prepaid wireless phone plan?

[quangdaika]

I thinking of going this route b/c I rarely use the phone at all. What is a good company/plan/deal for the Seattle area? Any prior experiences is appreciated.

Also, can I buy a cheap prepaid phone and then use that phone's SIM card on any unlocked phone?

thanks

 

[adammthompson]

I've been pretty happy with Virgin Mobile. I pay $15 every three months (they automatically charge my credit card). I don't know how the coverage would be in Seattle. It's fine in Philly where I live.

Stay away from Tracfone. Their service has really deteriorated, and they make it really hard to port your number to another company.

I think GoPhone (AT&T's prepaid) can be used with any AT&T/Cingular or unlocked 850 MHz GSM phone. It might work to buy a cheap GoPhone and then move the SIM card to a nicer GSM phone.

 

[boomhower]

I would go with what has the best coverage in your area. Pretty much all the regular carriers have a pre-paid option. Go with the one that has the best coverage. No matter how good the deal or how nice the phone they aren't worth a damn if you can't get a signal when you need it.

 

[Redfraggle]

I've used Alltel for about a year and a half now, and been happy with their coverage and plan. I have a plan where I pay monthly for a certain number of minutes, and added on a favorite number I can call without using plan minutes (I can receive calls from same number). They don't charge a daily access fee like some carriers do, and have a decent coverage area for the service. I can change the favorite number myself online, and can change my plan monthly if I wish to. Before I settled on this plan, I researched and compared several. I wasn't wild about their phones, but that wasn't my priority at the time. For service and price, they were the best deal. They don't use SIM cards that you can remove, so you might reconsider if you are device driven in your choice. However, the rate at which people replace phones, you can probably buy one cheaply on Ebay.

 

[pm]

My sister uses T-Mobile pre-paid. You can use a T-Mobile pre-paid SIM in any GSM phone that supports the T-Mobile frequencies... which is most of the GSM phones in the world. You can even put a T-Mobile pre-paid SIM in an unlocked iPhone.

The best price for T-Mobile prepaid is to use $100 at a time. Gives 1000 minutes the first time, expires in one year. Each refill after the first is 1150 minutes for $100, and they expire in a year too.

 

[rh71]

bumping an "old" thread... are there taxes that come with pay as you go? Say I'm on a $0.20 per minute plan... no minute packs or refresh amounts everyday. Just the $0.20 per call. When I get my bill at the end of the month, do they charge like $5-$10 in fees & taxes too?

Right now my research shows VirginMobile to be the most worthwhile for an "emergency-use" phone for my dad... which even if used once a day it would only be $6 after 30 days, but if in the end after all the taxes I'm paying nearly $15-$20 anyway, I may as well just add another phone onto my family plan.

 

[abaez]

No. I pay about $100 every 10-11 months with t-mobile for 1000 minutes. That's it.

 

[wedi42]

i just switched to prepaid with T-Mobile. you can get $100 refills for ~$90 online.