OT...Prepaid wireless service

Pre-paid wireless service pops up every so often on PM but times change so let's revisit shall we?

I have used Sprint/Nextel as my one and only cell service for nearly 13 years. I'm not happy paying $110.00/month for cell service only either...

I am looking into the prepaid unlimitied plans and I seem to be leaning towards Boost which is too owned by Sprint.

Are the any PM members using Boost's unlimited prepaid plans? How'd the coverage, etc? Boost is using the Sprint CDMA system so they are reporting wide areas of service. Anyway, I'd appreciate hearing from the end-user.

Thanks,

Tom

Can't speak as to Boost mobile, but I can comment on my experiences with my pre-paid carrier.

I use Straight-Talk which is the new TracFone spinoff. They use the Verizon network.

I have used both the $45/mo plan and the $30/mo. plan.

The upsides: Everything I need, nothing I don't...$45/mo. gets me unlimited calls, unlimited text messages, and 45MB of downloads on mobile internet. $30/mo. gets me 1000 mins of talk time, 1000 text messages, and 30MB of downloads on mobile internet.

The downsides: At first customer service was a PITA, but as things have ramped up, automated service is fast & easy. Very little in the way of live help...but then I've never had any problems to speak of that would require any. Where it can get frustrating is if you absolutely insist on transferring your number...what a clusterfuck! You have to buy a pre-paid card each month or you can enroll for automatic deduction from your credit card/debit card account.

Another pre-paid service to look into & consider is Cricket. The prices keep dropping, the phone selection is improving, and the plan features keep rising.

I really can't understand why anyone would go any other way.

How about $ 8.33 a month ?
Of course I am a real cheapskate , and I only need a cell phone to use in emergencies .
I really don't need to be in touch with the world 24/7 .
Back when walmart started Simple freedom , I got one of those . Then it changed to Alltell , then Verizon .
I found out that if you buy $100 worth of minutes once a year , there are no other charges , and the minutes don't expire if you don't add time every 30 days .
I've had the same phone for 6 years , and although it is a bit bigger , it gets better reception when you pull out the antenna.
Unless you really need to talk a lot on your phone , this is the best way to go for an emergency only phone .
FBBob

I have the cheapest version of Verizon prepaid - the phone itself with $10 worth of time cost $15 at Big Lots. Minimum payment is $15 a month, but you can prepay for longer times as well. Different costs per minute versus cost for daily access, depending on how you use it. I use it very little, mostly for emergencies and very short calls, so I use the basic 25 cents a minute plan with no daily access charge. For that kind of use it's a good setup.

The phone itself is adequate, and Verizon coverage is good. Most of the other carriers, at least in this area, use Verizon's towers anyway, so the coverage maps are essentially identical.

I realize this doesn't answer the question for unlimited prepaid, but thought I'd mention this, especially because the Big Lots price was about 5 bucks less than everyone else's, including Verizon's, for the same phone.

I don;t use a cell much, except when I am travelling or out of town. I'm on Virgin Mobile. Cell only. I have to add at least $20 every 90 days to keep the contract active. There is no roaming and no long distance. Everything is $0.25 a minute for the first four and then $0.10 thereafter. Most months, I'll go at least two months on $20. Hard to beat $10 a month for my cell.

I also have a Nextel, but that's for work, and the company pays that one.

$110 a month? does that phone perform some service that your wife doesn't? I mean does it tell you to do the dishes, and remind you to take out the trash?

Out here, Verizon is about the only thing that will get me coverage. Spint, alltell, T-mobile, if they are all still called that won't get me the coverage I need.

On the Cricket thing. Out here that is the absolute worst. Useless.

$75 a month, 900 minute plan. Did the 400 minute plan, that averaged WAY more than $75 a month.

$75 a month is worth it to me, I'm not a texter, but it is handy at times and it only take a few to really add to the bill, so I've got that for $5 a month. The "friends and family" thing, I can only get with the 900 minute or over plan, and when my old man wants to talk, he wants to talk, he can just go on forever. Verizon to Verizon, that works too, everybody I want to talk to is Verizon, so that works too.

What pisses me off is they want me to get a new "smart" phone, so that I sign a new contract. Dumb asses, I'm not going anywhere. I DO NOT want a "smart" phone, I want a phone. The thing that I can pick up and call people on, and they can call me.

I don't care if I can program my DVR from 4000 miles away, I don't need to 'facebook' while driving down the highway, I can live a few hours without internet access. They just don't get it. I just want a phone, the one I have has too many fricken features that I don't care about and don't want to deal with.

The one thing I would like is a docking station, come home, drop her in, charge her up and use the phones in the house through my cell. That would be handy.

I have had Verizon Pre-pay for abot 8 years. I buy the phone (on my 3rd one in 8 years, $49. at Walmart) and $15. plus .90 tax (75 minutes, .20 , .10 nights and weekends) is charged to my CC each month and the minutes roll over. If I get low on minutes it tells me I need to ad them. I push a few buttons and it's done.
Only problems I have had is when Next-To-Hell customers call, then their signal comes and goes.

Bobw said:

$110 a month? does that phone perform some service that your wife doesn't? I mean does it tell you to do the dishes, and remind you to take out the trash?

Click to expand...

Bob, you sound like a smart ass, OK, thanks for your sage advice. But please leave the smart remarks having to do with my wife to yourself. WTF

$110.month buys me 1,400 minutes.

Guys thanks for the excellent help on pre-paid services!

Tom

Tom,

You didn't say if you needed the data package too. That $110/mo sounds like sprints "everything" package. For $59.99 you can get 900 mins of talk time with them. Don't know how many minutes you actually use, just FYI.

Anyway - you were asking about pre-paid. Find out if your minutes can be transferred to another phone if that phone gets lost/broken. I know with TracFone you are SOL if you have $100 worth of time on a phone and it breaks.


We decided to try it on one of our daughters phones - TracFone. She's not a talker/texter so it was a bit cheaper per month than adding her to our Sprint plan. However, her phone is starting to act up and now I wish I had her on the Sprint plan since I bought a years worth of service for her on TracFone. Live and learn.

Walt
Apex, NC

Hello Walt,

My plan is voice only. I don't text or email. I am starting to see that I'm missing out on important emails that I can't respond to.... from my customers viewpoint.

Sadly, texting is becoming common place. I said I would never use it... never say never.

Sprint's everything plans is just too expensive IMO. When I discuss the numbers with Sprints sales folk their arguement with their competition is Sprint has better customer service I know better than that.

TracFones Straight Talk has really caught my eye. I most likely will switch to that company.

Thanks Walt!

Tom

Check out Page Plus Cellular. I'm a cheapskate and use the minimum plan at $10 every 120 days. They have a couple of other plans, including an unlimited talk plan with text and data for $39.95 a month. They use the Verizon network, so the coverage is good and you can use any Verizon phone.

Here are a couple of links to check out:

Prepaid Compare

Prepaid Cell Phone Cards | Prepaid National Cell Phones

UGLY ERIC Communications Nationwide Page Plus Dealer

Glenn