Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

Hi,

Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?

I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
so
and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.

I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price and
get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes.

Regards and thanks in anticipation.

Ankh

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

Try Virgin Mobile.

"Ankh" <Ankh@see.all> wrote in message
news:1111272479.a7d5e41868b0ebf5deb4372a55e5838e@teranews...
> Hi,
>
> Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?
>
> I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
> so
> and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.
>
> I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price
> and
> get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes.
>
> Regards and thanks in anticipation.
>
> Ankh
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

www.tracfone.com


"Ankh" <Ankh@see.all> wrote in message
news:1111272479.a7d5e41868b0ebf5deb4372a55e5838e@teranews...
> Hi,
>
> Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?
>
> I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
> so
> and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.
>
> I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price
> and
> get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes.
>
> Regards and thanks in anticipation.
>
> Ankh
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

Per Ankh:
>Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?
>
>I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
>so
>and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.


I just signed up for tMobile's "To Go" plan.

Startup cost was $74.19, of which $30 is supposedly coming back as a rebate on
the Nokia 3595 phone I got with it.

After start-up, it's $106 per year for 1,000 minutes. So this year was about
$180 total and next year will be $106, and so-forth until the raise the price or
discontinue the offer.

I did this for two of my three phones: the ones tb used by my daughter and wife
- neither of which uses the phone more than 2-3 times per year.


I looked at TracPhone. Pluses for TracPhone were that it rides on Verizon's
net (probably better coverage) and the phone is simpler (a plus for somebody who
wants nothing more than to be able to dial a call....), and that it shows
minutes remaining with each call. OTOH, tMobile tells minutes remaining with
the push of an auto-dial button....which might be a wash...

The big minus for TracPhone to me was the *really* high per-minute rate: about a
dollar per minute if one purchases a 1-year/100 minutes card for $100.

tMobile's coverage? I bought one plan a few days ago. Checked signal
strenghtg against my Cingular phone everywhere I went and they were mostly
comparable. Will this hold up in the long run? Dunno....but I'm going for
it as I will migrate my own Cingular phone to a tMobile Pocket PC as soon as I
can find a store that sells them.
--
PeteCresswell

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

If their coverage area is adequate for you,
http://www.t-mobile.com/plans/defa [...] payasyougo can be a good deal.

"Ankh" <Ankh@see.all> wrote in message
news:1111272479.a7d5e41868b0ebf5deb4372a55e5838e@teranews...
> Hi,
>
> Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?
>
> I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
> so
> and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.
>
> I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price
> and
> get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes.
>
> Regards and thanks in anticipation.
>
> Ankh
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

"(Pete Cresswell)" <x@y.z.invalid> wrote in message
news:j4ep31td88dut1tv5j1trb2vmncg6qrhss@4ax.com...
> Per Ankh:
>>Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?
>>
>>I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
>>so
>>and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.
>
>
> I just signed up for tMobile's "To Go" plan.
>
> Startup cost was $74.19, of which $30 is supposedly coming back as a
> rebate on
> the Nokia 3595 phone I got with it.
>
> After start-up, it's $106 per year for 1,000 minutes. So this year was
> about
> $180 total and next year will be $106, and so-forth until the raise the
> price or
> discontinue the offer.
>
> I did this for two of my three phones: the ones tb used by my daughter and
> wife
> - neither of which uses the phone more than 2-3 times per year.
>
>
> I looked at TracPhone. Pluses for TracPhone were that it rides on
> Verizon's
> net (probably better coverage) and the phone is simpler (a plus for
> somebody who
> wants nothing more than to be able to dial a call....), and that it shows
> minutes remaining with each call. OTOH, tMobile tells minutes remaining
> with
> the push of an auto-dial button....which might be a wash...
>
> The big minus for TracPhone to me was the *really* high per-minute rate:
> about a
> dollar per minute if one purchases a 1-year/100 minutes card for $100.
>
> tMobile's coverage? I bought one plan a few days ago. Checked signal
> strenghtg against my Cingular phone everywhere I went and they were mostly
> comparable. Will this hold up in the long run? Dunno....but I'm going
> for
> it as I will migrate my own Cingular phone to a tMobile Pocket PC as soon
> as I
> can find a store that sells them.
> --
> PeteCresswell

.... ditto your comments on Tracfone - I like mine because it uses the
Verizon network which has great range/reception and I use it less than 10
minutes a month. As long as Tracfone sells a phone that uses Verizon's CDMA
network I will have a Tracfone. But if you are a yakker you will go broke
using a CDMA/TDMA Tracfone unless you get one of their phones that uses the
Cingular GSM network but in my area Cingular coverage stinks.
One possible solution is to go to Tracfone's website and buy one of their
cheaper refurbed phones with 100 minutes and 60 days service - then if it
doesn't fit your needs you are not out alot of money.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

You want cheap? You can pay less than $1 per month if you want to, Beyond
Wireless' cards do not expire. It has its limitations, though. I agree
T-Mobile is one of the best prepiads, but Free2Go and 7-Eleven are also very
good choices. There is a great prepiad comparison chart at:

http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm

Which is up to date and very informative.


Bill Radio
Click for Western U.S. Wireless Reviews at:
http://www.mountainwireless.com





"Ankh" <Ankh@see.all> wrote in message
news:1111272479.a7d5e41868b0ebf5deb4372a55e5838e@teranews...
> Hi,
>
> Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?
>
> I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
> so
> and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.
>
> I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price
and
> get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes.
>
> Regards and thanks in anticipation.
>
> Ankh
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

Hello,

This post has been useful to me too!!!

While I use Verizon for my Wireless Broadband Access, I wanted to have a
cheaper cell phone plan as I need to make just a couple or so calls a month
using a handful of minutes.

I checked out this site that proves promising:

http://www.gobeyondwireless.com/catalog/default.php (Actually, somebody
else posted this URL in response to a post I cannot recollect some days back
here)

Does anybody know which network (VZW, Sprint, ATT...) this company (Beyond
Wireless) uses?

I plan to buy one of their phones and get rid of the one I have now! I am
paying over $ 125 per month between my VZW Wireless Internet and cellphone
right now!

Everybody have a nice day.

JP



"Ankh" <Ankh@see.all> wrote in message
news:1111272479.a7d5e41868b0ebf5deb4372a55e5838e@teranews...
> Hi,
>
> Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?
>
> I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
> so
> and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.
>
> I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price
> and
> get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes.
>
> Regards and thanks in anticipation.
>
> Ankh
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 14:47:37 -0800, "Ankh" <Ankh@see.all> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Does anybody know of any good low cost pre-paid cellular phone websites?
>
>I make only a few calls every month totaling no more than 30-40 minutes or
>so
>and cannot afford to go on paying $ 45.00 monthly any more for just that.
>
>I heard there are some places one can get a phone at a reasonable price and
>get very low cost pre-paid cards/air-time with non-expiring minutes.
>
>Regards and thanks in anticipation.

Beyond Wireless.

15¢/minute with rates as low as 10¢/minute.

Only real disadvantage is that they don't offer local numbers
everywhere and you might have to get a number that is not local to
your callers. Also they use the old AT&T Wireless TDMA network. Any
phone that was on the AT&T TDMA network will work with them. They
also sell phones if you don't have one. To keep your account active
you must make a call before the end of every 60 days. You could
theoretically keep your account active forever provided you make the
minimum call every 60 days.

http://gobeyond2.chainreactionweb. [...] _rates.php


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Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 18:49:38 -0500, "(Pete Cresswell)" <x@y.z.invalid>
wrote:

>I looked at TracPhone. Pluses for TracPhone were that it rides on Verizon's
>net (probably better coverage)

Make that *some* places use Verizon. Others use either AT&T's TDMA
network or a GSM network such as cingular.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 07:24:48 -0800, "Jyanendra"
<info2knospam@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Does anybody know which network (VZW, Sprint, ATT...) this company (Beyond
>Wireless) uses?

AT&T Wireless TDMA network. Anything off that network is roaming and
you'll pay four times the regular rate for calls.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

Joseph wrote:
> On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 18:49:38 -0500, "(Pete Cresswell)" <x@y.z.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>
>>I looked at TracPhone. Pluses for TracPhone were that it rides on Verizon's
>>net (probably better coverage)
>
>
> Make that *some* places use Verizon. Others use either AT&T's TDMA
> network or a GSM network such as cingular.
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

That's correct. I've heard reports that TracFone prefers Cingular
networks. I'm in Florida and all the TracFones seem to be TDMA or GSM.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

Per Joseph:
> To keep your account active
>you must make a call before the end of every 60 days.

That's the deal breaker for me.

I guess they have a reason, but what?

Some sort of regulatory fee that accumulates?
--
PeteCresswell

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

> Per Joseph:
>
>>To keep your account active
>>you must make a call before the end of every 60 days.
>
>
> That's the deal breaker for me.
>
> I guess they have a reason, but what?
>
> Some sort of regulatory fee that accumulates?

I would almost wonder if it's the availability of phone numbers, as NANP
didn't account for future times when a person could easily have 5
numbers (fax, personal land line, personal mobile, work mobile, pager;
for example) and numbers are scarce. That way, if someone is not using
the number, it can by cycled through again.

TH

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon,alt.cellular (More info?)

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:29:11 -0500, "(Pete Cresswell)" <x@y.z.invalid>
wrote:

>Per Joseph:
>> To keep your account active
>>you must make a call before the end of every 60 days.
>
>That's the deal breaker for me.
>
>I guess they have a reason, but what?
>
>Some sort of regulatory fee that accumulates?

It's likely that they have to pay roaming to other networks. They
don't want to give that away for free so the end user ends up paying a
premium to access other than home network. It's likely that the
reseller agreements that Beyond, JusTalk, CallPlus and others with
agreements with AT&T don't get off network calling for free so costs
are passed on in the form of higher roaming fees. TracFone's per
minute fee is high anyway but don't know if they charge a premium for
off network whichever network you are signed with (assuming roaming is
even available - there may be no roaming at all on GSM networks. I'm
not sure on what the situation is with GSM roaming.
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