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- 01-28-2012, 11:43 PM #31Paul MinerGuest
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
- 01-29-2012, 12:31 AM #32Paul MinerGuest
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
- 01-29-2012, 12:33 AM #33Paul MinerGuest
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
- 01-29-2012, 05:55 AM #34NotMeGuest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 08:13 AM #35Richard B. GilbertGuest
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!
- 01-29-2012, 08:21 AM #36Richard B. GilbertGuest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 08:41 AM #37SMSGuest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 08:49 AM #38SMSGuest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 08:57 AM #39SMSGuest
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).
- 01-29-2012, 09:01 AM #40SMSGuest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 09:13 AM #41SMSGuest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 12:44 PM #42Richard B. GilbertGuest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 01:02 PM #43Richard B. GilbertGuest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 01:23 PM #44Guest
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.
- 01-29-2012, 01:25 PM #45Guest
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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