Best Inexpensive Cellphone Plans

[golfnut]

Our teenaged son is going on his own plan. The wife and I are looking for a new plan now that our verizon contract is just about completed.

New plan would need to include 2 cell phones, about 500 minute per month and about 500 text messages per month. We do not need any other features like a data plan but would like cellphones with full keyboards (texting).

As you can see, we are not heavy users.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Golfnut

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Our teenaged son is going on his own plan. The wife and I are looking for a new plan now that our verizon contract is just about completed.

New plan would need to include 2 cell phones, about 500 minute per month and about 500 text messages per month. We do not need any other features like a data plan but would like cellphones with full keyboards (texting).

As you can see, we are not heavy users.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Golfnut

I have found the howardforums to be very helpful for cellphones and plans- you might check it out.

HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource

 

[plex]

There are a lot of choices that are substantially better than the vanilla plans straight from the four main carriers.

The one I use is Pageplus, which is Verizon. I personally use the pay-as-you-go option, for my needs I spend $5/month for the 1600 or so minutes worth of calls and texts I use in a year.

You have to buy the phone, basically all or almost all of the much lower cost plans out there have the caveat of requiring you to get your own phone, however, dumbphones are extremely inexpensive, mine cost $15. It works on many types of phones, and I believe you can have multiple phone numbers on one account, at no additional cost. However, there are also phone models it doesn't support, so have to be careful, e.g., Verizon pre-paid phones won't work unless they are already pre-activated to Pageplus before you receive it.

Pay-as-you-go wouldn't be ideal for your needs, since it sounds like you need a medium level of service. The most appropriate plan seems to be the $30/month 1200/mins a month and 3000 text plan. Using pay-as-you-go for 500 mins+500 texts would cost $38/month.

 

[travelover]

I use PagePlus, too. I just bought a used Verizon non-prepaid phone off eBay.

I use a smartphone with the 3G shut off, as it is much more convenient than a dumb phone and combines lots of other functions that I find useful like WiFi capability, MP3 player, GPS, all kinds of apps, etc.

 

[sailor]

If Sprint coverage is decent where you want to use the phone Ting ( www.ting.com) is an excellent option.

 

[Germonico]

I've used VirginMobile's Beyond Talk for the past two years at $35 per month. I use the phone more for retrieving emails, checking news, & viewing financial data than I do for the 300 minutes of voice you get each month. It is my only Internet access point in my apartment as I go to the library across the street if I want to play with the big boys.

It also uses the Sprint's Nationwide network but check your coverage on their website . I do experience a deadzone when I visit relatives but that's not all that bad. I've never experienced any dropped calls, but sometimes retrieving data via their 3g network gets a little stubborn.

 

[Lakedog]

New plan would need to include 2 cell phones, about 500 minute per month and about 500 text messages per month.

If the usage is broken down approximately even per the two phones, PagePlus has $12 a month plans with 250 min/250 texts. I use their prepaid refills - 2000 minutes that last a year for $80 (as low as $76 from CallingMart).

https://www.pagepluscellular.com/plans/

 

[Animorph]

Ting would be buy your own phones (Android, from Ting), and $26/month for two phones sharing 500 minutes and 1000 text messages. $35/month to bump it up to 1000 minutes. Less if you can fall into a lower usage bracket for either. We share 100 minutes and 100 MB and no texts (use data instead) among three phones for $24/month.

 

[golfnut]

Thanks to everybody for the responses. If there are add'l responses, I'm all ears.

I called T-Mobile iro their pay as go plans. They have a 1000 minute/text (each text is consider 1 minute) for one year. Cost is $100. Got a feeling the 1000 minutes would last me at least 1 year. My wife maybe 3 months.

 

[Midpack]

DW & I both have Net10 semi-smart phones. She doesn't use data/search, but I do occasionally and it is handy. I have Google, GMail, weather and several other sites available, but it's slow and it's no iPhone/G3-Android. They cost us about $40 each almost 2 years ago, and we typically buy 1500 minutes of talk/text/data every 6 months each for $100. She uses all her minutes in 6 months, I use about half of mine. So we pay about $33/month or $16.50/month each. We're happy with Net10 for now, but I am sure the others above are good too.

Net10 (mid usage) is the same company as TracFone (emergency only/low usage) and Straight Talk (high/unlimited).

I'll have to look into Ting, sounds appealing...

I am sure we'll have full smartphones one day, just trying to avoid them as long as we can, cause I'm cheap...

 

[aja8888]

We have 4 old Verizon phones on Page Plus on either the Talk and Text 1200 plans (2 phones) and the 12 plan (2 phones). Total bill is about $84/month combined. Great service since they ride the Verizon network.

 

[pb4uski]

We recently converted to AT&T gophone pay as you go plans. Phone was ~$50 each and we pay $100 for one year of service. Talk is 10 cents a minute and text is 20 cents for each outgoing text. We use our cellphones just for convenience and ~$9 a month/phone is much better than the ~$60+ we were paying on our Verizon contract.

I believe that gophone offers other plans that might better fit your needs, but we have been happy with the service.

Though I will say that we were pleased with Verizon's service, but not the cost.

 

[aja8888]

We recently converted to AT&T gophone pay as you go plans. Phone was ~$50 each and we pay $100 for one year of service. Talk is 10 cents a minute and text is 20 cents for each outgoing text. We use our cellphones just for convenience and ~$9 a month/phone is much better than the ~$60+ we were paying on our Verizon contract.

I believe that gophone offers other plans that might better fit your needs, but we have been happy with the service.

Though I will say that we were pleased with Verizon's service, but not the cost.

Your plans may be great for your use, but 10 cents per minute and 20 cents for each outgoing text is very high. You can by a year plan on Page Plus for $80 that gives you 2,000 minutes ($0.04/minute). I'm not sure about the text cost but for example, or 12 plan ($12/month) includes 250 talk minutes, 250 texts, and 10 MB data.

This is for illustrative purposes only, as there are a gazillion pre-paid plans popping up these days.

 

[pb4uski]

Your plans may be great for your use, but 10 cents per minute and 20 cents for each outgoing text is very high. You can by a year plan on Page Plus for $80 that gives you 2,000 minutes ($0.04/minute). I'm not sure about the text cost but for example, or 12 plan ($12/month) includes 250 talk minutes, 250 texts, and 10 MB data.

This is for illustrative purposes only, as there are a gazillion pre-paid plans popping up these days.

I realize 10 cents a minute and 20 cents per text is high, but our use is very low as we only use cellphones for convenience and run out of time rather than $/minutes, so the overall cost per month is most important to us and our cost is ~$9 a month. I'll have to check out that PagePlus plan as it sounds like that would be slightly better.

I concede that perhaps we could have found cheaper but we live in a rural area where Verizon coverage is poor but AT&T coverage is good.

 

[aja8888]

I concede that perhaps we could have found cheaper but we live in a rural area where Verizon coverage is poor but AT&T coverage is good.

Yes, that may be a problem with poor Verizon service. We are in a very large metro area where it's no problem. One thing to note is that with these no contract plans, out of area roaming can be very expensive, and that's not something they advertise.

 

[pb4uski]

Yes, that may be a problem with poor Verizon service. We are in a very large metro area where it's no problem. One thing to note is that with these no contract plans, out of area roaming can be very expensive, and that's not something they advertise.

I looked at their coverage map and our house is just outside their coverage area.

 

[obgyn65]

Have you checked this website :

tracfone - Walmart.com

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Golfnut

 

[golfnut]

Again, Thanks to everybody for the responses. Need to do some further digging here based on the feedback here.

 

[noelm]

T-mobile has a new $30/month plan through Walmart. Unlimited text and web but only 100 minutes/month )Of course fails your requirement of 500 minutes). Its prepaid plan so no harm in giving a try. Use Vonage app to make calls.

I personally use Airvoice Wireless PAYG, $10 for 3 months. I ALWAYS make call though Vonage app because our neighborhood is flooded with cable company wi-fi, so if someone calls me, I reject the call and place back using Vonage. Yes, little cumbersome but saves me lot of money.

 

[travelover]

My DW insists on using her cell phone for lots of at-home long distance gab. We have a land line and with Goggle Voice, all long distance (nationally) is free.

So, my point is that you may need less minutes than you think if you have a land line.

 

[earthlady]

The cheapest phone is Metro Pcs. I spend 70.00 for unlimited text and talk for my son and I both

 

[haha]

I must not understand some aspect of this, otherwise these complex strategies seem a bit over the top. You can buy a T-Mobile unlimited cell plan for $50+ state sales tax for 30 days. Long distance in US is free. The phones from Wal-Mart cost less than $50, and no contract is involved. I used to have an ATT phone that dropped calls very often. With T-Mobile I drop maybe one per month. It is completely hassle free, and unless fiddling wth techology is a pleasure center this seems to be an easy way to handle communication needs.

It seems to me that a cell phone has every utility or more as a wireline phone, and you can put it in your pocket and take it along when you go out.

Ha

 

[Rowdy]

If Sprint coverage is decent where you want to use the phone Ting ( www.ting.com) is an excellent option.

Ting.com is awesome! We have 3 smartphones and one regular phone; I have never paid over $95/month. That includes some heavy text users. Ting recently started selling used phones through glyde.com; you can also bring many Sprint unlocked phones over to their service. No contracts, just plain good customer service.

Also started trying out Talkatone; this app lets you make free calls over 3G or wifi from your smartphone using Google voice.

 

[RE2Boys]

I've used Consumer Cellular for years. Two phones, modest data usage at $30-$35 per month. Ask if they have any returned/refurbished phones, they cut the price for the phone. Consumer Cellular - No Contract Cell Phones with Affordable Cell Phone Plans

 

[golfnut]

I've used Consumer Cellular for years. Two phones, modest data usage at $30-$35 per month. Ask if they have any returned/refurbished phones, they cut the price for the phone. Consumer Cellular - No Contract Cell Phones with Affordable Cell Phone Plans

Thanks, we have considered consumer cellular. Also, they provide a small AARP discount. Out of curiosity, what model phone do you have?

Thanks,

Golfnut