Pay As You Go Phones.

So I had an issue with my cell service about a month ago and I needed to have a phone, so I stopped at Walmart because I knew they carry a bunch of different PAYG phones. Well this particular Walmart apparently closed at 11pm and I walked in at 10:45, so I didn’t have a lot of time to research anything. I ended up with a Straight Talk flip phone and a $30-30 Day Plan. 

I decided that I should have a spare phone on a different network because of how I travel across the country for my job. 

The problem is, that Straight Talks cheapest Plan is the $30 one that I got. It’s 1500 minutes and some data. Honestly, while $30 isn’t that expensive, I don’t want to pay that just to have a spare phone I may only use every once in a great while. And if I don’t set it up for auto refill or buy the cards before the 30 day end service date, they take away the phone number. 

So, is there anyone that has a PAYG phone that I can put like $10-$15 on a month and only get like 500 minutes or something? I don’t care about data, I can stop at McDonald’s and use WiFi on my iPhone if I’m desperate. 

hmm. I don't have any 10-15 a month experience. I use straight talk with an unlocked huawei phone & have zero problems. lately i've been getting the 55/month plan. unlimited everything. but they do have cheaper plans.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid :

Verizon used to only require a payment every 90 days with their pay as you go. $20 flip phone, $30 in minutes bought 3 months of minutes and I think even unlimited texts. Haven't had one for a few years (2014ish) though to know if that still holds true.

Ting could get you under $10 i for you use less than 100 minutes, no texts, and no data.

https://ting.com/rates

republic wireless is probably pretty close to that a s a well. 

Net 10 is still a thing. For basic phones you can go $20/200 minutes for 30 days, $15 with auto pay. Next up is $30/300 for 60 days, with a bump to 500 on auto pay. 

In reply to MazdaFace :

Yeah, I have the cheapest plan right now, which is $30. I’m trying to find someone that has a cheaper plan.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid :

TracPhone is pretty cheap, like $100 for a year of time. That doesn't include many minutes, but you can add minutes as needed. 

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid :

TracPhone is pretty cheap, like $100 for a year of time. That doesn't include many minutes, but you can add minutes as needed. 

Yeah I just went back to Walmart and TracFone is the best deal. $100 for a year. I’m ok with that, that breaks it down to under $10 a month. I wish I had more time to research this the first time around, I would have gone with this. They have the same damn phone I bought (Mine says it’s a TracFone) but paid $10 more for it through Straight Talk.  

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid :

You wrote: 

I decided that I should have a spare phone on a different network because of how I travel across the country for my job. 

Were you having a handset problem or a network problem ?

Watching  with interest. I’m on the road weekly and have no service with Verizon between towns, but had great service with AT&T. We switched because the opposite was true at my house, and all of our internet is via cell phone data because we live in the sticks. 

Which prepaid companies use the AT&T network?

Sorry, I read the title as "Pray as you go phones." As in , "Boy I hope this cheap peice of crap phone works."

In reply to skierd :

Which prepaid companies use the AT&T network?

Cricket is wholey owned by ATT 

I have an old plan with T-mobile, $30 - unlimited data, unlimited test, but only. 100 talk minutes. The do have a $3 plan, not sure it's what you need.

https://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go?icid=WMD_PD_Q217PREPAI_22BNVFNEJQM8825#getting_started

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid :

TracPhone is pretty cheap, like $100 for a year of time. That doesn't include many minutes, but you can add minutes as needed. 

I think I spend $40/year on my Tracfone.

Disclaimer:  I was gifted triple minutes for life a while back.

How the hell did you pull that off?

Knurled. said: Gossett said:

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid :I think I spend $40/year on my Tracfone.

 

Disclaimer:  I was gifted triple minutes for life a while back.

I use the t-mobile $3 plan on an old iPhone5.  It's a bit hard to find on the website, but the link above show it.

You can charge the phone up to 90 days at a time (no economy 1 year plans).  As noted in the link, each min of talk and each text (clearly you don't want to be a text monster) count the same and you get 30 for the $3.  Anything over 30 and it's 10 cents a min/text.  If you do the math, you can run WAY over and still be cheaper then a typical $30 a month plane (assuming you don't want data).  Clearly not for a heavy phone user.

The main carriers will NOT sell you a plan without data for a smartphone!  Which is ridiculous.

I did see on the news that you can get a phone meant for kinds for $10 a month.  It looks pretty silly though.

Mint. Been out for a few years now and is always at the top of the cheap cell plan comparisons. $15 a month when you but multiple months at a time. Come with unlimited talk and text and 2gb of data. I am going to try this out once we have internet at home.

https://www.mintsim.com/plans/

WOW!! The mintsim is a smoking deal.

I think Tracfone is likely your best bet for cheap.  That's what my dad settled on, and I think he probably researched it pretty well.

I've been with a prepaid plan from T-Mobile for years, but it's a legacy plan.  I buy 1000 minutes for $100. and it's good for a year.  I typically refill it once around June, so 200/12 is like 17 bucks a month.  It works for me.

My phone is a Motorola V195 flip-phone that dates back to around 2008.  It's been submerged in the James River, dried out and resurrected, dropped and broken, super-glued back together.  The earphone speaker doesn't work, so I can only have a conversation with the speakerphone option.  Mostly I use it for texting, and it does that just fine.  Many people harrass me for my lame antique phone (mostly my wife), but I cling to it proudly.  They just don't make 'em like that anymore.

In reply to Donebrokeit :

I opened up a Christmas card and found that someone gifted me triple minutes for life.

I think the last time I added minutes was in July.  I have 400 minutes left.  They keep e-mailing me promotional things where you can get an additional 120 minutes or so if you buy a 200 minute card, which is $40.  I forget if the triple multiplies the bonus or not, but even if it doesn't that is 720 minutes for $40, or 5.change cents per minute.  Texts are .3 minutes a piece and photo texts vary depending on size, usually 3-5 minutes each.  So every text is a little under two cents.  I don't call or text people much.

I have a work celphone that i dont care to use for my personal stuff. My family has been on Ting for a while and its great.  No contracts, great for a standby phone. With lots of texting, less than 100 minutes a month of talking and trying to keep my data down, im usually about 30$ a month. Would be much cheaper with no data. 

John Welsh said:

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid :

You wrote: 

I decided that I should have a spare phone on a different network because of how I travel across the country for my job. 

 

Were you having a handset problem or a network problem ?

 

Network. AT&T dropped out in western Colorado where I usually have service for about 12 hours and another time I paid my bill and somehow it came up that I didn’t, so I lost phone service for about 36 hours until they got their heads out of their asses, not good for when you’re out on the road. You don’t realize that Payphones barely exist anymore until you lose your ability to use your phone. 

I mainly want a spare for emergencies and if something like this happens again, I can call the dealers to set up my deliveries and also let people know I’m not dead. 

I have AT&T, $30 a month for 1GB data, unlimited talk & text.  I use wireless a lot, so $30 seems to be fine.  I don't want to deal with no service as I travel, so I refuse to go with anything less than AT&T. 

I set my wife up on red pocket mobile. Buy their prepaid sim card on ebay ($179) which gets you 500 min/500text/1GB data. You can pick the carrier (if I were you I'd go Verizon). There were some issues getting her phone setup with them, but after a few chat sessions this got figured out. 

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid :

With the Tracfone, if you renew it online on their website there is usually an offer for a second year for 50% off.