dunroving

OK, Kick me for bringing up something I'm sure we've had before (I've tried searching but just can't find it).

Does anyone know of a simple way to get a pay-as-you-go mobile phone in the US? Every time I go home I borrow my brother's mobile and it's just so simple to top up the card and only pay for what I use (admittedly, it does seem a bit expensive, but I really don't use it much so cost isn't not a big deal).

I'm switching to Lingo (internet phone) over the weekend and it dawned on me "What if my internet goes down? I can't call the internet company!"

As my cable has been iffy a fair bit since I got back this is a real concern. I really don't want to keep paying the $30 for a landline just for calling the internet company..... but there doesn't seem to be a cheap standard mobile service either. Pay as you go would be perfect ('cos I'd never use it unless absolutely necessary).

tony126

Like you I just wanted one for emergencies but did not want to pay $29/month or whatever for the privilege of a regular mobile. Recently Virgin has become available in the area and it cost $20/3months whether you use it or not and even if you have not used up your $20 in the first place. It is the best I have come up with to date.

Sarah

I don't think there is one. I looked high and low for one simliar to the one I had in the UK where by if I only put a fiver on it every 6 months it was fine. Over here I settled on a virgin pay-as-you-go phone but, like you mentioned, you have to put at least $20 on it every 90 days. I think thats the best you can get until the phone companies start getting more competitive. Maybe one day, who knows, they may even stop charging you for recieveing a call - imagine a world like that!

CatCunningham

The bad thing about mobile phones here is the being charged for incoming and outgoing calls for most carriers. Oh, and service contracts...getting out of those is like getting out of jury duty...nearly impossible without paying a huge fine... I'm a fan of tracfone, personally. A regular phone runs you in the neighborhood of fifty dollars, or a flip phone for seventy. Then all you have to do is buy your airtime. You recharge what you want/need every two months....you can spend as little as five dollars a month with no extra sign up. The option that I signed up for is a year long thing....with it any time that I redeem automatically doubles the minutes (for $75 I get 800 minutes, for example) and I don't have to worry about missing my "recharge by" date for an entire year. Another service that tracfone now offers is international long distance. This works not only from your cell phone but from up to ten numbers that you assign for your account. The rates are amazing...I pay six and a half cents a minute calling from Illinois to a UK cell phone....best rate I've found yet. Plus, with it all being prepaid, you're never surprised by a bill or caught out with hidden fees or charges.


oh and as an added side note: the emergency 911 feature works on tracfones even if there is no time available on the phone or if you've missed your recharge date....

Rockgurl

You can get a simple one and I use it: Virgin Mobile USA. The coverage is the same as Sprint...pretty decent. Calls are 25 cents a minute for the first ten minutes each day, and then just 10 cents a minute for the rest of the day. Only snag is that you use up credit if someone calls you. You can buy a Virgin phone right off the shelf at Best Buy. I'm switching to a new phone service soon, as my phone is a bit cheap and crappy but then it only cost me $50, but it did last me 3 years.

Bob

pay as you go over here is iffy, bloomin' expensive compared to blighty as you keep having to top up or pay activation fees if you don't, overall does depend on who you use, but normally, have to top up $20 every month with ATT and anything up to 3 months, when I looked into it, the mins didn't roll over either on ATT, but that was a while ago when they introduced it....hmm...but anyway, coverage is another issue, gets really expensive for non-local calls etc, so don't know how much of a good deal it is...but I'm still using my old pay as go from O2 from blighty, hardly ever use it, but only has to be used once every 6 months to be kept active and not lose mins, so I just send a text msg or somin' every now and again....but then again, mobile reception is also shite in maine, but shite with whoever ya use *lol*

Dan725

T-Mobile is the phone you are looking for!

You only have to credit it once a year now - excellent if you don't use it much,

You can also send text messages to the UK/Europe/everywhere else in the world because they are on the GSM network.

You get whenever minutes nationwide with T-Mobile and you can go all over the US and still use your phone because they have a proprietry network. I've found them to be the most similar prepaid you can get to European ones.

Only downside is, it depends where you live, as far as I know if you are a bit off the beaten track you might not get a reception at all.

Bob

That's cool to know, have to give them a go if I can pick up a sim card whenever we get around to moving, there's nae reception in maine anyway

dunroving

That sounds promising - thanks. And thanks for all the other suggestions, I've been following up on them.

It's all very confusing. I went out today to Sam's Club, Best Buy, etc., to have a gander. So many of them seem to have this "buy $20 of time every two months or you'll lose your number" deals. I did find a Tracfone at Sam's Club for $60 that said "1 year of service", but all that meant was I wouldn't lose my number if I didn't use the phone. However, my pre-paid call time would expire after 60 days - so to have a phone that will work I'd still have to pay for at least $120 of call time per year. Aaargh! All I want is a back-up phone (I'd hardly ever, if ever, use it). With Lingo, I'll have unlimited phone calls so all I need it for is a back-up to call the internet company if it goes down, and to take with me when I go cycling out in rural NC.

I don't think I saw any T-Mobile pre-paid mobile cards while I was out, so maybe it's not offered here. I'll take a closer look next time I go out.

Thanks, all!

dunroving

I can't tell from the Virgin Web site or from your description - do the minutes you purchase expire? I mean, if I added $20 every 90 days, would I have $80 credit by the end of the year (if I didn't use the phone)? Or just my "last" $20? I guess what I'm asking is whether the minutes roll over (sorry, I'm not savvy with the mobile phone parlay).

For some of the plans (or should I say "schemes"), minutes you purchase expire if you don't use them within a certain period (for Tracfone I believe they expire after 6o days, for example).

My other concern is that the Web site told me it was "uncertain" whether I'd get service in this area.

tony126

Have not been able to check this out myself but it seems Virgin at $20 every 3 months is still the bargain. Like you I only have it for emergency calls.

fatbrit

Try this one: tracfone. Buy 'em @ Wally World.

Rockgurl

No the credit does not expire. I was not physically able to use all my credit at one point, because I lived in the UK and only used the phone when I visited, and I accumulated about $80 worth of credit which I was able to use when I finally came over to live here.

Dan725

It's a shame if you can't get T-Mobile in your area, it works exactly the same as the Virgin phone, but instead of $20 every three months, its $20 every yer, they've just changed this policy as of November when I bought mine. Same thing with the credit stacking as well, unused minutes are carried over next time you credit it.

It'd be well worth checking the T-Mobile website for coverage,

http://www.tmobile.com/locator.asp?r...ass%3Dcoverage

Edit: I don't think they have coverage in NC and SC.....shame, thats the only problem with the T-Mobile network at the minute

Editi Again: If you look at the coverage map though http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/Default.asp it seems that NC and most of SC are well covered!

tony126

I'll keep tabs on this. I have just checked it out and my area is not covered yet but I have added the web page to My Favourites. Thanks.