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Old 01-15-2014, 02:34 PM   #21
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$100! I'm amazed that anyone would spend that much. With PagePlus I spend $2.50 a month, or $30 a year. Did you win the lottery or something.
When I looked at the PagePlus website, their least expensive plan is $12/month

Would you mind sharing how you get by for $2.5

Me - I have a TracFone that rips me off for $6.66/month. That's over $4/month I could be spending on beer !
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Old 01-15-2014, 03:34 PM   #22
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When I looked at the PagePlus website, their least expensive plan is $12/month

Would you mind sharing how you get by for $2.5

Me - I have a TracFone that rips me off for $6.66/month. That's over $4/month I could be spending on beer !
I use PP and this is what I do for minimal use. I don't use one of their monthly plans rather I purchase a $10 card to recharge the phone which is good for 120 days. Three of these need to be purchased to cover 1 year. Any left over minutes accumulate as long as you keep recharging and don't let it lapse. If you need a lot of minutes or texts you may need one of the monthly plans.
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Old 01-15-2014, 03:44 PM   #23
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I use PP and this is what I do for minimal use. I don't use one of their monthly plans rather I purchase a $10 card to recharge the phone which is good for 120 days. Three of these need to be purchased to cover 1 year. Any left over minutes accumulate as long as you keep recharging and don't let it lapse. If you need a lot of minutes or texts you may need one of the monthly plans.
Same here.
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Old 01-15-2014, 04:26 PM   #24
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We are switching to Republic Wireless. You buy the phone, a Moto X, nice phone for $300 and then you have a choice of 4 plans. My phone is $10/month unlimited calling and text and my wife is on the $25/month plan which is unlimited everything. They use WiFi if available then Sprint and then Verizon if Sprint network is not available. We've been testing them for the past few weeks and the service is exactly the same as our $150/month Verizon plan!

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Old 01-15-2014, 04:27 PM   #25
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I use PP and this is what I do for minimal use. I don't use one of their monthly plans rather I purchase a $10 card to recharge the phone which is good for 120 days. Three of these need to be purchased to cover 1 year. Any left over minutes accumulate as long as you keep recharging and don't let it lapse. If you need a lot of minutes or texts you may need one of the monthly plans.
PagePlus is also good for my type of usage. For 12 months or 2000 minutes, whichever comes first, the list price is $80 (comes out to 4 cents/minute).

No need to purchase a monthly plan.

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Old 01-15-2014, 04:38 PM   #26
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I use PP and this is what I do for minimal use. I don't use one of their monthly plans rather I purchase a $10 card to recharge the phone which is good for 120 days. Three of these need to be purchased to cover 1 year. Any left over minutes accumulate as long as you keep recharging and don't let it lapse. If you need a lot of minutes or texts you may need one of the monthly plans.
I looked at PP but to get it to work out the way you use it you only get an average of 25 minutes a month of voice (could be a lot less if you're also using text and data). My cell phone usage is minimal but that would be extreme even for me. Their voice/text/data charges seem to be on the high side for 'pay go' carriers but they do allow longer times between refills than most so do offer a possibility of a very low yearly charge.
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Old 01-15-2014, 04:44 PM   #27
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We are switching to Republic Wireless.
We are with Republic also. Just upgraded to Moto X and got $100 trade in rebate.
DW's plan is $10/month right now. You can switch 2 times a month. I will do that when traveling.
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Old 01-15-2014, 05:14 PM   #28
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Here is what appears to be a neutral review on Republic: Is Republic Wireless too good to be true? | Mobile - CNET News

For me paying $300 for a phone that is locked to one service provider is a bit to chancy. Worth the risk?
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Old 01-15-2014, 05:14 PM   #29
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The problem with PagePlus is that while they are on the Verizon network, they don't have 4G LTE. Of course, if you don't have a 4G LTE phone or don't want one that isn't an issue. But if you do have one and do want one, then it is an issue. I keep hearing "soon" they will have it.
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Old 01-15-2014, 05:16 PM   #30
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I looked at PP but to get it to work out the way you use it you only get an average of 25 minutes a month of voice (could be a lot less if you're also using text and data). My cell phone usage is minimal but that would be extreme even for me. Their voice/text/data charges seem to be on the high side for 'pay go' carriers but they do allow longer times between refills than most so do offer a possibility of a very low yearly charge.
The 'pay go' plan is for people like me that rarely use voice or text and do any data exchanges via wifi.
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Cell Phone Plans - Which One do you use and why?
Old 01-15-2014, 05:24 PM   #31
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Cell Phone Plans - Which One do you use and why?

I pay $76/month for my iPhone with Verizon.

Why? Well, some people might think it is because the only time I have had a call dropped in the last 13 years was when I was in a tunnel under the river in Mobile, Alabama. Others might think it is because I have a grandfathered limitless data plan. Still others might think it is because the nice fellow at the Verizon store down the street, has always been so helpful and treats me like a princess.

But really, the reason why is so that I can shock people on the forum with how much money I throw away on my cell phone charges....
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Old 01-15-2014, 05:36 PM   #32
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The problem with PagePlus is that while they are on the Verizon network, they don't have 4G LTE. Of course, if you don't have a 4G LTE phone or don't want one that isn't an issue. But if you do have one and do want one, then it is an issue. I keep hearing "soon" they will have it.
I'm not sure what the exact benefits of 4G LTE would be for me. Our son likes PagePlus and has used it for a few years. He had Android phones and recently switched to an Iphone 4s.

The reason I want to get a GSM phone (means probably an Android phone) is because that will work in Europe. Although we don't go there very often, it could be handy. Also I really like my Nexus 7 tablet, so I imagine the Android experience on a phone will be OK. The Nexus 5 has a decent size screen for web browsing on the go.
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Old 01-15-2014, 05:38 PM   #33
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Here is what appears to be a neutral review on Republic: Is Republic Wireless too good to be true? | Mobile - CNET News

For me paying $300 for a phone that is locked to one service provider is a bit to chancy. Worth the risk?
+1

I went with Ting instead for data (voice is handled by PagePlus on a feature phone). I spend about $10.50/month for 100MB of data. No contract.

Bought an unlocked refurbed Android phone from Ting also for ~ $80 because I have never had a smartphone until now.

I figured that putting up $80 to evaluate their service would be reasonable given that I could probably resell the unlocked phone on Ebay if it didn't turn out well. It turned out very well. Ting has very good support. See their web site and forums for examples.

For an extra $3/month, I can also get 100 minutes of voice from Ting -- most months I don't use any minutes so I am not charged this extra $3. Ting runs real 3g voice, not VOIP like republic wireless. You can however run VOIP when you have WIFI access if you access to a VOIP provider.

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Old 01-15-2014, 05:51 PM   #34
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I have an IPhone and pay about $75 per month for Verizon pre-pay. It delivers unlimited text and phone plus of data 4GB which is usually much more than I need. It relies on the old 3G network which is generally pretty fast since most seem to have moved over to 4G anyway.

I actually don't use the phone much, preferring texting for simple communications. I use the browser and apps a lot, so if I can find a cheaper solution that satisfies my data needs I would consider it.
You can get exactly the same service on the same network from PagePlus for $55/mo or from StraightTalk for $45/mo. Unlimited talk, text, and data on the Verizon network. Bring your own Verizon phone.
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Old 01-15-2014, 06:03 PM   #35
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I have an IPhone and pay about $75 per month for Verizon pre-pay. It delivers unlimited text and phone plus of data 4GB which is usually much more than I need.
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You can get exactly the same service on the same network from PagePlus for $55/mo or from StraightTalk for $45/mo. Unlimited talk, text, and data on the Verizon network. Bring your own Verizon phone.
You might want to check that again. I believe those two plans are 2.5GB data, not 4.0GB...
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Old 01-15-2014, 06:07 PM   #36
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Here is what appears to be a neutral review on Republic: Is Republic Wireless too good to be true? | Mobile - CNET News

For me paying $300 for a phone that is locked to one service provider is a bit to chancy. Worth the risk?
What that review fails to note is the availability to roam to the Verizon network also. In six months I will have paid for my phones and then I'll save $135 month with no change in my service quality. In fact our service is probably better here at the house because we are using the WiFi instead of the cellular network which has so so coverage at our house. If it doesn't work out then I sell the phones and move on. Seems like a no brainer to me!

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Old 01-15-2014, 06:25 PM   #37
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Here is what appears to be a neutral review on Republic: Is Republic Wireless too good to be true? | Mobile - CNET News

For me paying $300 for a phone that is locked to one service provider is a bit to chancy. Worth the risk?
I think so. If you pay $70 a month now, you would recover the cost quickly. YMMV
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Old 01-15-2014, 07:06 PM   #38
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I think so. If you pay $70 a month now, you would recover the cost quickly. YMMV
That assumes that the service works out for you.

My advice would be to check on ebay before committing to make sure that there is a good market for selling the phone in case the service didn't work out for you.

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Cell Phone Plans - Which One do you use and why?
Old 01-15-2014, 07:25 PM   #39
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Cell Phone Plans - Which One do you use and why?

I have Verizon. For my family of four plus my MIL the bill for 4 cell phones and one smart phone uns $150-$200 per month, of which my mega crop pays about $135 and my wife's employ pays a monthly per deim of $110. The excess then also pays our high speed Internet too.

These are a few perks that will not be available when we ER.
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Old 01-15-2014, 08:30 PM   #40
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You might want to check that again. I believe those two plans are 2.5GB data, not 4.0GB...
Good catch. They have been changed since I last looked. StraightTalk is for unlimited data...3G speed for the first 2.5Gb and 2G speed for any over 2.5GB. PagePlus is limited to 2.5GB/mo, all at 3G speed.
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