T-mobile vs Tracfone
Ohioguy
cheap . At one point, I thought I remembered someone telling me that
the T-Mobile phone had the edge, but looking at the cards in the store,
I don't see that.
Essentially, my wife wants a phone in her car that she can activate
for a year at a time, and have at least an hour or so of emergency use
on it if her car breaks down. She will not use it otherwise, or give
out the number to family or friends.
So the question is this: which one has minutes that don't expire for
a whole year, perhaps rolls the minutes over from year to year, and/or
costs the least for roughly 1-2 hours of service annually?
Thanks!
Steve.IA
After the initial purchase of time and minutes on Tracfone, the minutes
last forever until you use them. You can renew time month to month for
$5.99 automagically with their Service Protection plan.
--
Peace,
Steve
southiowa
Offering rural highspeed ISP access.
www.bubbalink.com
Vic Smith
We have 2 T-Mobile prepaid phones. For years.
To get it right at the lowest cost per year you pay for $100 worth of
minutes at the start.
They often have promotions - we got 1200 minutes for that.
That $100 makes you a "Gold Member," meaning minutes won't expire
after a year - if you buy more minutes before the year is up.
I just did a yearly update on one to keep about 400 minutes from
expiring. Paid $10 for 100 minutes. $10 is the least you can pay to
refresh the expiration of minutes for another year.
My wife has had her phone for about 5 years and total cost for minutes
has been about $200.
No roaming charges, and anytime, anywhere.
We only do voice calling.
Good coverage from Illinois to Florida.
Coverage that you need is the first thing to consider.
If you're a light user as we are, it works fine.
Your wife will probably call from the store or elsewhere if she gets
delayed. Mine does. But we use the vast majority of our minutes when
we are on vacation.
I've had mine 3 years and spent $120 total on minutes.
The initial $100 and two $10 yearly updates.
Still have at least 500 minutes. Only used minutes because we used it
on vacations to "equalize" the minutes on the 2 phones.
I think I only made one call when not on vacation - just to see if it
worked. I often forget to bring the phone with me when going
somewhere locally.
Doing the $100 "Gold Member" deal up front is what makes it work for
us.
--Vic
Gordon
_TKh3DRnZ2dn...@earthlink.com:
>
> "Steve.IA" <saha...@invalid.com> wrote:
>
>>After the initial purchase of time and minutes on Tracfone, the minutes
>>last forever until you use them.
> What does that mean? The Tracfone site clearly states otherwise:
> Minutes are good for 30, 45, 90 or 365 days, depending on which
> portion of the web site one believes, the "plans" are monthly and the
> "Service Protection Plan" is absolutely free money for the Tracfone
> folks and purely sucker-bait for those incapable of actually
> remembering something.
>
On Tracfone, the minutes are good for 30, 45, 90, or 360 days
(and other durations IIRC) depending on how many minutes you buy.
More minutes, more time to use them. But the minutes are cheaper
bought in larger numbers.
Personally I don't like Tracfone as a limited use phone.
Unfortunatly, 7-11 no longer offers it's Speak Out plan.
15 cents per minute, 365 day expiration. $10.00 minimum
purchase. But it's no longer available.
Here are a couple of web sites that compare prepaid
cell phone plans.
http://www.cellguru.net/index.htm
http://prepaiduswireless.com/
Steve.IA
> "Steve.IA" <saha...@invalid.com> wrote:
>
>>After the initial purchase of time and minutes on Tracfone, the minutes
>>last forever until you use them.
> What does that mean? The Tracfone site clearly states otherwise:
> Minutes are good for 30, 45, 90 or 365 days, depending on which
> portion of the web site one believes, the "plans" are monthly and the
> "Service Protection Plan" is absolutely free money for the Tracfone
> folks and purely sucker-bait for those incapable of actually
> remembering something.
>
I can't explain it better than that, I know that I have so many minutes
and buy a month worth of time for $5.99. I rarely use minutes and these
may last me for years. I have a cell that does all I need for about
$70/year.
I'm not shilling for tracfone, don't know to compare it to anything, just
know how it works for me. YMMV.
--
Peace,
Steve
southiowa
SMS
T-Mobile prepaid is $10 a year once you go "Gold" by spending $100.
Actually $9 since CallingMart often has T-Mobile refills for 10% off.
The big problem with T-Mobile is that their coverage is a tiny subset of
Tracfone coverage--and it's getting worse. T-Mobile has been ending
roaming agreements with AT&T which has greatly reduced coverage, though
you can still call 911 even in places where you can't make regular
calls. If you never leave metro areas, including not going outside the
urban core of the metro area, then T-Mobile works. If you go to most
places where AT&T is the carrier, you're S.O.L.
I.e. in the Bay Area where I live, T-Mobile used to allow roaming onto
AT&T. This was essential because many of the areas outside the cities in
the area have only Verizon and AT&T native coverage. When the roaming
agreement ended T-Mobile lost vast areas of coverage--areas where few
people live but areas where a lot of people travel through. Sprint has
coverage by virtue of roaming onto Verizon (but Virgin Mobile doesn't
roam onto Verizon).
The best prepaid service in terms of cost per minute and coverage is
PagePlus which uses Verizon's network (but allows extra-cost roaming on
other CDMA networks). They charge as little as 4 cents per minute.
Unfortunately there is no 1 year expiration available, you have to add
$10 (100 10 cent minutes) every 120 days, so it's not a good option for
a glovebox phone that is rarely used. You can set up automatic refills,
but only on a monthly basis, not on a 120 day basis. However you can
start the automatic refills to begin the day before your time expires,
then go in and edit the automatic refill start date and change it to the
date your time next expires. But it's a hassle to do this every four months.
Gordon
news:4cedb64b$0$1658$742e...@news.sonic.net:
> The best prepaid service in terms of cost per minute and coverage is
> PagePlus which uses Verizon's network (but allows extra-cost roaming
> on other CDMA networks). They charge as little as 4 cents per minute.
> Unfortunately there is no 1 year expiration available, you have to add
> $10 (100 10 cent minutes) every 120 days, so it's not a good option
> for a glovebox phone that is rarely used. You can set up automatic
> refills, but only on a monthly basis, not on a 120 day basis. However
> you can start the automatic refills to begin the day before your time
> expires, then go in and edit the automatic refill start date and
> change it to the date your time next expires. But it's a hassle to do
> this every four months.
I'll 2nd that with PAgePlus. I have one phone on Page Plus
and I put $25.00 on it every 5 to 8 weeks depending on how
much I talk. You used to be able to buy a Verizon Impulse
phone and activate it on PagePlus. But Verizon put a stop to
that. Now you have to buy a phone from PagePlus. And their
customer service sucks. If you can even reach them.
The Real Bev
I've used T-Mobile prepaid for at least 4 years. The only thing I use
it for are "I'm here, whre are you?" calls and have over 700 minutes
saved. I get my $10 top-up cards at Target because one of the survey
sites pays me in Target or Walmart gift cards, so the service is free
from now on.
The bad part is that I get really crappy reception in my house, although
it improves enough to actually use if I walk to the front of the
neighbor's house. The other bad part is the crappy Samsung T-319 phone
-- I have to put it on 'speaker' to hear it when I put it next to my ear
and the camera is only 640x480 and costs me 25 cents to send to myself.
Who knew you had to specify that the phone should have some sort of
USB connection?
--
Cheers, Bev
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"It doesn't get any easier - you just go faster."
-- Greg Lemond
SMS
> Now you have to buy a phone from PagePlus.
No, you can use any old Verizon phone from a postpaid account, but not a
new Verizon Impulse phone anymore.
> And their
> customer service sucks. If you can even reach them.
Funny thing is that their customer service used to not suck. It's gotten
much worse in the past couple of years. Very rude, once you finally
reach them. And they just lost some case regarding their unlimited
service not being unlimited, and them disconnecting customer using too
many minutes and texts on unlimited.
Still, by far the best priced and best coverage prepaid provider.
SMS
> The bad part is that I get really crappy reception in my house, although
> it improves enough to actually use if I walk to the front of the
> neighbor's house.
I once had 1900 MHz GSM on Pacific Bell Wireless (which turned into
Cingular, then they sold the 1900 MHz network to T-Mobile).
I had to go outside across the street to have reception on T-Mobile (nee
Cingular, nee Pac Bell Wireless). I would be doing conference calls with
Asia at night, outside, on my cell, taking notes on a clipboard. The
neighbors must have thought I was a drug dealer. I dropped that service
as soon as the contract was up, thank goodness back then it was only one
year contracts. A couple of years ago T-Mobile finally added a tower for
better reception in my neighborhood. That tower took about eight years
from the time it was proposed to be put in.
T-Mobile is improving coverage in urban areas (where most of the
customers are) but coverage is worsening in rural areas as roaming
agreements with AT&T expire. Drive to Yosemite from the Bay Area and
you'll have no coverage in the valley even though AT&T has a cell there.
Same issue all over the Bay Area once you get outside the urban areas.
But you can still call 911 if there's a signal.
h
>
> I can't explain it better than that, I know that I have so many minutes
> and buy a month worth of time for $5.99. I rarely use minutes and these
> may last me for years. I have a cell that does all I need for about
> $70/year.
> I'm not shilling for tracfone, don't know to compare it to anything, just
> know how it works for me. YMMV.
Yup,.the minutes last forever and the phone is $70 a year. Can't beat it.
Vic Smith
<bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>The bad part is that I get really crappy reception in my house, although
>it improves enough to actually use if I walk to the front of the
>neighbor's house. The other bad part is the crappy Samsung T-319 phone
>-- I have to put it on 'speaker' to hear it when I put it next to my ear
>and the camera is only 640x480 and costs me 25 cents to send to myself.
> Who knew you had to specify that the phone should have some sort of
>USB connection?
We have simple phones. Think they were about 50-60 bucks each.
I hate the Nokia my wife bought me for my birthday.
She has a Motorola flip and it's a much better phone ergonomically.
Much easier to see/work buttons and the angled shape when talking is
more "natural" for me. Better display and speaker too.
We get good T-Mobile coverage where ever we go, which is luck, because
when we bought we didn't do any homework first.
I take back what I said before about only making one call with it
locally.
Used it 5 or 6 times at home to call Comcast to get my cable land line
service restored.
Never thought I'd miss Ma Bell twisted pair, but sometimes I do.
--Vic
The Real Bev
I don't. We still have it, along with a basic powered-by-the-phoneline
phone along with a couple of modern ones that are useless during an AC
power outage.
Question: Do cell towers contain antennae for all the companies that
want to rent space or does each tower belong to one company and is used
by only that company?
--
Cheers, Bev
**********************************************
"I've had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have
never experienced any prob
Vic Smith
<bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 11/25/10 08:26, Vic Smith wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 24 Nov 2010 20:12:07 -0800, The Real Bev
>> <bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>
>Question: Do cell towers contain antennae for all the companies that
>want to rent space or does each tower belong to one company and is used
>by only that company?
Think each tower is owned by a cell company and they have arrangements
with other cell companies to provide service for their customers.
I don't think the antennae have anything to do with it.
Probably the phone firmware decides what tower to use depending on
signal strength, giving priority to towers according to what company
the phone is programmed to favor.
"Roaming" is when your call is carried by a tower belonging to a
company other than the one you are paying.
About a year ago T-Mobile dropped their arrangement with AT&T to carry
T-Mobile customers from AT&T towers.
Caused a lot of grief for T-Mobile customers who depended on AT&T
towers.
--Vic
The Real Bev
> <bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>On 11/25/10 08:26, Vic Smith wrote:
>>> <bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>Question: Do cell towers contain antennae for all the companies that
>>want to rent space or does each tower belong to one company and is used
>>by only that company?
>
> Think each tower is owned by a cell company and they have arrangements
> with other cell companies to provide service for their customers.
> I don't think the antennae have anything to do with it.
I was assuming that the long rectangular things attached to the poles
were antennae. If not, what are they and what then are antennae?
> Probably the phone firmware decides what tower to use depending on
> signal strength, giving priority to towers according to what company
> the phone is programmed to favor.
> "Roaming" is when your call is carried by a tower belonging to a
> company other than the one you are paying.
> About a year ago T-Mobile dropped their arrangement with AT&T to carry
> T-Mobile customers from AT&T towers.
> Caused a lot of grief for T-Mobile customers who depended on AT&T
> towers.
I assume I'm using t-mobile towers along the SoCal freeways, since I
never see anything except bars. OTOH, an entirely different cell
service popped up when I was in Raleigh NC.
Is there a cell tower map showing ALL the towers anywhere? There's
SOME tower about 1/3 mile away, but my house seems to be in some sort of
shadow; if I walk 20 feet away reception is fine.
--
Cheers, Bev
=================================================================
"The federal government has taken too much tax money from the
people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty
with the Constitution." -- Ronald Reagan
SMS
> Question: Do cell towers contain antennae for all the companies that
> want to rent space or does each tower belong to one company and is used
> by only that company?
Yes.
Some are shared with multiple antennae for multiple carriers, some are
owned by the carrier for their exclusive use, or for the use of roaming
customers if the other carrier has a roaming agreement.
The problem with T-Mobile these days is that they're allowing less
roaming onto other carriers, so coverage has been decreasing.