Pay As You Go Cell Phones

[JoAnn Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoAnn]

I'm thinking of getting one for DH, but don't know where or how to buy one. DH & DS are leaving the 14th for South Dakota Pheasant hunting and he wants to take my cell phone to use while up there. It leaves me without, and I'm afraid they just might lose it....or worse yet, let the battery run out and lose all the numbers stored in it.
Any suggestions on the best & cheapest to get? TIA.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I know Sprint stores sells them. Not sure if the price is good or not.

[Guest Close Quarterbore]

My 9-YO has been begging for one for a while and some of her friends have them... I looked at Cingular and the base starts at about $20/month and the minutes roll over if you don't use them but you do need to keep adding new minutes...

Personally, I would get rid of my house phone and use cell phones but that is just me I guess... Our home phone is pretty much a dedicated fax line anymore and when we get a call there we don't answer most of the time as friends know not to call us there...

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

I have a TracFone and I love it. You can get them at most big drugstores, Target stores, any place like that. They cost about $20-$30. You take it home and go online and set it up. It comes with about 60 minutes of talk time.

You can buy the phone online but I wouldn't be certain it will arrive and be set up on time.

You can buy more time online. They have a deal where you buy a one-year card and you get a bunch of minutes, or they have another deal where you buy a double-minutes plan and then any minutes you buy are automatically doubled for a year. But I wouldn't get either of those if this is really intended to be a "disposable" phone. Warning: TracFone's customer service can be an absolute nightmare. But if everything goes smoothly...and it should...it's all very easy and straightforward. We have three TracFones and two of them were absolutely no problem. The third took six months to get set up properly b/c TracFone refused to believe that the phone was a dud!

I think my Tracfone costs about $10 a month to run, and I use it for business and personal calls. Very low commitment!

I've heard that Virgin's pay-as-you-go phones are good, too.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Trac-fone can be had for $ 19.99 at Walmart and often on sale elsewhere for about the same price.

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

I posted to answer your question on the TUG board. I didn't check the details, but I think I got a phone for free years ago when I got a year's service. Sounds like you need the phone right away, though. They are available in lots of places. Check the website and see if you can find a deal with a rebate if you buy the phone at a retail outlet.

http://tracfone.com/home_page.jsp?b=i&flash=YES&p=W

Good luck.

[jackio Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close jackio]

If you have a Radio Shack near you, they have a couple of plans. You can pick the one that suits you best.