Anyone have advice on prepaid phones? My mom doesn't want to pay $100 a month for cell phone service with data. Anyone know of a good deal for simple cell service with texting or a reliable prepaid service? How does travelling work with prepaid? Any advice is appreciated, thanks.
Doesn't wal-mart have a new service that is supposed to be cheap and decent quality? Edit: Yes... http://www.walmart.com/cp/cell-phones-accessories/542371
http://slickdeals.net/f/3377172-T-M...t-5GB-Data-100-Voice-Mins-New-Activation-Only If your mom has an android phone she can get a VOIP app that can convert her phone calls to data so she'll have more than 100 minutes talk time.
Cricket is crap. I had it a couple of year ago and always had a hard time getting a signal. Not sure if they have improved since I've had it.
There's a few selections of prepaid phones. It depends on how "basic" you mean by basic. Like being on crappy GSM data speed below 3G. Maybe a prepaid Verizon phone would have the best coverage and signal with the $50 unlimted talk, text and data. Problem is usually that the phones themselves are "dumbphones" on the low end of features, not smartphones. Metro is the cheapest full service provider that is technically prepaid. But I've heard bad things about its service, that you get what you pay for there. I have an Android prepaid that I havent converted to prepaid yet, or I'd offer more info.
This is the low cost "techie" way I'm gonna look into later. (I don't feel like porting numbers and stuff at the moment) but thats the best bargain. I suggested the basic non-techie way in case of them wanting to keep it more simple.
Simple mobile has a 3 g unlimited plan for$ 40.00, $ 50.00 and $ 60.00 for higher speed. You need an unlocked phone for their sim card. I have my daughter on it with an old iphone.
Tracfone has this deal for like 1400 minutes valid for one year for 99 USD total. http://slickdeals.net/f/5038406-Tracfone-with-1400-Mins-Triple-Mins-for-Life-99-FS
HSPA/+ is faster than EVDO (Sprint and Verizon) which has a theoretical output of 3.1mbps max. CDMA does offer superior call quality though and less percentage of dropped calls.
BOOOOOST¡!!!!!!"!!!!!!!! It uses sprint towers, has good variety for phone, and starts off 55 and drops to 40 if you keep paying on time... also its prepaid...
www.straighttalksim.com $45 a month for unlimited talk (It's really 15,000 minutes), text, and data (Soft cap is at 2gb). If your mom is using less than 2gb of data, I would recommend this. You can choose a T-Mobile or an AT&T sim card so you can choose the network. It includes VOICE roaming, so even if she goes out to the country she can roam onto a regional GSM carrier like Cellular One and still have signal. You can use an existing AT&T or T-Mobile phone, just choose the right sim card. Or, you can use any unlocked GSM phone with 850/1900mhz frequencies and choose AT&T. (Some phones like the Galaxy Nexus and some Nokia's are pentaband and will support both AT&T and Tmobile3G frequencies) If you want the reliability of Verizon's network, you can choose PagePlus. www.pagepluscellular.com $55 gets you unlimited talk, text, and 2gb of data. You can use any existing Verizon phone, but you'll have to go to an authorized dealer or call them to get it on the network. Their website only has a limited amount of devices. Edit: Just saw that you mentioned she only cares about talk/text. http://goredpocket.com/plans/ $39.99 unlimited talk and text. Uses AT&T's network. Who is she currently with and what phone does she have to know what's a better deal? There are also a ton of Sprint MVNO's, and since she doesn't care about data, it should be reliable. Sprint has pretty good voice quality and coverage. I won't discuss their "3g" though.
Page Plus Cellular - Verizons network 29.99 - 1200 mins/3000 texts and 100MB data. 39.99 - unlimited mins and text and 100MB data You have to be careful with prepaid as they typically do not allow roaming on other carriers network. Stick with the big 3; Verizon/Sprint/ATT. I do not recommend any TMobile MVNO's (such as Simple Mobile)
Page Plus wins here. No need to get on a monthly plan, get 2000 minutes for $80. Refill every before 120 days go by, and your existing minutes roll over. Texts are 5 cents each. Page Plus also has the best coverage, and I've compared it with Boost, T-Mobile, and Virgin Mobile, in the past. You can't use it overseas, if that's what you mean by traveling. I've never roamed with Page Plus, but it does cost a little more. I put my mother on Page Plus and it cut her cell phone bill down to less than $10/month, because her usage is low.
Isn't EVDO = 3G? Sprint and Verizon are 4G and 4G LTE now which is faster than HSPA+ (HSPA+ is the fastest 3G based standard)
Definitely, however we are talking prepaid. No LTE access for any MVNOs or prepaid plans as far as I know.
I have this, and it sucks. Unless you are on Wi-fi, the VOIP apps just aren't good quality, especially if you are moving. Also, I have a Google Voice number I us for my VOIP, and I can't seem to get picture messages, though I'm trying to figure that out. I have their 4G phone and for some reason you never get 3G coverage in areas without 4G, instead you get Edge. I'm still in the process of figuring everything out to decide what is best for me, but I definitely miss Verizon. Too bad they were so damn expensive. If I didn't want a smartphone, I'd do Straight Talk or some other service that uses the Verizon network which blows other carriers out of the water.
