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Reasonable Pre-Paid Cellphones in the US?
MBCook asks: "I've been with my current cell provider for a few years, and never been terribly happy with them. They lock and cripple their phones, but their coverage has been decent. However, in the last month I have experienced having my phone telling me it had voice mail when it didn't for about 2 weeks (little icon was there, but calling in said 'No messages'). Then today (Dec. 4th) it notified me of a very important call I missed — on November 19th. Since my contract expires next month, I've been looking at pre-paid cell phones and their plans. I'm not a big talker, and it would take me a while to use up 100 minutes. All the pre-paid plans seem to like to expire your minutes relatively fast (30 days) unless you buy a large number like 1000, then you get 90 days. Add to that the daily access fees some of them want to charge you ($1 per day you use your phone) and I may as well be paying $40 a month to one of the big boys. Is there any way to get cheap pre-paid cell service in the US? I don't care about ring tones, and while I'd like to be able to get games I can survive without 'em. I can't be the only one in this boat, what have others found?"
They exist. After you spend $100 on T-Mobile USA Prepaid, minutes expire after one year regardless of your refill price. So, the first year will cost $100 ($8.33/mo) and you'll get 1000 minutes total for the year. If you need more, they'll last for a year. For $20 you'll only get 35 minutes, but for $100 you'll get another 1000 minutes. But after that first year, if you hardly ever used your phone, you could get away with $1.67/mo.
Alltel's U Prepaid also has decent rates.
I've been using a pre-paid virginmobileusa.comm phone for years.
It costs $15 every three months, minimum (that is, you have to pay $15 every three months, regardless).
Needless to say, I seldom use it, but it's there when I need it, and the money never expires.
Can't beat $5 a month.
Hope it helps.
*Still* negative function...