Update to Prepaid Cellular Site
SMS
"http://prepaiduswireless.com/"
This is a non-commercial site that I put together because I was
constantly e-mailing people information regarding which prepaid wireless
plans were the best deals.
There are presently four ways to get prepaid cellular for under $2.50
per month:
T-Mobile: As low as 74¢/month, as low as 8.8¢/minute (T-Moble network)
PagePlus: As low as $2.35/month, as low as 5.4¢/minute (Verizon network)
7-11: SpeakOut $2.08/month, 15¢/minute (AT&T network)
ARN: As low as 21¢ per month, as low as 25¢/minute (CDMA and AMPS networks))
If you know of any better deals than these, let me know.
imascot
news:xuxxk.20404$jI5....@flpi148.ffdc.sbc.com:
Great site, very informative. However, my Page Plus phone roamed just fine in Vancouver, and it
also roamed in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
J.
SMS
> Great site, very informative. However, my Page Plus phone roamed just fine in Vancouver, and it
> also roamed in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Interesting. Two years ago my kids had them in Canada (Calgary) and
there was no service at all on them. I'd expect it to work in the Virgin
Islands. Were you charged the higher rate for roaming?
PagePlus is really amazing. I'm hoping that Verizon continues to let
them resell service for a long time.
Gordon
> I have updated my web site on prepaid cellular service at:
Good site. Very informitive. I've been searching for a
good prepaid cell plan to use as a 2nd phone. I had already
eliminated from consideration all the big plans that you
suggest avoiding (Trac phone, etc). I was pretty much
zeroing in on 7-11 Speak out. But I was unaware that there
was both a CDMA and GSM version.
I'm wondering why you prefer the GSM plan over the CDMA plan?
The CDMA plan would use the Verizon network around here. That
would be the best network in these parts.
imascot
news:jGCxk.594$Z64...@flpi143.ffdc.sbc.com:
I was charged the roaming rate, but at least I could use the phone. My husband brought his Nextel,
he had no service, and my kids brought their Tracfones, and they had no service.
I like Page Plus, too. But when I recommend it to people, they are all excited until they hear about
the odd way you have to activate a phone. ("So, I have to go on Ebay to find someone to make it
work.........................?") So I just tell the ones I think can handle it, or I set it up for them, like I did
for my parents.
The most fun I had was when I took my phone to a Verizon store to have the firmware updated. The
know-it-all tech kid couldn't figure out why my number didn't come up in the Verizon computer. So,
to enlighten by confusing, I said, "Well, it's through Page Plus." He didn't want to admit that he had
no idea what I was referring to.
J.
George Grapman
I work in telecom and the three words that give me the most
credibility are "I don't know".
SMS
> I was charged the roaming rate, but at least I could use the phone. My husband brought his Nextel,
> he had no service, and my kids brought their Tracfones, and they had no service.
I remember being at the Anchorage airport and talking on my Verizon
phone, when Nextel and GSM customers had no coverage at all. GSM came
late to Alaska.
> I like Page Plus, too. But when I recommend it to people, they are all excited until they hear about
> the odd way you have to activate a phone. ("So, I have to go on Ebay to find someone to make it
> work.........................?") So I just tell the ones I think can handle it, or I set it up for them, like I did
> for my parents.
Well you can go to Ugly Eric at
"http://www.uglyeric.com/activation.html" but that may qualify as even
odder!
> The most fun I had was when I took my phone to a Verizon store to have the firmware updated. The
> know-it-all tech kid couldn't figure out why my number didn't come up in the Verizon computer. So,
> to enlighten by confusing, I said, "Well, it's through Page Plus." He didn't want to admit that he had
> no idea what I was referring to.
Yet if you call a PagePlus phone that's turned off, you get the a
Verizon message.
SMS
> I'm wondering why you prefer the GSM plan over the CDMA plan?
> The CDMA plan would use the Verizon network around here. That
> would be the best network in these parts.
The CDMA plan is probably fine, but they charge more per minute.
Zuke
>SMS.s...@geemail.com> wrote in
> news:xuxxk.20404$jI5....@flpi148.ffdc.sbc.com:
>
>> I have updated my web site on prepaid cellular service at:
>> "http://prepaiduswireless.com/"
>>
>> This is a non-commercial site that I put together because I was
>> constantly e-mailing people information regarding which prepaid
>> wireless plans were the best deals.
>>
>> There are presently four ways to get prepaid cellular for under $2.50
Good work but it seems to be aimed at the people who just want to
have a cellphone in case they catch on fire or something. A real
fringe market since it appears a lot of the public has taken the
cell phone to be their main outlet for connecting up with others.
I am in the market where I don't call four people up every time
a light bulb goes off in my head but I do want incoming and outgoing
calls. Tracfone has worked for me. I think I pay about $100 a year
for over 1000 minutes. I did pay $50 extra one time for double
minutes for life. I have had really good luck with their customer
service.
SMS
> Good work but it seems to be aimed at the people who just want to
> have a cellphone in case they catch on fire or something.
Not really. PagePlus is as low as 5.4¢ per minute, which is cheaper than
any prepaid service I've ever seen, plus it has far better coverage than
GSM Tracfone (I think there is no more CDMA Tracfone being sold).
T-Mobile can be as low as 8¢ per minute. I know that there's various
deals on Tracfone that can bring the cost lower than the standard
pricing of 20-33¢ per minute, but probably not as low as 5.4¢.
The 7-11 pricing at 15¢ per minute is still less than the regular
Tracfone pricing, but probably higher than the deals Tracfone
periodically offers with bonus minutes that generally can cut the
regular pricing in half.
Zuke
My tracfone went belly up recently. I called tracfone and they sent
out a new sim but I didn't think that was the problem anyway as I was
getting no display at all.
So I went to Meijer and picked up a new phone for 15 bucks. When I
switched my number over online I winded up with 2 months extra service
and a 1000 extra minutes. Maybe that came with the new phone.
I am not recommending tracfone over other services, just noting that
so far it has worked for me. And though it might not be the cheapest
it is not going to break the bank either.
>
SMS
> My tracfone went belly up recently. I called tracfone and they sent
> out a new sim but I didn't think that was the problem anyway as I was
> getting no display at all.
>
> So I went to Meijer and picked up a new phone for 15 bucks. When I
> switched my number over online I winded up with 2 months extra service
> and a 1000 extra minutes. Maybe that came with the new phone.
>
> I am not recommending tracfone over other services, just noting that
> so far it has worked for me. And though it might not be the cheapest
> it is not going to break the bank either.
Yes, Tracfone makes it very convenient, much more so than PagePlus. But
you stated "...it seems to be aimed at the people who just want to
have a cellphone in case they catch on fire or something." This isn't
true, it's aimed at people that want the lowest overall cost (other than
the ARN service).
T-Mobile really makes it easy as well, and once you buy $100 in air time
your minutes don't expire for 365 days, and minutes are as low as 8в.
Alas the T-Mobile prepaid coverage isn't very good as they don't let you
roam onto 800 MHz GSM carriers. You can roam onto other 1900 MHz
carriers, but there aren't many of these around.
One thing I find quite ironic is that text messages on PagePlus can cost
as little as 3.6в, while on my postpaid Verizon account, texting is now
up to 20в. On Tracfone, text messages are 0.3 minutes, or 7-10в which
isn't bad, but still 2-3x what PagePlus charges.
imascot
news:vqqdnVNUqszkH1XV...@earthlink.com:
> imascot <im...@mycomputer.now> wrote:
>
>>all excited until they hear about the odd way you have to activate a
>>phone.
> I found nothing odd about calling a customer service number and
> following instructions received from a human being.
Is this the Page Plus activation procedure, directly through them? I'm curious, because I didn't do it that
way, and their website no longer even mentions that they will do activations. The guy I used through
Ebay (not Ugly Eric) and I communicated through email.
J.