Pre-paid phone as a backup?

[CurseTheSky]

I'm thinking of picking up a pre-paid phone as a backup to throw in my laptop bag. I'd only use it for emergencies (power's out, couldn't charge my smartphone), or if I forgot my main phone at home and needed to quickly let people know.

What's a good company to go with? My main phone is on AT&T, so I'd either like to get a CDMA-based phone (in case AT&T's network is done for some catastrophic reason), especially if it supported both CDMA and GSM.

Also, are there any companies that will simply let you put minutes or texts on the phone, and let it sit like that for years? Do the companies have a maximum amount of time minutes are good for?

Finally, any phone recommendations? I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something that's solid and has good battery life.

Thanks.

 

[Phokus]

Page plus. It's on verizon's network so you know you'll get good coverage. I think they even have something like an $80 card that gives you 1000 minutes for a full year (the other cards only give you minutes for 3 months before they expire)

 

[jpeyton]

Buying a CDMA phone as an emergency backup is nonsense.

An unlocked quad (or penta) band GSM phone will let you insert any pre-paid SIM card from here to Afghanistan. Just pop in the SIM card and you're good to go. Swap SIM cards to change numbers, change services, etc. Domestically, you can use your phone with AT&T, T-Mobile, or a dozen different MVNOs. You can walk into any mini-mart in any corner of the US and come out with a compatible SIM card and air time. You can't do that with CDMA.

Most pre-paid providers have expiration dates on air time that vary from 30 days to 1 year, depending on the amount of air time you purchased. You can avoid losing your air time by re-upping (adding additional minutes extends your expiration date), or by purchasing air time cards/PINs that you can add to your account only when you need them (the expiration date countdown doesn't start until you actually load the minutes to your account).

 

[CurseTheSky]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll probably stick with GSM then, especially since it'd give me a "world phone" to take with me if I ever decide to travel, with the bonus of not have to worry as much about losing or breaking it.

Any particular phone model suggestions, or are they all pretty much the same on the low end? I'd take battery life and ruggedness over all else, so long as it charges on micro USB.

 

[ImDonly1]

Don't know much about this but...

Either PagePlus as stated above ($80/yr) for 2000 minutes. They use the verizon network.
Or cheaper option, they have $10 refill for 100 minutes good for 120 days. If you refill before the 120 days for another $10, the minutes roll over. So for a year $30.
http://www.pagepluscellular.com/Plans/Standard Plan.aspx

Or T-mobile has a $100 refill card that gives you 1000 minutes for a year. I think once you buy a $100 card, you get "upgraded to gold status," once you are at gold status you keep it until your account is inactive. The good thing of this is, after your 1 year for the initial $100 is about to run out, you can add $10 refill and extend the account for another year. Might want to research into this as I'm not too sure on the specifics.

RedPocket (att network) also does a $100 refill card for 1000 minutes works for a year.

Pretty much anyone has one. Depends on what network you want.

No one will really give you recommendations for flip phones. They are all basically the same to most people. Some might have better signal, etc. but no one will bother with reviews. Not much difference between them I think.

 

[corkyg]

I echo jpeyton's comment. To back up my laptop when I travel, I simply carry a duplicate HDD, all caddy-mounted and ready to insert. It lives in a small padded bag in a pocket of my laptop travel case.

If I did carry a smartphone, and it had certain backup apps and access, I would never put it in my laptop case. It would be on my person.

 

[mikeford]

I am a low minute phone user, wife and son a fair amount less so, but we all use Tmobile prepaid. Charge it initially with $100 for 1000 min, then as little as $10 refill after each 364 days and good to go. My use is less than $50 a year, wife and son more like $150 each. No monthly fee, perfect for low use, my ancient Nokia candy bar often gets bars where other phones don't and vice versa, son's Razor blows chunks for bars so we often text him instead of call, wife's new Nokia occasionally has no bars, but seems very localized like instead a store or hotel.

Use some care when buying an unlock phone, first Razor was nothing but issues, and second only marginally better, but kids want "this one", and no real support since phone is "used".

 

[mikeford]

Regards backup, our plan is to keep a restore on a 16 GB micro SDHC in a tiny USB reader.

For travel with a phone, the simms work fine, the acct details totally BLOW. We wanted to have a O2 acct ready to use when we flew from Calif to London, but O2 didn't like a US address and flat out would not accept a US credit card. We struggled for a couple days, then bought new simms in a Tesco and paid cash, but never got the stupid online stuff to work, and my wife's first use of our $25 O2 was to call home and check on our cats, POOF, $25 gone because we didn't set the acct up to make low cost intl calls. Once that was sorted both our phones worked fine calling each other, and places in UK, very handy.

 

[Ksyder]

Buying a CDMA phone as an emergency backup is nonsense

I somewhat disagree, at least for a situation where your car might break down in a remote area. When you are on AT&T there are areas where Verizon coverage is present and vice-versa.

I'm not saying that the cost of having this backup is justified, but there is some practical rationale to it. To do this on page plus would cost a minimum of $30 a year and might be a waste since you never really use the phone.

 

[alpha88]

Hi Fade -

http://www.kittywireless.com/ (they're a reseller for page plus, on verizon network).

Your main ATT phone will probably provide you with the ability to use any SIM for prepaid worldwide. Having access to verizon could benefit when there is poor service or something.