<p>I’m looking for suggestions on the cheapest and most flexible cell phone plans. I realize that with most of these the price per minute is fairly high but knowing that doe sanyone have any experience with a certain company? Also, the best way to buy minutes for these phones. It is imperative that this be a pay up front situation. THANKS SO MUCH for any ideas!!</p>
<p>My cousin purchased a Trak Phone for his young son, bought the minutes at a warehouse. The fee was paid as an annual not a monthly and by purchasing online or at the club he got a fairly workable deal. I also know people who have used GoPhone.</p>
<p>What I didn’t like about the pre-paids I came across was that they expired rather quickly. So, if you aren’t going to use a lot and buy a $20 prepaid, it would expire after one month - as an example. If you are going to use a lot, this wouldn’t bother you. Also, this was a while ago - maybe there are more and better options now. Just be aware to check how long the pre-paid minutes are usable.</p>
<p>virginmobileusa. They run through the Sprint system. Minimum required $20 every 90 days. Minutes not used are carried over, but you need to purchase a $20 card (or $15 if you chose auto renewal) every 90 days to keep service active. Calls are $.25 a minute.</p>
<p>We looked into the prepaids as a gift, and here’s what we found (This was about a month ago, and the plans change rapidly):</p>
<p>Verizon pay-as-you-go: $30 expires in 60 days (lowest cost = $15 per month). $.35 per first minute, $.10 per subsequent minutes. Depending on your calls (brief “here I am”, or long conversations), we assumed an average of $.22 per minute, which gives you about 70 min. per month. Verizon also has an “IN” plan for $1 per day (min. $365 per year plus per minute costs). It allows you to call other Verizon customers on the IN plan for free, but it is still approx. $31 per month.</p>
<p>Tracphone: $50 expires in 60 days (lowest cost = $25 per month) $.25 per minute if calls made from your home area, double the cost for calls made outside your home area. Assuming $.25 per minute = 100 minutes per month.</p>
<p>Net 10 Pay as you go: $30 expires in 30 days (lowest cost = $30 per month). ALL calls = $.10 per minute, giving you about 300 minutes per month. More minutes, less per minute, but more expensive overall if the phone is only used for an occasional emergency.</p>
<p>Cingular: $100 expires in 180 days (lowest cost = $16 per month). Each minute = $.25 per minute giving you about 64 minutes per month. Paying $25 per month gives you about 100 minutes per month. (Larger cards = less per minute).</p>
<p>TMobile basic: for $20 per month you get 50 anytime minutes and 500 weekend minutes. IF you use all the minutes it averages about 4cents per minute. BUT it is $20 per month AND you must sign a year min. contract.</p>
<p>Virgin: (didn’t check)</p>
<p>The pay as you go plans typically still require a minimum monthly payment, because minutes expire if they are not used within a limited time period.
It will be less expensive per minute if you buy larger “cards” (or charge it), but more monthly. We were looking for emergency use only. </p>
<p>You need to know if the phone will be used for an occcasional emergency or announcement call, or for chatting with friends. We felt the pay as you go plans tended to be much more expensive if you use a lot of minutes. But if you only use a few minutes a month, while the per minute cost is outrageous, the monthly cost can be minimized.</p>
<p>Some minutes roll over if they are not used. Others are lost. However, to roll them over Yyou need to keep adding new minutes monthly, bimonthly (or whatever period the card requires). Check each plan.</p>
<p>Consumer Reports recently did an evaluation of systems, and evidentally Verizon is the highest rated. Also keep in mind, however, that only the GSM phones can be used worldwide (and even those are limited depending on if Tri-band, or Quad). Cingular and T-Mobile use this system. The Verizon phones cannot be used outside the US. IF the recipient might travel, this may be a consideration. </p>
<p>We ended up getting a family plan and sharing minutes instead.</p>
<p>I have a prepaid plan for my daughter from Cingular (GoPhone - Pick Your Plan).</p>
<p>It is $30/month for up to 200 minutes (ie, 15 cents/minute).</p>
<p>No contract is required.</p>
<p>Since my daughter always uses her minutes, I’m not sure when they expire, although I do know they roll over.</p>
<p>One thing I like about the plan is that is easy to call an 800-number and add extra minutes (smallest increment is $15).</p>
<p>We ended up getting a Singular family plan - 4 phones and phonelines, rollover minutes, for $115 a month (includes all fees, etc). We never ever run out of minutes and in fact have 4000 banked. An annoying problem with the prepaid accounts is the delay to make each call as the message plays telling you how many minutes you have left. I guess it’s useful for emergency calls. One strategy we used in the old days (when we did have a prepaid plan) was to buy a large card ($100+) for the first card to get the cheaper minutes, then just purchased the cheapest card each few months to keep account active.</p>
<p>3 phones on the Cingular family plan here. D knows she can call other family any time and can call whoever she wants for as long as she wants nights and weekends.</p>
<p>Less than $100 per month total and we never go over our 500 minute bucket.</p>
<p>I got my dad and my sec’ty prepaid T-Mobile phones. They had a special (with rebate) that included the phone, wall and car charger, leather case and $15 of minutes for about $30 (after the rebate). If you buy $10 in extra minutes they only last a month. The $25 or more refill cards last 3 mos.You can get the extra minutes at a 5% discount at Costco. I believe T-Mobile had a deal with minutes that last a year, but I don’t recall the specifics. The only issue is the variable coverage with T-mobile. Some areas have lots of dropped calls. But, I believe the minutes were only about $.10/minute.
My older s. and I share a Sprint 2000 anytime minutes plan for about $85/mo. (and we use almost all the minutes!), with free sprint-to-sprint calls. I love this plan! Younger s. and h. share a cingular plan. I believe they get 1200 minutes a mo. for about $49 with rollover minutes. This is a corporate discount rate. I think it represents about a 20% discount.</p>
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<p>We purchased T-mobile pre-paid phones in November 2004. For $50, we got a Siemen’s phone & $65 worth of minutes which didn’t expire for 1 year. This year, to keep the phones working for another year, we just had to purchase $45 more in minutes & from now on we will only have to spend $10/year on phone cards to keep the phones active (we use very few minutes & rolled over unused minutes purchased in 11/2004 when we purchased more minutes in 2005. We’ve had no trouble with T-mobile (though it doesn’t receive well in upstate NY). There are no roaming or long distance charges. T-zones are free, no contract, no monthly charges & virtually no hassle if you lose the phone (just have to find a new phone & pre-paid plan you like). This is a very good thing because my son appears to have lost his phone, so he’s now using the “spare” pre-paid phone we also bought.
Starion</p>
<p><a href=“Prepaid Compare”>Prepaid Compare;
<p>This site has GREAT info & a summary chart of most of the pre-paid phone plans out there for you to compare. It has a LOT of info, well-organized.
Good luck!
HImom</p>
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