For the Prepaid phone crowd:Puretalk no contrac$10/mo/101 mins/rollover&never expire

[mscdex0]

If you dont use your phone much Tmobile prepaid is great, 100$ gets you 500 mins and doesnt expire for a year

$100 gets you 1000 minutes for a year, not 500.

Also, after the first time you spend $100 worth of minutes on your prepaid account, you automatically attain "Gold Rewards" status and get 15% more minutes on every future prepaid refill less than $100. The expiration date increases from 90 days to a year on prepaid refills less than $100 as well once you hit Gold Rewards status.

 

[M0RPH]

$100 gets you 1000 minutes for a year, not 500.

Also, after the first time you spend $100 worth of minutes on your prepaid account, you automatically attain "Gold Rewards" status and get 15% more minutes on every future prepaid refill less than $100. The expiration date increases from 90 days to a year on prepaid refills less than $100 as well once you hit Gold Rewards status.

Another thing about T-mobile is you can usually get discounts on the cards, getting them for $90 or less... making things even cheaper. Also I've found that I can send international texts for just 10 cents, which seems like a good deal to me.

 

[mikeford]

I would love to have a cell phone for if my car broke down, is there any way to buy a phone with minutes and not have a monthly charge at all?

I can't see how you get by without a cell. One long walk looking for a pay phone that works should cure that for life.

I don't know if its still true, but it used to be even phones with expired plans etc. could be used to make a 911 emergency call.

The monthly fee is related to the cost of reserving a phone number, more than it is to maintaining the account etc., so its not something you are likely to get away from easily.

I suppose you could buy a phone and not activate it until you need to use it, but I'm not sure how long you can wait before activating a phone. I've purchased older, but never used activation packages, simm and refill card or activation card, and had mixed results with getting the initial so many minutes the package claimed.

Target from time to time has tmo prepaid bundles, phone and refill card for almost the normal price of a refill card.

 

[Lemon law]

I use tracfone, I might consider Tmobile, but they have no coverage in my area.

Using a one year card, I pay only $8.33/mo. for tracfone. Minutes never expire as long as you keep the phone active. And you can get no roaming phone models if you travel frequently.

Tracfone may not be for talkacholics, but it really works for me.

 

[soccerballtux]

Erm... I've never been overcharged for text messages I've sent or received (and yes, I've monitored my balance that closely).

watch the cents. If they're only charging 5 and 10c/txt and 10c/minute, then there's no reason the # of cents should be anything but 2 numbers-- 5 and 0, or 1 and 6, or 2 and 7, or 3 and 8, or 4 and 9.

Yet that changes. All the time. They don't charge for partial minutes.

 

[Greg04]

Yep. T-Mobile's PAYGO currently charges $.10 to send and $.05 to receive.

Additional Quick tidbit of info: Puretalk uses the AT&T network.

There must be a joke in there.

 

[mscdex0]

There must be a joke in there.

Why is that? The plan is focused on inexpensive (as far as prepaid service goes) voice calling, not text message addicts.

 

[Greg04]

Why is that? The plan is focused on inexpensive (as far as prepaid service goes) voice calling, not text message addicts.

Er...I was focusing on the "send" and "receive" double-meaning...um...nevermind, if I have to explain it I must have missed the mark

 

[Greg04]

Another thing about T-mobile is you can usually get discounts on the cards, getting them for $90 or less... making things even cheaper. Also I've found that I can send international texts for just 10 cents, which seems like a good deal to me.

T-mobile is another great option, and logically better than the puretalk. But I was so sick of having to buy extra minutes to extend anything (I had VirginMobile) that I just wanted a simple, no-nonsense, no-thinking plan.

 

[KyrosKrane]

My search revealed the following results, be sure to let me know what you think!

Boost Mobile (Sprint Network): $0.10 per text, $0.35/day unlimited data,

Wait, wait, wait. Am I reading this right? You get unlimited data for about $10 a month? Can you tether on this connection?

 

[MarkZ80]

Do you text? If so, how do you deal with the rather insane cost per text message?

I just purchased this plan for myself because they recently unveiled an unlimited plan with talk and text for only $48/mth-which includes all taxes and fees. Seems to be great deal, and I love that it's no contract service. Check it out at http://puretalkusa.com/unlimited.php

 

[TwiceOver]

Was looking for something like this for my mom for emergency roadside calls but there is only coverage in large cities and huge gaping coverage holes along highways.

Ohh well. Not a bad deal really.

 

[kalrith]

My wife and I are on T-Mobile ppd. We spend about $18 per month for both of us, which works out to about 100 minutes each after the 12%-off coupons that crop up from time to time (making it 8.8 cents/minute). Even if Puretalk did work out to be less expensive for me, I don't think I'd jump ship to a company I've never heard of before to save $1 per month.

 

[Greg04]

My wife and I are on T-Mobile ppd. We spend about $18 per month for both of us, which works out to about 100 minutes each after the 12%-off coupons that crop up from time to time (making it 8.8 cents/minute). Even if Puretalk did work out to be less expensive for me, I don't think I'd jump ship to a company I've never heard of before to save $1 per month.

You simply must switch, you must! We will not rest until you switch! T-mobile is fine if you like reliability and good coverage, but PureTalk has the bold colors on their website. Some people have their priorities a bit confused. Switch.

 

[bhanson]

I just purchased this plan for myself because they recently unveiled an unlimited plan with talk and text for only $48/mth-which includes all taxes and fees. Seems to be great deal, and I love that it's no contract service. Check it out at http://puretalkusa.com/unlimited.php

Personally if I was going to spend $50/month I'd just go with one of the large carriers directly.

 

[luv2liv]

Wait, wait, wait. Am I reading this right? You get unlimited data for about $10 a month? Can you tether on this connection?

boost mobile uses Sprint's iDen network...not CDMA. so even if you could tether, iDen's speed is slow, not even close to 3G.

 

[MarkZ80]

Was looking for something like this for my mom for emergency roadside calls but there is only coverage in large cities and huge gaping coverage holes along highways.

Ohh well. Not a bad deal really.

I was concerned with that too but I called customer service and they actually use AT&T's towers-so same reception as ATT. I get excellent coverage and I travel throughout US often for my job.

 

[CleverName]

Personally if I was going to spend $50/month I'd just go with one of the large carriers directly.

I signed up last night for the pure talk unlimited talk/text. I was with att but my contract ran out and i dont want another 2 years of $100 bills. No contract is what im looking for, and on the ATT coverage. Trying to use pure talk with my iphone and just use the wifi at work and home for data since they are GSM. So $48 for unlimited talk/text and just using wifi is fine with me.

I know people are going to jump all over me about having an iphone with no data plan and how its pointless. Well unless you pay my $100 ATT bill I'll switch and let my kids eat dinner tonight.

Oh and that last part was not directed at you bhanson, just vented a little. On other forums the six figure apple nerds jump all over me about it when i asked about iphone with no data. no offense to apple, im a long time mac/iphone/ipod user there are just hard core apple nerds out there who pitch a fit when u dont get everything you can out of an apple device.

 

[CleverName]

My wife and I are on T-Mobile ppd. We spend about $18 per month for both of us, which works out to about 100 minutes each after the 12%-off coupons that crop up from time to time (making it 8.8 cents/minute). Even if Puretalk did work out to be less expensive for me, I don't think I'd jump ship to a company I've never heard of before to save $1 per month.

Have you heard of AT&T? They use their towers. That's what these companies do. They buy the services from the big dogs and sell them at a discount. Same exact coverage. There is just no contract. So people on a budget (My family) can save some money.

And you can use your own phone if its GSM so its not a matter of the quality of their phones.

The customer service is nice and speaks clear, understandable ENGLISH.

If you are on a budget like me you have to research these companies down to every detail because there is so much shady business going on with cell phone providers.

 

[MarkZ80]

I signed up last night for the pure talk unlimited talk/text. I was with att but my contract ran out and i dont want another 2 years of $100 bills. No contract is what im looking for, and on the ATT coverage. Trying to use pure talk with my iphone and just use the wifi at work and home for data since they are GSM. So $48 for unlimited talk/text and just using wifi is fine with me.

I know people are going to jump all over me about having an iphone with no data plan and how its pointless. Well unless you pay my $100 ATT bill I'll switch and let my kids eat dinner tonight.

Oh and that last part was not directed at you bhanson, just vented a little. On other forums the six figure apple nerds jump all over me about it when i asked about iphone with no data. no offense to apple, im a long time mac/iphone/ipod user there are just hard core apple nerds out there who pitch a fit when u dont get everything you can out of an apple device.

You can use the iphone with Pure Talk? I never thought of that. My wife has iphone and would love to cut her bill but theres no way getting around that crazy bill! ..until now I guess. We have wifi throughout our home and live in an area with that has wifi everywhere so that would be perfect. Thanks, I am going to look into this!

 

[rsolomon]

You can use the iphone with Pure Talk?

I'm not an iPhone expert but I do know the iPhone 2G had to be unlocked to work with even AT&T SIMs which were not "iPhone" SIMs. Recent experience with the 3GS says that's no longer true (normal AT&T sim works fine) - but I don't know about the 3G and/or if later 2G needed unlock, etc.

2G unlock is pretty trivial though

Richard

 

[kalrith]

Have you heard of AT&T? They use their towers. That's what these companies do. They buy the services from the big dogs and sell them at a discount. Same exact coverage. There is just no contract. So people on a budget (My family) can save some money.

And you can use your own phone if its GSM so its not a matter of the quality of their phones.

The customer service is nice and speaks clear, understandable ENGLISH.

If you are on a budget like me you have to research these companies down to every detail because there is so much shady business going on with cell phone providers.

So, if PureTalk goes out of business, their phones will still use AT&T towers? That's neat!

Anyways, my wife and I use about 100 minutes per month with T-Mobile, and we pay $8.80 per month for that. Last time I check $8.80 is less than $10.

I just don't see how PureTalk is cheaper than T-Mobile since callingmart runs a 12%-off coupon every couple months making it $88 for 1,000 minutes that last an entire year. BTW, I have no contract and no hidden fees with T-Mobile ppd as well, and I use my old AT&T phone after unlocking it.

Obviously if you live in an area without T-Mobile coverage, then that might be an advantage. In my area the T-Mobile coverage is better than the AT&T coverage (speaking as a former AT&T customer).

If you can show me how PureTalk > T-Mobile ppd, then please enlighten me.

 

[CleverName]

That's true. It does come down to how good the coverage is in your area. They are both cheap plans. The unlimited plan is what was appealing to me and is what would be best for me. Sorry, I meant to say as far as unlimited plans go Pure Talk has a better deal.

 

[bhanson]

That's true. It does come down to how good the coverage is in your area. They are both cheap plans. The unlimited plan is what was appealing to me and is what would be best for me. Sorry, I meant to say as far as unlimited plans go Pure Talk has a better deal.

Do you have an idea of your usage in absolute terms? Minutes? Texts?

Just curious.

 

[tmac1970]

Another thing about T-mobile is you can usually get discounts on the cards, getting them for $90 or less... making things even cheaper. Also I've found that I can send international texts for just 10 cents, which seems like a good deal to me.

registered just so i could add my input. I just bought 2 pre-paid phones from t-mobile for wife and myself. the current deal is free $25 in minutes instead of the usual $10. the big thing that no one has mentioned is that Bing is at 35% for the tmobile website. The cashback is good for the prepaid minute cards also! I bought a $60 phone and the $100, 1000 minute card that expires in one year and got over $50 x 2 in bing cashback coming in 60 days. this is confirmed in my account. this puts the phone at almost free and the minutes at around $.10. a great deal IMO.