Does anyone use them? What do you think about them?

Do the math based on your intended use. Very expensive if you plan to talk much. I think there a punishment for those with bad credit. I wanted one because we have a Cingular plan at $15 month. They hate us and won't add another phone for under $50. I now have a non-active cell phone I use for 911 only. By law, cell phones without service must still be able to call 911, at least here in Oregun.

I use TracFone and am very happy with the service. I do not use the phone to "yakk". I buy 1 year of ervice with about 200 minutes of talk time for $100 and I'm good to go.  

Lots of criminals prefer them due to no account being required, no credit check, no way to trace, etc.

Quoted: Lots of criminals prefer them due to no account being required, no credit check, no way to trace, etc.

So of course, by your logic, everyone who has one is a criminal.....

I have one to give the kids on an emergency basis if they go with someone's family or on a field trip or such.  Expensive but kinda like riot gear, we only break it out when we need it.

Essayons

Quoted: Quoted: Lots of criminals prefer them due to no account being required, no credit check, no way to trace, etc. So of course, by your logic, everyone who has one is a criminal.....

Where did he say that?

the coverage with TracFone abso-fucking-lutely SUCKS!  pick any shithole town or rural area that is off of the major highways, cities, etc. by even a few miles.  with TracFone, you have NO service while your buddy with Cingular (or even Alltel) has five fucking bars.

yes, i have TracFone, and yes, i HATE it.

I too have a Tracfone, because I only use it when I travel, not for daily use. Thing I don't like is even though I have time left after the 60 days of service you get when you buy time, which will roll over, I have to buy more time anyway to keep the phone number.

Quoted: Quoted: Lots of criminals prefer them due to no account being required, no credit check, no way to trace, etc. So of course, by your logic, everyone who has one is a criminal.....

Struck a nerve, huh.  If the shoe fits...............

However, I made a statement of fact.  I insinuated nothing as that being true for all that use it.

I have both Trac Fone and T Mobile To Go.

If you have coverage for T-Mobile To Go (Which is different than regular T-Mobile service) then you can get a $100 card that gives you 1 year of service and 1000 minutes including long distance.

My Trac Fone is a Motorola V120 I believe it is Analog and digital. I get signal everywhere, it came with a year of service but only 10 minutes, minutes with Trac Fone can be expensive, and if I am roaming and calling long distance with it, I use 4 units per minute.

There is a new one out there, Net 10, it is Trac Fone in a new wrapper. $.10 a minute everywhere, but it is digital only so you might not have good signal in a lot of places, or any signal.

I have used Verizon's pay as you go service for two years now...and NO I DON"T HAVE BAD CREDIT!! My wife and got them after getting tired of the outragoues and unexpected service phone charges. We don't use them to yakk and rarely talk over a minute or two plus the minutes last for a while. We can each plug 30 dollars into the plan when we need to and it lasts the better part of three months. I think they are great things and have thought about switching to regular cell phone plans but just can't get past the added monthly bill and the high cost of it.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Lots of criminals prefer them due to no account being required, no credit check, no way to trace, etc. So of course, by your logic, everyone who has one is a criminal..... Struck a nerve, huh.  If the shoe fits............... However, I made a statement of fact.  I insinuated nothing as that being true for all that use it.

Those are reasons that I like them, and I am not a criminal

I don't have one but Net10 is supposed to be pretty good. Like all cell service it will probably depend on where you're going to use it though.

www.net10.com/compare.jsp?nextPage=compare.jsp&task=compare

I have Tracfone also. Don't get it if you talk alot. If you do get it get the 1 year service with either 150 minutes or get the 1 year service + double minutes plan. My wife and I both have one plus I bought one for my mother. We use them as emergency & NEED to get in touch phones. Service is spotty where I live but that is all cell phones in this area. Locally Tracfone uses the Verizon network. We had regular cell phone but got tired of paying $40 a month for minutes we never used.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Lots of criminals prefer them due to no account being required, no credit check, no way to trace, etc. So of course, by your logic, everyone who has one is a criminal..... Struck a nerve, huh.  If the shoe fits............... However, I made a statement of fact.  I insinuated nothing as that being true for all that use it. Those are reasons that I like them, and I am not a criminal

Didn't say you were, just stated WHY criminals like them.

Damn, some touchy mofos in here.

I have one through virgin mobile. I just have to put 20 bucks on it every 3 months so I don't lose my number. I just use it for emergencies.  I can't justify having an actual plan for something I rarely use.

Quoted: I have one through virgin mobile. I just have to put 20 bucks on it every 3 months so I don't lose my number. I just use it for emergencies.  I can't justify having an actual plan for something I rarely use.

Same here but i spend a little more money then that.  Good looking phone also

My parents have a Verizon pre-paid phone that they use for road trips. They report large roaming areas, and areas with no service.

I have a Verizon phone with a 2-year agreement (not a prepaid phone) and I have service nearly everywhere.

I guess the prepaid phones have a limited service area.

www.net10.com/compare.jsp?nextPage=compare.jsp&task=compare

Check it out... The cards are in $30 increments. However $30 is good for 30 days, $60 is good for 60 days, etc. Thats $30 month. Yes this is better than $50 as standard cell phones go but you have to keep your account active...

Tag.  The wife works for a cellular provider with a lot of these products.  I think she can work up a deal for ARFCOM if there's any interest...

Boost Mobile www.boostmobile.com Uses the Nextel network, offers everything that a Nextel phone does on a pay as you go plan.

Quoted: Quoted: I have one through virgin mobile. I just have to put 20 bucks on it every 3 months so I don't lose my number. I just use it for emergencies.  I can't justify having an actual plan for something I rarely use. Same here but i spend a little more money then that.  Good looking phone also www.mygift.com/audiovox/images/CDM8610/CDM8610_b.gif

thats the same phone I have.

Came in real handy when my  car decided to throw the tread last week and i was stuck on the side of  freeway.

I have a T-Mobile prepaid Nokia 6010 phone.  It cost me about $3 after rebates and included about 45 minutes of time.  Spend $90 after discounts at cheapphonecards.com for a $100 T-Mobile card and you get 1000 minutes good for a year.  No roaming charges at all and no extra charges for long distance.  Sometimes Target or other places sell the cards for 15 or even 20 percent off.  

I got a prepaid because it was dirt cheap and I don't like talking on the phone but people need to get in touch with me when I am not near a landline.  I doubt I will need more than the 1000 minutes for the year.

GunLvr

Jesus.

The responses in this thread are enough to give me, a wireless-provider executive, high blood pressure.

You effin' guys are the cheapest bunch of skin flints I've ever seen! Whining about $30 a month... DON'T BUY A STUPID PREPAID! $.50 a minute is INSANE.

You guys can get a *REAL* phone for $40 a month, be able to use it more than 47 feet away from the center of the local metropolis, and not get hacked with crummy roaming and long-distance charges. Free nights and weekends, with *ONE* carrier (mine) beginning at 6p.m., will save you wads of cash. Do a little research; all the major carriers now have plans that will serve even the chintziest amongst you.

Quoted: Jesus. The responses in this thread are enough to give me, a wireless-provider executive, high blood pressure. You effin' guys are the cheapest bunch of skin flints I've ever seen! Whining about $30 a month... DON'T BUY A STUPID PREPAID! $.50 a minute is INSANE. You guys can get a *REAL* phone for $40 a month, be able to use it more than 47 feet away from the center of the local metropolis, and not get hacked with crummy roaming and long-distance charges. Free nights and weekends, with *ONE* carrier (mine) beginning at 6p.m., will save you wads of cash. Do a little research; all the major carriers now have plans that will serve even the chintziest amongst you.

Maybe an extra $40 a month isn't much to you being a cell phone exec but it is a lot to absorb for the average guy. I am not trying to be an ass here but does your company have a plan that will ONLY cost me 30 bucks evry two to three months? I would guess probably not. I get the same inservice area and roam area as the regular plans do and the best thing is that I know that I get to  use ALL the minutes I paid for without an overage charge or any of these neat little taxes and surcharges that are added on to the bill. And I just checked my prepay paln brochure and it isn't 50 cents a minute 25; not great but not bad either.

Quoted: Jesus. The responses in this thread are enough to give me, a wireless-provider executive, high blood pressure. You effin' guys are the cheapest bunch of skin flints I've ever seen! Whining about $30 a month... DON'T BUY A STUPID PREPAID! $.50 a minute is INSANE. You guys can get a *REAL* phone for $40 a month, be able to use it more than 47 feet away from the center of the local metropolis, and not get hacked with crummy roaming and long-distance charges. Free nights and weekends, with *ONE* carrier (mine) beginning at 6p.m., will save you wads of cash. Do a little research; all the major carriers now have plans that will serve even the chintziest amongst you.

The reason I wanted a pre-paid phone is very simple. NO CONTRACT! I get tired of having to sign a 1 or 2 year agreement. Then when that agreement is up and I want to upgrade my phone, guess what? Oh you need to sign a 1 year contract. You want a new phone number, guess what? Another new contract. I don't have that problem with pre-paid. And why is prepaid more expensive anyway? You are already guaranteed money unlike with contract service.

I went with the T-mobile pre pay. I have a full service in my house where with other carriers I had maybe 1 bar if I was lucky.

And $.50 / minute? I got 1000 minutes for $100 bucks. Is that more than what it costs with a contract? Yeah. But it will take me a whole year to use these minutes. Hmmm... $50 a month for a 1000 minutes a month which I will never use for a total of $600 a year. Or $100 bucks for 1000 minutes for me to use in a 1 year time period. I think I will stick to the pre paid.

Quoted: Quoted: Jesus. The responses in this thread are enough to give me, a wireless-provider executive, high blood pressure. You effin' guys are the cheapest bunch of skin flints I've ever seen! Whining about $30 a month... DON'T BUY A STUPID PREPAID! $.50 a minute is INSANE. You guys can get a *REAL* phone for $40 a month, be able to use it more than 47 feet away from the center of the local metropolis, and not get hacked with crummy roaming and long-distance charges. Free nights and weekends, with *ONE* carrier (mine) beginning at 6p.m., will save you wads of cash. Do a little research; all the major carriers now have plans that will serve even the chintziest amongst you. The reason I wanted a pre-paid phone is very simple. NO CONTRACT! I get tired of having to sign a 1 or 2 year agreement. Then when that agreement is up and I want to upgrade my phone, guess what? Oh you need to sign a 1 year contract. You want a new phone number, guess what? Another new contract. I don't have that problem with pre-paid. And why is prepaid more expensive anyway? You are already guaranteed money unlike with contract service. I went with the T-mobile pre pay. I have a full service in my house where with other carriers I had maybe 1 bar if I was lucky. And $.50 / minute? I got 1000 minutes for $100 bucks. Is that more than what it costs with a contract? Yeah. But it will take me a whole year to use these minutes. Hmmm... $50 a month for a 1000 minutes a month which I will never use for a total of $600 a year. Or $100 bucks for 1000 minutes for me to use in a 1 year time period. I think I will stick to the pre paid.

Oh, good move - you got T-Mobile, a distant Number Four on the list.

Two words: They SUCK. How do I know? I was, and am still contractually bound to be, a T-Mobile customer... until December 1st.

Their coverage area is so incredibly weak that if you live west of the Mississippi, and you travel outside of a major city, you're DONE. You've got no service AT ALL. Then, it doesn't matter what you paid for the crummy Nokia they've stuck you with since it doesn't work anyway. They drop calls and get poor service right here in town; I can barely use my phone in my own home. My corporate phone, from my employer (not T-Mobile), gets FOUR BARS in my house.

There's a reason why the price is $100 for 1000 minutes... It's the same reason a Romanian AK is $300 and an ORF AK is $799; you get what you pay for.

You will eventually grow tired of the poor service, and if you don't use your phone often enough to recognize it, you essentially are in the tiny minority of customers that our company has recognized as costing more to have than what you generate in Monthly Recurring Charges.

Another cheap bastard here.  Use T-Mobile prepaid - works for me.

bump

ive thought the pre paied  thing myself

Hey bud... I get great coverage where I live with T-Mobile. At least I am not sucked into any contractual agreement to use their service 1 or 2 years.

Quoted: Hey bud... I get great coverage where I live with T-Mobile. At least I am not sucked into any contractual agreement to use their service 1 or 2 years.

So you never travel?

You realize that T-Mobile is all digital because it's GSM, right? There's no analog radio in the handset. Do you go plinking in the country? How's your service there? No analog capability means that outside of metropolitan areas, your coverage is piss-weak, 'cause the population density is too low for a financial weakling like T-Mobile to erect a GSM antenna set.

Q: By Murphy's Law, when will you most likely need to use your wireless service?
A: When it isn't getting any reception.

samsong, can you tell us about Pay-As-You-Go plans?
Are they worth it?
I don't yak on the phone for hours and hours and hours.
I estimate I would use a cell maybe less than a minute a day.
If that.
Why should I pay $40 a month when I don't use $40 worth of service.

I use Simple Freedom.  Based on the Alltel network.  Same coverage as their National Freedom plan.  I paid $40 for the phone (Nokia 3587i).  I pay $20 for 80 minutes.  Good for 60 days.  Sam's Club carries 120 minute cards ($30) that last for 90 days.

It would cost me a minimum of $40 a month if I went through Alltel for the plan.

Wife and I use it when we travel, etc.  

Quoted: samsong, can you tell us about Pay-As-You-Go plans? Are they worth it? I don't yak on the phone for hours and hours and hours. I estimate I would use a cell maybe less than a minute a day. If that. Why should I pay $40 a month when I don't use $40 worth of service.

There are some customers, admittedly in a tiny minority, who will be better served by a paygo phone.

You sound like a perfect candidate, assuming that you don't travel too much. The roaming area on many prepaid cell phones is HUGE, and the rates SOAR when you get into those areas. By comparison, the areas that you would be in W/O roaming, assuming you got into a plan-phone (the top three carriers have no roaming as standard on their contract deals) are essentially as large as their coverage areas, with few roaming areas, and with generally no charges when you do roam.

Make sure you get a phone, if travel's an important consideration to you, that has a tri-mode capability (Analog, called AMPS, Digital 800 mHz, and Digital 1900 mHz), 'cause if you get a dual-mode,  you won't get the analog radio in the handset. Then, your coverage area will shrink dramatically. This rules out Cingular (GSM handsets) and T-Mobile (the same).

The other half of this is this: Do you have a landline? If so, why? A wireless phone from a GOOD CARRIER will have wireline reliability in town and out, for the most part. You're paying $40/month to Ma Bell anyway. You doing it for wireline access to the net?

Stop it!

Port your home number to a wireless phone, cancel your Ma Bell account, save the $40/month and put it towards high-speed access through your cable box. Tell Ma Bell to POUND SAND. Those bloodsuckers have been living off your veins since Calvin Cooledge was moping around the White House. You'll be spending the same money to have superior service.

ETA, in answer to your question, paygo phones generally work like this: You're trading service quality and high price ($.10/min to $.25/min, and $.50 to $1.00 if roaming AND you have coverage) for lack of liability of contract and avoidance of credit issues.

The handsets seem to be discounted off their actual value, although not to any extent as severely as the Majors discount QUALITY handsets to make their purchase palatable to customers. Expect to pay $50 to $100 for entry into a handset that the Majors would give you for free under contract. True handset value in all cases is generally $175 to $600, depending on features, etc. Carriers, including the "Phone-In-A-Box" guys, buy into that value in hopes that they'll recover the discounts in the huge profits they make on the services, whether prepaid or post-paid. The prepaid ("Phone-In-A-Box") guys offer about $100 less on a handset than we do, so they're more expensive initially than a postpaid (plan) phone is.

I am paying less than 9 cents a minute with my T-Mobile pre-paid and I figure I will use the phone on average for 15-20 minutes a month.  I get almost no signal in my house (which is brick) but that is fine--I don't want people calling my cell phone when I am at home.  Everywhere else I have needed a signal I have had one.  If I go camping to backpacking I will have my ham radio with me and will probably leave the cell phone in the car.

GunLvr

Quoted: The other half of this is this: Do you have a landline? If so, why? A wireless phone from a GOOD CARRIER will have wireline reliability in town and out, for the most part. You're paying $40/month to Ma Bell anyway. You doing it for wireline access to the net?

Be careful about completely canceling your landline service. In cases of disaster or widespread power outages you may not have cell service in your area. In a terror attack where it is suspected that cell phones are being used to detonate IED's your cell service will also be turned off. It is also not practical to eliminate land line service if you need it to support an EID or other emergency use system in your residence. Enhanced 911 systems may also not be supported from your cell phone.

As an alternative to canceling your landline service it is probably a better idea to just get the minimum incoming call service and use your cell phone for all outgoing calls. With that plan you can still use your landline phone for emergency outgoing calls.

Quoted: Quoted: I have one through virgin mobile. I just have to put 20 bucks on it every 3 months so I don't lose my number. I just use it for emergencies.  I can't justify having an actual plan for something I rarely use. Same here but i spend a little more money then that.  Good looking phone also

That is the same one I have.

Quoted: The other half of this is this: Do you have a landline? If so, why? A wireless phone from a GOOD CARRIER will have wireline reliability in town and out, for the most part. You're paying $40/month to Ma Bell anyway. You doing it for wireline access to the net? Stop it! Port your home number to a wireless phone, cancel your Ma Bell account, save the $40/month and put it towards high-speed access through your cable box. Tell Ma Bell to POUND SAND. Those bloodsuckers have been living off your veins since Calvin Cooledge was moping around the White House. You'll be spending the same money to have superior service.

1.  Where I live, you must have a land line in order to get DSL and it ain't Ma Bell.

2.  I love how people just slam the hell outta Ma Bell without giving any thought to the years it took to develop the infrastructure and how Bell really got this country connected.

Bloodsuckers?  Yeah, I guess you feel that your local AND LD service should have been free all these years.

I worked for Ma Bell and I now work for a cellular company.  I have been on both sides.  Slams like this just show how little people really know about telecom.  It DOES sound like an entitlement attitude.............What?  I have to pay for phone service????????  You BLOODSUCKERS!!!......

Oh, guess what!  The cell sites are still fed for the most part on Bell T1s from the switch.  So, go ahead and tell Ma Bell to pound sand, then when they go under, the wireless companies will have a hell of a time getting their T1s to the cell sites.

That would be a good thing to keep in the car for emergencies only.  

I wish I had known about them the last time I switched cell providers.  My wife and I are paying Verizon $70/month, and we only use about 30 minutes a month.  And we're both locked into a two-year contract.  

Verizon has good coverage, and 'decent rates....30 peak/15 off peak.

But again- NO contract. I never have to worry about overages and the related bullshit.

Quoted: I wish I had known about them the last time I switched cell providers.  My wife and I are paying Verizon $70/month, and we only use about 30 minutes a month.  And we're both locked into a two-year contract.

Samson.... This is the reason for pre paid! It works. And BTW... My pre paid is $.10/minute, NO ROAMING, ALL CALLS ARE LOCAL CALLS!

I REFUSE to deal with ANY company that makes you sign a fucking contract, and/or charges a CANCELLATION policy. Total bullshit.

IIRC in Europe, 80% of the the phones are 'pre-paid' AKA non- contarct phones.

tracfone is my company, and has been for about 2 years. No monthly bils, no outrageous 20% taxes (that I can see) and a comparable rate to other phones if I buy the 1 year "minute doubler" card.  I get  better reception than when I had ATT, Verizon or Cingulair