I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

It seems to me that you can pick up the phone at Walmart for less
than $100 and buy a prepaid card for about 10 to 20 cents a minute.

And then if you don't use it but a few times a month, it would be an
excellent deal.

What am I missing?

What brand or service works well here in Houston/La Porte?

Sherman

Sherman wrote:

I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

It seems to me that you can pick up the phone at Walmart for less
than $100 and buy a prepaid card for about 10 to 20 cents a minute.

And then if you don't use it but a few times a month, it would be an
excellent deal.

What am I missing?

What brand or service works well here in Houston/La Porte?

Sherman

Tried it in Calif and it sucked. (AT&T I think) I wanted it basically
for emergencies only and thought it would be perfect. When the wife
upgraded I took her old phone and bought a card. What I found was that
every time I got called they whacked of a lot more than the minute I was
hooked up and if there was any unused time left at the end of the month
I lost it and had to start over with a new card.

There is one deal from Trac Phone that you can keep the minutes for a
year and even roll them over again if you buy a ? 80$? card, I think its
240 minutes for 80-90$. Good if the phone is for emergency use only.
Trac Phone has the only deal where minutes dont just expire automaticly
in 20-60 days, but you must buy their big card, at radioshack, wall mart
etc. Now though there might be others to offer this. You can get their
phones from 35$ and up. The bad deal is the cheap cards expire in 30
days. With Track phone you can get a phone and one years minutes for
130$ or 11 $ a month.

m Ransley, 12/6/2005, 6:55:34 AM,
wrote:

There is one deal from Trac Phone that you can keep the minutes for a
year and even roll them over again if you buy a ? 80$? card, I think
its 240 minutes for 80-90$. Good if the phone is for emergency use
only. Trac Phone has the only deal where minutes dont just expire
automaticly in 20-60 days, but you must buy their big card, at
radioshack, wall mart etc. Now though there might be others to offer
this. You can get their phones from 35$ and up. The bad deal is the
cheap cards expire in 30 days. With Track phone you can get a phone
and one years minutes for 130$ or 11 $ a month.

Does Tracfone receive incoming calls and does that apply to your
minutes?

Sherman wrote:

I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

It seems to me that you can pick up the phone at Walmart for less
than $100 and buy a prepaid card for about 10 to 20 cents a minute.

And then if you don't use it but a few times a month, it would be an
excellent deal.

What am I missing?

Usually, the time "expires" if you don't use it within a certain time
frame.

I use Tracfone, and am very happy with it. But I purchase 150 minute
cards, which don't expire for 1-year. If you keep purchasing cards,
the minutes roll-over, so you don't lose them. But for me, I don't use
anywhere near as many minutes as I have to sign up for to keep the
service in place.

It's still much less expensive than the normal monthly rates from
Singular/Verizon, etc. It's great if you don't use the phone much.

Another disadvantage, at least with Tracfone, is that if you lose the
phone or it is stolen, you lose all your minutes and time. They will
not transfer those minutes or time to a new phone.


What brand or service works well here in Houston/La Porte?

I'm in western NY, so can't help you there. But all the prepaid plans
use some other sevice provider's network to arry the signal. In my
area, Tracfone uses Verizon, which is good because they have the best
coverage in this area. When I vacationed in the Southwest, my phone
used Singular, which was also the best coverage in that area.

So ask the provider what network they use in your area. Then ask
friends and coworkers what service they use, and how their coverage
is.

Terry

You are right Terry, a 150 minute Trac Phone card, I forgot the card
size we purchased, the phone is for my mom for emergencys, but she got
60? minutes free for signing and 2 extra months I believe before a new
card is needed, 14 months. Phone works fine and has only needed a
partial charge in 1 year, Now they have a camera phone avalaible, I
think phones start at 35$ up to 100+.

On Tue, 6 Dec 2005 06:51:29 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote:

You are right Terry, a 150 minute Trac Phone card, I forgot the card
size we purchased, the phone is for my mom for emergencys, but she got
60? minutes free for signing and 2 extra months I believe before a new
card is needed, 14 months. Phone works fine and has only needed a
partial charge in 1 year, Now they have a camera phone avalaible, I
think phones start at 35$ up to 100+.

But, can you change phones (both from TracFone), and keep the same
phone number and accumulated minutes/time?
--
19 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

Terry wrote:
Sherman wrote:

I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

It seems to me that you can pick up the phone at Walmart for less
than $100 and buy a prepaid card for about 10 to 20 cents a minute.

And then if you don't use it but a few times a month, it would be an
excellent deal.

What am I missing?

Usually, the time "expires" if you don't use it within a certain time
frame.

I use Tracfone, and am very happy with it. But I purchase 150 minute
cards, which don't expire for 1-year. If you keep purchasing cards,
the minutes roll-over, so you don't lose them. But for me, I don't use
anywhere near as many minutes as I have to sign up for to keep the
service in place.


Yea, that's an answer, but I doubt if I would average even one call a
year, and that would still mean I would be paying about $100 a year for the
service and at my rate of calls that would be $50 or more a call. Now if I
could buy the card, keep the minutes and only pay say $20.00 per year, I
think I would go for that.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

In article , on Tue, 06
Dec 2005 14:15:13 GMT, Joseph Meehan wrote:

Yea, that's an answer, but I doubt if I would average even one call a
year, and that would still mean I would be paying about $100 a year for the
service and at my rate of calls that would be $50 or more a call. Now if I
could buy the card, keep the minutes and only pay say $20.00 per year, I
think I would go for that.


There are several prepaid carriers that would fit your requirements.
STI Mobile and Beyond Wireless, for example, let you keep your minutes
forever, and only require you to make a one minute call every 60 days to
keep your service. STI mobile charges 12 cents a minute peak, 10 cents
a minute off-peak and weekends, so you only have to spend a minimum 60
cents a year. I believe beyond wireless is similar. Beyond Wireless is a
little more expensive (about 16 cents a minute, or so, IIRC), but has
better coverage.

STI Mobile is reselling Sprint PCS, and Beyond Wireless is reselling
Cingular (formerly AT&T) TDMA.

I noticed in Staples' flyer this week that they are selling an STI
Mobile phone for free after rebate ($100), so all you need for over
eight years of service (if you never use it, except for the requisite
calls) is your local sales tax on the phone, a $5 activation fee, and a
$5 prepaid card.

www.stimobile.com
www.gobeyondwireless.com

I think there's a third carrier that does this, too, but I can't
remember their name.

I've never used these people, so it's conceivable there are problems I
don't know about. And, of course, you risk them going out of business,
since they seem to be small companies working on small margins.

--
Seth Goodman

Seth Goodman wrote:
In article , on Tue,
06 Dec 2005 14:15:13 GMT, Joseph Meehan wrote:

Yea, that's an answer, but I doubt if I would average even one
call a year, and that would still mean I would be paying about $100
a year for the service and at my rate of calls that would be $50 or
more a call. Now if I could buy the card, keep the minutes and only
pay say $20.00 per year, I think I would go for that.


There are several prepaid carriers that would fit your requirements.
STI Mobile and Beyond Wireless, for example, let you keep your minutes
forever, and only require you to make a one minute call every 60 days
to keep your service. STI mobile charges 12 cents a minute peak, 10
cents a minute off-peak and weekends, so you only have to spend a
minimum 60 cents a year. I believe beyond wireless is similar. Beyond
Wireless is a little more expensive (about 16 cents a minute, or so,
IIRC), but has better coverage.

STI Mobile is reselling Sprint PCS, and Beyond Wireless is reselling
Cingular (formerly AT&T) TDMA.

I noticed in Staples' flyer this week that they are selling an STI
Mobile phone for free after rebate ($100), so all you need for over
eight years of service (if you never use it, except for the requisite
calls) is your local sales tax on the phone, a $5 activation fee, and
a $5 prepaid card.

www.stimobile.com
www.gobeyondwireless.com

I think there's a third carrier that does this, too, but I can't
remember their name.

I've never used these people, so it's conceivable there are problems I
don't know about. And, of course, you risk them going out of business,
since they seem to be small companies working on small margins.

Thanks for the response. I will look into it.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Seth Goodman wrote:


There are several prepaid carriers that would fit your requirements.
STI Mobile and Beyond Wireless, for example, let you keep your minutes
forever, and only require you to make a one minute call every 60 days
to keep your service. STI mobile charges 12 cents a minute peak, 10
cents a minute off-peak and weekends, so you only have to spend a
minimum 60 cents a year. I believe beyond wireless is similar. Beyond
Wireless is a little more expensive (about 16 cents a minute, or so,
IIRC), but has better coverage.


It looks like I am going to go with Beyond. Thanks for the lead. That
was was what I was looking for.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Seth Goodman wrote:

There are several prepaid carriers that would fit your requirements.
STI Mobile and Beyond Wireless, for example, let you keep your minutes
forever, and only require you to make a one minute call every 60 days
to keep your service. STI mobile charges 12 cents a minute peak, 10
cents a minute off-peak and weekends, so you only have to spend a
minimum 60 cents a year. I believe beyond wireless is similar. Beyond
Wireless is a little more expensive (about 16 cents a minute, or so,
IIRC), but has better coverage.

STI Mobile is reselling Sprint PCS, and Beyond Wireless is reselling
Cingular (formerly AT&T) TDMA.


I got my phones yesterday and set them up today. It looks like they are
going to do exactly what I had hoped for. Thanks again for the suggestion.
It also will make a nice Christmas present for Rita.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

In article , on Fri, 16
Dec 2005 17:22:56 GMT, Joseph Meehan wrote:

Seth Goodman wrote:

There are several prepaid carriers that would fit your requirements.
STI Mobile and Beyond Wireless, for example, let you keep your minutes
forever, and only require you to make a one minute call every 60 days
to keep your service. STI mobile charges 12 cents a minute peak, 10
cents a minute off-peak and weekends, so you only have to spend a
minimum 60 cents a year. I believe beyond wireless is similar. Beyond
Wireless is a little more expensive (about 16 cents a minute, or so,
IIRC), but has better coverage.

STI Mobile is reselling Sprint PCS, and Beyond Wireless is reselling
Cingular (formerly AT&T) TDMA.


I got my phones yesterday and set them up today. It looks like they are
going to do exactly what I had hoped for. Thanks again for the suggestion.
It also will make a nice Christmas present for Rita.


You're welcome! I'm glad it's working out for you.

--
Seth Goodman

You might want to ask this on the alt.cellular newsgroup.

On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 04:52:10 GMT, Sherman wrote:



I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 04:52:10 GMT, Sherman wrote:



I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

It seems to me that you can pick up the phone at Walmart for less
than $100 and buy a prepaid card for about 10 to 20 cents a minute.

And then if you don't use it but a few times a month, it would be an
excellent deal.

What am I missing?

What brand or service works well here in Houston/La Porte?

Sherman

===========
I am NOT on a budget..but both my wife and I are retired and we both
have Virgin Mobile phones (at about 100 bucks each) and we Both have
to pay at leasr 15 bucks every 3 months to keep the phones active..

After the initial expense of the phones ...and with our usage (pretty
darn low) it works out that each phone costs us about 5 bucks a
month... and to be honest we never even come close to using the
minutes we buy (25 cents per minute..for the 1st 10 minutes each day
then it dropsw down to 10 cents a minute)...I do not think we ever
used them 10 minutes in a single day...

The minutes roll over....I just checked my balmnce on my phone...shows
that I have $105.50 balance....thats a little over 400 minutes ...and
IF my 90 day was tomorrow I would have to purchase another 15 bucks
worth of time.. which would bring my balance up to $120.00 ...and we
both have our accounts set up that the 15 bucks comes out
automatically so we do not have to keep track of anything...

For me and my wife...IT WORKS... and at about 5 bucks a month it is
damn cheap imho...

The only problem I have is neither phone rings extremely loud...thank
the good lord it does vibrate or I may not even know the wife is
calling... lol

Bob G.

Bob G. wrote:

I am NOT on a budget..but both my wife and I are retired and we both
have Virgin Mobile phones (at about 100 bucks each) and we Both have
to pay at leasr 15 bucks every 3 months to keep the phones active..

Do all of these prepaid cell phones having roaming
capabilities when out of your service area such as on a
car vacation?

wrote:

Bob G. wrote:

I am NOT on a budget..but both my wife and I are retired and we both
have Virgin Mobile phones (at about 100 bucks each) and we Both have
to pay at leasr 15 bucks every 3 months to keep the phones active..

Do all of these prepaid cell phones having roaming
capabilities when out of your service area such as on a
car vacation?

All the ones I've seen do. Tracfone allows you to roam, but you're
charge 2 "units" per minute, instead of the normal 1 unit/minute.
Similarly, they charge 2 units per minute for long distance calls from
your home service area.

Terry

Prepaid only differ in that you use and buy one of the phones they offer
and you prepay. I bought a Motorola but now I think Trac Fone has a
camera phone available, they are good for kids or as an emergency phone.
The phones cost apx 30-120.

On Tue, 6 Dec 2005 16:47:07 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote:

Prepaid only differ in that you use and buy one of the phones they offer
and you prepay. I bought a Motorola but now I think Trac Fone has a
camera phone available, they are good for kids or as an emergency phone.
The phones cost apx 30-120.

I use the TracFone mostly for emergencies. I buy the 1-year cards BTW,
doing the whole thing online seems easier than buying a card at a
store). I have plenty of units available since they don't "disappear".
--
19 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 16:05:20 -0600, wrote:

Bob G. wrote:

I am NOT on a budget..but both my wife and I are retired and we both
have Virgin Mobile phones (at about 100 bucks each) and we Both have
to pay at leasr 15 bucks every 3 months to keep the phones active..

Do all of these prepaid cell phones having roaming
capabilities when out of your service area such as on a
car vacation?

Yep...I have had no problems using it on the west coast this summer
(Washington State) My local area is in Maryland...

Bob G.

Sherman wrote in
:



I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

It seems to me that you can pick up the phone at Walmart for less
than $100 and buy a prepaid card for about 10 to 20 cents a minute.

And then if you don't use it but a few times a month, it would be an
excellent deal.

What am I missing?

What brand or service works well here in Houston/La Porte?

Sherman


I've had very good service with my TracFone,Cingular is my local network
for them.$100 got me a refurb'd phone and 150 minutes(units).
I've seen new phones at WalMart for $30.00,but you have to buy minutes
separately.
Prepaid plans vary,and with some,your "minutes" are only valid for a couple
of months. With Trac Fone,I buy a 150 minute card that the units last for a
year,and rollover when I buy a new yearly card.(which only cost me $89.00
last time around,and also got bonus minutes.)

Outside of your local service area,usage is *double* minutes.
(2 units = ONE minute of talktime)

TracFone does not yet offer a camera-phone.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Trac phone just came out with a camera phone

Check this page:
http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm


Looks like STi is the best if you don't use wireless a lot.
For example, TracFone would charge $80+ for a year's
service and 150 minutes. STi only charges $18, even if
all your calls are at weekday peak time.

In addition to their low rate, STi offer a few nice free-after-
rebate phones: Samsung A660 from Staple, LG 5225 from
STi (You need to buy a $50 card), and Sanyo 200 from
CompUSA (Now it is back to $110 minus $100 rebate).

I got a Samsung A660. This is brand new phone, quite good
looking flip color phone, that is far better looking than my old
free phone (remanufactured) from TracFone. .The reason for
Samsung is that I am more comfortable with Staple's easy rebate
system.

I don't know how STi can make money with that kind of price.
I wish them good and be profitable, and we can have more
choices in the low cost prepaid phone market.

Wow!

You're the MAN!




On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 02:40:11 GMT, "some user" wrote:

Check this page:
http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm


Looks like STi is the best if you don't use wireless a lot.
For example, TracFone would charge $80+ for a year's
service and 150 minutes. STi only charges $18, even if
all your calls are at weekday peak time.

In addition to their low rate, STi offer a few nice free-after-
rebate phones: Samsung A660 from Staple, LG 5225 from
STi (You need to buy a $50 card), and Sanyo 200 from
CompUSA (Now it is back to $110 minus $100 rebate).

I got a Samsung A660. This is brand new phone, quite good
looking flip color phone, that is far better looking than my old
free phone (remanufactured) from TracFone. .The reason for
Samsung is that I am more comfortable with Staple's easy rebate
system.

I don't know how STi can make money with that kind of price.
I wish them good and be profitable, and we can have more
choices in the low cost prepaid phone market.

On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 02:40:11 GMT, "some user" wrote:

Check this page:
http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm


Looks like STi is the best if you don't use wireless a lot.
For example, TracFone would charge $80+ for a year's
service and 150 minutes. STi only charges $18, even if
all your calls are at weekday peak time.

In addition to their low rate, STi offer a few nice free-after-
rebate phones: Samsung A660 from Staple, LG 5225 from
STi (You need to buy a $50 card), and Sanyo 200 from
CompUSA (Now it is back to $110 minus $100 rebate).

I got a Samsung A660. This is brand new phone, quite good
looking flip color phone, that is far better looking than my old
free phone (remanufactured) from TracFone. .The reason for
Samsung is that I am more comfortable with Staple's easy rebate
system.

I don't know how STi can make money with that kind of price.
I wish them good and be profitable, and we can have more
choices in the low cost prepaid phone market.

I went with the TracFone Plan. $19 or $26 and change with tax and
shipping of the phone.

The coupon code didn't work with the $19 promo 40 minute Deal.

Here are some of the costs I calculated.
Per Min Minutes Length

$0.593 TracFone This is the 40 minute card plus the phone - not
bad for $20.
Phone cards alone
Per Min Minutes Length
$0.200 400 60 day
$0.250 200 60 day
$0.300 100 60 day
$0.500 40 60 day
$0.430 300 annual card
$0.600 150 annual card

With Double Minutes Prepaid for $129
Per Min Minutes Length
Adv Rat Real Rate
$0.100 800 0.217272727 Assuming 1100 min a year
$0.125 400 0.242272727 Assuming 1100 min a year
$0.150 200 0.267272727 Assuming 1100 min a year
$0.250 80 0.367272727 Assuming 1100 min a year

These figures show that if you use the double rate card, they
advertise 10 cents a minute while the actual rate is 21.72 cents per
minute - and that's if you use the full 1100 minutes per year 800
Plus
300.

Clearly deceptive advertising but I'm getting one anyway.

Sherman

Sherman wrote:

I don't know how STi can make money with that kind of price.

I went with Sti but haven't received the phone yet

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:06:33 -0600, wrote:

Sherman wrote:

I don't know how STi can make money with that kind of price.

I went with Sti but haven't received the phone yet

That was my first choice but their web site said they didn't have any
coverage in Houston.

Go Figure.

Sherman wrote:

I went with Sti but haven't received the phone yet

That was my first choice but their web site said they didn't have any
coverage in Houston.

They use the Sprint network, yes?

Does that mean Sprint has no service in Houston as
well?

In article , on Wed, 14 Dec
2005 21:57:15 GMT, Sherman wrote:

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:06:33 -0600, wrote:

Sherman wrote:

I don't know how STi can make money with that kind of price.

I went with Sti but haven't received the phone yet

That was my first choice but their web site said they didn't have any
coverage in Houston.

Go Figure.

Really? I went to the STI Mobile web site's coverage page and entered
77030 as the zip code for Houston (first one I found in Google search of
"Houston Zip Code") and found this coverage map:

http://www.stimobile.com/zipcodes.aspx?Zipcode=77030

The dark green is STI (i.e., Sprint) coverage. Looks like all of Houston
and most of the surrounding vicinity is covered. Where on the web site
did it say they don't cover Houston?


--
Seth Goodman

I have a Tracfone that I got just for emergencies. I do use it
occassionally for other calls, just keep them short. It took a bit for
me to get used to the charge system, but basically you prebuy minutes
that are good for some given period of time (I bought a one year card).
It is charge in 1 minute allotments (called units), though roaming
charges are higher. I love it and plan on getting one for my wife when
her "normal" plan expires since neither of us use cell phones much. I
bought ours thru Radio Shack - phone was about $10 after a rebate.
Bought the card at Sams at a lower price. Our savings are substantial.
With the "normal" plan we pay about $23/mo. including taxes ($270 per
year). Now, we do get 40 minutes a month plus long distance and (I
think) extra weekend minutes. With Tracfone we paid $10 for the phone
and $80 for the card (200 minutes good for a year). That's plenty of
minutes for what we really need, but, if need be, we can always get
another card. I think we get long distance, but no break on roaming.
But, again, we don't use it in those circumstances much. Phone works
just like all others - as long as a tower is available, you can use it.

Sherman wrote:
I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

Something else to beware of: someone posted to another newsgroup just
yesterday that TracFone is losing coverage in major markets. I can
believe it, because Cingular is gradually phasing out TDMA in favor of
GSM, and a lot of the prepay phones (ALL those using the Cingular
network) are TDMA.

--
If John McCain gets the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination,
my vote for President will be a write-in for Jiang Zemin.

On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 15:25:05 -0600, clifto wrote:

Sherman wrote:
I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

Something else to beware of: someone posted to another newsgroup just
yesterday that TracFone is losing coverage in major markets. I can
believe it, because Cingular is gradually phasing out TDMA in favor of
GSM, and a lot of the prepay phones (ALL those using the Cingular
network) are TDMA.

Do any prepaid cellphone companies use GSM? I was going to be getting
a new phone sometime, and that would be something to consider.
--
18 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

Mark Lloyd wrote in
:

On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 15:25:05 -0600, clifto wrote:

Sherman wrote:
I'm curious about the TOTAL cost of a prepaid cell phone for someone
on a very limited budget.

Something else to beware of: someone posted to another newsgroup just
yesterday that TracFone is losing coverage in major markets. I can
believe it, because Cingular is gradually phasing out TDMA in favor of
GSM, and a lot of the prepay phones (ALL those using the Cingular
network) are TDMA.

Do any prepaid cellphone companies use GSM? I was going to be getting
a new phone sometime, and that would be something to consider.

You would think that TracFone would notify customers of this conversion.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Mark Lloyd wrote:
On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 15:25:05 -0600, clifto wrote:
Something else to beware of: someone posted to another newsgroup just
yesterday that TracFone is losing coverage in major markets. I can
believe it, because Cingular is gradually phasing out TDMA in favor of
GSM, and a lot of the prepay phones (ALL those using the Cingular
network) are TDMA.

Do any prepaid cellphone companies use GSM? I was going to be getting
a new phone sometime, and that would be something to consider.

Not to my knowledge. It can't stay that way forever, though.

--
If John McCain gets the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination,
my vote for President will be a write-in for Jiang Zemin.

In article , on Wed, 07 Dec
2005 18:40:46 -0600, Mark Lloyd wrote:

Do any prepaid cellphone companies use GSM?

There are six GSM companies listed on the prepaid comparison chart
previously mentioned at:
http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm

--
Seth Goodman

Hi, Sherman. We had a Sprint plan for 8 years while my husband was an
over the road truckdriver and we burned up THOUSANDS of minutes. When
he came off the road he wanted to eliminate that bill and didn't want
to get into another contract. When our 3rd child was due in August we
decided he needed a phone for a month and I did tons of research. We
ended up with Virgin Mobile. I'm sure it will work fine in Houston/La
Porte. I gave a friend the referral bonus in Corpus. I think it runs
on Sprint lines but I can't remember for sure. Anyway, for us it sucks
because I'm adding time every couple of days! I am trying to talk my
husband into another plan! He works nights now. We are spending
$100+ a month in minutes. Virgin Mobile has 3 different "plans" and
you can figure out what works best for you. Right now I have it set at
them taking 35 cents a minute per day and everything is 10 cents per
minute. If you use it infrequently you can set it to 25 cents per
minute for the first 10 minutes and then 10 cents the rest of the day.
Only on the days you use it. They also have a "talk all the time" deal
which I haven't checked into much. You have to "top up" I think every
90 days but you don't lose your minutes as long as you add some every
90 days to stay activated. They also have some "auto top-up" things
but I haven't checked into it much since I'm adding time all the time!

If I can talk my husband into a contract I'd gladly give you our
phone. Virgin Mobile actually encourages recycling your phones. It's
REALLY easy to go online and set up your own phone number on a recycled
phone. My only complaint with them has been for the first 2 months we
got TONS of wrong numbers....they re-issue phone numbers too fast! We
didn't b other checking voicemail because it was always a wrong number
and wasted minutes.

You can check out Virgin Mobile's deals at
http://www.virginmobileusa.com . You could also try to pick up a phone
on freecycle. Are you familiar with freecycle in your area? You can
email me for information if you're not.

amy