Pre Paid Cell Plans ???

[kenny]

I'm thinking of getting this Pre Paid Cell Plan:

T-Mobile
$100 for 1,000 minutes, that's 10 cents per minute.
No monthly bill, but it averages out to $8.33 per month.

This will be plenty since I average less than 10 minutes per month. (I hate talking on the phone.)
Unused minutes vanish after one year.
No Data or Internet connection.
No Texting, in or out.

I am not forced to buy a new cellphone but they have to mail me a new Pre-Paid SIM card for my existing old cheapo cellphone. (a $9.99 dumbphone)
This SIM card costs me $3.25 if I buy it directly from T Mobile over the phone, but the same card would cost me up to $50 if I buy it at a store.

Good deal?
Is there a cheaper way to have a cell (voice-only, no texting and no Internet) that you almost never use?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Um, well, I've always had a regular cell phone and so has my DH but we've twice now attempted to have a third phone as a back-up emergency cell phone in case something happens with ours and we had purchased the pre-paid phones and the reception is CRAP. I couldn't hear a thing. We had to yell into the phone. My thought with yours is right now it may be fine, but will the new SIM card be as good? I don't know. Hopefully someone can answer that.

Does your SO have a cell phone? Just curious as my we have a full-plan, texting and internet and the second line is hardly anything. We found adding a third line to our plan is $13.99 including tax.

 

[monarch64]

I actually always recommend this one:

http://cordlessworkz.com/jitterbug-phone.aspx?gclid=CK6Puvq-8a0CFUKFQAod50XduA

You're welcome.

 

[kenny]

MC, AFAIK a SIM card just holds data identifying me and the account.
It has no effect on the audio or RF signal.

I suspect something else was responsible for your cell's poor performance.
Perhaps the carrier you happened to have when you had prepaid did not have good strong coverage where you live.

Prepaid is just how you pay.

But you bring up a good point.
I'm used to TMobil, so I should stay with them instead of switching to a different company.

 

[Imdanny]

You get what you pay for as far as cell phones. My iPhone works perfectly if I'm speaking, someone else is, or there's silence. I thought my $100 (came with contract renewal for free) price point Samsung that wouldn't work at my old place in the country would work at my new place where we have more towers. Wrong. So my $30 Samsung was the same as my $100. I was always saying "Can you hear me?" or having people say, "I can't hear you". Frustrating! However, you're in a big city so you might not have that problem at all. The deal? I don't know. Make sure that the minutes roll over in a way that the only minutes taken away are always the 12th month away, if that makes sense? You have a clear antipathy for cellphones so I think this is probably a great idea. I use my phone to talk to family and friends as far away as New York and Florida on a regular basis so it's important to me to be able to hear them but if I didn't live in a remote location I might do what you're doing. Our phones are nice but the bill is a lot.

 

[Fly Girl]

I'm thinking of getting this Pre Paid Cell Plan:

T-Mobile
$100 for 1,000 minutes, that's 10 cents per minute.
No monthly bill, but it averages out to $8.33 per month.

This will be plenty since I average less than 10 minutes per month. (I hate talking on the phone.)
Unused minutes vanish after one year.
No Data or Internet connection.
No Texting, in or out.

I am not forced to buy a new cellphone but they have to mail me a new Pre-Paid SIM card for my existing old cheapo cellphone. (a $9.99 dumbphone)
This SIM card costs me $3.25 if I buy it directly from T Mobile over the phone, but the same card would cost me up to $50 if I buy it at a store.

Good deal?
Is there a cheaper way to have a cell (voice-only, no texting and no Internet) that you almost never use?

Yes, we are grandfathered in to a plan my husband got at work years ago. The phone was free, the monthly bill is 75 cents, and the cost is 10 cents per minute if we actually use the phone. A few years ago they upgraded the phone because they no longer supported analog. We keep it at our cabin as a back up for the times we forget our regular cell phones or chargers.

We got my elderly parents a T-mobile prepay with $100 worth of minutes. They take it when they are out and about in case of an emergency, and almost never use it otherwise. My dad goes to the mall every year and rolls the unused minutes over for $10. He's done this for years, and they always roll over the minutes for him. I'm not sure if they are supposed to, or the clerks can't resist helping out a sweet old man.

 

[ame]

We got my grandparents a pre-pay one after my grandpa asked to not be on a plan he didn't need with my uncle, but we found they weren't leaving it on. So we added them to my parents plan and got him a simple phone but he is instructed to never turn it off and charge it nightly or every other night. He still never uses it but we all are at least able to reach him and he can get us. My cousin and aunt taught him Facetime on their iPhones last weekend which was HILARIOUS. He didn't get it, really, but he did enjoy it when he started to get it. She put a screenshot up on facebook for us. My mom is considering getting him an iPhone now so she can check in on him.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I think it sounds like a good deal. I have a trac phone which renews every 3 months for $21.00, at a cost of 84.00 per year. I get 60 minutes each quarter. They upgraded me so I now get 120 minutes per quarter. Yours is a better deal. I only use it for emergencies and when we go on a trip. I also keep a landline. Sounds very good to me.


Annette

 

[kenny]

Thanks all.

I went with the T Mobile plan and am waiting for them to mail me my $3 SIM card.

One thing I forgot to mention is coverage.
A certain plan may be a great deal but if the coverage is poor in your area it ain't so great after all.

I know there are cheaper plans out there from tens of small companies, but I know T Mobile coverage is quite good in my area.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Hope it works for ya Kenny!

And just so everyone knows, any cell phone can make a 911 call. You don't have to have a carrier or minutes, just a cell phone with a charged battery and signal. I keep my old cell phone in my glove box just in case. Most batteries will hold a charge for 4 months while off. I charge the old one every oil change.