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  1. #31
    Paul Miner
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:26:56 -0700, Todd Allcock
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    >The beauty of GSM is that changing handsets is as easy as moving SIM cards.
    >
    >Find any cheap AT&T handset with a QWERTY keyboard on eBay, put your
    >wife's SIM in it, and she's off to the proverbial races.


    What's the best way to avoid ending up with a model that all of you
    knowledgeable folks know is a dog? I know that's a very vague
    question, but with new models introduced so often it's hard to keep up
    with what's good versus what's less good.

    --
    Paul Miner



    See More: Pageplus vs Tracfone




  2. #32
    Paul Miner
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:47:06 -0500, "terrable" <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    >Page Plus dealers can tell you which phones work and don't work.
    >
    >Here is one:
    >
    >http://www.pageplusdirect.com/compatible_phones.html


    Very helpful, thanks.

    I'm in the process of analyzing my last two years worth of phone bills
    to break out the number of domestic minutes, international minutes,
    and cell minutes, broken down by month, to see if it's time to let the
    landline go. (My gut says yes.) It's possible that going with PagePlus
    for everything, using those $80 refills, could be a way to save some
    money.

    --
    Paul Miner



  3. #33
    Paul Miner
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:01:59 -0800, SMS <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    >On 1/28/2012 4:24 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
    >
    >> Presumably you're on the CC $20 plan (300 minutes/month) with the $2.50
    >> 100 texts/10MB data addon and one shared line ($10). If, worst-case
    >> scenario, you maxed out every minute, text, and MB you're allowed, that'd
    >> be $27/month on PP (300x0.04 + 100x0.05 + 10x1).

    >
    >Well the two $12/month plans on PP would give 500 Minutes, 500 Texts, &
    >20 MB Data, total. Even less if you take the trouble to buy refills from
    >callingmart.com rather than sign up for automatic refills with Pageplus
    >(probably not worth saving $1.20/month).


    Do new customers have to sign up for one of the monthly plans before
    they can use the $80 refills? I assume so, which isn't necessarily a
    bad thing since it lets you test drive the service for a month before
    making a bigger commitment.

    --
    Paul Miner



  4. #34
    NotMe
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone


    "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > In article <[email protected]>,
    > [email protected] wrote:
    >
    >> Lots of people go to Vegas believing that they will win. They just
    >> ignore logic, probability, and common sense.

    >
    > To be fair, you can't win if you don't play.


    The reality is you're unlike to win even if you do play.





  5. #35
    Richard B. Gilbert
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/29/2012 12:43 AM, Paul Miner wrote:
    > On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:26:56 -0700, Todd Allcock
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >> The beauty of GSM is that changing handsets is as easy as moving SIM cards.
    >>
    >> Find any cheap AT&T handset with a QWERTY keyboard on eBay, put your
    >> wife's SIM in it, and she's off to the proverbial races.

    >
    > What's the best way to avoid ending up with a model that all of you
    > knowledgeable folks know is a dog? I know that's a very vague
    > question, but with new models introduced so often it's hard to keep up
    > with what's good versus what's less good.
    >


    People tend to see their phones in different lights! There's no one
    perfect phone. The phone I find perfect for MY needs, YOU might use
    to shim up a table leg!

    Check with your friends. Do a majority like a particular brand or
    model? They may want to warn you about a real "turkey" or two. Choice
    of carrier may be an issue as well. Verizon Wireless has excellent
    coverage in *most* places. If "most places" does not include the
    places you need, check for carriers with coverage where you need it.

    I've been using a Motorola RAZR V3m for the last four years or so. It
    meets my needs. My wife has one as well. YOU might find it a very
    expensive shim!

    YMMV!




  6. #36
    Richard B. Gilbert
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/29/2012 12:09 AM, Paul Miner wrote:
    > On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:53:41 -0800, SMS<[email protected]>
    > wrote:
    >
    >> On 1/28/2012 2:52 PM, Paul Miner wrote:
    >>
    >>> We're currently using Consumer Cellular, (uses the att network), where
    >>> we share 300 minutes a month, 100 texts, and 10MB of data, for $31
    >>> before taxes. Final cost is $39 a month with fees.

    >>
    >> Wow, that's very expensive. No offense, but every time I see those
    >> Consumer Cellular commercials on TV, I shake my head and wonder who
    >> would pay such a high price for prepaid service, and why.

    >
    > Expensive is relative. We downgraded from more expensive service with
    > Sprint a few years ago where the total monthly bill was about $160, so
    > a monthly bill of about $40 for the two of us seems very reasonable.
    > Can I do better? Probably, and that's why I'm asking questions.
    >


    $40/month for two phones looks VERY reasonable I'm paying VZW $70 for
    two phones. They have worked everywhere we have been. That's not quite
    the same as *everywhere* but it's close enough for me.




  7. #37
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/28/2012 9:18 PM, Paul Miner wrote:

    > Excellent, thanks. The part, above, about converting to a monthly plan
    > if you need text or data was confusing.


    Remember that you can use the pay-as-you-go cards to pay for the monthly
    plan, but you can't use monthly plan cards to pay for pay-as-you-go. If
    you're on a monthly plan, Pageplus will renew it each month as long as
    you have enough money in your account to pay for the next month. That
    money can come from either the regular pay-as-you-go cards ($10, $25,
    $50, $80) or from the cards specifically for the monthly plan ($12,
    $29.95, $39.95, $55). However if you want to switch back to
    pay-as-you-go from a monthly plan, you can't use any extra monthly plan
    cards that you may have purchased to pay for pay-as-you-go.

    On my wife's account when it became clear that her text and data usage
    did not make the $29.95/month plan worth it (I thought that when she got
    her smart phone she'd use the web more and text more, but her main use
    of the smart phone functionality is the camera), I switched her back to
    pay-as-you-go.

    Also, keep a few dollars extra in your monthly plan account in case you
    ever have to do off-network roaming. I've paid for two minutes of
    off-network roaming since I've been on the monthly plans. One was in
    Southern Oregon (U.S. Cellular), one was outside Yosemite (Golden State
    Cellular). On January 1 we were driving through Yosemite and my wife
    wanted to call someone and I told her to wait about half an hour until
    we were back in Verizon territory (I know just about exactly where it
    starts because when we cross the line I get all my voice mail indications).

    If you want to conserve minutes, you can always check your Pageplus
    voice mail from a landline. The backdoor Verizon voice mail numbers also
    work for Pageplus since Verizon provides the voice mail service.



  8. #38
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/28/2012 9:45 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:

    > Is PagePlus cheaper? Yes, but Consumer Cellular carters to a different
    > market. My 80 year-old mother won't use any service that requires credit
    > card billing, fearing "they" will take her card number and use it.
    > (*Sigh*) She wants to get a bill in the mail, and wants to write a check
    > to pay it. She has no computer and doesn't want one, so buying airtime
    > online is out. So, for folks like her, it's services like Consumer, or
    > the big four.


    LOL, when I changed my 80+ year old mom from T-Mobile prepaid to
    Pageplus, many of her friends also followed. At the time, I bought her a
    phone (back when you could use Verizon's prepaid phones on Pageplus),
    entered her phone list (that she e-mailed to me), and I shipped it to
    her. I stuck with a Nokia phone because that's what she was used to.

    I think the most amazing thing though was when she changed from AT&T
    postpaid to T-Mobile prepaid, but didn't want to change phones. I was
    able to walk her through unlocking her AT&T phone, and it was successful.

    A check is much more dangerous in terms of getting your money stolen.
    Also, Pageplus now sells refills in places like Walgreen's (besides at
    their dealers), so no computer is necessary, nor is a credit card for
    that matter.



  9. #39
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/28/2012 10:33 PM, Paul Miner wrote:

    > Do new customers have to sign up for one of the monthly plans before
    > they can use the $80 refills?


    No. You can buy an $80 refill and then call them and tell them you want
    to be on a monthly plan. That money can be used for either pay-as-you-go
    or for a monthly plan.

    If, after a month or two, you find you're not using enough
    minutes/text/data to make the monthly plan worthwhile then you can call
    them and they'll switch you back (or to a different monthly plan) using
    the remaining money from the $80 card.

    You can't go the other way--you can't use extra monthly plan cards that
    you may have purchased to pay for pay-as-you-go (actually they might let
    you do that, but only at the 10¢/minute pay-as-you-go rate, rather than
    the 4¢/minute rate of the $80 card).



  10. #40
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/28/2012 4:26 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:

    > The beauty of GSM is that changing handsets is as easy as moving SIM cards.


    Yes, as long as you're not changing carriers (or if the GSM handset is
    unlocked) and as long as the handset supports the same 3G bands).

    OTOH, I could change handsets on Verizon on-line. Pageplus requires a
    phone call. Pageplus CS will do it for free. Dealers charge about $5.



  11. #41
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/29/2012 3:38 AM, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

    > At its core, PP is prepaid. There's no signing up for a "monthly plan".


    For the monthly plans you can sign up for automatic monthly payment at
    Pageplus to avoid having to constantly be buying refill cards. There is
    little difference between auto-pay on Pageplus and auto-pay on a
    postpaid carrier (except you're paying for that first month in advance).

    What you can't do at Pageplus is to sign up for a $10 card to be added
    every 120 days. The maximum interval for automatic payments is one
    month. However you can schedule automatic refills to start whenever you
    want, i.e. on your expiration date. That's a safety net against missing
    your renewal on the pay-as-you-go plan.

    Pageplus is more of a "hybrid" carrier now, offering both traditional
    prepaid, as well as monthly plans.



  12. #42
    Richard B. Gilbert
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/29/2012 1:31 AM, Paul Miner wrote:
    > On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:47:06 -0500, "terrable"<[email protected]>
    > wrote:
    >
    >> Page Plus dealers can tell you which phones work and don't work.
    >>
    >> Here is one:
    >>
    >> http://www.pageplusdirect.com/compatible_phones.html

    >
    > Very helpful, thanks.
    >
    > I'm in the process of analyzing my last two years worth of phone bills
    > to break out the number of domestic minutes, international minutes,
    > and cell minutes, broken down by month, to see if it's time to let the
    > landline go. (My gut says yes.) It's possible that going with PagePlus
    > for everything, using those $80 refills, could be a way to save some
    > money.
    >


    My landline is ALSO provided by VZW! I suppose it's incorrect
    to call it a landline because it is wireless. They provided a "black
    box" into which we plugged our landline phones. It works. We pay one
    bill instead of two.




  13. #43
    Richard B. Gilbert
    Guest

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On 1/29/2012 6:55 AM, NotMe wrote:
    > "Elmo P. Shagnasty"<[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >> In article<[email protected]>,
    >> [email protected] wrote:
    >>
    >>> Lots of people go to Vegas believing that they will win. They just
    >>> ignore logic, probability, and common sense.

    >>
    >> To be fair, you can't win if you don't play.

    >
    > The reality is you're unlike to win even if you do play.
    >
    >


    But they love it when somebody does win! The lucky winner is
    photographed, gets his picture in the newspaper, Las Vegas AND his
    hometown paper, etc, etc. It's the best advertising money can buy.
    Another fifty suckers will go home $100 poorer.







  14. #44

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:58:28 -0500, "Elmo P. Shagnasty"
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    >In article <[email protected]>,
    > [email protected] wrote:
    >
    >> Lots of people go to Vegas believing that they will win. They just
    >> ignore logic, probability, and common sense.

    >
    >To be fair, you can't win if you don't play.
    >
    >"Meet me halfway....buy a ticket...."


    The same is true for the lottery, which is a bad deal on an expected
    value basis.



  15. #45

    Re: Pageplus vs Tracfone

    On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:02:45 -0500, "Richard B. Gilbert"
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    >On 1/29/2012 6:55 AM, NotMe wrote:
    >> "Elmo P. Shagnasty"<[email protected]> wrote in message
    >> news:[email protected]...
    >>> In article<[email protected]>,
    >>> [email protected] wrote:
    >>>
    >>>> Lots of people go to Vegas believing that they will win. They just
    >>>> ignore logic, probability, and common sense.
    >>>
    >>> To be fair, you can't win if you don't play.

    >>
    >> The reality is you're unlike to win even if you do play.
    >>
    >>

    >
    >But they love it when somebody does win! The lucky winner is
    >photographed, gets his picture in the newspaper, Las Vegas AND his
    >hometown paper, etc, etc. It's the best advertising money can buy.
    >Another fifty suckers will go home $100 poorer.
    >
    >
    >


    At the MGM a few years ago they had a display of "big winners". It
    dated back over a decade and started at about $10,000. On a
    percentage basis, dismal for players.



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