe the difference is the fact that we ordered the VERIZON equipment over the phone. And a one-year contract. All of the capabilities and features are the same. $30/mo. for AT&T, $35.00/mo. for VERIZON. The V. phone $20 more plus a $35 set-up fee. No address anywhere in the AT&T box, books, etc. The V. phone box contained a return label with directions, a CD tutorial, and othe books and brochures. You can reach the V. customer service IMMEDIATELY. No shuffling around.

You're doing the best thing: Asking around. Wish we had, more than we did . Next, read the fine print. Good luck!
[/color]:-)

With AT&T Wireless the text messages are free as is voice mail retreival. Verizon also includes text messages (I think it is limited to 10 per day) with their service. You only pay if you go over the limit.

There is a prepaid rechargeable disposable no contract cell phone that is coming on the market. It is put out by Hop-on and is already available in CA. I don't know how much it sells for there but I'm waiting for it to be offered on the east coast. Not good if you yak alot but fine for someone who wants it for emergencies. You pay an upfront fee but it's good until you've used up the amount of minutes you pay for. After that, you can either take it back and get it 'recharged' or you can throw it away.

That sounds pretty good.

I ended up going with a digital phone which atleast works much better than my last one. My cousin told me he tried the prepaid phones and he said is was more trouble than it was worth so I went with the digital phone.

gstevens
Welcome to A2K :-)