Phones on the Cheap

starshard0 · Post by **starshard0** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:00 am

I'm going to be honest, if it was up to me I'd completely ditch the phone and do everything online. Unfortunately, my job requires me to have a phone of some sort. I'm looking into prepaid phones, since I don't make a lot of calls but people might have to call me.
Has anyone had any experience with either pre-paid phones or decently cheap cell phone plans? Alternatively does it make more sense to simply go with a landline?

44deagle · Post by **44deagle** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:50 am

If it doesn't have to be a cell phone you can give a try, thats what I do. The voice quality is really good and best part is its free.
I also have a boost mobile prepaid phone that I don't use any more. It costs a dime a minute. The lowest amount prepaid card you can get is $20 and the minutes expire after 3 months. So you're looking at about $7 a month that way.

ishidav · Post by **ishidav** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 11:13 am

The T-mobile prepaid plan is fairly cheap if you don't plan on using many minutes. I think it's around $10/year (I don't remember for how many minutes) and you can refill minutes whenever you need by calling the number.

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 4:55 pm

I use PagePlus, which is on Verizon's network... You can get a $30 (no additional taxes/fees) 1200 mins, 1200 txts, 100 mb data.
Or you can get an $80 prepaid card which is good for 2000 minutes. About 4c per minute.
Sometimes, like when traveling, I the $30 plan makes more sense. But usually, I am on the prepaid... I have an Android smartphone (no "smartphone" fees like on Verizon/Sprint) that I can use free VOIP on with WIFI... I would say my average cost with this method is about $5 in a typical month.

Mo · Post by Mo » Tue Jan 11, 2011 5:11 pm

@JohnnyH, I'm thinking of switching over to PagePlus when my contract runs out. How do you get a smartphone onto their plan? I know this is probably an easy thing to do-- I'm not so good with cell phones.

S · Post by S » Tue Jan 11, 2011 5:13 pm

I used to use Virgin Mobile. It was $5/month for 200 text messages and 10 cents a minute for calls. The phone came with I think 60 minutes of free call time when I bought it which I never used all of in the 6 months I used it. Now I have a work-paid iPhone, but I'll definitely go back to pre-pay when I go ere or change jobs. My husband got a first generation iPhone *free* from some friends because it was... too old? He never signed up for cell service on it, but it works great for unlimited voip and text on wifi with toktumi line2 ($10/month).

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 5:17 pm

I hear you, however it's tough to go without a cell phone now that payphones are nearly extinct. If you get stranded without a cell you're really up a creek.
I use Google Voice as my home phone and carry a Net10 prepaid phone for emergency call-outs. I only give the cell number to my wife, parents, and in-laws.
I'm not a fan of landlines as I've experienced poor service and contract terms from AT&T.

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:29 pm

@Mo: in my experience most CDMA phones can be flashed to PagePlus. Any Verizon phone SHOULD work fine out of the box, but some things might need to be tweaked... Phones from other networks will have to be flashed over. This requires some work, like installing drivers, using a software toolkit to go in and change some of the phone's settings.
I bought a Sprint HTC Evo on ebay that had a bad, or locked, ESN for cheap. I followed some posted instructions on how to flash it to PagePlus. Took some doing, but works well now... I've done similar for an HTC Touch Pro and a Samsung Moment (a decent sub $100 used Android smartphone).
The data is slow, no 3g. But it is adequate for email, searches, maps, lite web browsing, so on... 100mb would vanish quickly without caution at 3g speeds.
Is there a specific phone you're looking for?

Mo · Post by Mo » Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:46 pm

@JohnnyH, I'm not looking for a specific phone. I already have an older Sprint Treo from an expired contract, that I was thinking of trying to make work.
I'd like the phone to have a full keyboard, be able to access my gmail, check into flights (not browse them, but actually do the online check in), and occasionally check a sports score.

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:48 pm

@Mo: Looks like someone has flashed a Sprint Palm Treo over to PagePlus, here's his write up:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread. ... h-Internet!!!!
Another cool thing about PagePlus, activations are only 99 cents on ebay. With an activation you get enough credit to test that your flash went OK.

Mo · Post by Mo » Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:41 pm

Thanks man! That made my day.

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 11:07 pm

Glad to help!:) Hope the flashing goes well.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 4:59 pm

My experience on reducing my cell phone costs have been minimal, even for a "dumbphone." Due to my father having the necessity for keeping both his landline and cell phone numbers the same, we're stuck with a family plan through Alltel. With four numbers on the line, he pays $68 for his number, which includes a 15-member My Circle, whereas two other phones cost all of $12 a month each; mine, having a liberal texting plan added to it, comes in at roughly %14 a month, which is down from $33 after tweaking some plan options and using Alltel's system to my advantage. I would love to try to decrease my father's phone, but after looking at past bills, he uses almost as many minutes as what the plan allows, meaning he can't cut his back any further; switching our four phones to a different company or to pre-paid or pay-as-you-go would increase the monthly cost above the ~$113 each month.
As an aside, it was difficult enough to get my parents to remove the "premium" movie channels and reduce the cable to extended basic; between that and a generous cable Internet package, the monthly cost on that alone is still $125, which I think is insane. Nonetheless, when upload speed is necessary for uploading weddings and the like, you pay through the nose, in my experience. :/

DividendGuy · Post by **DividendGuy** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 1:18 am

I own an iPhone and have completely canceled my provider's coverage. I use a voip service and spend a small fraction of my previous cell phone costs. The only downside is that I can't make/receive phone calls when I don't have wifi.

NYC ERE · Post by **NYC ERE** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:22 pm

I'm still using my jailbroken iPhone 3G with T-Mobile prepaid. Average cost ~$25/mo. for usage. I currently work like 70 hours a week, so I think the coming months' bills will be even lower. It works like a charm, and I only use WiFi for data functions.

JohnnyH · Post by **JohnnyH** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 5:58 pm

The new Android 2.3, Gingerbread, has integrated SIP VOIP... I'm pretty excited about it.

teewonk · Post by **teewonk** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 8:21 pm

Has anyone tried Republic Wireless?
http://republicwireless.com/
It's $199 for the Android phone, and $19/month after that for unlimited calls, texts, and data. They route traffic over wifi whenever possible, switching to the Sprint network when out of wifi range. The catch is that too much Sprint network usage (550 mins, 150 texts, 300mb data) will get you booted from the plan.
It seems like a good deal to me. Am I missing anything?

Phayen · Post by **Phayen** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:35 pm

Hey JohnnyH,
I'm currently with VZ right now as well. My plan is a family plan for my wife and I, but with data and texting (two droids) we are still paying approx $125/mo after corporate discount. I've been waiting for the contract to end (January 2012 Yes!) so we can switch to PP. You haven't had any problems with the PP service? And you mentioned you switch between the plans? Is that relatively difficult? Or do you just buy different plans for the month? Just not sure how all of that works. I was thinkign about just getting DW and I the $30/mo plan each (cutting our bill in half), but if you have a method that makes it cheaper, I'd for sure be interested.

LiquidSapphire · Post by **LiquidSapphire** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:46 pm

I use PP. The switch was painful. My former carrier didn't respond to the request to release and so I had to call them, then I had issues with an automated message about how my "phone was not authenticated" the next day, I had to reprogram once or twice in the first couple of days. It was annoying. But once I got the bugs ironed out, nooo problems. Someone on here recommended kittywireless.com for their services, I bought a $80 card for 2000 minutes from them, I had to jump through some hoops to prove I wasn't committing fraud, but they also have a daily reminder service that emails you to tell you your balance, that is super helpful as ordinarily it would cost you a 5 cent text message. I like them and I'd use them again. They also send out the updates on the $30/mo plan. Yes you renew every month, no contract, but you can set it up so it does so automatically I believe.

LiquidSapphire · Post by **LiquidSapphire** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:47 pm

Oh, Kitty Wireless offers no hassle switching like $10 per phone. If you're someone who needs hand holding for something like that, it might be worth it.