Pre-paid cell phones

[Laney]

anyone have one that you absolutely love?

dh and I do not have land line service and he has to have a cell phone for work. Verizon announced that they will start charging $2 to pay your bill with a check card over the phone. so we will be saying good-bye to them when hubby's contract is up in April.

we don't need, nor want smartphones. all that we require is talking and texting. any recommendations?

[BeachBaby]

I use tracfone and have for years BUT I only text maybe 3 times a day and use the calling about once a week. It cost me about $20 every 3-4 months. My phone doubles the minutes automatically and then I use a coupon code offline so it's really not too bad.

My son texts alllllllllllllll the time and has a prepaid plan from virgin mobile. He gets unlimited texts, online but only 300 talk minutes. (he never talks) It cost him $30 plus tax a month. He loves it.

[ladykemma2]

I use tracfone and have for years BUT I only text maybe 3 times a day and use the calling about once a week. It cost me about $20 every 3-4 months. My phone doubles the minutes automatically and then I use a coupon code offline so it's really not too bad.

me too................................

[butterflywatcher]

Before we switched to Sprint, me and my kids were using Virgin Mobile. If I remember correctly, they have a cheap plan that has unlimited texting and like 400 minutes a month, or maybe less. Heads up...their customer service is the worst I've ever encountered!

[Ssindi]

I've used tracfone for about 10yrs now and it meets our needs just fine. We do have a land line though.DH doesn't text at all and I just figured it out several months ago. We both get double minutes and I use coupon codes when I find them or they mail them to us. DH drives for a living so use his much more than I do. I may not use mine for weeks at a time. I couldn't use my phone in Mexico though when I was there for two weeks.
I'm not sure that getting rid of our landline will ever be an option for us.We may go down to one of them.

[homemaker66]

We use straight talk for 32.00 a month for 1000 minutes and 1000 text. Go onto their web and you can get some great deals. I have no trouble at all.

[ladytoysdream]

We both use tracfones. We buy the 60 minute cards for 19.99 each plus tax. Those are good for 3 months.
When we bought our phones, it came with a double minute promotion. I also go online and search for a promo code that will add at least 30 minutes when it is time to add the new minute card. So for just over $ 20 total, we usually get 150 minutes for the 3 months. Which works out to $ 7 a month each.
Phone is capable of texting but neither one of us use that feature.

I believe tracfone just issued a triple minute card. Not sure what that costs. I may look into that for my husband's phone.

This last time I added minutes to his, we had to pay $ 40 plus tax for the 3 months to get him 200 minutes. That was then doubled, and I found a 50 minute bonus promo code.
He uses more minutes in the winter because of his regular job.

We also have a regular house phone, that I encourage him to use more, to save his minutes on the cell for work usage. We won't be giving up the home phone. Hubby has to be available 24/7 in the winter if they call, and they better be able to get through to him.

Our regular phone is through Verizon, and I just caught that on the news about them charging $ 2 per payment. Which does not apply to us, because everything we pay is by checks.

[Telephus44]

I use the AT&T Go Phone. We get better reception out here with AT&T. Plus, rather than putting $30 on every 90 days I can put on $100 once a year. I pay $1 per day on days I use it, plus $.10 a minute. Texting is $.20 per text. I make on average 3-4 calls per month and maybe 1-2 texts. I've never come close to even using the full $100. You can also manage your account online, so you can just pay through their website.

[MaryCarney]

I have used a tracfone exclusively for 5+ years and have ZERO complaints. DH has one too. Between us, we spend under $350/ year for all the talk and text that we need. We even have our original $15 phones, which continue to work flawlessly.

[Spirit Deer]

TracFone's units roll over, so as long as you don't let service lapse, any unused units are retained indefinitely. We usually only use ours when we travel and have racked up over a thousand units. It was used once last year when the fuel pump died on our truck and my husband called me to tow it home.

Unit usage is doubled when roaming. Adding units is easy online, and they send e mails with specials. We usually buy two years of service at a time because it's cheaper. I think that last time it was $150 plus we got double units.

Overall, we've been happy with our TracFone.

A friend of ours is on the R&D team that develops the Android phones and always has the latest gee-whiz phone they've released. It's pretty cool to play with but we've never been tempted. We just don't use a cell phone much.

[bunnys]

StraightTalk devotee here!

Was with Verizon for years. Way too expensive. Stayed too long.

Now I get StraightTalk through Wal-mart. They use Verizon towers.

But when I go on my daily walk in this sunken park by the river--coverage is terrible. But can text.

I pay $30. per month for 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and about 30 web pages (not worth the time to bother with it on the phone I have--but it is there.)

They also have an unlimited plan (unlimited everything) for $45. per month.

It bills (with tax) like $31. and some change automatically to my credit card each month.

I think it's a tremendous deal and absolutely the cheapest one I could find.

[Contrary Housewife]

Another Tracfone here. Got mine at Radio Shack. I was doing the $20 every 3 months thing but after the first year and nearly forgetting to add time to the phone (the day we had the accident was the last day of service, we'd have been screwed if it happened 24 hours later) I just went and paid for the 1 year of service with 1000 minutes or something.

Tracfone gives you a certain number of minutes and a service period. Even if you don't use your minutes you have to re-up the service every so often.

They charge extra for everything. New ring tones, voice mail, texting, receiving IMs, etc. So you'll want to look into that to determine what your costs will be.

[woodogmom]

virgin mobile! LOVE IT! I have used them exclusively fo at least 8 years. The pay-lo option lets you buy a $20 top up card every 90 days. You can pay a small amount (don't remember it because I have changed plans) for unlimited text. It is really small like $5 a month or maybe even $3. Or if you change you mind and get a smart phone with them (I did and love it), you can get unlimited text and data for $35 a month, wih 300 minutes talk...I lucked out and got grandfathered into their $25 a month plan (same featured). The only negative is you pay full price for the equipment, no $0.01 cent phones there. But the regular phones start as low as 9.99 and the smart phones range from $150 to $299 (I think). No complaints in 8 years!

[shoiji]

Have been using tracfone for years. Have a basic landline. Tracfone is more for emergencies and to have a phone on hand when I am not at home. I do not give out my cell number unless I am planning on meeting someone. People know that I only use it for emergencies. Just upgraded to a tracfone phone that I can download games, take photos or videos, and download mp3 files onto the tracfone. It also includes triple minutes. What is nice is that I can use my phone to play a game or listen to music instead of carrying a different device. Which is nice since I find myself waiting at appointments or bus stops or taking a long train ride. You do have to pay for calls, text msg, and web access on tracfone so depending on what you use your phone for will dictate what plan will work best for you.

If you need a reliable phone service but have little call or text needs tracfone will work for you. If you do decide on tracfone make sure to go with a phone that has double or triple minutes for the life of the phone. Not all phones have this.

[Pianolady]

We love Virgin Mobile. If you text or use internet a lot, that's the way to go. However, tracfone or AT&T are better if you talk more and don't text or use internet.

I didn't have much choice, the Sprint/Virgin Mobile network is the only network I can get dependable reception at my house, which enabled me to ditch the land line.