Recommend your pre-paid cell phone!

[mamaofprincesses]

Anybody have one they really like?

[UberMama]

Try this forum for recs, reviews, etc.: http://www.howardforums.com/

I had one through Virgin Mobile for awhile. Loved it. $20 every 90 days. I think I got around 500 minutes? I never used them in that time usually. (It looks like it's $20 for every 200 minutes now. If you don't use that time up in 90 days, you do have to refill at the 90 day mark to keep the phone on.)

This is what DH is going to, since he never uses his phone. And even though his (awesome!) plan through Sprint is only $30/month, it's of course cheaper to go to $20/3 months.

[quelindo]

Originally Posted by UberMama

Try this forum for recs, reviews, etc.: http://www.howardforums.com/

I had one through Virgin Mobile for awhile. Loved it. $20 every 90 days. I think I got around 500 minutes? I never used them in that time usually. (It looks like it's $20 for every 200 minutes now. If you don't use that time up in 90 days, you do have to refill at the 90 day mark to keep the phone on.)

This is what DH is going to, since he never uses his phone. And even though his (awesome!) plan through Sprint is only $30/month, it's of course cheaper to go to $20/3 months.

I have a Virgin Mobile, too. The phone was super cheap and if you sign up for automatic withdrawal the price drops to $15 every three months. DH and I each have one, and it costs us $10 a month total to have cell phones. We don't really use them much so the minutes accumulate. I figure in a family emergency or something we'll have enough minutes banked to use them freely (and we've had situations like that).

[mom0810]

I have an AT&T go phone and like it.

[kanga1622]

DH and I share a TracFone. We really like it. We usually buy from their website to get a free phone and a 1 year card for $99 whenever I'm looking to upgrade phones. They are almost always running a special with that deal to double your minutes so we get about 900 minutes to use for the year (and it often gives us 14 months to renew for some reason).

We don't use our phone much so that is enough minutes for us. We can always add on additional minutes at any time or for $50 you can get double minutes for the life of the phone.

[licro]

I use tmobile to go .I have been using it for years. it's really great quality and a good plan. you can go into a target and by the phones they have a brochure with all the information on the plan. I would highly recommend it

[Leta]

DH and I each have a TracFone in our glove boxes. They are strictly emergency/travel only. They each cost $10 every 90 days, so about $6/mo for our cell service (we do load up on minutes when we are going to be traveling, though). We got TracFones because they work in every zip code in the U.S., and no other cell phones (that I could find) do. (TracFone buys its coverage from larger carriers, that's why their coverage is so good.) I have used TracFone all over the U.S., including AK, with no problems.

For general, every day mobile phone use, we use the truphone app for ipod touch. This costs around $4/mo for both (you buy a year's worth of service at a time). We can call any VOIP, cell, or landline number in North America without a per minute fee. International calls cost extra. You have to be under a wifi cloud for this to work, but we usually are. TracFone back up just in case we aren't.

So $10/mo for two unlimited, two backup mobile phones. Hard to beat.

We also have VOIP for our home phone (magicJack) that costs $1/mo. To be fair, this wouldn't work without our DSL, and that costs $20/mo. So our total communication cost is $31/mo, not including the prorated cost of the equipment we had to buy.

[broodymama]

Originally Posted by New Mama

I have a Virgin Mobile, too. The phone was super cheap and if you sign up for automatic withdrawal the price drops to $15 every three months. DH and I each have one, and it costs us $10 a month total to have cell phones. We don't really use them much so the minutes accumulate. I figure in a family emergency or something we'll have enough minutes banked to use them freely (and we've had situations like that).

This sums it up for us too, we've had Virgin Mobile for about 5 years now. DH and I rarely use our phones, but it's worth the $10 a month to have them for emergencies.

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by mom0810

I have an AT&T go phone and like it.

I don't have feelings one way or the other, honestly. I just have it for emergencies or while we're on the road or whatever. It's a phone, it works. Well, as long as you're not cell-phone inept like me and remember to charge it and that sometimes you need to turn it off and turn it back on to reboot it so to speak.
I don't do texts or anything - just for straight up phone calls, so the phone's nice and basic and has been tossed around like you wouldn't believe and is still going.

[sweetjasmine]

subbing

[beansmama]

We've been using Tracfone since February and it works just fine for us. We got a phone with double minutes for life and IMO that's the only way to go if you get one

[TEAK's Mom]

Originally Posted by beansmama

We've been using Tracfone since February and it works just fine for us. We got a phone with double minutes for life and IMO that's the only way to go if you get one

[choli]

I have tmobile to go and the coverage is awful. I really don't recommend it, as soon as my minutes are all used up I'm getting rid of it.

[travlr]

Originally Posted by Leta

DH and I each have a TracFone in our glove boxes. They are strictly emergency/travel only. They each cost $10 every 90 days, so about $6/mo for our cell service (we do load up on minutes when we are going to be traveling, though). We got TracFones because they work in every zip code in the U.S., and no other cell phones (that I could find) do. (TracFone buys its coverage from larger carriers, that's why their coverage is so good.) I have used TracFone all over the U.S., including AK, with no problems.

For general, every day mobile phone use, we use the truphone app for ipod touch. This costs around $4/mo for both (you buy a year's worth of service at a time). We can call any VOIP, cell, or landline number in North America without a per minute fee. International calls cost extra. You have to be under a wifi cloud for this to work, but we usually are. TracFone back up just in case we aren't.

So $10/mo for two unlimited, two backup mobile phones. Hard to beat.

We also have VOIP for our home phone (magicJack) that costs $1/mo. To be fair, this wouldn't work without our DSL, and that costs $20/mo. So our total communication cost is $31/mo, not including the prorated cost of the equipment we had to buy.

I'm impressed!

[daytripper75]

I have the AT&T phone and like it. I did the $100 up front so that my number will be good for a year. Got it in April and have spent $70 worth of my credits since then. I don't use the phone much but am glad to have it.

[cristeen]

We've had AT&T for years... 8 for me, I think 6 for DH. We do $100/yr, but we don't really use our phones much, so DH has something like $300 on his phone at this point.

I compared prices of the different prepaid services a while back, and they were all the same, so I'd pick the one that has the best service coverage in your area.

[Drummer's Wife]

DD has Tracfone and we are happy with it. We have not spent much money at all in the last almost 6 months since she got it. The flip phone itself (which is decent) was only $15 and came with start up minutes (30 I think?) then I upload minutes as needed for $10-15. I have probably done it 3 times? Text messaging is included as it uses up 1 min. for every 3 texts - which is pretty high, but if you don't text often it's not bad.

I would guess it's cost us on average $10 or less per month. Of course, my DD is only 8 and uses her phone super rarely -- but unless you talked really frequently, I think pre-paid will end up cheaper than most contract cell phone services.

[umsami]

I have Tmobile and love it. Never had any issues.

[WC_hapamama]

One of our kiddos has a Verizon pre-paid... Vzw has the best coverage around here, and DH and I both have regular verizon cell phones, so it works out pretty well for us.

[lisalulu]

I've had T-Mobile for several years and love it too. I just bought a Samsung T239 from Target. When they go on ad, they're $20-30 less than getting them through T-Mobile. Of course they don't offer the cool red color at Target...