i currently have a tmobile - pay as you go phone (I have no issues with service or coverage etc). Its a numpty phone so i never use it and i cant remember the last time i put minutes on it (it still works/ has credit on it). I always forget to charge it up (or should i say it seems to die a lot lol) or leave it at home and DH is going mad as he cant get hold of me! I need to start using it more so think i should get a better more easy to use phone.

If I continue to use 'pay as you go' im going to have to shell out a lot for a new flasher one. so i was thinking i would do a cheap tarif contract like i used to in the UK - even if i have to sign up for 2 years - id likely get a free one. But when i looked at the t mobile site - the cheapest monthly tarrif was $40 a month. Is that the norm over here (am i just well out of touch?)

does anyone else know of any cheaper tariffs with reasonable coverage/service (i live in flat Ohio so dont think coverage is going to be a major issue). I dont really care who its with but must be able to take the old number.

I don't have much to offer - I'm sure the techie experts will be along soon, I just wanted to pick up on what you said about keeping your existing number - if you use the phone so erratically/infrequently, why the necessity to keep the same number? Just thinking that removing that constraint might open up some fresh options for you.

We use AT&T pay as you go - son has a cheapie clunky phone (did have a slightly better one, but let it go through the washing machine so now has to make do!). I buy him a bundle of 200 texts for $4.99 and that does him for the month.

OH & I are using phones we had in the UK which we unlocked - OH has a blackberry and I've got one that has a slide out keyboard and will do wifi (not an iphone or anything).

i have given that phone number to everyone - so whilst I dont call out on it - potentially a lot of people could call me (and hence why DH is annoyed i never have it with me). He does have a point as the school etc have that number but if the kids where ill the school wouldnt be able to get hold of me out of the home and would then be chasing him at work. I could live with losing service for a few days if thats what it took to get the number - as i would be no worse off than usual lol.

I am actually begining to wonder if i would be better off forking out for the phone and then sticking with my PAYG.

Did you bring any nicer phones over from the UK?

We were happy to mess about having a go at unlocking the phones we already had as we had nothing to lose on them..... not sure we'd been so free and easy about that if we had paid for those phones here...

If you are already with T.Mobile then you will be able to keep your number, and more then likely transfer it if you go to another cell company.

You are really looking at about $39.99 a month on average BUT they all offer different packages for that price, have you tried a local company yet!!....the reason I ask we have these guys and they are cheaper then the big boys
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I have had a few good PAYG phones from AT&T. You can still gett a decent phone if calls is the main thing you want it for.

Some examples the tmobile phone is$19.99 and the ATT samsung is $39.99.

Your Americanization was going so well... it looks like you're wavering at the "wasting money on stupid crap" stage... go to AT&T store and sign up for an iPhone - all problems solved.

$40 a month is actually quite cheap for over here. We've got spoiled with cheaper contracts in the UK.

As for numbers - why not get a Google Voice account then you only have to change your number one more time, then after that you just redirect GV to whatever phone number you want.

Contract phones over here are a bloody rip off but I can't talk my darling wife into going back to pay-as-you go phones.

Even Dick Turpin wore a mask. The bastards in the phone shop come at you smiling.

All service providers are required to transfer your phone number if you request it. Prior to several years ago, service providers kept the phone number if you left that provider (locking many into that service provider) but the law was changed requiring service providers to release that number to another provider.

http://www.fcc.gov/cib/consumerfacts/numbport.html

I remember that (was it the Portability Act, or something?) Similar thing here, I think except I have read in the Complaints column of companies just playing silly buggers and taking a long time to transfer the necessary code (or whatever it is) ... you know, kind of a "You can make me do it, but I'll only do it when I'm good and ready" type thing.

thanks for the suggestions so far - any more ?

we are also now looking at turning my husbands At&T contract for his iphone into a family contract as it may be cheaper.

I've never used pay as you go, but have a contract with Verizon and haven't had any problems. I use my cell for all of my long distance calls to family, etc. so to me it isn't so pricey as I don't have those bills on my landline now.

That's only going to last as long as Google see a value proposition in the service. I love Google, but they have quietly dropped a number of services that they have subsequently decided were not in their strategic interests (eg, Google Answers). There was a company around about 10 years ago suggesting that they would provide you with the last email address you'd ever need; they evaporated with the dot-com boom.


This is true, but you MUST make the transfer BEFORE you close the account. If you close out your current account, then open a new one and try to transfer the number in, you're SOL. So just do it in the right sequence.

a) Google say it will be free forever. Of course they wouldn't run it forever without making money on it. They've already partered up with Verizon to sell Google Android phones. I reckon it's a pre-amble to a full cellphone service on Verizon's backbone, offering a fully integrated GV/cellphone service and some kind of profit sharing with Verizon.

b) We aren't talking about some small-fry company here....this is GOOGLE.