Prepaid wireless?

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-20-2004
Prepaid wireless?
13
Mon, 05-09-2005 - 1:04pm
My dh and I have a cell phone plan through Sprint (incredibly cheap but service area isn't great in the area we live now), and the contract expires this month. Anyhow, we are thinking about cancelling this plan and going with prepaid. (I cannot go without a cell phone b/c my dd's therapy provider requires that I have one in order to leave the house, else I would have to stay home during her therpay. which is not always practical.) Anyhow, right now we only have one phone, but dh has said that he wants one too. So anyhow, since 2 phone plans seem to start at about $60, and we don't use our phones that much (well, more than we used to b/c we no longer have LD on our home phone, though I can get cheap calling cards at Sam's Club...), I was just thinking maybe two prepaids would be better for us. So I am jsut wondering if anyone out there has any experiences, either good or bad, to share about prepaid wireless. I would love to get rid of another monthly bill!!! Heather

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: herege
Mon, 05-09-2005 - 5:55pm
I don't have prepaid, but I do have Sprint. For $5 you can add free roaming, which may increase your coverage dramatically since you can use other companies' towers. Sprint also has many discounts; we get like 23% off our bill for because my MIL is a school district employee. I would go into a Sprint store and ask about your options and whether you qualify for any employer discounts. We also got them to match the price that Costco was offering for the phone we wanted (in store price was $60; we got it for $20) and they were also willing to match the website prices (which were about $10 less per phone).
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-24-2004
In reply to: herege
Mon, 05-09-2005 - 10:23pm
I have a Virgin Mobile prepaid phone and I love it. I never get booted off and my calls always go through. When I had Sprint, I lived in an area that does not get good reception and I was paying ridicuous roaming charges. Virgin phone is .25 a minute for the first 10 minutes of the day, then it goes down to .10 a minute. I don't chit chat on the phone. I usually only use my phone to tell someone I'm stuck in traffic and running late and stuff like that.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2004
In reply to: herege
Tue, 05-10-2005 - 9:33am
I purchased a virgin mobile pay as you go cell phone, but unfortunately it would not pick up a signal!! ( the sales person assured me it would work everywhere in the area that I needed it to ) But the only place it would pick up was right in town, and as soon as I traveled out it was gone. I would suggest before you buy any phone to make sure you can take it back if it doesn't work. Luckily, I sold mine on ebay for more than I purchased it for!
I went back to tracfone (pay as you go) and it works great! ~Nicki
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-06-2005
In reply to: herege
Tue, 05-10-2005 - 12:14pm

DH and I also have Virgin Mobile, and we're very satisfied.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-20-2004
In reply to: herege
Tue, 05-10-2005 - 4:45pm
Ahh...Virgin Mobile uses the same network as Sprint, which just happens to have dead areas where we live. As in no signal : ( So, i guess we will have to keep looking. Thanks for the ideas tho... Heather
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-21-2004
In reply to: herege
Tue, 05-10-2005 - 7:58pm
I used to have a prepaid wireless and honestly I hated it. It was a pain to go buy the minutes and when you were out you were out. That's a good thing in a way b/c you won't be going over and being charged for a lot more money but what if it was an emergency? Also with mine through Cingular- there was a $15 activiation fee and if you didn't use all of the minutes within 3 mos you had to reactivate the phone at yet again another $15. If I were you I would go through another cell phone co. for better service and just get the bare plan. Mine is through Cingular and I have 50 min/month for $19.99. Hope this helps!
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-24-2005
In reply to: herege
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 6:27pm

Hello....I was just passing thru and wanted to give my 2 cents.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-24-2004
In reply to: herege
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 7:54pm

Yes, I use about $20.00 worth of airtime every 4-6 weeks too. It's a lot better than $49.99 a month! If someone calls me on my cell to chat, I just ask them if I can call them back when I get home. I don't like to chat while doing errands or shopping. I lose my concentration too easily. Driving with a cell phone? Fuggetaboutit! It's illegal anyway unless you have hands free set and I can't hear the caller on those sets at all.

Nicki, I'm glad you got to sell the phone on E-Bay for more than you paid! You must live in one of those areas Virgin hasn't covered. Trac Phone seems to be the most widely used. I got Virgin, because a friend reccommended it. I've had pretty good service so far.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
In reply to: herege
Thu, 05-12-2005 - 11:47am
DH has a prepay through verizon and its pretty good. You can either buy cards to keep on hand and refill when you run out, refill through the website or call from your phone to refill by credit card. Dh rarely uses his phone so he buys only $15.00 per month. You have to buy the phone though.
I would ask other people in your area how their cell phone reception is and what provider they use. Sometimes its the phone and sometimes it the provider. A friend of my also has verison and we can be side by side and my phone will have reception while hers will not. (My is a company phone with verizon)
Verizon has "in network" which means you do not pay for calls to other verizon customers, but I do not know if that applies to prepay cards.
Good luck!
Sandra
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2005
In reply to: herege
Fri, 05-13-2005 - 10:27am
Hi, I have tracphone and I like it. I really only need a cell phone for emergencies, and it was like 45 dollars to buy and then I get phone cards for it- you have to get a new phone card every 3 months, that's the deal, i get the 100 minute one for 30 dollars (however i saw a guy on ebay who sells them for $20 dollars and he has hundreds of positive feedback so i may try him next time.) if you don't use all of your minutes they carry over. if you don't renew it within 3 months it doesn't cost anything to renew again but you have to get a new phone #. They aren't fancy looking or anything but for hwat i need it for they are great (my car had problems one day and i was able to call my dh and triple aaa- that's the only kind of thing i need it for, i prefer to talk to friends from home)
Good luck!

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