PagePlus, the Prepaid Service Few People Know About even though they are usually the cheapest option with the best coverage
SMS
of the program was about family budgeting and reducing recurring monthly
expenditures.
Besides the parent's suggestions of saving electricity by eliminating
all video games, and the scouts suggestion of cutting showers back to
once a month to save water and natural gas, one of the topics was saving
money on items like internet access, long distance, and cellular.
I mentioned that I paid only about $2.50/month each for cell phone
service for my kid's phones, and after the meeting I was surrounded by
parents wanting to know how to sign up.
PagePlus must be about the worst in terms of getting the word out about
their service. They'll be getting about six new accounts in the next
week thanks to me. Since Verizon is the predominant carrier in my area,
almost everyone at the meeting had at least one spare Verizon phone to
use (though the kids of course want a fancy camera phone--tough luck!).
I had to go into explaining how to sign up (having to buy activation on
eBay is kind of strange), and which phones to use (any phone that was
ever on Verizon CDMA), and explain the rollover, the re-upping every
four months, etc. All these parents were thinking of prepaid in terms of
the horrible deals with high minimums from Verizon, AT&T, Virgin,
Tracfone, Net10, etc. (T-Mobile doesn't work in my area, so they are not
a consideration).
PagePlus costs:
--------------
$76/1400 minutes = 5.4ยข/min
$47.50/700 minutes = 6.8ยข/min
$10/83 minutes = 12ยข/min
Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
existing minutes. 50ยข/month service charge.
Elmo P. Shagnasty
SMS <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
> I had to go into explaining how to sign up (having to buy activation on
> eBay is kind of strange), and which phones to use (any phone that was
> ever on Verizon CDMA), and explain the rollover, the re-upping every
> four months, etc. All these parents were thinking of prepaid in terms of
> the horrible deals with high minimums from Verizon, AT&T, Virgin,
> Tracfone, Net10, etc. (T-Mobile doesn't work in my area, so they are not
> a consideration).
>
> PagePlus costs:
> --------------
> $76/1400 minutes = 5.4ยข/min
> $47.50/700 minutes = 6.8ยข/min
> $10/83 minutes = 12ยข/min
>
> Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
> existing minutes. 50ยข/month service charge.
OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
site, where they say any of this?
Because it ain't there.
You can buy 700 minutes for $50, but they don't show any 1400 minute
airtime cards.
Oh, wait--last time I was on their site a few days ago, they had only
ONE airtime card available. What's with the jumping web site? They
don't have product to sell? They don't bother to keep airtime cards in
stock?
Same with phones--now they have 4, but the other day they had ZERO
PHONES available. That's just plain fishy. It smells of a local kiosk
dealer whose phone stock varies from day to day, depending on what fell
off the back of the truck last night.
Starter kits on Ebay are there, but only a couple of them, and there are
some $10 and $15 airtime cards, but no 700 or 1400 minute ones. The
whole thing looks skanky.
And why doesn't their web site sell starter kits? Why is EVERYTHING
done over Ebay--and badly, at that? The smell is getting pretty strong
here.
And none of what you say about re-upping and rollover is documented
ANYWHERE. Frankly, it all sounds like the smooth-talking used car sale.
Their web site looks like some kid did it in an afternoon and hasn't
touched it since.
And their coverage maps don't tell squat. Why do I care what "home
coverage area" I have or am in at any given time? Why are the maps all
radically different in nature, in look and feel and information given or
not given?
Given the piss-poor web site and total lack of documentation of
anything, why would I bother to buy anything from them? On your say so?
Why should I believe you, or any dealer, for that matter? "Here, it
works that way, really. No, I don't have any brochures or pamphlets to
give you. Just take my word for it, everything'll be fine." Yeah,
right. Uncle Sam's Honest Used Cars. Every car a creampuff, a steal, I
tell ya!
Ward Abbott
wrote:
>and after the meeting I was surrounded by
>parents wanting to know how to sign up.
I bet you are going to tell us how....I didn't know you could pile BS
that high...you are the miracle worker!
SMS
> In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742e...@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> all video games, and the scouts suggestion of cutting showers back to
>> once a month to save water and natural gas
>
> seem to think "elminating all video games" is a joke?
>
> It's a perfectly rational thing to do. Of course, today's "I'm too
> busy" parents just love the video games as an electronic babysitter...
Except that the video games use very little electricity. Other than
that, I agree with you that many kids spend way too much time on video
games.
Kevin Weaver
Unless this changed in the past 6 months or so.
That's why you see so many on eBay selling Page Plus time.
We have a guy that sells time in his little mom and pop store.
Funny thing is our town does not have local numbers for page plus users.
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <el...@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
news:elmop-29B3CA....@nntp1.usenetserver.com...
SMS
> In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742e...@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> I had to go into explaining how to sign up (having to buy activation on
>> eBay is kind of strange), and which phones to use (any phone that was
>> ever on Verizon CDMA), and explain the rollover, the re-upping every
>> four months, etc. All these parents were thinking of prepaid in terms of
>> the horrible deals with high minimums from Verizon, AT&T, Virgin,
>> Tracfone, Net10, etc. (T-Mobile doesn't work in my area, so they are not
>> a consideration).
>>
>> PagePlus costs:
>> --------------
>> $76/1400 minutes = 5.4ยข/min
>> $47.50/700 minutes = 6.8ยข/min
>> $10/83 minutes = 12ยข/min
>>
>> Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
>> existing minutes. 50ยข/month service charge.
>
> OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
> site, where they say any of this?
http://www.telecomservices.net/cgi-bin/tame/cellular/index2.tam?tcon=21130
You'll get no argument from me that their web site is very weak and
uninformative, and that it's strange that you have to buy activation
kits from eBay if you have no resellers in your area.
It may be that Pageplus doesn't seem to want to compete with their
resellers, so their web site is very limited, I don't know.
The frequently asked questions are whether unused minutes roll over, and
how long cards last:
-Minutes do roll over as long as you re-up prior to, or at 120 days
-All cards extend the account for 120 days
I once had time expire and called them and they put back everything
(about $50). They didn't have to do this, it was my fault, but they were
pretty nice about it.
Their home coverage area is the same as Verizon's native coverage, and
in some cases includes Verizon extended coverage. You know if you're
roaming because you have to enter the phone numbers twice.
The big advantage of PagePlus, besides the low rates, is that you get
coverage that is unavailable with most other MVNOs, most of which are
GSM on AT&T, or CDMA on Sprint. In the west anyway, Verizon coverage is
far, far better than Sprint or any of the GSM carriers. Check Consumer
Reports for coverage surveys for your area.
The biggest annoyance of PagePlus, IMVAIO, is that the only way to know
when your 120 days are coming up is to call them. I keep track of it on
a calendar, but it's kind of a pain to not be able to check this on-line
or from the phone via an automated system.
They just seem to be a very low budget operation, not really set up to
sell direct to the end user, preferring to use resellers even at the
expense of having to pay commissions. And no, I'm not a reseller, just a
customer with two accounts.
They've been around since at least 2002, longer than most MVNOs. Some
big name MVNOs have come and gone during that five years, leaving their
customers stranded, i.e. Amp'd Mobile and ESPN Mobile.
SMS
> You cant buy from Page Plus direct. You have to go thru there sellers.
> Unless this changed in the past 6 months or so.
You can call them and buy time. I've done it twice, most recently last week.
You can't buy the $80/1400 minute card from them, at least not on-line.
I think that they are an extremely low-budget operation, and not set up
to sell direct to the end user. Maybe this is a good business plan,
considering they've survived longer than some big name MVNO's that spent
fortunes on marketing, advertising, and fancy e-commerce sites.
Dennis Ferguson
> Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>> SMS <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> PagePlus costs:
>>> --------------
>>> $76/1400 minutes = 5.4ยข/min
>>> $47.50/700 minutes = 6.8ยข/min
>>> $10/83 minutes = 12ยข/min
>>>
>>> Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
>>> existing minutes. 50ยข/month service charge.
>>
>> OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
>> site, where they say any of this?
>
> http://www.telecomservices.net/cgi-bin/tame/cellular/index2.tam?tcon=21130
How do you know how many minutes you get from this seller's cards?
The reason I'm asking is that right now on eBay there's a seller
who advertises his $50 cards as getting you only 425 minutes, here
which seems to suggest that not all $50 cards are necessarily equal.
This seems more than a little bit screwed up.
Dennis Ferguson
SMS
I don't know why he's charging that much, but I think that used to be
the number of minutes for $50 cards last year.
It's complicated because you pay in dollars, but are credited in minutes.
The proper prices are the following:
An $80 card is good for 1400 minutes worth 12ยข each or "$168"
A $50 card is good for 700 minutes worth 12ยข each or "$84"
A $25 card is good for 300 minutes worth 12ยข each or "$36"
A $10 card is good for 83 minutes worth 12ยข each or "$10"
Some sellers discount the card's retail price slightly.
I don't know why telecomservices.net doesn't list the minutes you get.
Steve
>You'll get no argument from me that their web site is very weak and
>uninformative, and that it's strange that you have to buy activation
>kits from eBay if you have no resellers in your area.
>It may be that Pageplus doesn't seem to want to compete with their
>resellers, so their web site is very limited, I don't know.
Received this about a month ago - same thing they've been saying for
the past year or so...
From: custome...@pagepluscellular.com
Our entire website is undergoing a major renovation which is nearing
completion - you should be enjoying a much more user-friendly process
within the next few months.
--
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
...George Bernard Shaw
George
So does taking the dog for a walk or playing ball or all that normal
non-electronic stuff.
SMS
> In article <46f71359$0$27197$742e...@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>>> OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
>>> site, where they say any of this?
>> http://www.telecomservices.net/cgi-bin/tame/cellular/index2.tam?tcon=21130
>
>
> No phones, no documentation about the rollover thing, nada. Just
> minutes for sale.
>
> BTW, this particular reseller has a funny on this page: "Your IP
> Address and Physical Address have been recorded." hehehehehehe Yeah,
> my physical address. Ummmmm...guess what. Not mine. And a cellular
> reseller of all people should understand that concept...
>
>
>
>> The big advantage of PagePlus, besides the low rates, is that you get
>> coverage that is unavailable with most other MVNOs, most of which are
>> GSM on AT&T, or CDMA on Sprint. In the west anyway, Verizon coverage is
>> far, far better than Sprint or any of the GSM carriers. Check Consumer
>> Reports for coverage surveys for your area.
>
Very little. First of all, most of the AMPS that isn't coincident with
CDMA is in rural areas where Verizon is not the carrier, and where AMPS
will not be turned off. Second, CDMA coverage, even without AMPS is
still much better than GSM coverage.
I will miss coverage in some places that will lose coverage if AMPS is
turned off even in areas where there is no digital coverage. These
include areas of the San Mateo Coast and the Santa Cruz mountains. But
many of the areas with no CDMA or GSM coverage are covered by rural
carriers that have no incentive to turn off AMPS.
Kevin Weaver
from a dealer.
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <el...@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
news:elmop-2FA16D....@nntp1.usenetserver.com...
> In article <YoEJi.1387$6p6...@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net>,
> "Kevin Weaver" <kevinkei...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> You cant buy from Page Plus direct. You have to go thru there sellers.
>
> Just go to their web site, you'll see that indeed you can buy from Page
> Plus. Although their web site SUCKS.
>
Godzilla Pimp
"SMS" <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:46f6f23c$0$27170$742e...@news.sonic.net...
Yes indeed. PP is the best prepaid service out there for anyone in native
Verizon territory. An old and reliable company. You can use any Verizon,
Alltel and some Amp'd phones or buy a shiny new INpulse phone at Walmart or
Target. The other good alternative for folks in the central US where native
Verizon coverage is often lacking is Tmo2go. Check out the people who know
instead of posting speculative crap.
GP
SMS
> Yes indeed. PP is the best prepaid service out there for anyone in native
> Verizon territory. An old and reliable company. You can use any Verizon,
> Alltel and some Amp'd phones or buy a shiny new INpulse phone at Walmart or
> Target. The other good alternative for folks in the central US where native
> Verizon coverage is often lacking is Tmo2go. Check out the people who know
> instead of posting speculative crap.
T-Mobile has very spotty coverage in the western region, so they're not
a good choice for prepaid (or postpaid) out here. I've used them with no
problem on the east coast. It's not that they don't want to improve
their coverage, it's that to do so means placing towers in places where
they can't get zoning approval for towers. It's not like satellite
dishes where the FCC prohibits any zoning ordinances from preventing
satellite receivers.
Todd Allcock
> The whole thing smacks of Fiddy Cent selling me a phone on the
> street corner.
Except 50 cent is much better financed than Page Plus!
PagePlus is probaby the longest lasting of the "smally fry" MVNOs,
and offers
a much better deal than most. If the shoestring operation scares
you, don't buy it! It's a risk/rewards thing- what's at risk? A
$20 eBay phone and $2.50/month airtime? The reward is a cheap
prepaid system with outstanding coverage. For (almost) the same
coverage, Verizon InPulse is less risk at $15/month, and certainly a
contract plan is virtually risk free at $40+/month.
PagePlus is intended to be sold through small independent brick and
mortar cellular dealers, and unlike some MVNOs like Beyond Wireless
who undercut their dealers' MSRP on their website, PP seems to want
to let their dealers make the sales and deal with the "headaches"
(activations, ESN changes, etc.) rather than try to be a web-based
business. If I were still a cellular dealer, I'd be selling them.
(Why represent a company who actively "steals" your business?)
--
"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003
SMS
> At 24 Sep 2007 06:18:02 -0400 Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>
>> The whole thing smacks of Fiddy Cent selling me a phone on the
>> street corner.
>
> Except 50 cent is much better financed than Page Plus!
>
> PagePlus is probaby the longest lasting of the "smally fry" MVNOs,
> and offers a much better deal than most.
It's rather telling, that many "big fry" MVNO's have come and gone
during the time PagePlus has been around. Their low-overhead business
model seems to be working for them.
They know they can't compete head-on with the carrier's own prepaid
services, which are usually terrible deals but heavily advertised and
promoted. Nor can they compete with the large MVNO's like Virgin,
TracFone, and Net10, which sell phones through big box stores at loss
leader prices and hope to make up the loss through their extraordinarily
poor deals on airtime or high minimum monthly charges.
They seem to be content to sell to people that are looking for low
monthly minimums, low per minute chargers, and superior coverage, and
that don't mind getting a phone on their own. If they became too
successful then Verizon might cut them off.
When I mentioned PagePlus yesterday at the meeting I was at, someone was
asking "is this a better deal than Verizon's family plan? Verizon gives
you a free phone on the family plan." There are still a lot of people
that become obsessed with getting a "free" handset, and lose sight of
the big picture.
Bob Fry
the only prepaid plan worth squat...and that other plans are never any
good.
I say that given the variety of ways the prepaid plans charge for
their service (connection fees, daily use fees, minute fees, monthly
charges, and expiration of minutes), the best plan depends on a
person's usage pattern.
But SMS can't see that. Kinda a black-and-white view of a colorful
world.
--
Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.
Groucho Marx
Todd Allcock
> The whole thing smacks of Fiddy Cent selling me a phone on the
> street corner.
Except 50 cent is much better financed than Page Plus!
PagePlus is probaby the longest lasting of the "smally fry" MVNOs,
and offers
Vic Smith
wrote:
>SMS has been hard-selling PagePlus on another group, claiming it is
>the only prepaid plan worth squat...and that other plans are never any
>good.
>
>I say that given the variety of ways the prepaid plans charge for
>their service (connection fees, daily use fees, minute fees, monthly
>charges, and expiration of minutes), the best plan depends on a
>person's usage pattern.
>
>But SMS can't see that. Kinda a black-and-white view of a colorful
>world.
So I've noticed. I don't spend much time on this, because I hardly
ever use a cell, though in the past I paid for a few various plans for
the kids. I've come to see cell selection as having only 2 major
components; coverage and cost.
COVERAGE
I'm assuming coverage always includes good signal quality. SMS has
claimed he can get a signal - with PagePlus I think - in some isolated
backwoods area he frequents, where other carriers don't work.
Fine. For him. Others might not care about that.
My phone is used locally, and where I vacation, namely Chicago,
Florida, and points between. I don't care about anything else.
But for anybody, adequate coverage - for them - is the FIRST
consideration.
COST
Determined by usage, but I call it cost, because like coverage, it is
basically out of your hands. Sure, you can adjust your usage to
change the cost, but from what I've seen, that's not much of a
consideration when one gets a cell phone. Since I'm reading/posting
in the frugal group my thoughts are mostly on the frugal tack that
has been discussed here, for limited cell use.
Before that, what I've seen on the cost side in dealing with the
monthly contracted plans I initially bought for the kids, and their
current ongoing plans that they pay for, is that it is a fluid market,
and costs change fast. It is best to keep contracts as short as
possible, no matter how attractive they may seem.
Keying on "limited use" prepaid and my own usage, cost per minute is
virtually meaningless if you can lose the minutes you initially paid
for.
I went with T-Mobile prepaid 2 years ago, and my fist year cost with
new phone was $150. That got us 1200 anytime/anywhere/no roaming
charges minutes. The phone worked fine everywhere we went from
Chicago to Florida (remember, coverage, coverage, coverage.)
Since I bought a $100 fill that made me a "Gold Member." An extra
200 minutes got tossed in as some kind of bonus.
Last year near yearly expiration I loaded up another $100 minutes.
The old minutes were still valid, so we had about 1300 minutes.
Last month it was time to re-up, but since we still had 638 minutes
I just paid $50 and we now have about 1200 minutes, so my yearly
cost is minor, and the cell is great to have.
Anyway, I look at this as a pretty cheap way to have a cell phone.
It looks like we use about 600 minutes a year - mostly while on
vacation - and I realize others might use this much monthly.
10 hours a year on a cell phone is plenty for me.
But one of my kids had a U.S. Cellular contract and is currently
in Tennessee incommunicado because of the roaming charges.
Of course he has no problem paying $60-100 a month to yak at somebody
1/2 mile away who he will be seeing in 1/2 hour and do useless text
messaging.
As you said, lots of colors out there.
--Vic
SMS
> SMS has been hard-selling PagePlus on another group, claiming it is
> the only prepaid plan worth squat...and that other plans are never any
> good.
>
> I say that given the variety of ways the prepaid plans charge for
> their service (connection fees, daily use fees, minute fees, monthly
> charges, and expiration of minutes), the best plan depends on a
> person's usage pattern.
>
> But SMS can't see that. Kinda a black-and-white view of a colorful
> world.
"Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level and beat
you with experience." Loath as I am to neglect this excellent advice, I
feel that I need to respond to this post by Bob, so here goes...
It's certainly possible to come up with a usage pattern where there are
better deals and expirations than with PagePlus.
When looking at prepaid carriers you want to look at:
a) per minute cost
b) minimum monthly cost
c) coverage
SpeakOut Wireless has a lower minimum monthly cost at $2.08/month ($25
per year). They also have a one year airtime expiration versus four
months on PagePlus. On the other hand, their airtime prices are much
higher, and their coverage poorer.
T-Mobile can have a minimum monthly cost of as low as $0.83/month if you
"go gold" with an initial purchase of 1000 minutes for $100. The $100
purchase also extends all future airtime purchases to a 1 year
expiration. But their airtime cost is more than PagePlus at each
recharge level. Their coverage is much, much poorer.
Virgin, Tracfone, AT&T, have high minimum monthly fees at $5.00, $6.67,
and $8.33 respectively. All have poorer coverage than PagePlus.
If you do a lot of international calling, STI Mobile is a good deal with
a $3 monthly fee, but a flat rate of 10ยข/minute plus a fee for some
countries, but many countries you can call at no extra charge, including
most of Mexico, and much of western Europe and Asia
("http://www.stimobile.com/ratelookup.aspx"). Their coverage isn't
nearly as good as PagePlus because they use the inferior Sprint network,
with no roaming.
The worst deals in prepaid are from the companies with very high monthly
minimums, such as Net10, which has a $15/month minimum. The per minute
rate isn't very good either, considering the high monthly minimum,
though it's better than Tracfone.
See "http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm" to learn more.
-For the absolute best coverage, choose PagePlus
-For the absolute lowest recurring monthly cost, choose T-Mobile and go
"gold"
-For the lowest international rates, direct from the phone, choose STI.
I think the problem is that in Bob's case he got taken in by Net10 and
is trying to defend the decision by making these ridiculous statements.
No one would think any worse of him if he just admitted the mistake and
moved on. After all it's not such a big deal in the scheme of things.
I have no connection to PagePlus. I just hate seeing people getting
taken in by these carriers that trick people.
Dennis
wrote:
>Virgin, Tracfone, AT&T, have high minimum monthly fees at $5.00, $6.67,
>and $8.33 respectively. All have poorer coverage than PagePlus.
Just FYI, Tracfone has recently added online airtime purchase options
that make the minimum monthly fee average out to $5.00.
Dennis (evil)
--
The honest man is the one who realizes that he cannot
consume more, in his lifetime, than he produces.
SMS
> I'm assuming coverage always includes good signal quality. SMS has
> claimed he can get a signal - with PagePlus I think - in some isolated
> backwoods area he frequents,
Not so backwoods actually. All on fairly major roads, often not far from
mid-size to large cities. One of the routes to Lake Tahoe, past a major
ski area (CA 88). Much of Crater Lake. Much of Yosemite and the roads
into it (served by Golden State Cellular, a Verizon affiliate). Much of
CA 1 between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. None of these are out in the
woods at all.
It's true that if you never leave the urban core that prepaid services
that use AT&T's network are fine. What you want to avoid, at least out
in the west, is any Sprint or T-Mobile based prepaid carrier, as both
the 1900 MHz GSM and 1900 MHz CDMA networks are _much_ less developed
than AT&T's 800 MHz GSM and Verizon's 800 MHz CDMA networks.
Vic Smith
wrote:
I agree that needed coverage is the most important consideration.
But in your previous post you said:
"When looking at prepaid carriers you want to look at:
a) per minute cost
b) minimum monthly cost
c) coverage"
Try to keep priorities straight.
And nominal per minute cost is meaningless if you lose minutes.
Refill hassle is also a consideration, and sometimes related
to losing minutes.
--Vic
Marsha
I have Page Plus and several times have gotten strong
signals where my friend was not able to pick up
anything and she had to borrow my phone - e.g. Amish
country in Central Ohio.
Marsha
SMS
Yeah, several times when I've picked up my daughter for sporting events,
I have to wait because her friends are using her PagePlus phone to call
their parents because their cell phones don't have a signal. This isn't
out in the middle of nowhere either, it's typically at playing fields
located at middle schools. The schools are usually in very residential
areas, with no tower very close. When I look at the maps for T-Mobile
they show no coverage, and I assume Sprint is the same since they have
almost identical needs in terms of towers (CDMA has slightly longer
distance from the cells, but not enough to make much of a difference at
1900 MHz).
SMS
> Try to keep priorities straight.
> And nominal per minute cost is meaningless if you lose minutes.
> Refill hassle is also a consideration, and sometimes related
> to losing minutes.
Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).
On the one occasion when I missed the refill date, I called them and
they restored $50 worth of minutes I had lost. I doubt if the large
carriers would have been nice enough to do that.
Always look at the big picture, coverage, cost, and hassle.
Todd Allcock
> On the one occasion when I missed the refill date, I called them
> and they restored $50 worth of minutes I had lost. I doubt if the
> large carriers would have been nice enough to do that.
When I was a Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems (eventually Cingular,
then AT&T) dealer I'd called them on behalf of customers several
times and had expired balances restored. (And that was back when
prepaid minutes were $0.65!) Generally their policy was they'd do it
for anyone, ONCE. After that you were stuck if you forgot to refill.
I used to keep a calendar for my prepaid customers and call them a
week or so prior to expiration, take a credit card over the phone and
refill for them (only if they preferred that arrangement and agreed
to it, of course!)
Steve
>Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
>to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
>PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
>re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
>card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).
Might be easier to use the Yahoo store -
http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo.net/prepaidcards.html
SMS
> SMS <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
>> Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
>> to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
>> PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
>> re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
>> card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).
>
> Might be easier to use the Yahoo store -
>
> http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo.net/prepaidcards.html
Then you have to enter the PIN to recharge it, rather than just letting
them do it. Also, my Visa card wouldn't work on their site, but worked
fine when calling.
Steve
>>> Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
>>> to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
>>> PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
>>> re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
>>> card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).
>>
>> Might be easier to use the Yahoo store -
>>
>> http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo.net/prepaidcards.html
>
>Then you have to enter the PIN to recharge it, rather than just letting
>them do it.
Not sure what you mean - as I remember, just entered the phone number,
and the minutes (and time extension) were added automatically...
--
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
...P.J. O'Rourke
SMS
> Not sure what you mean - as I remember, just entered the phone number,
> and the minutes (and time extension) were added automatically...
This is true, it's not a big deal. For some people they just want to
call up and get the phone recharged without entering anything. I called
them because their e-commerce site wouldn't take my Visa card, and they
did the re-upping for me.
SMS
> I used to keep a calendar for my prepaid customers and call them a
> week or so prior to expiration, take a credit card over the phone and
> refill for them (only if they preferred that arrangement and agreed
> to it, of course!)
Now that's good service!
BTW, there is one advantage of a service like Tracfone and Net10. Since
their phones use proprietary firmware, and can't be unlocked (though
some models can be reflashed to standard firmware, and unlocked, if you
send them to a service that has the equipment), the phones are very
cheap, and easy to buy in retail stores. For short term visitors to the
U.S., something like Net10 would be a lot cheaper than roaming on their
home carrier (assuming they had a 850/1900 MHz GSM capable phone).
Buying a PagePlus capable phone is not so cheap--you can buy a Verizon
prepaid phone, but these cost a lot more than a TracFone, or Net10
phone, so for short term use it's expensive. You can buy T-Mobile SIM
cards, but T-Mobile coverage isn't very good.
Godzilla Pimp
Tho rapidly improving, Tmo2go coverage is not as good as Verizon's, which is
tops. But in the central US (outside of major urban areas) you will be
roaming and paying about 50c/m on Page Plus while with Tmo2go roaming is
free.
Check your maps, neighbors and friends for coverage in your area.
Joe
wrote:
> In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742ec...@news.sonic.net>,
>
>
>
>
>
> SMS <scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote:
> > I had to go into explaining how to sign up (having to buy activation on
> > eBay is kind of strange), and which phones to use (any phone that was
> > ever on Verizon CDMA), and explain the rollover, the re-upping every
> > four months, etc.
That's 120 days, not 4 months.
> OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
> site, where they say any of this?
>
> Because it ain't there.
>
> You can buy 700 minutes for $50, but they don't show any 1400 minute
> airtime cards.
>
> Oh, wait--last time I was on their site a few days ago, they had only
> ONE airtime card available. What's with the jumping web site? They
> don't have product to sell? They don't bother to keep airtime cards in
> stock?
>
[snip...]
>
> Given the piss-poor web site and total lack of documentation of
> anything, why would I bother to buy anything from them? On your say so?
> Why should I believe you, or any dealer, for that matter? "Here, it
> works that way, really. No, I don't have any brochures or pamphlets to
> give you. Just take my word for it, everything'll be fine." Yeah,
> right. Uncle Sam's Honest Used Cars. Every car a creampuff, a steal, I
> tell ya!-
>
I have several friends and relatives (all cheap Scots like myself) on
PP, and I evangelize PP in every group I attend.
But their lack of marketing, presentation, retail interface, etc, make
it a very difficult transition from "$2.50 a month" to "Here's
how...". That's why Best Buy, AT&T, Sprint, Virgin, et al, can
continue to sell accounts at $30-50/month: they make it easy for you
to part with your money. Mom and Dad, Sis, and the aunties who still
have black corded 500 sets at home all got PP in the last two years,
when they finally gave up on looking for yucky payphones...
Each relates to me their struggle to buy refills or recharge over the
phone - but a little inconvenience every 4 months seems reasonable to
save $100 per phone-year. (Yes, I know, Virgin on auto-recharge
would only cost about $30 more per year, but we don't believe in
allowing such automatic debits, they tend to get abused.)
I suspect, if PP had their act together to promote themselves well,
they'd probably collapse under their own weight, so I don't worry
about their lack of growth. But I can attest that they're real, and
if you're willing to make the extra effort, an incredible value.
SMS
<snip>
> I suspect, if PP had their act together to promote themselves well,
> they'd probably collapse under their own weight, so I don't worry
> about their lack of growth. But I can attest that they're real, and
> if you're willing to make the extra effort, an incredible value.
What's a little strange is that they really have two web sites.
"http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo.net" does have all the information
about rates, coverage, minutes, and expiration times, while
"http://www.pagepluscellular.com/" does not.
If they became too successful, Verizon would probably decide that they
are a threat, and not renew their contract to purchase minutes. So maybe
it's time to stop telling people about them! It seems from some of the
posts in this thread that many users are content to live with higher
rates, high minimums, and poorer coverage. More power to 'em.
Joe
> Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> > In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742ec...@news.sonic.net>,
> > SMS <scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote:
>
> >> all video games, and the scouts suggestion of cutting showers back to
> >> once a month to save water and natural gas
>
> > seem to think "elminating all video games" is a joke?
>
> > It's a perfectly rational thing to do. Of course, today's "I'm too
> > busy" parents just love the video games as an electronic babysitter...
>
> Except that the video games use very little electricity.
Untrue.
Both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 average about 200 watts, and a
typical plasma screen is about 300 watts.
That's not insignificant, especially when the typical household has
the TV on 8 hours a day, and in a family household, that's probably
several TVs.
Scott Ehrlich
But are the TM phones quad-band? To be fully fair to GSM and TM in the
lack of coverage areas, if the phone can't talk on 850 and/or 1900, then
coverage may be lacking. Leaving one of those bands out and the
roaming/coverage claim is only half true (roaming may occur on the other
band, but the phone doesn't pick it up).
Scott
SMS
> But are the TM phones quad-band? To be fully fair to GSM and TM in the
> lack of coverage areas, if the phone can't talk on 850 and/or 1900, then
> coverage may be lacking. Leaving one of those bands out and the
> roaming/coverage claim is only half true (roaming may occur on the other
> band, but the phone doesn't pick it up).
You can use a quad band phone, or a 850/1900. I think all the T-Mobile
phones are 850/1900 or quad band these days (or tri-band with only the
1800 MHz non-U.S. band, which is essentially worthless outside the U.S.).
The issue is more that they don't allow the same amount of roaming onto
other carriers on the prepaid as they do on postpaid.
Even on postpaid, TM's roaming is limited when they have a network in
the area, even if they have no coverage in a specific location. I.e.,
the TM map for my house shows one bar (the reality is that it's very
difficult to make a connection).
At least in this area, AT&T customers can use the 1900 MHz T-Mobile
network, for now anyway (AT&T sold it to T-Mobile after Cingular
acquired AT&T wireless and got the more desirable 800 MHz spectrum). I
have an old Motorola tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900) and it works with a
Cingular SIM card, at least where T-Mobile has coverage.