pay as you go / no plan / type phones.. who's best?

[Gunny]

Verizon pre-paid - a $30 card is good for 90 days, the $15 cards are only good for 30. I had Straight Talk for awhile and while they said they use Verizon towers, there were areas that I didn't have service, but my wife had a regular Verizon phone and she was able to make and receive calls.

I'm sure that they have cards for more than $30, so the price per month would drop accordingly

 

[Soundguy]

I'm sure there is something to be said about individual phone capability too. My mom is on verizon and always has the latest and greatest phone, while my stepfather has some beater oldie verizon phone. he always has less signal area than my mothers phone. And I'm not just saying that is a verizon issue.. I'm sure it is a phone issue on all carriers. some phones may just handle service signal better than others.

 

[reb]

My wife and I had pay-as-you-go Verizon plans. After losing $50+ a couple of times by being a day or two late in renewing, we went to Tracfone. For us the coverage is better and the cost is much less--we use the phones only when away from home. YMMV

 

[roadhunter]

Please understand that with Verizon there is no per month charge. Just days you use the phone you are charged either $.99 or $1.99 depending on the plan. The $ is only good for a certain amount of time before it expires so that is why many (including myslef) prefer to pay $100 which last up to a year. We keep an extra phone and I put another $100 on it last November and I thing it has about $75 on it now. We probably won't use it all up so when I renew it will have well over $100 of credit.

They even have a plan that is just $.25 a minute. So if you only talk 10 minutes a month it's only $2.50.
Pay As You Go | Verizon Wireless
Prepaid Pay As You Go Plans
Daily Plans Per Minute
Access $1.99 99¢ 0¢
Mobile to Mobile Calling*
(with Verizon Wireless customers) UNLIMITED UNLIMITED 25¢
Anytime Minutes* UNLIMITED 10¢ 25¢
Text/Picture Messaging* 2¢ / 25¢ 10¢ / 25¢ 20¢ / 25¢
Mobile Web 99¢ / day 99¢ / day 99¢ / day
*Voice rates are per minute. Messaging rates are per message sent (per recipient) or received.

 

[aczlan]

Verizon has good service in my mom's area. So straight talk is an option. I have at&t and get ok coverage too, so virgin is also a possibility.
I'll hit the lo a store and check plans. A 12m plan for 100$ would be ideal.

Look at Page Plus. They are easier to deal with than ST, they are a lot more flexible on what phone you use (you can pretty much use any non-prepaid Verizon phone and a few prepaid phones) and they have a pay as you go option for "non-smartphones" that you can refill with a $80 card once a year (or a $10 card every 60 days).
If you want to pickup a phone on CL, see https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_RWlOLsiwFqcihuYeZ6nmcjmId631eVpRMEiJbRZo4c/edit for a list of phones that should work.

Aaron Z

 

[JerryK]

I have Verizon prepaid... Originally Alltel, still have the same Alltel Samsung Hue phone.. still works great up here in the North woods... Buy $100 worth of minutes each year [ actually $106 w/tax ]. Keeps the phone active for 12 months, and more minutes than I need. The minutes roll over each year, and I think I have $250 worth of them now. Minute money is not good to buy another years coverage, but I think it goes toward a new phone when the time ever comes....

 

[flyerdan]

I'm with the Tracfone crowd as well, had it for several years now. Costs about $100 a year for airtime to keep it activated, and they usually have package deals for minutes at a discount. Last time I renewed I got the double-minutes-for-life option as it was a ridiculously good offer at the time. Since I don't use it a lot one transaction has me set for the year. One good thing about them (that might not be exclusive to them, don't follow the tech) is that you can buy minute cards at lots of retail outlets, however for the best deals it's good to set up an account and buy direct from TF.

 

[Oaktree]

Another vote for Tracfone. Mine (no frills flip-phone) was I think $10 at Dollar General, and came with double minutes for life. Not that I really need them...don't really use it that much, probably have 900 minutes available now. Don't know if it does texting or not...not something I use anyway.

As others have noted, the cards are everywhere. Not sure who they use for a carrier here, but coverage isn't bad even out here in the sticks. Only a handful of people have the #, I'm one of those luddites who prefer to use a landline.

 

[kco]

This does not apply to the US but for Canada the 7-11 Speakout prepaid is hard to beat. They charge $25 for 100 minutes with and expiry of 365 days. The per minute rate and text rate is also lower than the BIG 3 Crooks rates (Telus, Bell, Rogers) and incoming texts are free. The service uses the old Rogers GSM system so coverage is not bad. They do take $1.25 off a month for the 911 emergency service. But it is a good deal for those of us who just carry emergency phones. Cost of a SIM to get connected is $10.

And this is all in Canadian pesos, er... $, so it is very cheap from a US standpoint.

 

[kco]

This does not apply to the US but for Canada the 7-11 Speakout prepaid is hard to beat. They charge $25 for 100 minutes with an expiry of 365 days. The per minute rate and text rate is also lower than the BIG 3 Crooks rates (Telus, Bell, Rogers) and incoming texts are free. The service uses the old Rogers GSM system so coverage is not bad. They do take $1.25 off a month for the 911 emergency service. But it is a good deal for those of us who just carry emergency phones. Cost of a SIM to get connected is $10.

And this is all in Canadian pesos, er... $, so it is very cheap from a US standpoint.