Okay, cell phone users, what's your opinion of 'Pay as you Go' phones

[BizyPenguin]

My old dinosaur analog cell phone is about to be discontinued. I rarely use the thing and quite often forget to turn it on when I go out, but I think it's good to have it just in case...And it *does* come in handy when I'm out and about and dh needs to reach me or vice versa. Anyway, I don't want to get locked into another contract, so I was going to try 'Pay as you Go'. I'm currently with AT&T and they have a Pay as you Go phone for $45 or so and I can put $25 worth of money on it, but I have to remember to renew it within 90 days or the money expires. They say there is a $1 per day charge for any and all calls made on a particular day, plus .10 per minute for non AT&T customers and no additional charge for minutes if I talk to another AT&T customer. Does this sound like a good deal? I really have no idea what is a good deal or not when it comes to Pay as you Go cell phones. Their lowest plan is $29.99 per month, but I never go over $24 with my current contract. Anyone?

[Miss Peregrine]

I have TracFone and have been happy with it. There is no monthly fee, you just have to put minutes on it before the air time expires.

I use only a few minutes a month(maybe) so it is perfect for me.

[Quiver0f10]

We just bought a Go Phone with At&T, but they have a plan that is 0.25 a call and no $1/day charge. I paid $20 for the phone and it came with $10 of free minutes. It's great for me because I don't use my cell phones much; just for emergencies or a quick call to the kids while I am out.

[BizyPenguin]

We just bought a Go Phone with At&T, but they have a plan that is 0.25 a call and no $1/day charge. I paid $20 for the phone and it came with $10 of free minutes. It's great for me because I don't use my cell phones much; just for emergencies or a quick call to the kids while I am out.

Did you buy your Go Phone online or at the AT&T store? If you have a link that explains the Go Phone please let me know. I'd like to look into this option, as well. Okay, I'm off to do some afternoon homeschooling. TIA!

[Mrs Mungo]

We had pay-as-you-go phones when we lived in Germany and we really liked it. I don't know how the US phones compare.

[shell in SC]

ITA with Amy. I have a Trac phone and it's 10 cents a minute any time, any where in the US. There's no daily fee either. The service works fine and I can't complain. My phone is comparable to regular service phones. It texts, goes online, has voice mail, etc. I would definately recommend it!

[Quiver0f10]

Did you buy your Go Phone online or at the AT&T store? If you have a link that explains the Go Phone please let me know. I'd like to look into this option, as well. Okay, I'm off to do some afternoon homeschooling. TIA!

I bought it at Wal-Mart LOL. Here is some info from At&T.
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/index.jsp

[jellybean]

We use virgin moble and it's worked out good.

[Laura K (NC)]

I put as much money on it as I want, and there has never been any extra fees after the minimal setup fee. This is much cheaper for me than a regular phone because I don't use it very much. I think it's still $.15/minute, and $.05/text message.

One thing I like about my phone is that there are very few ads or telemarketers. My friend has a pay-as-you-go and it's constantly ringing with calls from the company. They don't charge for the calls, but it's so annoying that she often doesn't even answer it. I don't know why I never get telemarketing calls, but I'm glad I don't have to fight them.

[sdWTMer]

I agree with Tracfone as well. Ours has worked very well for us. We also get to send txt messages on ours as well which works well while dh is in a meeting.

[OnTheBrink]

I bought my At&T go phone at Walmart. IT's worked fine for me. I use it only for emergencies.

[Claire]

I'm currently with AT&T and they have a Pay as you Go phone for $45 or so and I can put $25 worth of money on it, but I have to remember to renew it within 90 days or the money expires. They say there is a $1 per day charge for any and all calls made on a particular day, plus .10 per minute for non AT&T customers and no additional charge for minutes if I talk to another AT&T customer. Does this sound like a good deal?

I think Virgin Mobile has a better deal. I bought a Cyclops phone (their best) at Target for $55. It's easy to activate online. Your money does not expire with VM, but you do have to add $15 every 90 days to your account whether you have used up your money or not. If you decide to go this route, I highly recommend the Cyclops. I tried their cheaper phones first, but it's much easier to use this one.

Whatever phone you get, be sure to check that the reception is good in your area. That was another reason we went with VM. Only VM and one other carrier work well here.

[Midwest Momma]

Tracfone has worked great for us. We use the phone very little. We buy the one year card for about $100 (with 450 minutes). The phone comes free. Unused minutes roll over. It has met our needs. We own 3 of them.

[BamaTanya]

We have to remember (not hard) to use it at least once per month. I can't remember the minute rate, but I'd say we use each less than $10 per month. Not a bad deal to know I have one with me in case of an emergency!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I have one from T-Mobil that I like a lot. If we had several phones and teens that talked a lot, then I might reconsider. But our usage is pretty low and I hate the feeling of being tied to a contract that I'm disappointed in.

[Jann in TX]

While DH and I both have traditional cell service (I have an I-phone and DH's is provided by his work) our older girls both have Tracfones.

We have been VERY pleased with the total cost and quality of service. Our total investment was $100 each and that included the phone, one-year service fee and 200 minutes--PLUS a double minute upgrade card if we need to purchase additional minutes we get 'double' for our $$.

When we looked into adding them on to my ATT cell phone package, MY package price would have gone up $20 a month just to be able to 'add on family members to 'share' your minutes'--and their cost would have been around $10 each per month--plus we would have had to purchase phones. Since they do not use their cell phones very much, the Tracfone was the better value by far.

[Montana Peach]

I have Net 10 and it's 10 cents a minute, period. Text messages are charged at 0.5 minutes. No daily or monthly charge and no issues, just add soem minutes before the time expires. You have to be careful with those charge-per-day plans. at 1/day, that is $30 a month and you have made no calls yet. Calls only shorten the money paid in so you have to add more to it to get through the month. That can end up being even more expensive than a contract rate depending on your usage.

I have had wonderful service from Net 10 the 2 times I called them. One was to register my phone to make international calls, the other came when I bought a card and could not get it to register when entering it via the phone. It took all of 5 minutes for him to add my airtime and gave me 200 extra free minutes for my trouble.

I think one big advantage of Tracphone and Net 10 is that they use towers of other companies, hence why their coverage area is so wide-spread. I live in Montana and there is only one small pocket in the middle of the state I have no coverage and that is saying a lot out here :)

[Sandra in NC]

We use virgin moble and it's worked out good.

I like Virgin Mobile because I rarely use my cell phone. All this company requires is that I add $20 to my account every 90 days. My phone has accumulated over $100 worth of minutes on it because the $20 I add doesn't disappear or go to fees - it's only used if I make calls or send/receive text messages.

It costs me only $80 a year for the peace of mind of having a cell phone when I need it.

I think it's a bargain.

[Staci in MO]

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[Kristen in NC]

I use Virgin Mobile as well. I've been very happy with it. When I researched all the pay-as-you-go plans a little over 2 years ago, theirs was cheaper overall because they had a lower minimum amount to spend. You have to add $20 every 90 days. So if you don't use more airtime than that buys you, you can have your phone for as low as $7/month. The charge is $0.25/minute for up to 10 minutes in a day, then it switches to $0.10/minute. So, if you're just using it like we do, to call home and say "I'm on my way home" or "Did we need butter?" once or twice a week, the $20 for 90 days easily covers it. There were other companies that charged less per minute, but you had to buy more minutes so the minimum cost for the phone was higher.

At least that was what I found 2 years ago. There may be other companies more in line with Virgin Mobile now.

[BizyPenguin]

I appreciate all of the feedback. I've narrowed it down to 3: AT&Ts Go Phone, The TracPhone, or Virgin Mobile. Where do you buy a TracPhone anyway?

[sdWTMer]

Target, Walmart, probably any grocery store as well. I've even gotten a tracfone for my 11 year old son. He uses it very little though.

[Diane]

With much research, we found http://www.stimobile.com/plan1.aspx to be the least expensive. It's .10 a day regardless if you use it or not. I believe it's like .10 a min. afterwards. We just got one for my dad, we bought the phone off ebay and just bought the minutes and charged it up. THe minutes never expire. Having the phone costs me about 50.00 a year- I rarely use it. I also buy the cards at www.cheapphonecards.com and get them discounted by .30.

[Midwest Momma]

You can get the tracfone online with the 1 year card deal: http://tracfone.com/

[Tami]

My mom and dad gave me a phone for Christmas and just added me to their plan , I was cell phone-free until a couple of months ago! Before then, I was thinking of the pay-as-you-go.

My husband has T-Mobile (his job pays for it), and likes it cuz he can talk to his top 5 numbers, no matter what the carrier, for free.

The thing I don't like about having a cell is that people seem to believe I have to ANSWER the darn thing and be available day or night. :eek:

[Josie]

If Net10 is available in your area I think you should check it out. Here is a link: http://www.net10.com/home_page.jsp?b=i&flash=YES&p=W&task=home_page

WalMart carries these phones. Regularly they at $39.99, but you can often find them for $29.99. That includes the phone AND 30 minutes of airtime. You just have to remember to buy more airtime before your 30 days expires. You can go to Walmart and get a card or do it online. There is no daily fee. Really all you do it buy a $30 card every 60 days and you get 300 minutes. You can buy more time/time, but 300 minutes is the least available.

Our dd has had one for a year and it has worked fine. My sister used to work in the cell phone industry and this is the one she recommended for our situation.

[Laura Corin]

I swap out the chip for my China service and have a Hong Kong pay-as-you-go chip. It works very well for low usage.

Laura

[BizyPenguin]

My mom and dad gave me a phone for Christmas and just added me to their plan , I was cell phone-free until a couple of months ago! Before then, I was thinking of the pay-as-you-go.

My husband has T-Mobile (his job pays for it), and likes it cuz he can talk to his top 5 numbers, no matter what the carrier, for free.

The thing I don't like about having a cell is that people seem to believe I have to ANSWER the darn thing and be available day or night. :eek:

I hear ya'! I dislike cell phones for the very same reason!!

[Excelsior! Academy]

Love, love, love my Net10! Carries over unused minutes, and I can call my mom 5 states away anytime I want.