Pay-As-You-Go Cell Phone Plans

[AllAmericanMag]

Hey, I'm looking into cell phones for some reason and I was wondering if any of you had experience or knowledge about these particular plans. The one I'm specifically looking at is this http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....&type=category

I wouldn't be using the phone that often so I don't really want to pay for an entire plan if you know what I mean. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

-Edit-

Here's the basic plan for those of you who don't wanna go to the link.

Coverage:
"Use your phone anywhere in the USA that Virgin Mobile and its partners have coverage. There are no extra roaming charges. Virgin Mobile offers a widespread coverage area, but if you wander out of it, your phone won't work. Don't panic. Your voicemail and text messages will be waiting for you when you get back."

Pricing:
"25/10 Pricing
It's simple math. $.25/minute for the first 10 minutes each day, then only $.10/minute for the rest of the day*. And, Virgin Mobile rewards you for being a big talker. Each time you use $50 of airtime in a month, you'll get $10 in free airtime. See the FAQs for more pricing information.

When you need more airtime, buy a Top-Up card to add minutes to your phone. Just buy a card, call the toll-free number, enter the card's PIN, and you're back in business."

I don't get the Top-Up thing...

Oh yeah, and any recommendations on one of those phones would be nice. Thanks/.

[irbodden]

I did something similiar with Verizon a few years ago. I wish I didn't.

Minutes would expire after not using them, they were also very costly. Not to mention you have to pay for the phone.....

If you think you will use it alot, get a real plan, if you are using it just to call your parents.... mooch calls off your friends

[The Ralpst]

yeah, gotta agree on this one. I just got a cell phone plan a month or so ago and the prepaid was what we looked at first. Reading the fine print, you find that minutes do NOT carry over forever, you have to keep buying more to keep them active. My plan is 350 anytime minutes per month with 1000 minutes back-stocked forever and no roaming (long distance charges) within 5 states (woohoo) for $40.00 per month. My suggestion for someone who isn't planning to use it a lot is to get a plan with maybe 200 minutes with a decent range. These kind of plans can be bought for around $20.00 per month or less. The only catch is that you have to got the whole duration or pay a cancellation fine (usually $200.00 OUCH!), but $20.00 per month isn't too hard to swing. Just have to play less paintball .

[Cliffio]

hey i work there


anyways, where do you live in illinois?


go to your local best buy and ask for all the info, they know



also, virgin runs on the sprint pcs network.

if you dont want/cant get a yearly plan then its a good deal, BUT your going to pay more for a pre-paid service.

[LoveMyMagMoreThanYou]

This isn't the worst pay as you go plan I've seen. At least you only have to add minutes every 90 days. AT&T makes you do it every 45 days. Might as well get a regular plan then. It all depends on how often you use the cell phone.

[SlipknotX556]

The pay as you go plans I dont like.

I have never tried it, but a friend has and he hates it, but he is stuck with it because thats what he chose.


I pay 20 a month, get 250 minutes, unlimited night and weekends, from AT&T, they are very good.

[logamus]

my mom uses virgin mobile and she likes it just fine. the pay as you go is good for those people that cant do a contract for age/credit reasons. (does not apply to my mom btw, she just didnt want to sign a contract)

[virus]

myself i use the cingular kic prepaid....

its a .35/.10..... if you recharge it with at least $20
the mins are good for 90 days.... and will rollover if you
add more min. before the 90 days are up....
if you add less then $20 then the min. need to be added every 30 days.....

i've taken my phone from mass to maine to NYC and out to IL
and never had a problem using it... granted in the stix of mass/vt/nh/me it does get touchy with the signal but nothing a mile or so down the road didnt fix =)

[AllAmericanMag]

Originally posted by Cliffio
hey i work there


anyways, where do you live in illinois?


go to your local best buy and ask for all the info, they know



also, virgin runs on the sprint pcs network.

if you dont want/cant get a yearly plan then its a good deal, BUT your going to pay more for a pre-paid service.

I live in Flossmoor, a South Suburb of Chicago. I'll probably be heading out to my local Best Buy in Matteson later this week, what do you suggest I ask them?

Thanks everyone.

[Cliffio]

well they will have the virgin mobile phones, probably the tracfone, and MAYBE the at&t go phone.

just ask them for all the info, say you dont know anything about them but are interested, thats what people do to me all the time, so i have to give em my expertise (sp)

ive worked in the wireless department for just about 2 years, anyways the virgin is good if your always gonna be in the chicago area, but traveling south it gets kinda weak in some of the rural areas.

best thing is to get a map of the virgin area, same with the att phone, the tracfone you will have to look online, i know we dont have maps.

also tracfone runs on minutes and not a dollar amount, so if your mathmatically challenged then there ya go

but the problem with the tracfone is its a crappy old nokia, other than that it isnt too bad, works in ALOT of places the virgin doesnt.

dont be fooled by all this "No Roaming" bs. virgin mobile is roam free BECAUSE it doesnt work in any areas but sprint digital service, hence no roaming fees, because the phone CAN NOT roam.

tracfone will let you roam, they just charge you more units per call.

ATT im not sure of because we dont have the go phones yet.

im also not sure of what other pre-paid services you might carry up in chicago, i worked in bloomington illinois for a year or so at that best buy and we only had tracfone

now im in southern illinois at a best buy and we have att, tracfone, and virgin.

Cliff

[AllAmericanMag]

Thanks Cliff, I'm actually about to head over there in a few minutes, I may not get around to asking much today though.

Do you know how exactly that "Top-Up" thing works?

[Cliffio]

tracfones requires you to buy a new card every 2 months

virgin is every 3 months


minutes roll over for a year, or something like that, i cant remember exactly. but they do not expire after the short month time.

tracfone cards come in alot of different choices 15/30/60/150/300

virgin only has 20/30/50 in dollar mounts


Cliff

[AllAmericanMag]

Ok, I figured out a lot more about the Virgin plan today, it looks good, but I also saw the map on their website and I'm not too sure about that. I didn't see any Tracfone stuff at my Best Buy, but I wasn't really there long enough to check. Thanks again.