At 05:57 PM 8/23/2009 -0400, you wrote:
So far I have resisted getting a cell phone for myself. Wife &
daughters insist on having one, so that I am paying about $150/month
for same. Don't want to add on to my plan since it requires another
2-year contract, plus wifey will be constantly calling me for help,
for chitchat, and for no reason other than she's bored. (I don't
like to talk on any telephone since meaning of words is ambiguous
without visual communication.)
Heard about prepaid cell phones on this Listserv, asking for recommendations.
What I want cell phone for: for travel emergency and, possibly, for
travel advice from friends while traveling
Estimated monthly useage: <10 minutes/month
What I would use: voice telephony
What I wouldn't use: text or picture messaging, web browsing,
picture taking, anything else.
What I don't want: people text messaging me, or calling me to chitchat.
What's not important: overseas calling, or long distance except
during travel emergency
My location: Northern Virginia and DC.
Question: is a prepaid cell phone cost effective for me? Cheaper
than adding onto a family plan? What prepaid plan is recommended?
I've had a TracFone for years. I never have it turned on unless _I_
want to use it. I don't give out the number. For $100/yr you get a
year of service and 700 (I think) minutes. Usage minutes are doubled
for out-of-area calls. You can buy minutes in many increments--at a
lot of gas stations, convenience stores, Walmart, Kmart, etc. I
never used my base minutes, so started using them at home for LD
calls--until I went with cable phone, and there's no LD charges on
that. There are cheaper plans for less amount of time, but then you
need to renew the plan more often. I just go into Walmart, pick up
the size of card I want, hand it to the clerk, and they do all the
renewal process if you ask them to. You need to keep the account
active, or you lose your phone number--if that's important.
TracFone buys space on towers from most big carriers, and I've never
encountered a location where I wasn't able to connect...basically
coast to coast.
You can add services like text msging if you want--I don't know the
cost of that. The basic service doesn't include that, or pictures or
web interface. The basic phone is around $20, if I remember.
Sue
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