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01-01-2014, 02:24 PM
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#1
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 10,723
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Cheap (Free?) Cell Phone
My company provided cell phone is soon to be gone. Since I have a tablet on wifi at home, and internet based "land line", I really don't need a lot of anything unless I'm out. And when I'm out, just minimal texting and voice ("Don't forget to pickup bread and milk" kinds of things). I was thinking about freedompop. It looks like the price of the phone as gone up since that write-up.
This plan has you really buy the phone (as opposed to sign a contract, get a "free" phone, but then are locked into two years of a high monthly fee so they recover their equipment cost).
Anyone here using this "free" plan? Any good?
I found an old reference http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ml#post1241185 but it was too old to revive.
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01-01-2014, 03:10 PM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
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I use PagePlus. You have to add $10 every 120 days, so the cost to me is $2.50 a month. You need a Verizon phone that was not originally a prepaid phone. You can buy these cheaply off eBay (search PagePlus phone) or maybe someone has one in a drawer somewhere that got a newer "free" phone on their contract plan. I believe calls are 10 cents or so a minute. My balance continues to grow, as the balance rolls forward. I may burn up the excess using data, as I chose a Droid smart phone as my phone.
Not free, but almost.
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01-01-2014, 03:33 PM
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#3
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 984
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+1 for PagePlus -- bought a new Droid Pro smartphone (Ebay) for $60 and add the $80 for 2000 minute refill once a year (usually pay $76 for the refill online). This is my only phone so fairly inexpensive at just over $6 a month.
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01-01-2014, 03:55 PM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 4,629
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I use Verizon pay in advance. Bought a phone for $19.99 at Walmart, prepay $100 each year, and my balance keeps going up.
But, note that I use the phone less than once a week.
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01-01-2014, 04:12 PM
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#5
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Harrogate, UK
Posts: 921
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I think you folks may have sold me as well. I am currently on Verizon with a cheap (not smart) cell phone. I was thinking about going the PagePlus route.
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01-01-2014, 06:50 PM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,366
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I use Ting. Sprint network, you buy the phone, $6/month/phone plus $3 for first 100 minutes and $3 for the first 100MB which we share among four phones. DW's old T-Mobile prepaid plan was cheaper, but now we all have smartphones.
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01-02-2014, 08:49 AM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,887
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I'm starting to look into plans for a relative who wants to get off their contract.
I sure wish someone would offer a "build your plan" option for monthly minutes, texts, data. I need to check with her on usage, but I suspect she will need fairly high minutes, just a few texts, and just some data. But once you get to lots of minutes, most seem to be either voice only, or bundled with lots of texts and either very small data or lots of data. Hard to find a 'sweet spot' for some usage patterns.
-ERD50
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01-02-2014, 08:57 AM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 1,894
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ERD50
I sure wish someone would offer a "build your plan" option for monthly minutes, texts, data.
-ERD50
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Ting mobile has that from what I can see, https://ting.com/rates
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01-02-2014, 09:29 AM
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#9
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,887
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rbmrtn
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Thanks, I'd prefer to stay in the GSM format, but I will check this out.
-ERD50
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01-02-2014, 02:01 PM
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#10
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,229
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I switched to PTEL ( Prepaid Wireless Cell Phone Service, Pay As You Go - PTel Mobile (PlatinumTel)) about a year ago and have been happy with them, they share T-Mobiles network so are on a GSM network and no contract is required. Their PayGo rates are reasonable, just by a $ amount and load it on your phone. You get charged (voice, data, text) for what you use and any left over $ gets carried over. The minimum load is $10 every 2 months which is way more than I need but leaves a nice surplus at the end of the year so I'm not concerned about using data when needed.
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01-02-2014, 09:15 PM
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#11
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 464
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Cheap (Free?) Cell Phone
Zinger, is there a similar plan that runs on ATT network?
I am currently on postpaid T Mobile because I want free international data feature. My wife rarely used data but nice to have. Patel prepaid of $100 does not expire, what a great deal. However, I would prefer a different network on my wife's phone just in case one has bad reception, the other may work better.
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01-03-2014, 07:15 AM
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#12
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,229
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Disappointed
Zinger, is there a similar plan that runs on ATT network?
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Haven't come across any but haven't been looking either.
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01-03-2014, 08:00 AM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,587
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Currently use Consumer Cellular, an AT&T reseller. If just looking for voice & a few texts, can get by for $17.50 per month (200 min and 100 text), no contract. $35 for basic phone. Ask them if they have any returned lightly used phones. Can be had for $15 sometimes.
See www.consumercellular.com
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01-03-2014, 08:28 AM
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#14
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 599
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I hadn't heard of PagePlus. I use a flip phone for my limited calling and I think one of the PagePlus plans will work for me.
DW on the other hand has a smart phone which we both use. Lots of benefits when we travel - map, web sites, etc. I think the Verizon plan may still be better for her and the smart phone.
From the post above it sounds like PagePlus utilizes the Verizon network. If DW calls me from her smart phone is that considered mobile-to-mobile (free) since we'd both be using the Verizon network?
__________________
Dreamin' of Streamin'
FIRE'd at 52 on 7/8/11
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01-03-2014, 08:50 AM
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#15
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 464
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zinger1457
Haven't come across any but haven't been looking either.
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Did some research last night and found AirVoice, not as good a deal as Ptel but it is using ATT network.
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01-03-2014, 08:57 AM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nvestysly
I hadn't heard of PagePlus. I use a flip phone for my limited calling and I think one of the PagePlus plans will work for me.
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If you don't make many calls, it should be cheaper
Quote:
DW on the other hand has a smart phone which we both use. Lots of benefits when we travel - map, web sites, etc. I think the Verizon plan may still be better for her and the smart phone.
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PagePlus also supports smartphones. Different plans have different data rates. DW uses some data on her smartphone, still finds it cheaper than her old Verizon plan.
Quote:
From the post above it sounds like PagePlus utilizes the Verizon network. If DW calls me from her smart phone is that considered mobile-to-mobile (free) since we'd both be using the Verizon network?
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Dunno.
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01-03-2014, 11:03 AM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tampa Bay Area
Posts: 1,866
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I tried to do a live chat with pageplus but you have to have a current account. I'd like to find out:
1. if you can text using the 2000 minute card (ie: how many minutes are "used" per text)
2. if mobile to mobile pageplus is free if both the sender and receiver are using prepaid cards
perhaps one of our current pageplus members can answer ?
__________________
"For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." ~
Hebrews 12:11
ER'd in June 2015 at age 52. Initial WR 3%. 50/40/10 (Equity/Bond/Short Term) AA.
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01-03-2014, 11:33 AM
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#18
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 984
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Live And Learn
I tried to do a live chat with pageplus but you have to have a current account. I'd like to find out:
1. if you can text using the 2000 minute card (ie: how many minutes are "used" per text)
2. if mobile to mobile pageplus is free if both the sender and receiver are using prepaid cards
perhaps one of our current pageplus members can answer ?
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1) The balance is shown as $ rather than minutes -- for the 2000 minute refill ($80), each voice minute is $0.04 and each text is $0.05.
2) No free calls within network.
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01-03-2014, 11:42 AM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tampa Bay Area
Posts: 1,866
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Thanks Lakedog !
__________________
"For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." ~
Hebrews 12:11
ER'd in June 2015 at age 52. Initial WR 3%. 50/40/10 (Equity/Bond/Short Term) AA.
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01-03-2014, 05:10 PM
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#20
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 464
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One of the best websites to do research is bestprepaid.org. For general cellphone and carrier discussion I go to howardforums.com.
If posting websites is against the rule, please delete.
Thanks
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