Cheapest cell phone deal possible

[Eeezee]

I don't have a cell phone yet, but I've been thinking of getting one. I don't talk on the phone much, but it would be pretty convenient to have a cell phone with me. I don't want to spend hardly any money on this

What's the best way to get a cell phone for minimal cost?

 

[enyce2k9]

Text

 

[MrChad]

Look into pre-paid plans. They're your best bet for occasional use.

Verizon and Cingular are usually your best bets coverage-wise, but I'm not sure how their pre-paid plans rate.

 

[Reel]

Prepaid or the sprint sero plan seems like the most value per buck in the monthlies.

 

[mordantmonkey]

t-mobile is probably the cheapest pre-paid. if you buy it in 1000 min blocks. 1000 minutes is ~$90.00 if you buy through cheapphonecards.com w/coupon. And the 1000 don't expire for a year. and even when the year is almost up, just add any amount (as low as $10) to extend it another year. They charge .10 a minute, period. no fees, no daily min., no monthly charge, etc.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey
t-mobile is probably the cheapest pre-paid. if you buy it in 1000 min blocks. 1000 minutes is ~$90.00 if you buy through cheapphonecards.com w/coupon. And the 1000 don't expire for a year. and even when the year is almost up, just add any amount (as low as $10) to extend it another year. They charge .10 a minute, period. no fees, no daily min., no monthly charge, etc.

And their crappy coverage and service is thrown in at no extra charge!

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey
t-mobile is probably the cheapest pre-paid. if you buy it in 1000 min blocks. 1000 minutes is ~$90.00 if you buy through cheapphonecards.com w/coupon. And the 1000 don't expire for a year. and even when the year is almost up, just add any amount (as low as $10) to extend it another year. They charge .10 a minute, period. no fees, no daily min., no monthly charge, etc.

SERO is probably better.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1760933&enterthread=y

www.sprint.com/sero

And if you do that, try this to sweeten the pot a little. I'll be happy to "refer" anyone...

 

[Epic Fail]

beg your parents for one.

 

[Syrch]

wheres rossman?

 

[RossMAN]

Can you afford $35/mo?

If the answer is no then get a pre-paid cell phone.

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Verizon and Cingular are usually your best bets coverage-wise, but I'm not sure how their pre-paid plans rate.

Verizon's prepaid pricing SUCKS. You pay $0.99 per day just to have your phone active - you still need to buy minutes at 10 cents per minute.

They do have free nights/weekends and free in network calling, so as long as you didn't buy more than 99 minutes per month, you're still ahead of their $39.99 plan (cheapest plan they offer), plus you don't have a contract to worry about.

Their prepaid coverage is not as extensive as their normal plans either - so it's really not worth going to them for prepaid - you might as well just get a normal plan (and I'm sure that's why they've structured it the way it is).

My sister used Tracfone and seems pretty happy with it - you might check that out.

 

[mordantmonkey]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey
t-mobile is probably the cheapest pre-paid. if you buy it in 1000 min blocks. 1000 minutes is ~$90.00 if you buy through cheapphonecards.com w/coupon. And the 1000 don't expire for a year. and even when the year is almost up, just add any amount (as low as $10) to extend it another year. They charge .10 a minute, period. no fees, no daily min., no monthly charge, etc.

And their crappy coverage and service is thrown in at no extra charge!

I always have a better signal than any of my friends. even the ones who use sprint (in KC too). but i pretty much stay in the metro, so i guess it depends on where you are.

 

[Eeezee]

Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

 

[Looney]

I don't know if they have them in the US yet, but they have disposable cellphones up here. You buy them at like 7/11, and they've got a certain amount of money on them. Once you activate it, they're good for a certain amount of time and period, then you toss the phone away. Good for emergencies.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

Prepaids don't have monthly fees...or minimum balances.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

You just described a PREPAID plan.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

Do you know how to balance a check book or understand the concept of APR/interest?

*continues to bang head against desk repeatedly*

 

[middlehead]

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: MrChad
Verizon and Cingular are usually your best bets coverage-wise, but I'm not sure how their pre-paid plans rate.

Verizon's prepaid pricing SUCKS. You pay $0.99 per day just to have your phone active - you still need to buy minutes at 10 cents per minute.

They do have free nights/weekends and free in network calling, so as long as you didn't buy more than 99 minutes per month, you're still ahead of their $39.99 plan (cheapest plan they offer), plus you don't have a contract to worry about.

Their prepaid coverage is not as extensive as their normal plans either - so it's really not worth going to them for prepaid - you might as well just get a normal plan (and I'm sure that's why they've structured it the way it is).

My sister used Tracfone and seems pretty happy with it - you might check that out.

Tracfone actually runs off of Verizon in my area Gets the same prefix and everything.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

You just described a PREPAID plan.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

Do you know how to balance a check book or understand the concept of APR/interest?

*continues to bang head against desk repeatedly*

Prepaid plans require a minimum purchase of so many minutes though, correct? Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want? I don't want to have to buy 1000 minutes and then renew them or something

 

[fleshconsumed]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

You just described a PREPAID plan.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

Do you know how to balance a check book or understand the concept of APR/interest?

*continues to bang head against desk repeatedly*

Prepaid plans require a minimum purchase of so many minutes though, correct? Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want? I don't want to have to buy 1000 minutes and then renew them or something

lolz x 10

Do you even hear yourself? "Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want?" - how is this different from buying minutes for prepaid plan whenever you want?

With t-mobile I think you can buy as little as 300 minutes, but the problem is that they expire after 3 months if you don't use them and that the more minutes you buy the cheaper they are. 1000 minutes is a good buy since it will only cost you $100 and they do not expire.


EDIT the only problem with tmobile plan is that sms messages, even incoming ones cost you 10 cents so even one sms-talkative gf can eat your prepaid money in no time. What's worse is that AFAIK they also don't have option to disable sms messages.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

You just described a PREPAID plan.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

Do you know how to balance a check book or understand the concept of APR/interest?

*continues to bang head against desk repeatedly*

Prepaid plans require a minimum purchase of so many minutes though, correct? Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want? I don't want to have to buy 1000 minutes and then renew them or something

I think what you're looking for are called phone booths.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

You just described a PREPAID plan.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

Do you know how to balance a check book or understand the concept of APR/interest?

*continues to bang head against desk repeatedly*

Prepaid plans require a minimum purchase of so many minutes though, correct? Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want? I don't want to have to buy 1000 minutes and then renew them or something

I think what you're looking for are called phone booths.

I thought I already said that I want a phone booth in my pocket Is there no plan like this?

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

You just described a PREPAID plan.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

Do you know how to balance a check book or understand the concept of APR/interest?

*continues to bang head against desk repeatedly*

Prepaid plans require a minimum purchase of so many minutes though, correct? Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want? I don't want to have to buy 1000 minutes and then renew them or something

lolz x 10

Do you even hear yourself? "Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want?" - how is this different from buying minutes for prepaid plan whenever you want?

With t-mobile I think you can buy as little as 300 minutes, but the problem is that they expire after 3 months if you don't use them and that the more minutes you buy the cheaper they are. 1000 minutes is a good buy since it will only cost you $100 and they do not expire.


EDIT the only problem with tmobile plan is that sms messages, even incoming ones cost you 10 cents so even one sms-talkative gf can eat your prepaid money in no time. What's worse is that AFAIK they also don't have option to disable sms messages.

A prepaid plan is different from just paying whenever I want to pay. A prepaid requires a minimum purchase. I don't want a minimum purchase.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

You just described a PREPAID plan.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

Do you know how to balance a check book or understand the concept of APR/interest?

*continues to bang head against desk repeatedly*

Prepaid plans require a minimum purchase of so many minutes though, correct? Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want? I don't want to have to buy 1000 minutes and then renew them or something

I think what you're looking for are called phone booths.

I thought I already said that I want a phone booth in my pocket Is there no plan like this?

How would you pay for making calls? Or incoming calls? Or wouldn't you have any? Anyways, nothing like that exists... aside from the disposable phones i mentioned.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Okay, so a prepaid plan is the cheapest then? Is there any plan out there that will just let me pay as I go, like a mobile payphone? I don't want monthly fees or some "minimal balance", is there a plan like this?

You just described a PREPAID plan.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

Do you know how to balance a check book or understand the concept of APR/interest?

*continues to bang head against desk repeatedly*

Prepaid plans require a minimum purchase of so many minutes though, correct? Is there any plan that lets you just buy minutes whenever you want? I don't want to have to buy 1000 minutes and then renew them or something

I think what you're looking for are called phone booths.

I thought I already said that I want a phone booth in my pocket Is there no plan like this?

How would you pay for making calls? Or incoming calls? Or wouldn't you have any? Anyways, nothing like that exists... aside from the disposable phones i mentioned.

They'd bill them to your residence like a normal phone company?

 

[SludgeFactory]

AFAIK, there is no prepaid genie that will magically deliver a phone and 12.3 minutes worth of airtime to you when you're broken down on the side of the road. You have to buy a phone and airtime and do what they require to keep it active. They all have a minimum amount of airtime that you have to buy, and varying periods before that time will expire.

Good summary of what's available.