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This one is very slightly more risky than the last couple I found. I bought this one, so far so good. That brings me up to three emergency cells I've gotten in the last ~16 months; the at&t free2go phone that cost me $25 for ~300 minutes that lasted all 16 months (still have 45 to use up); the t-mobile togo phone that was $39 AR and 100 for 1000 minutes that wont expire for a year (900 to go), and this one that is free after rebate and minutes dont expire, so that'll cost me $25 for a year or so.
$189 for three cell phones for 1+ year emergency/"hey whadda ya want at the grocery store"/"I'm gonna be late" calls. And I still have about $90 worth of viable minutes to use out of that $189.
Go here:
http://www.cheapphonecards.com/cccart/customer/home.php?cat=77
This is a great place to get prepaid phone cards and prepaid mobile service. I bought my t-mobile $100 card here for ~$89 after coupons. They always have 3-4 coupon codes floating around, check fatwallet's hot deals forum for the latest.
Right now they've teamed up with STIMobile, a sprint reseller, to offer a nice prepaid package.
Whats prepaid? You buy a dollar or minute card for a phone that you usually have to buy and pay for yourself, and are charged a dollar/minute or flat minute rate as you use the phone. The trick is generally expiration of the minutes; most plans expire the minutes after 30-90 days unless you 'recharge' the phone with more minutes. It can be a hassle and can end up costing you close to the regular el cheapo $19/month basic cell phone plans.
Thats why I look for ones where the minutes last a year and/or minutes dont expire at all with some small caveats.
The original at&t deal had you buy a free after rebate phone (an excellent deal for a prepaid), put $25 on it, and they'd automatically add 20 minutes every month and keep rolling your unused minutes forward, for one year. It was too good to be true. I think it was to pump up subscriber numbers pending their purchase by cingular. It was actually 16 months that they kept adding 20 minutes and rolling the minutes.
If you have one of those at&t tdma type phones, or can buy a old 'free2go' phone from ebay, gobeyondwireless.com will resell you cingulars service for a cheap ~10c a minute rate with minutes that never expire as long as you make a call for one minute (in or out) every 60 days. Check this on their web site to make sure that hasnt changed to 45 or 90, these things are a little fluid. That means $25 can last you something like 3-5 years as long as all you make are 'ping' calls. Perfect for the glove compartment emergency car cell phone or one you carry in your bag in case all hell breaks loose.
t-mobiles service is a fine simple plan. You buy a phone for ~40. Target, walmart sell them at this price, and others try to sell them to you for $80 with a $40 rebate. Why bother. $100 'cards' can be bought for ~$90 at various places, and $100 cards make your minutes last a year. Even smaller amounts you buy subsequent to that which normally only last 90 days are granted the 1 year status once you've applied a $100 card. If you apply a second $100 card just before the year on the first card expires, all of your minutes are rolled over for a second year...but I think I recall that the fine print said that $100/1 year minutes can only be rolled over once.
On this STI mobile/cheapphonecards deal, they are reselling sprint minutes. Sprint (last time I checked) doesnt offer a prepaid deal, so they resell their network capacity to companies like stimobile and virgin mobile. The one downside to this is that sprints network is not as widespread as some others, so check their crappy and hard to read coverage map to make sure you have coverage, and/or check with your local sprint store to see if they cover your area. If you dont HAVE a sprint store, thats a tip off.
You buy an LG 5225 color flip phone (no camera) with leather case and car charger for $105 or the plain phone and wall charger for $89, and get $89 back in rebate. Its a BIG rebate, and you MUST submit it within 14 days of ordering the phone, you MUST activate it with stimobile, and you MUST keep it activated with them for at least several months. But in essence its a free phone, and thats the holy grail of prepaid cell phones. Use the coupon code "paymecell" or "payme20" or "payme25" to get 20% off the package, making the $105 package 2 free, or you might actually make a few dollars on the package 1 phone.
Minutes through stimobile are like beyondwireless minutes, they stay in effect as long as you make or receive at least one call every 60 days. Also a great deal.
They have two service plans. If you know anyone that lives in a foreign country, plan #2 is an incredible deal.
PLAN 1 - .10 Nights/Weekends & .12 Days with low direct dial international rates. Complete International rates:
http://www.stimobile.com/ServicePlans.aspx
PLAN 2 - .18 Domestic and FREE INTERNATIONAL CALLS to over 200 countries including Vietnam and India. You just pay the .18 airtime charge. International rate list for plan two: http://www.stimobile.com/plan2rates.aspx
The phone is allegedly a good one, only complaint so far is weak battery life of about 3 days standby on a full charge. I leave mine connected to the charger all the time so I dont care. If stimobile goes out of business, it shouldnt be rocket science to get virgin mobile or sprint to let you use it on their network instead.
Only risk is they go out of business before they pay your rebate. So far they're selling phones like hotcakes for some time now, and they've been paying the rebates in a timely manner.
$189 for three cell phones for 1+ year emergency/"hey whadda ya want at the grocery store"/"I'm gonna be late" calls. And I still have about $90 worth of viable minutes to use out of that $189.
Go here:
http://www.cheapphonecards.com/cccart/customer/home.php?cat=77
This is a great place to get prepaid phone cards and prepaid mobile service. I bought my t-mobile $100 card here for ~$89 after coupons. They always have 3-4 coupon codes floating around, check fatwallet's hot deals forum for the latest.
Right now they've teamed up with STIMobile, a sprint reseller, to offer a nice prepaid package.
Whats prepaid? You buy a dollar or minute card for a phone that you usually have to buy and pay for yourself, and are charged a dollar/minute or flat minute rate as you use the phone. The trick is generally expiration of the minutes; most plans expire the minutes after 30-90 days unless you 'recharge' the phone with more minutes. It can be a hassle and can end up costing you close to the regular el cheapo $19/month basic cell phone plans.
Thats why I look for ones where the minutes last a year and/or minutes dont expire at all with some small caveats.
The original at&t deal had you buy a free after rebate phone (an excellent deal for a prepaid), put $25 on it, and they'd automatically add 20 minutes every month and keep rolling your unused minutes forward, for one year. It was too good to be true. I think it was to pump up subscriber numbers pending their purchase by cingular. It was actually 16 months that they kept adding 20 minutes and rolling the minutes.
If you have one of those at&t tdma type phones, or can buy a old 'free2go' phone from ebay, gobeyondwireless.com will resell you cingulars service for a cheap ~10c a minute rate with minutes that never expire as long as you make a call for one minute (in or out) every 60 days. Check this on their web site to make sure that hasnt changed to 45 or 90, these things are a little fluid. That means $25 can last you something like 3-5 years as long as all you make are 'ping' calls. Perfect for the glove compartment emergency car cell phone or one you carry in your bag in case all hell breaks loose.
t-mobiles service is a fine simple plan. You buy a phone for ~40. Target, walmart sell them at this price, and others try to sell them to you for $80 with a $40 rebate. Why bother. $100 'cards' can be bought for ~$90 at various places, and $100 cards make your minutes last a year. Even smaller amounts you buy subsequent to that which normally only last 90 days are granted the 1 year status once you've applied a $100 card. If you apply a second $100 card just before the year on the first card expires, all of your minutes are rolled over for a second year...but I think I recall that the fine print said that $100/1 year minutes can only be rolled over once.
On this STI mobile/cheapphonecards deal, they are reselling sprint minutes. Sprint (last time I checked) doesnt offer a prepaid deal, so they resell their network capacity to companies like stimobile and virgin mobile. The one downside to this is that sprints network is not as widespread as some others, so check their crappy and hard to read coverage map to make sure you have coverage, and/or check with your local sprint store to see if they cover your area. If you dont HAVE a sprint store, thats a tip off.
You buy an LG 5225 color flip phone (no camera) with leather case and car charger for $105 or the plain phone and wall charger for $89, and get $89 back in rebate. Its a BIG rebate, and you MUST submit it within 14 days of ordering the phone, you MUST activate it with stimobile, and you MUST keep it activated with them for at least several months. But in essence its a free phone, and thats the holy grail of prepaid cell phones. Use the coupon code "paymecell" or "payme20" or "payme25" to get 20% off the package, making the $105 package 2 free, or you might actually make a few dollars on the package 1 phone.
Minutes through stimobile are like beyondwireless minutes, they stay in effect as long as you make or receive at least one call every 60 days. Also a great deal.
They have two service plans. If you know anyone that lives in a foreign country, plan #2 is an incredible deal.
PLAN 1 - .10 Nights/Weekends & .12 Days with low direct dial international rates. Complete International rates:
http://www.stimobile.com/ServicePlans.aspx
PLAN 2 - .18 Domestic and FREE INTERNATIONAL CALLS to over 200 countries including Vietnam and India. You just pay the .18 airtime charge. International rate list for plan two: http://www.stimobile.com/plan2rates.aspx
The phone is allegedly a good one, only complaint so far is weak battery life of about 3 days standby on a full charge. I leave mine connected to the charger all the time so I dont care. If stimobile goes out of business, it shouldnt be rocket science to get virgin mobile or sprint to let you use it on their network instead.
Only risk is they go out of business before they pay your rebate. So far they're selling phones like hotcakes for some time now, and they've been paying the rebates in a timely manner.
<$9/mo for service for ~100 minutes/month. The amazing thing was the number porting.... it took 15 seconds. They also canceled my sprint account for me. Sweet.
![:-\](https://www.early-retirement.org/sk/forums/images/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
