what is the cheapest cell phone service?

[Mosey]

I'd like a cell phone for occasional use. Mainly to have for emergencies or to avoid having to find a pay phone to get directions or just deliver a short message. I don't want one so I can chat as I'm walking along in the mall, etc, like I see people do. So, I'm not interested in these deals that give you some odd hundred minutes per month. Has anyone already done the research and found out what the cheapest companies are?

 

[Chuck52]

Sounds like you may be a candidate for one of those deals where you buy minutes as you need them. Something like a phone card, but for a cell phone.

Chuck

 

[TerryinMD]

Mosey,

This is a loaded question. Cell phone service is totally dependent upon the area you live. The more densely populated the area, the greater selection of providers. Just begin to hit all of your local providers and compare.

The hook in most of the deals is that you get a TON of off hour minutes. That is, between 9 PM and I think 8 AM and weekends. So if you plan on talking a lot during off hours you have a wide choice. There is also a service called Track Phone (not sure of the spelling) where you buy the amount of service by minutes. When you need to add more, you either buy another card or call them up to increase the coverage. Kinda like one of the long distance phone cards you buy almost anywhere now.

Hope this helps.

Terry

 

[Bird]

I got my wife a cell phone "just for emergencies" almost 3 years ago. It was Southwestern Bell at the time, but is called Cingular now. Anyway it's supposed to be $25 a month, but with taxes, etc., it's actually $30.16 a month and within our "home" area (pretty large area), that includes free unlimited weekend use, 60 minutes a month other times, 60 minutes of roaming/long distance, etc. So she uses it a lot to call friends and family on the weekends and she never goes over the base rate (calls that would be long distance from home, but not with the cell phone).

 

[DVerbarg]

Sprint PCS has a $29.95/mth plan. 200 anytime minutes and 2800 eve/weekend minutes. Add tax to this and its probably around $35/mth. Long distance is included in this price so if you were to use it for long distance calls to friends/relatives on nights and weekends you might lower your home phone bill too!

 

[TonyC]

Your best bet is just to call the major cell stores in your area and find out who has the most basic plan with the least minutes and frills. If you go analog you can probably get one very very cheap. The newer cell stores handle mulitple carriers. This might make shopping easier!

 

[jhburke]

I have Verison deal. I have 150 minutes a month. What's nice is that I can call anywhere from anywhere in 48 states. All calls are considered local calls. I got this phone because I was driving a limo and wanted to be able let wife know if I was going to be later than planed. JIM

 

[MJB]

I have a TracFone. For low usage it is by far the cheapest cell phone. Around here (central NY) the cheapest "per month" cell phone plans are about $30 plus taxes. With my TracFone I am paying about $8.33 per month total. The digital phone I bought with the service was $100 but it comes with $100 worth of free airtime. You can buy a year of service which includes 100 minutes of airtime for $100. I even disconnected my regular "land line" home phone because the TracFone is so much cheaper. Here is their web site:<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tracfone.com/home_page.jsp>http://www.tracfone.com/home_page.jsp</A>

 

[Mosey]

Thanks everybody! I'll check out some of your suggestions.

MJB, where did you buy your phone? I haven't seen any deals where $100 worth of time is included with the phone. How many minutes is that good for? It sounds like a good deal for my purposes. It wouldn't be able to replace my land line phone though, since we talk long distance about 3 hours per month. At Tracfone's lowest rate of 33 cents per minute, that would be $59 per month! We use the Doug Flutie deal and get 5 cents per minute, so it's only about $9 per month.

 

[gws]

Mosey,
Your coverage area needs will determine your best plan. If you truely only need it once in a while then NO plan is the plan for you. While not advertised very well. Almost every cell service has a no minute plan. You pay a montly rate (9-15/month) and then per minute. Some minute plans are good some are bad, 20-40 cents a minute is good in this plan.. There are several phone providers around here that have "emergency" phones. They cost $5/month and then you pay $1/minute for calls. Truely emergency use only.