Best Deals on Pay-As-You-Go Phones?

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My wife and I have decided to give up our contract cellphones, as we just don't use them enough to justify the $80 or so per month we're paying. We ALWAYS have 75% or more of our minutes roll over to the next month, which tells me we should just get rid of the phones (and we're on the most BASIC plan we can get as it is).

So does anyone have any pay-as-you go recommendations? What's the most reliable service? Any companies that you guys recommend more than others? Also, who has the best deals on minutes? What are the best places to buy from in terms of incentives? ( noticed even my local grocery store sells them). Etcetc.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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I have TMO prepaid and ATT Go Phone prepaid.

Who's your current carrier? Would you prefer to stick with them in terms of reception quality? Would you want to continue to use your current wireless handset? Port your number over instead of cancelling outright beforehand when you've decided. Get your existing provider to give you the unlock code for your phone(s) (if its a GSM network) before heading to prepaid so you can switch GSM carriers if need be. Don't tell them though. Just say you need it for travel outside the US.

Best best is to read up on the various prepaid provider threads at HowardForums.com to get a sense of what might fit your needs.

Quick reference:

- T-Mobile prepaid. Roams in Canada and Mexico. No data access except for free limited T-Zones that gets you CNN, ABCNews and ESPN to read. As low as $88 + change for 1000 minutes, one year expiration, and immediate gold reward status if you top up with a $100 value refill from the start. Subsequent refills will also be one year expires no matter the card value. Stick with $100 for lowest .10 rate though as other amounts will change rates higher. Online retailers for cheaper refills w/coupon that include Cheapphonecards, CallingMart, and EphoneCard is the way to go.

Before that, you'll have to either buy just the prepaid SIM kit from TMO online directly for $6.99 or, get one of their currently lackluster prepaid phone kits to get a spare handset. Wait for their recurring promo where they give you a $25 refill card bonus when you buy a phone kit is the deal to look out for if you need a new phone. Target has been clearancing some of phone kits recently too. That will net you a SIM and handset for cheap if you can find one.

-ATT GoPhone. Data available as an expensive add-on. Have to buy their prepaid phone kits to get the SIM chip. Their online store sells refurbs affordably, or you can check out Walmart, BestBuy, and Radioshack for sales, etc. Higher rates at .25 cents per min. As with TMO, you can get refills cheaper online (see above) or Walmart sells the $100 card for $88+ change. One year expiration for $100 card refills. Also has a bonus program where you get $5 and then up to $10 for each subsequent $100 card value refill.

-PagePlus. Uses the Verizon network. If you already have a compatible CDMA phone you can activate that, or buy a Verizon Inpulse prepaid phone kit from retailers like Walmart or BestBuy and use for PagePlus service. I believe you can get rates as low as .10 cents per min with a small coin fee per month.

Other carriers include Virgin Moblie, Tracfone, Boost, Kajeet, etc.
 
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Hibiwa, thanks a lot for the great info, I really appreciate it.

We have Verizon wireless phones on contract right now. I'm not crazy about the reception quality, but it works ok most of the time. I'm definitely not loyal to Verizon service or anything. It would be nice to be able to use our current handsets, but I don't mind getting a new prepaid phone that's cheap and reliable, if the plan is good and the minutes work out reasonably priced. The T-Mobile deal sounds pretty good to me, but what do you suggest I get given that I have Verizon right now? I am basically looking for a prepaid service with no contract, for two basic and reliable cellphones with charger, voice use only (light daily use, emergency calls etc... I don't use any data type features at all, no texting or anything like that, and I don't need a cameraphone). I would prefer it if the phones didn't have any daily charges for when I didn't use them.

And if I wanted to transfer the current number from Verizon, would I be able to do this with T-Mobile (or some other company like AT&T gophone or Tracfone)? If I go with the Verizon Pageplus, since I have a Verizon contract phones right now, can I just transfer to the Verizon Pageplus service and keep the same phones and numbers with no contract? I guess even if I stay with Verizon, I'll still have to pay the early termination fee that they will charge me for ending the contract early, but I'm thinking now that maybe it would be easier to just keep the same phones/numbers. I don't know if I have a GSM or CDMA phones... Sorry for any stupid questions by the way, I really don't know much about cellphone technology.

And thanks for the link, whymustiregister.
 
The FCC allows you to keep and transfer your phone number to any telcom provider. Initiate the number port with the new carrier, and they will handle the transaction with the carrier you wish to dump. Make sure you don't call up Verizon to cancel because that will releases your number and send it back into Verizon's pool.

With you still on contract, I'm not sure if you would need to wait a certain number of days for Verizon to clear your phone ESN before being able to activate it on Page Plus Cellular (should you wish to keep using your current phone and utilizing Verizon's network via leasing agreement with Page Plus).

Much more helpful advice and answers can be found at Hofo's Page Plus forum:

http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=364


With that said, Verizon is a CDMA network, so there is no SIM chip involved that would allow you to physically swap with TMO or ATT (which are both GSM) and keep the same phone. Different tech, but you can keep your phone number in any case.

The choice then comes down to either TMO or ATT for prepaid if want to play with the actual company and not deal with an entity that leases their networks.

I personally love TMO. It is hands down the best value that includes access to mobile CNN, ABCNews and ESPN without paying extra. Some complain about the limited nature, but you'd actually have to pay for it if you were on their postpaid account.

GSM technology does have a downside in that it can't reach inside buildings as far as CDMA can. TMO mainly operates on 1900 frequency and you should check here for your street level coverage to make sure you'd be getting good reception:

http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/prepaid.aspx

If you are happy with that, then by all means go for TMO prepaid. The Samsung Stripe just came back in stock at their online store for $29.99. It's a pretty solid compact flip phone with camera, bluetooth, and a nice bright screen. Reminds me of a small bar of soap when closed. Ten 10 minutes are included with activation if you want to test it out before ending it with Verizon. You may still be able to port in your Verizon number later. Of course you can always wait for the free $25 bonus card to come back to make it an even bigger bargain. No guarantee that the phone will be available then though. It's a gamble.

Samsung Stripe: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones...d&device=ce5ec420-6656-4ea2-a966-38dd7945c5a3

Nothing else in their selection is worth it since the candy bars available are severely lacking in features and none other than the ugly Nokia and Samsung Stripe have bluetooth.

More info on TMO prepaid on HoFo here:

http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=343

ATT Go Phone prepaid is the other major carrier option. It's decent too, and the main difference with TMO is they operate on both 850 and 1900 frequency -- which can mean better building penetration. Bad side is the higher cost and the annoying notification at the end of EVERY call to tell you how much was spent. Can't turn that message off and it bugs a lot of people. ATT doesn't care. You do have data access on a pay-per-use basis with their various packages, but you already said it's not something you'd use anyway. Any accidental key presses to their data network means pennies per byte out of your account.

HoFo's ATT GoPhone prepaid forum:

http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?daysprune=30&f=344

Read up on all your options and go to each carrier's website to find out about coverage in your local area. It's not going to do any good to pick a prepaid carrier that won't have reception where you would make calls.
 
Thanks for all the input, you've really been a great help. This weekend I'm going to look for T-mobile prepaid at the local stores (the T-mobile area coverage test at that link turned out ok), and I'm going to try and port at least one of my current numbers.
 
There's an "exploit" with at&t go phone for those of us who don't use it much. After you get the phone and load your airtime the first time, you can just buy the $4.99 features cards (good for 30 days) from walmart to keep the service going each month. It works out to $60/year for service. For $4.99 you get almost 20mins of time each month and it rolls over as long as service is active.
 
I use Virgin Mobile. The only requirement is that you spend $20 every three months. I use my phone very little, a few texts a week, and a call a week or so. Phone was about $90 and has a full QWERTY keypad. I've been very happy with it, as it gets service pretty much everywhere I've been, and is the very least expensive option I've ever found for very light cell-phone users.
 
It really depends on usage which one is best. With T-mobile make sure their prepaid service works in your area, as the prepaid coverage is much less than that of the contract coverage.

.10/min is about the cheapest you can get for a prepaid phone. If you use 300+ mins a month i'd recommend Net10, which runs off GSM towards of various providers, meaning you should get better coverage than pretty much anyone else. However, if you only average about 100-200 min a month i'd go with virgin mobile's minute packs @$20/month for 200mins with rollover; or T-mobile's $100/year card which gives you 1000 mins.

You can also reduce the cost per min if you buy the cards online from places such as ebay that offer a discount on the card yet you still get the full value worth.
 
I use tracfone personally. I've had two phones with them and they've both been good. They aren't anything special, but if you just want to make calls and text, they're fine.
 
[quote name='MajorSmeg']There's an "exploit" with at&t go phone for those of us who don't use it much. After you get the phone and load your airtime the first time, you can just buy the $4.99 features cards (good for 30 days) from walmart to keep the service going each month. It works out to $60/year for service. For $4.99 you get almost 20mins of time each month and it rolls over as long as service is active.[/QUOTE]

Can you elaborate on this a bit? I can't find those cards on walmart's site and can't seem to google any relevant information. What are these cards supposed to do for $4.99? And the 30 days of service is just a side effect?
 
[quote name='m6oo']Can you elaborate on this a bit? I can't find those cards on walmart's site and can't seem to google any relevant information. What are these cards supposed to do for $4.99? And the 30 days of service is just a side effect?[/quote]

They are "feature" cards, you either can get 200 texts messages or 4mb of data with it. They are good for 30 days or until used up. After you load this card your supposed to go into your account features and buy the text messages or the data. Turns out though if you don't buy the features it just the same as having $4.99 added to your account.
 
i have virgin mobile it's cheap and basic skimmed down plan they have $10 refill cards witch keep your account on for 45 days. I refill every month and it's fine.

Also they have the Sugar Mama program. You watch 5 advertisements a day and you get 5 free minutes added to your account. You can get up to 75 minutes per month for free watching ads.
 
[quote name='moneyman122']try cellhponeworld .com its a great place and no I dont own the fucking site[/quote]

Spammy search site.
 
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