Cheap cell phone

[Venturous Randy]

After being part of the Verizon program for many years and paying way too much for a cell phone and hating to be under a contract, I finally switched over to Straight Talk. I am not one to want or need one of the smart phones so the simple program works fine for me.

I like a simple flip phone that I can close so I went to Walmart and bought one with a camera for about $50 and did the "All you need" program with 1000 anytime minutes, 1000 text messages and some internet for $30 for 30 days. They use Verizon towers, so the service is the same. It is easy to do the auto-fill and it is $32 and change with tax. For those of you that want it, they have unlimited everything for $45 + tax for 30 days.

After I determined I liked what I got, Linda and I decided to do the same thing for her. But when I signed up on line for mine, I found that they also offer a bunch of different phones and some are free. We ended up getting a flip phone for Linda that looked brand new that had been refurbished and all she had to do was pick out the phone, which was an LG and buy the first month program with no contract. There is no activation fee and you can keep your old number if it is still active.

Anyway, I thought I would throw this out to anyone that wants to look at a different alternative and so far I am very pleased. SGN, Steve Neal, did this and tried to get me to do this a long time ago and wish I had taken his advice then.

RandyA

[Dizzle223]

Thanks for the info... I love the coverage Verizon provides in our area so its great to know there is another option for my up and coming "tweens"

[djh3]

Yea they got us bad. My Sprint bill is as much as my Electric bill, sometimes more.Might have to look into that option in a year or so when I'm "out of contract".

[bongobobny]

I heard an interesting statistic on TV a few months agfo where some people spend more money per month on their cell phone than they do on grocerys!! Those smart phones are smart all right, they know how to extract your money!!!

 

We use cell phones so little that we switched to prepaid phones. We load them with around $100 per year and astill have time left over at the end of the year...

[Blackjack]

I have always refused to be on a contract, as it never made sense that the "discount" you got for a phone was soon re-spent paying for service. When I could no longer reduce my monthly bill with Sprint I switched over to Virgin Mobile (2 years ago) and have been more than pleased with the service and options. Pay-as-you-go is now typically less expensive than being on a contract.

[rougeray]

I have been using Straight Talk for a couple of years now and very happy with the service.

I use the unlimited plan which is unlimited talk, text, and data for $45 a month $50.72 with tax. I'm still using the cheap flip phone I purchased for around $35.

[XV1100SE]

For those on contract.... call your carrier and ask them to review your usage and plan. Tell them you need to cut costs and would like a plan more suited to your usage. They can usually provide you with a different plan more suited to your usage (such as adding a long distance bundle, reducing your minutes, reducing your data plan).

 

If you are looking at alternative carriers, call yours and ask for the "customer satisfaction" or "retention" group. Quite often when you explain that you are looking at alternative carriers in order to reduce cost they'll start offering you discounts - eg one or more months free, free service.....

[Bubber]

I have been using a pay as you go phone for years.

 

Guess what? I use it to make phone calls not play games and entertain myself 24/7.

 

Plus I got it to make phone call not to receive them. I think there may be a half dozen people that actually call my cell. I don't give the number out a lot because I only have it on when I want it on and will use it.

 

Ain't it great!

 

Oh Ya

Merry Christmas to all

 

Bubber

[icebrrg3rd]

I've been thinking about it too, getting tired of the high monthly bill that yes, is more expensive than the electric bill. So when our contract is over in March, we will be switching over to a no contract plan, cutting our bill in half. Hopefully the coverage will be sufficient in our area. Thinking about Straight Talk too.

 

-Andrew

[GAWildKat]

+1 on Virgin Mobile, I've used Virgin Mobile, Cricket, and a couple of others for years. Radioshack also offers it's own phone service now using Cricket's network. To get the best reception on any prepaid phone service you need to live in a major metro area. For anyone looking to get an android smartphone I can give tips and tricks that can make the phone work better and get better signal.

[star4772]

Before you buy a straight talk phone find out what carrier towers are used with the phone you plan on buying.

 

Each phone uses a different carrier some will use ATT,SPRINT OR VERIZON. If you are currently using a phone with a simm card all you have to do is order the simm card from straight talk and in stall and change the APN settings and your good to go.

 

Joe

[RandyR]

I switched to a Tracfone from T-mobile because of poor coverage in N.Georgia and other places I have travelled. But the Tracfone is getting as bad as the T-mobile was, and I'm even getting the 'emergency use only' message here at my house from time to time, and I live within walking distance of an 8,000 student college. I use my cellphone very sparingly, but I want it to be available.

 

So I'm looking to replace Tracfone with another pay-as-you-go service in about 4months.

[GAWildKat]

Randy, look into Cricket and AT&T prepaid for your area. My cricket phone worked great when I visited the inlaws in Blairsville but Mike's virgin mobile phone wouldn't. And the inlaws have AT&T and like their service.

[Squidley]

Lonna and I did the Walmart strait talk a few years back. When we moved into our new place here in the spring we couldn't hardly use our phones due to lack of coverage (T-mobile)

 

We switched to AT&T Go Phones unlimited talk and text for $50 a month. The signal is great here at the house and I damn near always have a signal as it's run off all the AT&T towers. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get of a contract....

[camos]

I have been using a pay as you go phone for years.

 

Guess what? I use it to make phone calls not play games and entertain myself 24/7.

 

Plus I got it to make phone call not to receive them. I think there may be a half dozen people that actually call my cell. I don't give the number out a lot because I only have it on when I want it on and will use it.

 

Ain't it great!

 

Oh Ya

Merry Christmas to all

 

Bubber

That's pretty much me too with exceptions. I just bought my first cellphone 2 weeks ago after thinking about it since just before going to Cody. Thought it would be a good idea to have one for emergency purposes but never did get one at that time. Anyway, I bought an old iPhone 3G from a friend for $50. He got it unlocked for me so I can use any SIM so when in Canada I use the Speak Easy SIM sold by 7-11 stores for $10 + minutes and when I go to the US I can get a SIM from Wal-Mart or somewhere else. The Speak Easy has a no contract option with minutes added that do not expire for a year.

 

I'm finding uses for this old technology smart phone. It has Wi-Fi so whenever near a free source I can do email and surf the Internet, neither being of much importance but I can if I want. What I have found most useful is a weather app and grocery list app and of course FreeCell to fill in time when necessary. I have missed bidding on a couple of eBay items in the past because I could not be at home when they came due so that may be another perk of having "smart" capabilities. The iPhone also has Bluetooth and MP3 abilities which will likely be useful while riding my Venture.

 

Just thought I would throw another perspective out there for consideration.

[alwrmcusn]

Hannah and I use Consumer Cellular: 750 mins, two phones, two lines, great coverage. $47-$48 per month.

[Hummingbird]

For anyone looking to get an android smartphone I can give tips and tricks that can make the phone work better and get better signal.

 

 

I've had an HTC Andriod for a couple years, have to have abilities for international calling as well as calling from international settings. The text and photo capabilities are a must

 

speed me up scotty -

[star4772]

I've had an HTC Andriod for a couple years, have to have abilities for international calling as well as calling from international settings. The text and photo capabilities are a must

 

speed me up scotty -

 

Straight talk has international calling now for I think its $60 a month.

[friesman]

I just negotiated that work pays for my smartphone. I figured if they want to get tin touch with me, they should be apying for it. The down side is that I dont get a choice of phones, but the new BB torch works just fine for me.

 

Brian

[Guest scarylarry]

Thanks for the info, I will have to compare them to Verizon, I don't like a 2 yr contract with them but they are the only one that offers us a 25% discount..

 

In time Verizon will force us into smartphones, more money for them on the front and back side..

[GAWildKat]

Actually, as more phone companies go to LTE tech, I think the older flip phones and such will stop working.

[Phoneman1981]

Hello Everyone: Interesting article. I was visiting with one of my customers today and learned that she has been on Straight Talk in our area for quite sometime. She seemed to be satisfied. She indicated she has 4 phones on her plan. At least one phone has unlimited talk and text for $50 per month. The other 3 are limited for $30 per month. Her total bill is $136 per month. My Verizon contract is up in April. We have good Verizon tower coverage in our area. My two unlimited Android smart phones cost a totalof $180 per month. $50 per month per phone seems much better to me. Nice to know others on this site, and at least one local person has experience with Straight talk.

[Eck]

Man this thread title sure got MY attention, not that I wash cell phones very often or anything like that, but thanks for the info!!

[KarlS]

With Verizon the contracts are on the phones not the service. Last June when the 2 years were up on the phones I didn't do the free upgrades for new phones and just keep the phones we had so I can cancel Verizon anytime I want without paying penalties.. When my Daughters phone broke in November I bought a Verizon compatible phone elsewhere (for a lot less then Verizon's price for the same phone) and paid $10 for Verizon to activate it. I am also looking for a less expensive carrier but so far have found none that will work at my house.

[Venturous Randy]

Karl, not sure about your area, but here in east Tennessee, Straigh Talk uses Verizon towers and the service is exactly the same, even with the slight dead spot south of Bristol Motor Speedway. You may also have the same service in your area.

RandyA