best prepaid cellphone deals?

[centexguy]

I need to find the best deal on a prepaid cellphone asap for my son. He is at the age that I want him to be able to call me if he needs a ride etc.. but I am worried about excessive time/ text messaging, computer access, new contract. I have a few months left on my cingular/the "new att" contract (whatever they are this week) and I will probably try a new company when its over. Maybe prepaid if it works well and the cost is better. Having a cell phone has been a great tool to have. It saves wasted trips/ gas /time/ calls for help. I put my number on the no call list its has worked so far. Any ideas?

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

Try Virgin Mobile prepaid. My kids are happy with theirs. Be sure to check if they cover your intended area of use first.

[bill not in oh]

We just went through this exact scenario. Virgin Mobile if you have the coverage. They lease towers from Sprint who I found to be very good when I had my Sprint phone. HOWEVER, they only lease SOME of the towers, so find someone in your area that has VM service and see how the coverage is in your area. We checked with VM to see if they covered our zip code - answer was yes. Reality was that they only covered PART of our zip code and we couldn't get a signal at out residence....
Having learned a lesson, we checked with our second choice, Alltel, found some folks that had their service and found it to be great coverage in this area. We've been happy with Alltel for the 2-3 weeks we've had it. They have several prepaid plans that you can choose from that will allow things like unlimited text messaging...

[tiogacounty]

We have three Cingular prepaids in the family. If you don't use them much they are a good bargain. We prepay them at $25 for three months. so that would be 75 minutes of time at a quarter a minute (or $8.34 a month) to have a cell phone for emergencies. I can't complain. The cheapest regular plan available here would be $39.95 plus 20% taxes, so it's a real cost savings IF you don't use it often.

[MaineFarmMom]

I use US Cellular for mine. It costs me $15 every other month. It's more time than I usually need but it does roll over.

[DrippingSprings]

I gave my boys Cingular pay as you go. It has free Cingular to Cingular. Text is only a 5 cent each. Calls to non cells are 10 cents a minute. Considering most of their friends have Cingular that makes the majority of their calls free. They use about 25 a month and they are 15 and 16 years old.

It took them a couple months to learn that if they send all their texts and use their money its off til they get more cash. By the third month they are actually lasting more than a month. So 25 a month and they have plenty and they talk for hours a day lol

[bill not in oh]

Originally Posted by DrippingSprings

I gave my boys Cingular pay as you go. It has free Cingular to Cingular.

You know they are canceling this service?

[teresab]

I have T-mobile. For $100.00 I get 1,000 minutes and a year contract. I'm not much of a talker and it worked fine for me.....That works out to just around $8.00 per month. I have had my phone and the prepay for over a year and are very happy with them.

[DrippingSprings]

Originally Posted by bill in oh

You know they are canceling this service?

no i didnt could you elaborate a little?

[morrowsmowers]

We use TracFone. You buy the phone you want and then add the service and minutes that you want to it. You can add various lenghts of service and amounts of minutes in many combinations up to 2 full years of service time. We don't use it all that much so we have a lot of time on our phones -- rates for texting vary by the phone so check that if you plan on a lot of messages.

Ken in Glassboro, NJ

[bill not in oh]

Originally Posted by DrippingSprings

no i didnt could you elaborate a little?

My understanding is that in the transition to ATT that they decided not to continue this prepaid service (as of March 1 I believe). I'm not sure what they will offer in lieu of it, but my ATT service was not competitive in the current market. They may very well have a service that is - we just chose not to wait to see...

[DrippingSprings]

well i need to research more. i went to the cingulat site and went into the prepaid forum and asked and the mod who works for them said he had heard nothing...but you arent the only person to tell me what you did so I still dont know LOL

[bill not in oh]

I got probably 20 - 30 text messages from them starting last summer saying that they were not accepting any additional payments after December 31, 2006, but the service could continue to be used until March 31, 2007. I don't recall which 'plan' we used - it may have been only that specific pre-paid plan.

After visiting their website, I noticed that their prepaid plans are available on a regional basis. I don't recall that being the case before. Perhaps they discontinued it in our area and not yours - or we simply had different plans.

[bLIppY]

Originally Posted by Rocky Fields

Hey.

Try Virgin Mobile prepaid. My kids are happy with theirs. Be sure to check if they cover your intended area of use first.

YUP i use one myself, great service 10 cents a minute cards widely avail.
bLIPPy

[Simpler Times]

I saw a prepaid before Christmas at Toys R Us. It gave free nights and weekends...I'd never seen that before on a prepaid. I don't remember the name of the service...think it started with a J though. The clerk assured me that there was coverage in our area. The phone and initial package though was something like $90.

[Kshobbit]

I use tracfone. I went to the website after reading about it on mycoupons.com. I got a free re-conditioned cell phone and 60 units of time for 19.95. I had a referral from a lady so I got an extra 100 minutes for free. She got 100 units too.
I wait for specials to renew my phone. Last time I renewed for 60 minutes at 19.95 they gave me 20 extra units then for 49.95 I got a years service so for 70.00 I got 14 months of sevice and 80 units and they roll over your unsed time and I had about 550 left so I have 14 months and over 600 units. Granted I am not a cell phone fan. I have it for trips and for the drive home from work late at nite on less traveled roads. I am charged one unit in my area and 2 units out of the area. I have gotten cell phone coverage everywhere I have gone on my family trips.
I got a phone for my son just recently same deal free reconditioned phone and 60 units for 19.95. His phone was newer and smaller than mine but mine still works just fine. I got my accessory kit at WallyWorld on the clearance table too

[DrippingSprings]

Originally Posted by bill in oh

I got probably 20 - 30 text messages from them starting last summer saying that they were not accepting any additional payments after December 31, 2006, but the service could continue to be used until March 31, 2007. I don't recall which 'plan' we used - it may have been only that specific pre-paid plan.

After visiting their website, I noticed that their prepaid plans are available on a regional basis. I don't recall that being the case before. Perhaps they discontinued it in our area and not yours - or we simply had different plans.

ok its still going to go on without interruption. the only ones being non renewable is the older phones that dont have the sim card. you know like the old cingular phones that were prepaid only. if you have a digital phone with sim card which the vast majority made in the last three years do then you are going to have service from now to whenever. no interruption of service.

so if your phone has the lil sim card under the battery you are good. if not then buy a cheap newer phone and your good to go without interruption.

my grandmother needed a new one and i got her a nice black very slim and lightweight flip phone with tons of features for under 70 dollars. i believe its a samsung or such they have them at the cingular stores. they have a special with a rebate and you can get 50 of it back after purchase and mail in rebate so its like 30 bucks after all said and done

[BeckyW]

If Net10 is in your area, they beat all the rest. Flat 10 cents per minute, no roaming/surcharges, text messaging is cheaper (can't remember what), minutes rollover. We have 3 of them and will be adding a 4th next month (college children).

Your best phone, though, will be with a company that has coverage in your area. Ask around.
BW

[Tinker]

I have Tracfone, and it works great for me. Some of the others were cheaper, but had a "per use" or monthly fee. Tracfone is NOT the cheapest over all, but it was the best deal I could find that worked in my area. I probably only use 10-20 minutes a month, but I carry it in my purse, and it is nice to know it is available if I need it.

[LvDemWings]

I've had virgin mobile since 2003 and I've been happy with it. I only use it for emergencies so its fine for my needs.

My neighbor uses a cell in place of a land line and has Cricket. It is a month to month plan, no service contract, and its $30 something per month unlimited use but without long distance. Cricket offers several plans but you have to be within their coverage area.