My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.


I have little need for a cell phone but have a Tracfone. Wife had
bought it for her emergency use but gave it to me when son put her on
his family plan which probably costs him $20 month.

http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp

You can get into a years plan for $99 which includes minutes.
Cost per minute might be as much as a quarter but if you use as little
as I do, it is a bargain and when you renew, they roll the minutes over.
I keep the phone in the car or carry it when out in the woods. Never
keep it on for incoming calls and now have 1,200 minutes I don't know
what to do with and need to renew in Oct. Still a very cheap insurance
option.

You can buy a pay as you go phone at Wal Mart for around $30. As long as
they don't use it much it will not cost too much. The phone card you buy to
load minute onto the phone expires at some point after it is activated so if
you buy 30 minutes and don't use all those minutes within that time frame
they will expire.

Good luck,

cm
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:08:31 -0400, Frank wrote:

Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.


I have little need for a cell phone but have a Tracfone. Wife had
bought it for her emergency use but gave it to me when son put her on
his family plan which probably costs him $20 month.

http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp

You can get into a years plan for $99 which includes minutes.
Cost per minute might be as much as a quarter but if you use as little
as I do, it is a bargain and when you renew, they roll the minutes over.
I keep the phone in the car or carry it when out in the woods. Never
keep it on for incoming calls and now have 1,200 minutes I don't know
what to do with and need to renew in Oct. Still a very cheap insurance
option.

We have a Tracfone that my wife carries. I have seen them on sale for less
than $15.oo and you can buy minutes in any increment of 30 minutes at a
time that last for 90 days before you have to add minutes. I add the
minutes on line with a credit card. All you need is the serial number of
the phone. I keep this in a text file so when needed, I copy and
paste it to the order form on the net. Unused minutes are rolled over
every 90 days. They email me special offers to buy extra time and notify
me by Email a week or more prior to the expiration date of the current
minutes that are left on the phone. We don't give the number out so as to
not be bothered with calls. We carry it because of health reasons and to
call AAA if required. It doesn't take pictures or any thing else that I'm
aware of, but don't have any use for any other services either.

My personal opinion is that this is as simple as you need and no more
complicated than need be.

In article , "Stormin Mormon" wrote:

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc?

Prepaid phone? Sure, try Costco!

Here's an even better way, IMO. Procure a used cellphone;
one that you upgraded and tossed in a drawer. If you don't
have any, maybe another friend or relative does. You need
one that will take a SIM card and is or can be unlocked.

Now buy a pre-paid SIM card.

I've done this when travelling overseas to the UK and
to China. Just walk into a local cell phone store and
buy a prepaid SIM card with $20 worth of calls. Works
great and much cheaper paying your domestic carriers
International roaming rates.


--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Aug 11, 10:53*am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't *have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

I have a cell phone which costs me $11.40 per month. This low cost
plan includes a certain amount of air time.

I carry it only for a possible emergency; to phone in from scene of an
accident etc. or if I had a heart attack etc. It can be recharged and
or used from my vehicle.

Since the monthly bill is paid on time (which is done by standing
payment order, so it is ALWAYS paid as due) unused air time
accumulates. I now have some $200+ of unused air time! And/or I can
lend the phone to a visiting relative and tell them to call if they
get lost etc.

Day air time with this plan cost 35 cents/min. Evening/night/ weekend
air time costs 5 cents/min. But as mentioned I hardly ever use it. My
son got the used phone quite cheap as a replacement last year when the
cell phone company changed from analog to digital.

Recommend you look for some plan along the above lines. Understand
that there are plans where you buy minutes and/or by means of a card.

Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out, and so on. But,
there have been a couple moments when the car broke down. Or, one was
out, and the other didn't know why it was taking so long. I suggested
they get a cell phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance. Has anyone
used such a phone, and which brand, where bought, etc? If it was twenty
bucks or so, I'd buy the phone outright, and give it to them as a gift.

We have phones with Virgin that run $5 a month each at $.18 a minute or
about 27 minutes a month. Any un-used minutes carry over to the next month.
We gave them a CC #'s and they "top up" the account for $15 every 90 days or
before if you run out of minutes. We paid for our phones but received credit
for the purchase price in minutes on the 1st month. The phones and service
have been flawless for the last 2 years. Haven't checked lately so I'm not
sure if this plan is still available.

https://www.virginmobileusa.com/myvirginmobile/home.do

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:08:31 -0400, Frank
wrote:

[snip]


I have little need for a cell phone but have a Tracfone. Wife had
bought it for her emergency use but gave it to me when son put her on
his family plan which probably costs him $20 month.

http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp

You can get into a years plan for $99 which includes minutes.
Cost per minute might be as much as a quarter but if you use as little
as I do, it is a bargain and when you renew, they roll the minutes over.
I keep the phone in the car or carry it when out in the woods. Never
keep it on for incoming calls and now have 1,200 minutes I don't know
what to do with and need to renew in Oct. Still a very cheap insurance
option.

You can get a Tracfone for $15, but it comes with only 10 minutes.

Tracfone uses the AT&T system, so your coverage area should be the
same.

I use a prepaid phone from Alltel (now Verizon Wireless) because it
works well here and AT&T doesn't. I got a phone with a camera.
Sometimes it's nice to have a camera with you. With many Motorola
phones you can get software to transfer the pictures directly to your
computer, rather than having to email them (25 cents each).

BTW, my spell checker thinks "Tracfone" should be "Racoon".
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent
force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isaac Asimov

Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

The best quality and least expensive prepaid service is PagePlus. As low
as $2.50/month, and the minutes cost from 6 cents to 12 cents (actually
a bit less since refills are sold at a discount). You need to add a
minimum of $10 every four months.

PagePlus uses Verizon's network which means it has excellent coverage.
If you have Verizon service in your area, it's great. You can roam onto
non-Verizon networks for an extra charge so it works almost everywhere
(this is _not_ the case with some prepaid services such as Virgin, which
do not allow roaming off their native network (Sprint for Virgin)). Most
people wanting an emergency phone would like it to work outside urban areas.

If you buy from PagePlus directly, they offer a few refurbished phones
for low prices. Or you can use any phone that was previously used on
Verizon, so you should be able to pick one up on craigslist for a low
price, or for free from friends or relatives.

The best web site for information is "http://prepaiduswireless.com".

When selecting a prepaid plan pay careful attention to the minimum
monthly cost (how often you must add money, and how much you need to
add). Avoid Tracfone, Virgin, Verizon InPulse, AT&T GoPhone, Boost,
Jitterbug, Net10, and Only1 Mobile. Basically, for an emergency phone,
look for plans where you're on the Verizon or AT&T network, and the
minimum cost is under $3/month.

T-Mobile can be a really good deal, _if_ you have decent T-Mobile
coverage in your area. Order a phone and $100 of airtime, and subsequent
airtime purchases are good for 365 days. So you could add $10 and it
would keep the phone on for a year, at a net cost of $0.83/month (less
because you can get airtime at a discount).

Last week PagePlus also started offering unlimited voice, unlimited
texts, and 20MB/data per month for $39.95 (actual discounted cost is
about $34 a month). This is an amazingly good deal.

Remember that with prepaid there are no free phones. You buy phones on
your own. But the savings can more than make up for it.

tom wrote:


Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out, and so on.
But, there have been a couple moments when the car broke down. Or,
one was out, and the other didn't know why it was taking so long. I
suggested they get a cell phone. The reply was that we don't have
the money to support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance. Has anyone
used such a phone, and which brand, where bought, etc? If it was
twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone outright, and give it to them
as a gift.

We have phones with Virgin that run $5 a month each at $.18 a minute or
about 27 minutes a month. Any un-used minutes carry over to the next
month. We gave them a CC #'s and they "top up" the account for $15 every
90 days or before if you run out of minutes. We paid for our phones but
received credit for the purchase price in minutes on the 1st month. The
phones and service have been flawless for the last 2 years. Haven't
checked lately so I'm not sure if this plan is still available.

https://www.virginmobileusa.com/myvirginmobile/home.do

Avoid Virgin Mobile at all costs. The problem is that you can only use
Sprint's network. There is no roaming at all, even at extra cost.
Sprint's network is very limited, especially outside urban areas.

See "http://prepaiduswireless.com" for details on the best prepaid services.

wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:53:24 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

I have a Jitterbug. That is a great phone for old farts like me who
don't like talking on the phone. You can buy minutes a year at a time
for about $100 or there are other cheaper per minute plans. It is a
toll free call to and from anywhere in the CONUS (the numbers are
WATS) there is all sorts of operator assistance, up to including one
model that is "one button".
The one I have is the regular phone but it has a big enough display
that you can see it without your glasses and big buttons. It does
speaker phone too.
The best thing for me, you can update your directory online and it
syncs with the phone the next time you turn it on. The operator will
do it for you too if you don't want to fool with it.

The problem with Jitterbug is that it's one of the most expensive
prepaid services out there. You can get better service for less than
$30/year.

See "http://prepaiduswireless.com/".

Malcolm Hoar wrote:
In article , "Stormin Mormon" wrote:

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc?

Prepaid phone? Sure, try Costco!

Here's an even better way, IMO. Procure a used cellphone;
one that you upgraded and tossed in a drawer. If you don't
have any, maybe another friend or relative does. You need
one that will take a SIM card and is or can be unlocked.

Not really, you can activate a CDMA phone that was previously on
Verizon, on PagePlus for about $6.

T-Mobile will sell you a SIM card for an unlocked (or T-Mobile) GSM
phone for about $6 as well.


Now buy a pre-paid SIM card.

I've done this when travelling overseas to the UK and
to China. Just walk into a local cell phone store and
buy a prepaid SIM card with $20 worth of calls.

Yes, this is the best way to go when spending time in one country. For
multiple countries there are SIM cards with higher per minute costs, but
that work in most GSM countries.

BTW, it isn't always as simple as "walking into a store and buying a
card." I used to buy SIM cards in Taiwan that way, then the government
decided that criminals were using those cards, and now allows the cards
only to be sold at the carrier's own stores, with a lot of hassle (two
forms of ID so bring your driver's license as well as passport.

SMS wrote:
Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out, and so on.
But, there have been a couple moments when the car broke down. Or, one
was out, and the other didn't know why it was taking so long. I
suggested they get a cell phone. The reply was that we don't have the
money to support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance. Has anyone
used such a phone, and which brand, where bought, etc? If it was
twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone outright, and give it to them as
a gift.

The best quality and least expensive prepaid service is PagePlus. As low
as $2.50/month, and the minutes cost from 6 cents to 12 cents (actually
a bit less since refills are sold at a discount). You need to add a
minimum of $10 every four months.

PagePlus uses Verizon's network which means it has excellent coverage.
If you have Verizon service in your area, it's great. You can roam onto
non-Verizon networks for an extra charge so it works almost everywhere
(this is _not_ the case with some prepaid services such as Virgin, which
do not allow roaming off their native network (Sprint for Virgin)). Most
people wanting an emergency phone would like it to work outside urban
areas.

If you buy from PagePlus directly, they offer a few refurbished phones
for low prices. Or you can use any phone that was previously used on
Verizon, so you should be able to pick one up on craigslist for a low
price, or for free from friends or relatives.

The best web site for information is "http://prepaiduswireless.com".

When selecting a prepaid plan pay careful attention to the minimum
monthly cost (how often you must add money, and how much you need to
add). Avoid Tracfone, Virgin, Verizon InPulse, AT&T GoPhone, Boost,
Jitterbug, Net10, and Only1 Mobile. Basically, for an emergency phone,
look for plans where you're on the Verizon or AT&T network, and the
minimum cost is under $3/month.

T-Mobile can be a really good deal, _if_ you have decent T-Mobile
coverage in your area. Order a phone and $100 of airtime, and subsequent
airtime purchases are good for 365 days. So you could add $10 and it
would keep the phone on for a year, at a net cost of $0.83/month (less
because you can get airtime at a discount).

Last week PagePlus also started offering unlimited voice, unlimited
texts, and 20MB/data per month for $39.95 (actual discounted cost is
about $34 a month). This is an amazingly good deal.

Remember that with prepaid there are no free phones. You buy phones on
your own. But the savings can more than make up for it.


Thanks

Lou

"SMS" wrote in message
...
tom wrote:


Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out, and so on.
But, there have been a couple moments when the car broke down. Or, one
was out, and the other didn't know why it was taking so long. I
suggested they get a cell phone. The reply was that we don't have the
money to support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance. Has anyone
used such a phone, and which brand, where bought, etc? If it was twenty
bucks or so, I'd buy the phone outright, and give it to them as a gift.

We have phones with Virgin that run $5 a month each at $.18 a minute or
about 27 minutes a month. Any un-used minutes carry over to the next
month. We gave them a CC #'s and they "top up" the account for $15 every
90 days or before if you run out of minutes. We paid for our phones but
received credit for the purchase price in minutes on the 1st month. The
phones and service have been flawless for the last 2 years. Haven't
checked lately so I'm not sure if this plan is still available.

https://www.virginmobileusa.com/myvirginmobile/home.do

Avoid Virgin Mobile at all costs. The problem is that you can only use
Sprint's network. There is no roaming at all, even at extra cost. Sprint's
network is very limited, especially outside urban areas.

See "http://prepaiduswireless.com" for details on the best prepaid
services.

Can only speak about the Chicago and New Orleans areas but I've never had
any connection issues in either of those two areas.

On Aug 11, 8:53*am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't *have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

My wife and I rarely use cellphones but we each have a pre-paid card
from Cingular, now AT&T. The phones were about $40 a few years ago and
it costs $100 prepaid per year. Any day that you use it, there's a
$1.00 connect fee for the whole day plus $0.10 per minute talk time.
You can re-charge the dollars any time if you use them up before the
year is out.

If you sign up for another year at $100, you roll over any unused
amount. My wife has about $270 in credit and I have about $180. So
essentially it costs $8.33 per month per phone for emergencies. The
problem is that due to low usage, we have trouble remembering to keep
them charged.

Paul

tom wrote:


Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out, and so on.
But, there have been a couple moments when the car broke down. Or,
one was out, and the other didn't know why it was taking so long. I
suggested they get a cell phone. The reply was that we don't have
the money to support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance. Has anyone
used such a phone, and which brand, where bought, etc? If it was
twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone outright, and give it to them
as a gift.

We have phones with Virgin that run $5 a month each at $.18 a minute or
about 27 minutes a month. Any un-used minutes carry over to the next
month. We gave them a CC #'s and they "top up" the account for $15 every
90 days or before if you run out of minutes. We paid for our phones but
received credit for the purchase price in minutes on the 1st month. The
phones and service have been flawless for the last 2 years. Haven't
checked lately so I'm not sure if this plan is still available.

https://www.virginmobileusa.com/myvirginmobile/home.do

The big problem with Virgin is that it exclusively uses Sprints' network
which is often not the best choice.

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:14:31 -0700, "cm" wrote:

You can buy a pay as you go phone at Wal Mart for around $30. As long as
they don't use it much it will not cost too much. The phone card you buy to
load minute onto the phone expires at some point after it is activated so if
you buy 30 minutes and don't use all those minutes within that time frame
they will expire.

Good luck,

cm

I don't like that. If I keep a cell phone in the glove box of my
truck, it expires, I have an emergency, then what? Do Tracfones
expire too?

In article , SMS wrote:

BTW, it isn't always as simple as "walking into a store and buying a
card." I used to buy SIM cards in Taiwan that way, then the government
decided that criminals were using those cards, and now allows the cards
only to be sold at the carrier's own stores, with a lot of hassle (two
forms of ID so bring your driver's license as well as passport.

Interesting.

It was easy in the UK last Christmas time -- walked into a Carphone
Warehouse store. In China this summer, I had a Mandarin speaking
native get one for me -- not sure where they went but it only
took about 10 mins ;-)


--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phisherman wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:14:31 -0700, "cm" wrote:

You can buy a pay as you go phone at Wal Mart for around $30. As long as
they don't use it much it will not cost too much. The phone card you buy to
load minute onto the phone expires at some point after it is activated so if
you buy 30 minutes and don't use all those minutes within that time frame
they will expire.

Good luck,

cm

I don't like that. If I keep a cell phone in the glove box of my
truck, it expires, I have an emergency, then what? Do Tracfones
expire too?

Well even if it expires it can still call 911.

Yeah, it can be a pain in the butt to remember to re-up your prepaid
phone every 30-120 days. That's why the T-Mobile 365 day expiration
period is good (once you spend $100 in airtime, all future airtime
purchases, even ones for $10, are good for 365 days). As pointed out,
T-Mobile coverage can leave something to be desired, but they do appear
to allow a lot of off-network roaming now, and you can always call 911
no matter what GSM network is available.

7-11's SpeakOut GSM service (on AT&T's network) offers 365 day
expiration on their $50/335 minute cards. They subtract a rather high
$2.14/month fee, so that'd use up $25.68 of the $50, leaving 163 minutes
available from the remaining $24.32 of value.

On Aug 11, 7:53*am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't *have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

I have a tracfone, they are great. I get connections just fine and I
replenish it every 3 months or so.

If you get a tracfone it is worthwhile to pay the extra $49 at time of
purchase to get "double minutes for life", with this plan every time
thereafter when you buy minutes they automatically double them. That
initial $49 pays for itself after your second replenish.

If all you need is basic communication then I can highly recommend a
tracfone.

windcrest wrote:
On Aug 11, 7:53 am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

I have a tracfone, they are great. I get connections just fine and I
replenish it every 3 months or so.

If you get a tracfone it is worthwhile to pay the extra $49 at time of
purchase to get "double minutes for life", with this plan every time
thereafter when you buy minutes they automatically double them. That
initial $49 pays for itself after your second replenish.

If all you need is basic communication then I can highly recommend a
tracfone.

I, too, have no problems with my Tracfone. Also live in a low reception
area where bars are minimal but it is equally bad for wife's phone with
Verizon.

My Tracfone is several years old and I would like to get a better
looking one but website gives no clues on how to do this. You do not
get the hand holding that Verizon or Sprint offer. Also updating
minutes is easier on internet than on phone.

windcrest wrote:

I have a tracfone, they are great. I get connections just fine and I
replenish it every 3 months or so.

If you get a tracfone it is worthwhile to pay the extra $49 at time of
purchase to get "double minutes for life", with this plan every time
thereafter when you buy minutes they automatically double them. That
initial $49 pays for itself after your second replenish.

If all you need is basic communication then I can highly recommend a
tracfone.

With the Double Minutes for Life remember that it goes with the phone.
If you get a new phone then you have to pay it again.

With the $100/400 minutes card doubled to 800 minutes (after buying the
double minutes for life), and discounted 8% by CallingMart, the per
minute cost comes down to 11.5 cents. But even this cheapest cost per
minute is higher than the most expensive cost per minute on a carrier
like PagePlus which allows you to use any Verizon CDMA phone, including
smart phones, and which offers data.

Nice things about Tracfone:

1. You can sign up for a $5.99/month service that keeps your account
active in case it would otherwise expire.

2. The 400/800 minute card has a one year expiration time.

3. Coverage is good, both on their CDMA (Verizon) phones and their GSM
(AT&T phones) with roaming available (either included or at extra cost).

4. Apparently it works in Canada.

For a seldom used, glove box phone, the 365 day expiration is very nice,
though you can get the same thing with a 7-11 SpeakOut phone and pay
only $50/year.

Incidentally, tomorrow:

CallingMart.com: Wednesday 8/12/2009 from 11am-11pm EST. 8% Off Face
Value for Net10, Tracfone, Verizon & PagePlus . Coupon Code: CM-20090812.

windcrest wrote:
On Aug 11, 7:53 am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

I have a tracfone, they are great. I get connections just fine and I
replenish it every 3 months or so.

If you get a tracfone it is worthwhile to pay the extra $49 at time of
purchase to get "double minutes for life", with this plan every time
thereafter when you buy minutes they automatically double them. That
initial $49 pays for itself after your second replenish.

If all you need is basic communication then I can highly recommend a
tracfone.

I have Virgin Mobile, which works out to around 8 bucks a month. But
with any pre-paid, you need to make sure it has coverage in the area
where it will be used. And you can't always trust the maps on the web
site. Virgin, for example, is really Sprint system, and has next-to-no
coverage down in NC where my sister lives, out at her house. She
returned hers and got one of the others. It works fine around SW MI and
southern IN, which covers most of the places I use it. I'll probably die
with several hundred bucks in unused minutes on it- you can set it to
top off automatically as needed (90 days or 20 bucks, whichever comes
first), so the phone never goes dead. Most of the time, it lives in my
briefcase- I only wear it when I am on call or traveling. It doesn't
have all the bells and whistles of a real cell phone, and is oval-ish
and silver instead of the current fashionable squared-off charcoal gray,
but it does what I need at a price I can live with. No Way would I pay
30-40 a month for a real cell phone that might not get used at all some
months. I try to fire this one up at least once a week, to see if I have
voicemail, but don't always remember.

--
aem sends...

aemeijers wrote:

I have Virgin Mobile, which works out to around 8 bucks a month. But
with any pre-paid, you need to make sure it has coverage in the area
where it will be used.

You really need to be careful with prepaid services that don't allow
off-native-network roaming.

Many of the prepaid services allow you to use any compatible network
(CDMA or GSM), sometimes at extra cost, sometimes included.
Virgin/Sprint is not one of those services.

Virgin is among the worst prepaid options out there. It has a high price
per minute, high texting costs, high monthly minimums, poor coverage
with no roaming, and a horrible web site. Maybe now that Sprint fully
owns Virgin they'll do something about fixing it.

RobertPatrick wrote:
Frank wrote in
:

windcrest wrote:
On Aug 11, 7:53 am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.
I have a tracfone, they are great. I get connections just fine and I
replenish it every 3 months or so.

If you get a tracfone it is worthwhile to pay the extra $49 at time of
purchase to get "double minutes for life", with this plan every time
thereafter when you buy minutes they automatically double them. That
initial $49 pays for itself after your second replenish.

If all you need is basic communication then I can highly recommend a
tracfone.
I, too, have no problems with my Tracfone. Also live in a low reception
area where bars are minimal but it is equally bad for wife's phone with
Verizon.

My Tracfone is several years old and I would like to get a better
looking one but website gives no clues on how to do this. You do not
get the hand holding that Verizon or Sprint offer. Also updating
minutes is easier on internet than on phone.


You're going to have to call customer service. The Rep has to give you
special code numbers to enter into the new phone and to also transfer any
minutes from the old phone.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2125116_tran...one-units.html

That's what I have been reading. Would be nice if they automated. My
phone works fine, just looks almost antique.

RLM wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:08:31 -0400, Frank wrote:

Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

I have little need for a cell phone but have a Tracfone. Wife had
bought it for her emergency use but gave it to me when son put her on
his family plan which probably costs him $20 month.

http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp

You can get into a years plan for $99 which includes minutes.
Cost per minute might be as much as a quarter but if you use as little
as I do, it is a bargain and when you renew, they roll the minutes over.
I keep the phone in the car or carry it when out in the woods. Never
keep it on for incoming calls and now have 1,200 minutes I don't know
what to do with and need to renew in Oct. Still a very cheap insurance
option.

We have a Tracfone that my wife carries. I have seen them on sale for less
than $15.oo and you can buy minutes in any increment of 30 minutes at a
time that last for 90 days before you have to add minutes. I add the
minutes on line with a credit card. All you need is the serial number of
the phone. I keep this in a text file so when needed, I copy and
paste it to the order form on the net. Unused minutes are rolled over
every 90 days. They email me special offers to buy extra time and notify

If unused minutes are rolled over then why do you have to add minutes
after 90 days?

me by Email a week or more prior to the expiration date of the current
minutes that are left on the phone. We don't give the number out so as to
not be bothered with calls. We carry it because of health reasons and to
call AAA if required. It doesn't take pictures or any thing else that I'm
aware of, but don't have any use for any other services either.

My personal opinion is that this is as simple as you need and no more
complicated than need be.

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:53:24 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

I believe if you have Verison or AT&T you can get an additional phone
on your account for about $10 a month.

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:44:59 -0400, Brandon McCombs
wrote:

[snip]

If unused minutes are rolled over then why do you have to add minutes
after 90 days?

When you add a Tracfone card, you get (for example) 60 minutes and 90
days. These are treated as entirely different things. Minutes is
airtime (deducted only when you use the phone). Days are the time
period your service is active, regardless of use. When that (Days)
expires, you have to renew. You keep the unused minutes.

Other companies are different. With my Alltel service, you just add
money. Day and usage charges are both taken from a common pool (it's
75 cents/day and 10 cents/minute).

[snip]
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent
force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isaac Asimov

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:05:10 -0700, SMS
wrote:

tom wrote:


Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out, and so on.
But, there have been a couple moments when the car broke down. Or,
one was out, and the other didn't know why it was taking so long. I
suggested they get a cell phone. The reply was that we don't have
the money to support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance. Has anyone
used such a phone, and which brand, where bought, etc? If it was
twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone outright, and give it to them
as a gift.

We have phones with Virgin that run $5 a month each at $.18 a minute or
about 27 minutes a month. Any un-used minutes carry over to the next
month. We gave them a CC #'s and they "top up" the account for $15 every
90 days or before if you run out of minutes. We paid for our phones but
received credit for the purchase price in minutes on the 1st month. The
phones and service have been flawless for the last 2 years. Haven't
checked lately so I'm not sure if this plan is still available.

https://www.virginmobileusa.com/myvirginmobile/home.do

Avoid Virgin Mobile at all costs. The problem is that you can only use
Sprint's network. There is no roaming at all, even at extra cost.
Sprint's network is very limited, especially outside urban areas.

See "http://prepaiduswireless.com" for details on the best prepaid services.

Is there anything wrong with Virgin Mobile, other than limited
coverage area?

I'm wanting to get a phone that works in Brownwood Texas. It's 49
miles off the interstate highway, and neither AT&T or Verizon provide
coverage there. According to their map, it looks like Virgin does.

BTW, I don't live in Brownwood, but often visit someone there.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent
force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isaac Asimov

On 11 Aug 2009 22:40:55 GMT, RobertPatrick wrote:

[snip]

I never had any connection problems with
Tracfone. It works just about everywhere, except at my friend's house who
live in "the forest" on a mountain.

When I had a tracfone, it would seldom get any signal at all at my
house in town. It might get 1 bar at some spots in the yard, but that
wouldn't last more than a minute or so.

Strangely, I could take it with me into the woods and get 5 bars
there. Possibly because my land is close to a rural electric company
facility.

[snip]
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent
force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isaac Asimov

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:31:31 -0700, SMS
wrote:

Phisherman wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:14:31 -0700, "cm" wrote:

You can buy a pay as you go phone at Wal Mart for around $30. As long as
they don't use it much it will not cost too much. The phone card you buy to
load minute onto the phone expires at some point after it is activated so if
you buy 30 minutes and don't use all those minutes within that time frame
they will expire.

Good luck,

cm

I don't like that. If I keep a cell phone in the glove box of my
truck, it expires, I have an emergency, then what? Do Tracfones
expire too?

Well even if it expires it can still call 911.

Yeah, it can be a pain in the butt to remember to re-up your prepaid
phone every 30-120 days.

When I had a Tracfone, I got the 1-year cards (or usually the
equivalent online, no card involved).

[snip]
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent
force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isaac Asimov

On 11 Aug 2009 22:46:49 GMT, RobertPatrick wrote:

Phisherman wrote in
:

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:14:31 -0700, "cm" wrote:

You can buy a pay as you go phone at Wal Mart for around $30. As long
as they don't use it much it will not cost too much. The phone card
you buy to load minute onto the phone expires at some point after it
is activated so if you buy 30 minutes and don't use all those minutes
within that time frame they will expire.

Good luck,

cm

I don't like that. If I keep a cell phone in the glove box of my
truck, it expires, I have an emergency, then what? Do Tracfones
expire too?

It's a combination of minutes and the expiration date. With $100, you get
about 400 minutes that will expire in one year.

This increases often. I first got a Tracfone in 2000 and it was 100
minutes then.

For a little extra you
have it set up so that for the life of the phone, you'll get double
minutes.


I seem to remember $50. Of course "for line" refers to the life of
that phone, which should be a lot less than your life.

I bought my Tracfone around 2002 or 2003. I've had great phone service.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent
force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isaac Asimov

wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:53:24 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

I believe if you have Verison or AT&T you can get an additional phone
on your account for about $10 a month.

No sure what my son pays for mom but he said my Tracfone deal is much
better. He also tells her to try to limit calls to the off hours or
weekends, whatever. I figure I'm paying a flat $8.25/month, can call
any time and have 1,200 minutes left and need to renew in Oct. They'll
roll over the old minutes so at the rate I call, it's not important that
I get a double deal. Not interested in text messaging or using phone as
a camera.

SMS wrote:
aemeijers wrote:

I have Virgin Mobile, which works out to around 8 bucks a month. But
with any pre-paid, you need to make sure it has coverage in the area
where it will be used.

You really need to be careful with prepaid services that don't allow
off-native-network roaming.

Many of the prepaid services allow you to use any compatible network
(CDMA or GSM), sometimes at extra cost, sometimes included.
Virgin/Sprint is not one of those services.

Virgin is among the worst prepaid options out there. It has a high price
per minute, high texting costs, high monthly minimums, poor coverage
with no roaming, and a horrible web site. Maybe now that Sprint fully
owns Virgin they'll do something about fixing it.

Won't do me much good, unless I write off the couple of hundred in
airtime I have on account. They Don't Do Refunds. Maybe when I retire
and move south in a couple 3 years, I'll switch then, or get a real cell
phone in lieu of a landline. In the meantime, it works well enough for
MOST of the places I go.

--
aem sends...

Mark Lloyd wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:44:59 -0400, Brandon McCombs
wrote:

[snip]

If unused minutes are rolled over then why do you have to add minutes
after 90 days?

When you add a Tracfone card, you get (for example) 60 minutes and 90
days. These are treated as entirely different things. Minutes is
airtime (deducted only when you use the phone). Days are the time
period your service is active, regardless of use. When that (Days)
expires, you have to renew. You keep the unused minutes.

Other companies are different. With my Alltel service, you just add
money. Day and usage charges are both taken from a common pool (it's
75 cents/day and 10 cents/minute).

Combine that Alltel service with Google Voice and chose one of your free
options as a "favorite number" that you set to your Google Voice number.
You then have unlimited incoming and outgoing calls without using any
minutes because incoming calls are routed through Google Voice and come
from your "favorite number" and you call your Google Voice number to
place all outgoing calls and all outgoing calls are to your "favorite
number." Alltel has discontinued offering their own prepaid plans and
the 75 cents/day plan is no longer available.

Mark Lloyd wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:05:10 -0700, SMS
wrote:

tom wrote:

Stormin Mormon wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out, and so on.
But, there have been a couple moments when the car broke down. Or,
one was out, and the other didn't know why it was taking so long. I
suggested they get a cell phone. The reply was that we don't have
the money to support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance. Has anyone
used such a phone, and which brand, where bought, etc? If it was
twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone outright, and give it to them
as a gift.
We have phones with Virgin that run $5 a month each at $.18 a minute or
about 27 minutes a month. Any un-used minutes carry over to the next
month. We gave them a CC #'s and they "top up" the account for $15 every
90 days or before if you run out of minutes. We paid for our phones but
received credit for the purchase price in minutes on the 1st month. The
phones and service have been flawless for the last 2 years. Haven't
checked lately so I'm not sure if this plan is still available.

https://www.virginmobileusa.com/myvirginmobile/home.do
Avoid Virgin Mobile at all costs. The problem is that you can only use
Sprint's network. There is no roaming at all, even at extra cost.
Sprint's network is very limited, especially outside urban areas.

See "http://prepaiduswireless.com" for details on the best prepaid services.

Is there anything wrong with Virgin Mobile, other than limited
coverage area?

1. High per minute cost (recently increased)
2. High texting rates (they used to have the lowest texting rates)
3. Comparatively high monthly minimum (not really suitable for a glove
compartment phone).


I'm wanting to get a phone that works in Brownwood Texas. It's 49
miles off the interstate highway, and neither AT&T or Verizon provide
coverage there. According to their map, it looks like Virgin does.

Yeah, there are a very few areas where Sprint is the only major carrier,
and it looks like you found one!

On 11 Aug 2009 22:54:20 GMT, RobertPatrick wrote:

[snip]


You're going to have to call customer service. The Rep has to give you
special code numbers to enter into the new phone and to also transfer any
minutes from the old phone.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2125116_tran...one-units.html

My first Tracfone (bought in 2000) required typing in these long code
numbers. The one I got in about 2005 did not. You still have to call
customer service to transfer units. Both units and days were
transferred. I did have to get a new phone number, possibly because of
the change from CDMA to GSM.

BTW, in case you don't know about the technology, GSM phones are the
ones with SIM cards.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent
force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isaac Asimov

"Frank" wrote in message
...
windcrest wrote:
On Aug 11, 7:53 am, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
My parents are still able to drive, go shopping, eat out,
and so on. But, there have been a couple moments when the
car broke down. Or, one was out, and the other didn't know
why it was taking so long. I suggested they get a cell
phone. The reply was that we don't have the money to
support another monthly bill.

I've heard of phones where you buy the minutes in advance.
Has anyone used such a phone, and which brand, where bought,
etc? If it was twenty bucks or so, I'd buy the phone
outright, and give it to them as a gift.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

I have a tracfone, they are great. I get connections just fine and I
replenish it every 3 months or so.

If you get a tracfone it is worthwhile to pay the extra $49 at time of
purchase to get "double minutes for life", with this plan every time
thereafter when you buy minutes they automatically double them. That
initial $49 pays for itself after your second replenish.

If all you need is basic communication then I can highly recommend a
tracfone.

I, too, have no problems with my Tracfone. Also live in a low reception
area where bars are minimal but it is equally bad for wife's phone with
Verizon.

My Tracfone is several years old and I would like to get a better looking
one but website gives no clues on how to do this. You do not get the hand
holding that Verizon or Sprint offer. Also updating minutes is easier on
internet than on phone.

Been a Tracfone customer since the begining many years ago...Love
it....Highly recommend it...The only drawback is their assortment of
phones...SWMBO wants a camera phone and Tracfone doesn't have one for Maine
for some reason...Only the basic phones are available...Kinda sucks....I
only use mine for work so I could care less...LOL...We have the LG flip
phone.....

https://www.virginmobileusa.com/myvirginmobile/home.do
Avoid Virgin Mobile at all costs. The problem is that you can only use
Sprint's network. There is no roaming at all, even at extra cost.
Sprint's network is very limited, especially outside urban areas.

See "http://prepaiduswireless.com" for details on the best prepaid
services.

Is there anything wrong with Virgin Mobile, other than limited
coverage area?

1. High per minute cost (recently increased)

Guess it comes down to what you need. Per minute cost means little to me as
seldom as I use my cell. I don't burn up the 27 minutes included with the $5
required monthly charge.

2. High texting rates (they used to have the lowest texting rates)

I seldom text\email. When I do it's still cheaper than cell use.

3. Comparatively high monthly minimum (not really suitable for a glove
compartment phone).

Again I'm not up to speed on current\new requirements, but with our plan we
incur NO monthly minimums.

wrote:

You may get cheaper service but I am not sure it is better service.
... and I like the phone. I hate those cheap little bic lighter sized
phones with buttons so small I can't use them and sound like you are
talking in a garbage can.

My mom is 84 and has no problem with a plain, normal cell phone. Don't
put all seniors into the same category. A plain phone with relatively
large buttons, like an LGVX3300 or a Motorola V325i is not difficult to
use for seniors, or anyone else for that matter.

I also like being able to manage my phone directory online.

That's nice, but you can plug your phone into your computer and manage
your phone directory locally.

He was talking about a phone for his parents, not his kid. They might
like the idea that you can dial "O" and get a call put up to anyone in
the country without screwing with 411.

Free directory assistance is already available, but not live. I guess if
they want to place calls with a live operator, versus entering the
number or selecting the name from a list of contacts, that's an
advantage of Jitterbug, but boy do you pay a premium for that.