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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 1:49:56 AM
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Chrystal-J-007
Posts: 617
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Detroit
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I have a pay-as-you-go phone. I buy "time" at the store or gas station.
I like it cuz I don't have to worry about getting a monthly bill and I only buy as much time as I use. My minutes are good for a year.
It is more expensive than a contract phone if you talk a lot on the phone. In my case, I only talk about 2 hours a month on my cell (I have a home phone and do most of my 'chats' on that.)
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 2:47:54 AM
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dawgfan42
Posts: 5557
Joined: 4/20/2005
From: Ohio Edison-The Illuminating Company.
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A plan that has the best calling area network, free nights-weekends, No overages and roaming charges. Low monthly rates,and a year to year contract. There are some services that have unlimited calling,and nationwide calling. Ours is called Mobi... I have one,and no complaints as far as I am concerned..
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 8:00:20 AM
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AngelInWaiting1983
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Joined: 6/8/2007
From: South Carolina
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I have a prepaid cell. One of the better ones I think. I use Net10. It is only 10 cent a minute. You buy as you need. You have a certain amount of time to use it, but I find that I can usually use them all before the date runs out. You can buy a new phone for like $30 and it includes 300 minutes along with it. You can then purchase at the store or online. I'm very happy with it. I've used it for years.
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 9:50:55 AM
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stateofgrace
Posts: 2004
Joined: 4/12/2005
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We tried a prepaid cell for a couple of years...it is only a good choice for those who talk for a very limited amount of time, and in most cases I'm aware of, minutes do not roll over past a certain purchase period (so, talking too little is expensive as well as talking too much!).
I think you can still get a monthly plan in the $20-$30 range, and likely a free phone with a two year contract. For many people this would be more cost efficient. Look for no additional charges for long distance (also something that the prepaid plans may have an extra charge for), free nights and weekends, perhaps free mobile-to-mobile on the same carrier (if family and/or friends are on that carrier). Also, if you travel a lot try and find a carrier that covers the area you're going to be in. Look also at any possible roaming charges (also check these last two out on a prepaid plan).
As far as the phone itself, I'd recommend something inexpensive unless you really want a PDA-type-smartphone like the iPhone or a Blackberry. You'll be paying a lot up front for one of those, and extra for internet access every month. With a contract, you should be able to get a phone with bluetooth and possibly a camera for little to no cost. Bluetooth is a good idea if you're on the road a lot, because you can get a wireless headset.
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 10:10:07 AM
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WhiteRoseBlessings
Posts: 25986
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Currently . . . San Francisco
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crossposting . . .
quote:
ORIGINAL: stateofgrace
I think you can still get a monthly plan in the $20-$30 range, and likely a free phone with a two year contract. For many people this would be more cost efficient. Look for no additional charges for long distance (also something that the prepaid plans may have an extra charge for), free nights and weekends, perhaps free mobile-to-mobile on the same carrier (if family and/or friends are on that carrier). Also, if you travel a lot try and find a carrier that covers the area you're going to be in. Look also at any possible roaming charges (also check these last two out on a prepaid plan). Liz, really? $20-$30? Do you have any specific companies?
Is that $30 max or is that before additional fees?
I was with Verizon for two years, and I had the most basic of plans with nationwide roaming. I was paying $39.99 for the plan; and after insurance and taxes and stuff, my monthly bill was $51.77.
Except for one month when I actually went over my minutes, I usually only used about half of my allotted minutes.
If I could get a "monthly-fee" plan for $30 max, I would consider it, but an additional 30% (roughly) in insurance and taxes is more than I want to pay.
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 10:20:31 AM
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KuKu
Posts: 920
Joined: 5/20/2005
From: Somewhere out there
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My tracfone does in fact have rollover minutes. I buy 120 minutes for $30, and then have 3 months to use them. Since I usually don't use them all, in 2 months, I buy more, and so then I have extra minutes, plus 4 months (3 plus the one I had) to use them. Before I got a new phone, and sold the other to my nephew, I had over one year built up before my minutes would expire. I hadn't bought minutes in a while LOL, and I didn't even have to worry about it.
The minuses I have found are that you have to pay to listen to voicemails (the same cost per minute as a phone call), and a somewhat limited service area. It's not horrible, and I'd guess it's because I buy the cheaper phones, but basements, etc can cause problems  . I've traveled with it, and not had any problems in airports, on trolleys, etc. It didn't do so well across the border though LOL.
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 10:47:37 AM
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christsstar
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quote:
ORIGINAL: WhiteRoseBlessings
quote:
ORIGINAL: christsstar
All of the big companies do pay as you go.
Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile.... in addition to other smaller companies. Oh. I didn't realize this (obviously).
Christine, when you say "free minutes to certain people", do you mean people who use the same phone company or can I specifically list people?
Everyone that I can think of that I would might need to talk to while traveling all use different companies. LOL
Yes. Does that help??
NO? OK. I'll explain.
With Verizon, Sprint and AT&T most plans (if not all) have unlimited calling to anyone in the same network (I can call anyone on Verizon for free anytime of the day).
With T-Mobile (and some others, but I don't know if they are national or not), htey have what they call a Top 5. You list 5 phone numbers that you call the most and you can talk to them for free anytime. Now this means you can't talk to anybody else for free. So if I list my mom, dad, sister, Josh and you, I can't call my brother-inlaw, even if he's on T-Mobile. I'm not sure of all the details, as I don't have t-mobile. But that's my understanding of it.
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Grampa John - 10/23/1920-11/26/2008
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 1:58:02 PM
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christsstar
Posts: 5138
Joined: 4/8/2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: KuKu
Christine, Tracfone requires no contract or monthly fees. That is one of the reasons I went with it. Is that also true of the other 'regular' companies now?
Anything that's not pre-paid will require a contract up front. If you like your phone enough, you can manage to live through the contract and just pay month to month, but that's rare. They offer significant discounts on the phones when you sign a NEW 1 or 2-year contract. The longer the contract, the cheaper the phone. However you can't get a new phone at the discounted new-contract rate until you are eligible for an upgrade, which with most companies is a few months before your contract expires. Then you sign a new contract and are committed to them for another 2 years.
The monthly fees are your plan rate. A standard rate for a non-family plan is about $40-$50. Some are more, some are less. It depends on extras that you want and how many minutes. TXTing is extra, mobileweb is extra, etc. But with Verizon, a basic 400 minute plan with unlimited long distance, unlimited nights/weekends, and free calling to all Verizon users is $40 plus taxes.
That's the clincher. Taxes. Taxes will increase a base price of a bill significantly. Sometimes as much as $30. If you get a contract, ask those sorts of questions.
Which brings to mind, Sharon-Marie ..... will you want to be able to txt??????? I know you've enjoyed it in the past; would it be something you would do again? If so, if you get a pre-paid phone, look into the txting on it. If it uses minutes, buy it extra, etc.
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Christine
Grampa John - 10/23/1920-11/26/2008
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 1:58:52 PM
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stateofgrace
Posts: 2004
Joined: 4/12/2005
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: WhiteRoseBlessings
crossposting . . .
quote:
ORIGINAL: stateofgrace
I think you can still get a monthly plan in the $20-$30 range, and likely a free phone with a two year contract. For many people this would be more cost efficient. Look for no additional charges for long distance (also something that the prepaid plans may have an extra charge for), free nights and weekends, perhaps free mobile-to-mobile on the same carrier (if family and/or friends are on that carrier). Also, if you travel a lot try and find a carrier that covers the area you're going to be in. Look also at any possible roaming charges (also check these last two out on a prepaid plan). Liz, really? $20-$30? Do you have any specific companies?
Is that $30 max or is that before additional fees?
I was with Verizon for two years, and I had the most basic of plans with nationwide roaming. I was paying $39.99 for the plan; and after insurance and taxes and stuff, my monthly bill was $51.77.
Except for one month when I actually went over my minutes, I usually only used about half of my allotted minutes.
If I could get a "monthly-fee" plan for $30 max, I would consider it, but an additional 30% (roughly) in insurance and taxes is more than I want to pay.
Let me check on this. Our entire plan was only around $100 for four people/four phone lines, including taxes, before I increased the minutes.
...OK, in our area, Sprint and TMobile have individual plans for $29.99/mo. They are at this time the least expensive.
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/29/2008 8:19:36 PM
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BelovedHandMaiden
Posts: 3992
Joined: 3/17/2007
From: Tennessee
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I personally think its better to do a contract. My problem was I would forget to add minutes or forget when the deadline to add them was and I'd end up with a dead phone. And you must realize that if you are using your phone in your job (as tour director), its a tax write-off. But I'm sure you know that.
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RE: What kind of cell phone should I get? - 9/30/2008 12:48:37 PM
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myka
Posts: 810
Status: offline
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We have prepaid phones only. Both Virgin Mobile and Go Phone (ATT). We really like the fact that we don't have monthly bills and just pay for what we use. Both phones have rollover (as long as you regularly add $ to your account before a certain amount of time), they also have txt packages as well as other features. They have different prepaid plans, also; the go phone has a plan where it costs $1/day that you use the phone combined with free calling to cell phones in the ATT system.
The reason we have two different carriers is that most of the prepaid phones have limited coverage, and while we were traveling, we needed one with coverage where we were.
Usually, the contract plans have a wider coverage area.
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What kind of cell phone should I get? - 
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