Prepaid Cell Phones

[TheGreatSatan]

Time to drop the bomb....

I don't own a cell phone! In fact I don't like them and don't want one either, but I'm being forced by the wife into at least getting a prepaid one for occational use.

I've looked at:


T-Mobile
GoPhones
AT&T
Tracfone
Net10

Phones are phones, but the plans confuse me. Some you are buying a set dollar amount , while other you are paying for a specific amount of minutes.

Help?

[Crazy Buddhist]

If your wife has a phone on a calling plan - and especially if she has been with them for a long time - I would suggest she call her company and say she wants a phone for her partner, that it will be for very occasional use and what are they prepared to offer her? Then start negotiating.

Cell phone companies, phone companies, ISP's, and all utilities in denationalised markets are absolutely scared of something called "churn" which basically means people running from one company to another to get better deals.

If she is a long term customer of one phone company on contract they will want to keep her business and might do a very good deal on a prepay for you.

Crazy

[TheGreatSatan]

Another thing, why are all cell phones so damn small? I need something BIG

[nevermind1534]

I know that AT&T lets you add another phone to an existing plan for an extra $10 a month. Most people just want a small phone. When I lose mine, I just call it.

[TheGreatSatan]

That's the thing, I once lost my wife's and we never found it again....

[Canadian Eh?]

Well Cell phones are good to have in case of emergencies, or just general communication, even if you dont see yourself using one that much.

just my 2 cents...

[OvRiDe]

If you can get on a shared or family type plan, that would be your best bet. We looked into getting my elderly Aunt a cell phone. She only wanted it in case of an emergency, such as being stuck on the side of the road. The problem with the prepaid plans that I ran into, is the minutes expire!?! So if you don't use your minutes withing a set period, you pretty much forfeit them, and have to buy new ones. In most cases its per month. The most economical solution was to add a line to my Dad's plan for 10 bucks a month. Now the only problem is to explain to her, why she has to charge it, if she doesn't ever talk on it...:banghead:

[Omega]

As far as prepaid phones go, I doubt you can get one that's large at all. Even with cell-plan cellphones, they're pretty small. Biggest phones I've seen recently are smartphones and they're about the size of an iPod or so.


What I would suggest, instead of a prepaid phone, is trying to find a cheap cell plan. If you know you're not going to talk very much, then don't bother with one with a lot of minutes. OR see if you can get another line on your wife's cellphone plan. Will probably be cheaper and the minutes won't expire like a prepaid plan will. You won't get to keep them (unless you're on Cingular), but if you're only paying $10/15 a month for it, it's a good deal.

I forgot the rates on my prepaid phone that I used to have, but it was something stupid like 10 cents a minute. I don't use my phone very often at all but even that burned up pretty quickly.

[Airbozo]

I agree with the small phone issue. I got the mondo fingers and those tiny little doll toy phones just piss me off. I didn't want a cell phone either and only got one so my customers could get a hold of me. The wife got one for the same reason and she used hers 100x more than I did. I thought about the prepaid ones and found out it was cheaper to add a phone to her plan. Now I use the thing a lot and mostly for texting. I got one of the LG flip open phones with a regular (although tiny) keyboard. I love it now but still barely use it for making calls.

FYI: ANY cell phone can be used to call 911 even if it is not activated with any company.

TGS: is this what you are looking for:

http://sf0.org/media/thayle/old-cell-4jpg6916160.jpg

[.Maleficus.]

Hehe... small cell phones.. Reminds me of Dane Cook's Vicious Circle, talking about people with big heads and small cell phones :D.

ANYWAYS... One of the bigger phones out right now would be an iPhone (a review of which could be appearing soon ;)) or a smart phone like a Blackberry or Palm. Prepaids don't usually get cool phones like those, so you'll usually be stuck with what they have in the boxes. Virgin Mobile makes prepaids has well, check out those. I used to have one and it was extremely easy and not too expensive.

[PartyLikeARockstar]

nice find.

...and pre-paid phones suck. Hard. T-Mobile is cheap too for extra lines. That really is the better way to go IMHO.

[Bopher]

Defintely check on the extra lines on your wifes plan. Me and mine both have had the same numbers for like 6 years now and have stayed with T-Mobile just as long. She hardly ever uses the minutes and of course because its the only way the store can contact I use a ton of minutes. We looked at prepaid for just her but it was cheaper to stay on what we had.

[Crazy Buddhist]

Get something on the calling plan then just buy something like this (http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-School-ANALOG-Motorola-StarTAC-cell-phone-NIB_W0QQitemZ260265391947QQihZ016QQcategoryZ3312QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) from ebay and put the simcard in. It's big and you will have to check your carrier still offers analogue signals but it would do you fine and is one of the best and most famous cellphones ever. another choice would be a Nokia 100, below.

.
http://i4.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/ff/99/566b_2.JPG


Nokia 100

http://www.mobilitywatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/nokia100.gif
(http://www.mobilitywatch.com/page/49/)

Then you can sell the itty bitty phone that came with the plan after unlocking it and bingo ... you'll have probably made a profit.

My first mobile was one like these, only the battery was a bit bigger (car battery size roughly) and the handset was on top:

http://www.mobilitywatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/old-mobile-phone.jpg

[TheGreatSatan]

My wife added me to her plan. I got the Kyocera E2000 (http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/e2000-phone/)

Turns out that my wifes plan was going on 3 years and she was able to change it. She got a new LG phone. I had no idea that these things have MP3 players and video cameras built into them!

[Bopher]

When we changed our plan with T-Mobile my wife picked up a Blackberry Curve and I already had the Dash. With mine I can even play movies in Divx format with the player I downloaded.

[Crazy Buddhist]

My wife added me to her plan. I got the Kyocera E2000 (http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/e2000-phone/)

Turns out that my wifes plan was going on 3 years and she was able to change it. She got a new LG phone. I had no idea that these things have MP3 players and video cameras built into them!

and media players ... calendars you can synch with outlook .. internet on the go ... fm radio ....most of them are more powerful than say a 5-8 year old pc.

Glad you got a good deal :)

Crazy

[TheGreatSatan]

Actually we got screwed. The guy in the store said that we'd have 1000 minutes under a family share plan for $50 per month. We got home and read the contract and that was all BS. We called customer service and they said that the plan he signed us up for didn't even exist. So, we got a new plan for $59 per month with 750 minutes total. Plus for our inconvenience they gave us $20 credit and 300 minutes that will roll over every month till we eventually use them all up. We don't text at all (Or know how to) or talk on the phone much at all, so we'll probably have them forever.