What prepaid phone is best for me?

ignatzatsonic · 24 Apr 2016

iknowjohnny said:

This was just too good to pass up so i bought one. One question though...you said you just buy a new one after a year. Is it cheaper to do that than to just buy more minutes for the phone u already have?

Johnny:

I assume he means he buys a new phone rather than more minutes for an existing phone.

Let us know how this works out for you or if there are any "gotchas". I had heard that the cheapest Tracfone setup was going to be about 7 a month, plus a 10 dollar phone.

Maybe not, but I'd be interested in the details of this plan.

If it is as advertised. Let us know.

Edit: hear is a thread about that deal from a phone forum. I haven't read it:

Tracfone Alcatel A383G Big Easy Plus for sale on tracfone.com $30

Page Plus is another possibility. The phone service is $10 every 120 days ($30 per year), but you can't use "any old phone". It has to be a certain type of "3G" phone and uses the Verizon network. It has to be a "post paid" phone rather than "prepaid".

This phone is said to be "postpaid" and usable with Page Plus:

New Samsung Gusto 3 Basic CDMA Flip Verizon Postpaid Clean ESN Meid Page Plus 887276689784 | eBay

So--about $40 for the phone plus $30 a year.

You can buy a Gusto 3 off the rack at Walmart for $13, but it won't be a "post paid" model immediately usable on Page Plus.

Beware of "activation fees", which can be as high as $35.

ATT has a "GoPhone" plan for very occasional use. You buy any phone that can access the ATT network and then pay $2 a day plus a quarter a minute for each day you ACTUALLY USE the phone. IF you make one call a month for 1 minute, that should be $2.25.

Verizon and ATT have pretty similar coverages, but they say Verizon can be a bit better if you are traveling out into rural areas.

I've got a Tracfone LG441G phone. 10 bucks at Walmart. I'm using Tracfone pay as you go refiller cards, also from Walmart. They cost 20 bucks every 3 months for 120 minutes. Works fine, but the deal you got sounds better.

I've also got a VOIP phone setup like you, but I use an Obi device instead of Ooma. Obi works very well. $40 or so for the device, a one time fee. I then pay about 3.45 a month for service through Callcentric. But it won't work if the Internet is down, just like your case, so I got a Tracfone as backup.

iknowjohnny · 25 Apr 2016

I will likely try it by making a call or 2 when i 1st get it but after that it will just sit on the charger all the time and probably never get used except for emergencies. So i'm not sure if my review would be of any help. The reviews i have read were all very positive tho, and if you look at the page of the seller i bought it from it says he's sold 3300 of them and 13 in just the last 24 hours ! So they are obviously good or they wouldn't sell like hotcakes.

C-11 · 25 Apr 2016

iknowjohnny said:

This was just too good to pass up so i bought one. One question though...you said you just buy a new one after a year. Is it cheaper to do that than to just buy more minutes for the phone u already have?

Exactly.
Buying minutes can get to expensive over a year.
There's no cost to activate that phone either.

iknowjohnny · 25 Apr 2016

C-11 said:

iknowjohnny said:

This was just too good to pass up so i bought one. One question though...you said you just buy a new one after a year. Is it cheaper to do that than to just buy more minutes for the phone u already have?

Exactly.
Buying minutes can get to expensive over a year.
There's no cost to activate that phone either.

Thanks. So $30 a year total out of pocket. Thats pretty amazing, and the fact u get a new phone every year eliminates the issue of breakdowns due to age. No wonder the guy has sold so many of them. I have an old friend who i talk to on the phone every week for 3 hours. I will continue using Ooma for that. But if not for him i'd be able to get by with this tracphone as my only phone because 800 minutes is about 13 hours, and i use probably an average of 15 minutes a month on the phone aside from my ol buddy! Ooma is about $4 a month for taxes but is otherwise free aside fro the initial purchase of the box. All this is crazy to me after years of paying $35 for a ATT landline basic account that would not allow me to call out of about a 20 mile radius and inside i'd pay about a quarter a minute ! When i talked to my buddy he'd call me otherwise it would cost me close to 50 bucks each time we talked !