Sharing Minutes on 2 Prepaid Phones?

Do any of the prepaid cellular services allow you to share the prepaid
minutes between 2 cell phones? Prepaid works for me since the phone is
just for emergencies. I'd like to have one in the car and one at home.
The price per minute doesn't matter, its how frequently the minutes
expire, which is why two phones cost twice as much unless the minutes
can be shared.

If cloning was allowed that would be perfect, but failing that I
wondered if any of the providers allow sharing the prepaid minutes.

I don't think any prepaid cell phone plans let you share minutes. In
fact, they don't even allow you transfer minutes to another customer.
Prepaid rates have gotten low enough that having two prepaid phones is
still a minimal expense. As for expiry dates, a number of companies
have top ups that last a year. I was just looking at
www.paygmobile.com and they have some good info and an expense
calculator for most of the prepaid plans.

-Mario

>If you want cheap prepaid get service with Beyond
Wireless.

It sounds great! Right now I have to pay Cingular $25 every 90 days to
keep from expiring. Thats $100/year for a phone I hardly use. With
"Beyond Wireless" a $5 card would last me a few years. I could
certainly afford an emergency phone at home and in the car.

The only rub is I live in Atlanta, Georgia which is on their national
map, but not one of the areas they issue local numbers for. Since my
use is mainly outgoing that is a problem, but maybe not a stopper.

Are there any competitors to "Beyond" that might have local numbers in
my area?

<km@mathcs.emory.edu> wrote in message
news:1125466976.939087.37330@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> >If you want cheap prepaid get service with Beyond
> Wireless.
>
> It sounds great! Right now I have to pay Cingular $25 every 90 days to
> keep from expiring. Thats $100/year for a phone I hardly use. With
> "Beyond Wireless" a $5 card would last me a few years. I could
> certainly afford an emergency phone at home and in the car.
>
> The only rub is I live in Atlanta, Georgia which is on their national
> map, but not one of the areas they issue local numbers for. Since my
> use is mainly outgoing that is a problem, but maybe not a stopper.
>
> Are there any competitors to "Beyond" that might have local numbers in
> my area?
>

.... if you get a phone for emergency use only make sure it will roam onto
other compatible networks - prepaid phones like Cingular K I C and Net10 use
the Cingular network only so you are screwed if you cannot connect. I think
Virgin Mobile is the same way but it uses the Sprint network only.
Personally I use a Tracfone but its the cost of maintaining the service(the
annual renewal) that is costly but at least Tracfones will roam and their
CDMA phones(I have a V60) also have analog service.
www.tracfone.com

"Dudhorse" <dudhorse@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:NVFRe.4422$RO5.2889@bignews5.bellsouth.net...
> ... if you get a phone for emergency use only make sure it will roam onto
> other compatible networks - prepaid phones like Cingular K I C and Net10
use
> the Cingular network only so you are screwed if you cannot connect. I
think
> Virgin Mobile is the same way but it uses the Sprint network only.
> Personally I use a Tracfone but its the cost of maintaining the
service(the
> annual renewal) that is costly but at least Tracfones will roam and their
> CDMA phones(I have a V60) also have analog service.
> www.tracfone.com


Net 10 also uses T-Mobile as well as other GSM carriers to roam on, Net 10
is also owned by the same company that owns TracFone.

Beyond Wirless uses cingular but will roam at a 4x per minute
differential. Given that Atlanta is in the Cingular footprint, its
great for me as an emergency phone with no expiration cost.

The only problem remains that Beyond only has local numbers in 13
states and Georiga isn't one of them, so I can't get a local phone
number.

Again if anyone knows of a competitor with no expiration cost and more
local area codes, let me know.

km@mathcs.emory.edu wrote:

>The only rub is I live in Atlanta, Georgia which is on their national
>map, but not one of the areas they issue local numbers for. Since my
>use is mainly outgoing that is a problem, but maybe not a stopper.

Since you, like me, don't need a phone for
constant local use, Beyond Wireless should be
perfect. Look at their website and see if
any of the area codes they have available
look good for you. Mine is in an area code I
never expect to visit and never expect to
either call or receive a call from. Had I
thought more I would have at least asked for
an area code I am likely to visit every few
years. Ther only disadvantage to having an
area code other than where you live is that
when local people call you it is long distance
for them.

I originally got my cell phone for
emergencies, both 911 type emergencies and the
"I missed the train and will be an hour late"
type emergencies. Now I use it mostly for SMS,
which they say uses a minute per message, but
it seems like it is less. You must use at least
a minute of time, either call or message, every
60 days to keep it active. That means it will
cost less than a dollar a year if used just
enough to keep it active.

http://www.gobeyondwireless.com/

Bob <valen (at) trust-me (dot) com>