Experiences with pay as you go cell phone plan??

Ballinbob · Dec 28, 2008

Hey guys

Title pretty much says it all, but just wondering if this is a good plan. For what kind of person would you recommend this too, and for people who have it/used it, did you find it cheaper than a monthly plan? Did you like it, why or why not??

Just curious about this. Everything that has to do with the pay as you go cell phone service is welcome. Tell me everything you know lol

10s talk · Dec 28, 2008

I do, I use less than 200 minutes for less than $20 a month on Virgin Mobile

crash1929 · Dec 28, 2008

10's where'd you sign up for this. I think I'm going to get one.

150mph_ · Dec 28, 2008

i talked 3 days and 10 hours on my cell phone this month...
i think pay as i go would not be a great plan for me

10s talk · Dec 28, 2008

crash1929 said:
10's where'd you sign up for this. I think I'm going to get one.

you buy the phone for about $15 and the service card (I think the minimum is $20) check the details of the service, and cost.

you can get the phone and card at Walmart, Target etc

crash1929 · Dec 28, 2008

so you get set up for 35 bucks then 20 bucks a month for 200 min? How do you pay? do you just pay by credit card when you time or month is up? tks

Ballinbob · Dec 28, 2008

crash1929 said:
so you get set up for 35 bucks then 20 bucks a month for 200 min? How do you pay? do you just pay by credit card when you time or month is up? tks

This is how it works. You have to buy a phone, but it has to be specially for prepaid services. Then, you either have the option to buy a card that has money on it and you can reedem it for minutes on your phone (like an Itunes card) or you can dial some number and pay with credit card. I know for Tmobile at least, the more minutes you buy the cheaper it is per minute. For example, for Tmobile, if you buy a $100 card you get 1000 minutes, but if you but $50 dollars you get 400 minutes.

Hope this helped

150mph_ · Dec 28, 2008

Ballinbob said:
This is how it works. You have to buy a phone, but it has to be specially for prepaid services. Then, you either have the option to buy a card that has money on it and you can reedem it for minutes on your phone (like an Itunes card) or you can dial some number and pay with credit card. I know for Tmobile at least, the more minutes you buy the cheaper it is per minute. For example, for Tmobile, if you buy a $100 card you get 1000 minutes, but if you but $50 dollars you get 400 minutes.

Hope this helped

the phone they sell for prepaid services are sh!tty and expensive...

Ballinbob · Dec 28, 2008

150mph_ said:
the phone they sell for prepaid services are sh!tty and expensive...

Expensive, yeah. Shetty, I don't think so. Depends on your taste, but they have some good "average" phones. There are alot of pretty good phones. They're not bad but they're not great.

crash1929 · Dec 28, 2008

tks, didn't 10's just say they cost 15 bucks. Where could I get one in San Francisco?

Ballinbob · Dec 28, 2008

crash1929 said:
tks, didn't 10's just say they cost 15 bucks. Where could I get one in San Francisco?

I don't know, i live in colorado. And there are cheap phones and good phones. Get whatever you feel the need for

150mph_ · Dec 28, 2008

Ballinbob said:
Expensive, yeah. Shetty, I don't think so. Depends on your taste, but they have some good "average" phones. There are alot of pretty good phones. They're not bad but they're not great.

lol
average phones hahahaa...
i use the iphone.. its pretty average to me considering all those other phones out have touchscreen now

150mph_ · Dec 28, 2008

crash1929 said:
tks, didn't 10's just say they cost 15 bucks. Where could I get one in San Francisco?

dude, no.
because its $15 for like 100 minutes, but the start-up cost is more b/c you need to buy the phone from them which cost ridiculous amount and its not even that good a phone...
you can get a no-contract phone plan from tmobile for cheap

scotus · Dec 29, 2008

A couple of years ago these prepaid minutes had expiration dates. So if you purchased more than you cared to use (thinking you would save money by buying in bulk), you were out of luck.

Is this still the case?

Ballinbob · Dec 29, 2008

scotus said:
A couple of years ago these prepaid minutes had expiration dates. So if you purchased more than you cared to use (thinking you would save money by buying in bulk), you were out of luck.

Is this still the case?

Kinda lol. If you buy (from Tmobile) 1000 minutes for 100 dollars, those minutes last for a year. Also if you buy for 100 dollars, you get 15 percent more so really its 1125 minutes. And a year is plenty of time to use those minutes so its not a rip off. I think the 50 dollars for 400 minutes isn't too bad either, but anything below that is a rip off really

150mph_ said:
dude, no.
because its $15 for like 100 minutes, but the start-up cost is more b/c you need to buy the phone from them which cost ridiculous amount and its not even that good a phone...
you can get a no-contract phone plan from tmobile for cheap

You know nothing about this. The cheapest plan for the Iphone is what, 70 bucks a month yet you say prepaid is expensive????? And the Iphone is 200 bucks and a prepaid one like 50-80 bucks???

150mph_ said:
lol
average phones hahahaa...
i use the iphone.. its pretty average to me considering all those other phones out have touchscreen now

Wow... An Iphone is now an average phone. I wonder how technology will be like when im 30

10s talk · Dec 29, 2008

crash1929 said:
tks, didn't 10's just say they cost 15 bucks. Where could I get one in San Francisco?

go to the Virgin Mobile web site and email them, or you could call them

meowmix · Dec 29, 2008

I too use Virgin Mobile. Considering I don't use it all that often, it's enough for me.

My dad pays 15 bucks every 3 months (yup... you saw correctly) into the account. Minutes are 18 cents each. Not much, but for somebody that doesn't really have all that much of a need for one, it's sufficient.

150mph_ · Dec 29, 2008

Ballinbob said:
Kinda lol. If you buy (from Tmobile) 1000 minutes for 100 dollars, those minutes last for a year. Also if you buy for 100 dollars, you get 15 percent more so really its 1125 minutes. And a year is plenty of time to use those minutes so its not a rip off. I think the 50 dollars for 400 minutes isn't too bad either, but anything below that is a rip off really

You know nothing about this. The cheapest plan for the Iphone is what, 70 bucks a month yet you say prepaid is expensive????? And the Iphone is 200 bucks and a prepaid one like 50-80 bucks???

Wow... An Iphone is now an average phone. I wonder how technology will be like when im 30

ok but the iphone is more modern than a plain phone you will be getting with prepaid plans... which should 'justify' the extra initial cost...?

also, iphone plans for ATT is 60-70, i use tmobile... $5 internet ftw

but in terms of getting a 'standard' camera multimedia phone like a razr 2 or something is usually free when you sign up for a plan... i'd rather do that than pay $150 for a sh!tty phone

BetterTen · Dec 29, 2008

iPhone are cool buy costly!
technology changes fast. Most of the time it is for the better. Sometimes, however, companies charge too much for small improvements on old tech.

Speaking from personal experience, at the age of 16, I used to be on my cell all the time, and demanded that my parents buy me the latest technology in phones. My grades slipped quite a bit. Eventually, my parents got very upset with me and suspended my service for a long while.
Now at 20, I'm a bit older and wiser. I shop around and compare plans carefully. I text msg my friends only when necessary. This wiser use of my phone allowed me to read a new novels, enjoy my favorite hobbies (tennis and swimming). That was great. It is all part of growing up.

150mph_ · Dec 29, 2008

BetterTen said:
iPhone are cool buy costly!
technology changes fast. Most of the time it is for the better. Sometimes, however, companies charge too much for small improvements on old tech.

Speaking from personal experience, at the age of 16, I used to be on my cell all the time, and demanded that my parents buy me the latest technology in phones. My grades slipped quite a bit. Eventually, my parents got very upset with me and suspended my service for a long while.
Now at 20, I'm a bit older and wiser. I shop around and compare plans carefully. I text msg my friends only when necessary. This wiser use of my phone allowed me to read a new novels, enjoy my favorite hobbies (tennis and swimming). That was great. It is all part of growing up.

boooooooooo

BetterTen · Dec 30, 2008

>boooooooooo

the smartest comment yet!

movdqa · Dec 30, 2008

We use AT&T. $100 for 400+ minutes, good for a year. If you buy another $100 before the year is up, your unused minutes rollover to the next year. So it's about $9 per month per phone (we have 3 of them). In general, we use about 15% of the minutes per year.

Verizon recently announced that they are entering the pay-as-you-go marketplace so there's another vendor that might provide more competition.

We all have flip-phones which are decent.

Ballinbob · Dec 30, 2008

movdqa said:
We use AT&T. $100 for 400+ minutes, good for a year. If you buy another $100 before the year is up, your unused minutes rollover to the next year. So it's about $9 per month per phone (we have 3 of them). In general, we use about 15% of the minutes per year.

Verizon recently announced that they are entering the pay-as-you-go marketplace so there's another vendor that might provide more competition.

We all have flip-phones which are decent.

I'm not telling you to switch or anything, but tmobile is 100$ for 1000 minutes which roll into next year. But yeah pay as you go seems like a good service, im switching to it soon i think

150mph_ · Dec 30, 2008

movdqa said:
We use AT&T. $100 for 400+ minutes, good for a year. If you buy another $100 before the year is up, your unused minutes rollover to the next year. So it's about $9 per month per phone (we have 3 of them). In general, we use about 15% of the minutes per year.

Verizon recently announced that they are entering the pay-as-you-go marketplace so there's another vendor that might provide more competition.

We all have flip-phones which are decent.

you use 15% of 400 minutes per year?
that means you talk 60 minutes on the phone per year or 5 minutes average per month?
have any friends?

movdqa · Dec 30, 2008

"you use 15% of 400 minutes per year?
that means you talk 60 minutes on the phone per year or 5 minutes average per month?
have any friends?"

I have an office phone, a home phone, video chat, text chat and email. The phones are used for emergencies, scheduling pickups and ordering takeout. What do you think people did socially before cell phones? Or phones at all?

Experiences with pay as you go cell phone plan??

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