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Prepaid phones.
Uncle Long
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Alright, so my contract with sprint is up in a few months and it's time to do the soul searching required to renew the contract or do something different to satisfy my wireless needs.
This is the kind of user I am:
-About 200 Minutes a month on a busy month.
-About 25 Text messages a month.
-I rarely use the camera function on my phone and, I bet if I were to look, I'd have mover pictures of the inside of my pocket than anything.
-I never use the web browser or download...anything.
Each month I'm paying around 50 bucks for my plan, my fees and minutes and the whole thing. And, the worst part of it all is that the worst place, as far as reception goes, is at my house, no more than 5 minutes away from the sprint store.So, I'm not all that impressed with sprint or the standard that is a contract plan.
What's the scoop on prepaid phones in the states? I had gone with Vodafone while I was in Europe and I had a generally crappy little Nokia that held up really well and satisfied my minimalist tendencies; in fact I still turn it on to see it's loving and happy search for service.
Are there any good plans in the states? I've looked at Virgin, Tracfone, Go-Phone and a few others and haven't found anything that made me think any particular plan was for me (though I do like Virgin Mobile's "Slice").
I'm looking for a phone that has relatively little to it, is very small so as not to be annoying in the pocket, and is generally inexpensive. From what I've read of the general contract plan all you have to do is credit $20 to your account every ninety days to keep it open.
It sounds like this might be the option for me, but I guess the reason I'm posting this thread is to get a consensus from my trusted H/A as to whether these plans, though they may seem cheap and what I'm looking for, are going to shit all over me and make me wish I had just gone with another standard contract/monthly minutes plan like I've been doing with sprint.
So, what's prepaid all about?
This is the kind of user I am:
-About 200 Minutes a month on a busy month.
-About 25 Text messages a month.
-I rarely use the camera function on my phone and, I bet if I were to look, I'd have mover pictures of the inside of my pocket than anything.
-I never use the web browser or download...anything.
Each month I'm paying around 50 bucks for my plan, my fees and minutes and the whole thing. And, the worst part of it all is that the worst place, as far as reception goes, is at my house, no more than 5 minutes away from the sprint store.So, I'm not all that impressed with sprint or the standard that is a contract plan.
What's the scoop on prepaid phones in the states? I had gone with Vodafone while I was in Europe and I had a generally crappy little Nokia that held up really well and satisfied my minimalist tendencies; in fact I still turn it on to see it's loving and happy search for service.
Are there any good plans in the states? I've looked at Virgin, Tracfone, Go-Phone and a few others and haven't found anything that made me think any particular plan was for me (though I do like Virgin Mobile's "Slice").
I'm looking for a phone that has relatively little to it, is very small so as not to be annoying in the pocket, and is generally inexpensive. From what I've read of the general contract plan all you have to do is credit $20 to your account every ninety days to keep it open.
It sounds like this might be the option for me, but I guess the reason I'm posting this thread is to get a consensus from my trusted H/A as to whether these plans, though they may seem cheap and what I'm looking for, are going to shit all over me and make me wish I had just gone with another standard contract/monthly minutes plan like I've been doing with sprint.
So, what's prepaid all about?
Uncle Long on
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Posts
With your needs, you'll probably be paying $40 a month for prepaid service, which could get you a basic contract with a better provider. Ask your friends who they use, and if they get good reception when they come over.
This is incredibly useful information.
So far I think the only service that has stood out in my area has been Verizon.
Ryan M Long Photography
Buy my Prints!
You should maybe check out a sprint SERO plan (google it) because that'll save you a bunch of monies per month.
If memory serves me right, Verizon and T-Mobile had the best plans for low minute users. AT&T becomes more viable the more minutes put on.
When I lived in Michigan I found Alltel to be very solid. They allow you to switch your plan anytime, which is pretty nice if you're overpaying and want to downgrade. Not sure how easy that is to do with other companies. They also upgraded my minutes, for free, without even informing me. My bill just showed up one day saying they gave me 500 more anytime minutes for being a loyal customer. I was only paying for 500 minutes to start, so they doubled it for free. Can't imagine too many other companies would do that either.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
Yeah, and worth noting that when I was in a Sprint store one of the reps there told me they use the Verizon network in a lot of areas they don't cover.
Most of my friends from downstate Michigan (where I assume you are) used Verizon without much of a hitch.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
It could just be that my phone is, well, getting old, and others get better reception with their newer hardware. I don't know. It's just frustrating looking at all the minutes I don't use because I know that calling from my house is going to be a jilting and ultimately futile effort.
Ryan M Long Photography
Buy my Prints!
The only gripe I've had with Net10 is that their website can be a little flaky -- every now and then their online shop won't load, so I have to run to the gas station or something to buy a card. But that's only a problem because I wait until I have 0.4 credits left on my phone before I add minutes. Also, if ringtones or wallpapers are a big deal for you, well... Net10's selection sucks.
Otherwise, I'm happy with them, and my monthly usage is about the same as yours.
My current phone is old as well, and the reception completely blew at my old house. My friends, on the same network, would walk in and make calls just fine. So yeah, all phones are not created equal.
Most companies give you a 14 to 30 day window where you can either trade phones or cancel service without any penalty. And you'll find that once you get a situation where you can make calls without fear of dropping, like I am now, that your minutes go way up. It's sort of nice, in a more expensive kind of way
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
Virgin Mobile is pretty inexpensive to keep active. I use one as a secondary mobile number, and just have to add $20 every 90 days.
The motorola phones that they have for the service are really basic (at least the cheep ones)
After breaking my contract phone, I've since bought two cingular Go-Phones as replacements (i can just put in my sim card).
The Motorla C168i and the C139 are solid phones with MASSIVE battery life and awesome reception.
Also the C168i is only 30 bucks and im pretty sure that at a cingular store you can get the c139 for free