PagePlus, the Prepaid Service Few People Know About even thoughthey are usually the cheapest option with the best coverage

SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
>Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
>to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
>PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
>re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
>card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).

Might be easier to use the Yahoo store -

http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo...paidcards.html



--

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

....George Bernard Shaw

---

› See More: PagePlus, the Prepaid Service Few People Know About even thoughthey are usually the cheapest option with the best coverage

Steve wrote:
> SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
>> to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
>> PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
>> re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
>> card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).
>
> Might be easier to use the Yahoo store -
>
> http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo...paidcards.html

Then you have to enter the PIN to recharge it, rather than just letting
them do it. Also, my Visa card wouldn't work on their site, but worked
fine when calling.

>I went with T-Mobile prepaid 2 years ago, and my fist year cost with
>new phone was $150.

Would the T-Mobile Gold plan be a good idea for someone
who uses a cell phone as their exclusive phone.... no
hard wired phone at all?

SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
>>> to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
>>> PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
>>> re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
>>> card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).
>>
>> Might be easier to use the Yahoo store -
>>
>> http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo...paidcards.html
>
>Then you have to enter the PIN to recharge it, rather than just letting
>them do it.

Not sure what you mean - as I remember, just entered the phone number,
and the minutes (and time extension) were added automatically...


--

Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

....P.J. O'Rourke

Steve wrote:

> Not sure what you mean - as I remember, just entered the phone number,
> and the minutes (and time extension) were added automatically...

This is true, it's not a big deal. For some people they just want to
call up and get the phone recharged without entering anything. I called
them because their e-commerce site wouldn't take my Visa card, and they
did the re-upping for me.

Todd Allcock wrote:

> I used to keep a calendar for my prepaid customers and call them a
> week or so prior to expiration, take a credit card over the phone and
> refill for them (only if they preferred that arrangement and agreed
> to it, of course!)

Now that's good service!

BTW, there is one advantage of a service like Tracfone and Net10. Since
their phones use proprietary firmware, and can't be unlocked (though
some models can be reflashed to standard firmware, and unlocked, if you
send them to a service that has the equipment), the phones are very
cheap, and easy to buy in retail stores. For short term visitors to the
U.S., something like Net10 would be a lot cheaper than roaming on their
home carrier (assuming they had a 850/1900 MHz GSM capable phone).

Buying a PagePlus capable phone is not so cheap--you can buy a Verizon
prepaid phone, but these cost a lot more than a TracFone, or Net10
phone, so for short term use it's expensive. You can buy T-Mobile SIM
cards, but T-Mobile coverage isn't very good.

At 25 Sep 2007 10:15:42 -0500 [email protected] wrote:

> Would the T-Mobile Gold plan be a good idea for someone
> who uses a cell phone as their exclusive phone.... no
> hard wired phone at all?


Depends on how many minutesa month you use. On the Gold plan,
minutes cost $0.10 each when you purchase $50 or $100 cards. If you
use more than 300 a month, you'd likely be better off with a T-Mo
monthly plan ($29.99 for 300 minutes plus free weekends, $39.99 for
600 minutes/month plus free nights and weekends or 1000 "anytime"
minutes but no free nights or weekends.)

With T-Mo's new Flexpay plans you can now take a monthly plan like
those above with no contract.


If you're already a broadband subscriber at home, VoIP would likely
be a cheaper home phone replacement. Voicestick.com has a $0/month,
$0.011 (1&1/10 cent)/minute plan that offers local numbers for most
areas. 1000 minutes a month on that would run $11!

Unlike, say, Skype, Voicestick is a SIP-compliant service so it'll
work with regular telephones- you just connect a $50 adapter box to
your router and plug your phones in.


--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

>> Would the T-Mobile Gold plan be a good idea for someone
>> who uses a cell phone as their exclusive phone.... no
>> hard wired phone at all?
>
>
>Depends on how many minutesa month you use. On the Gold plan,
>minutes cost $0.10 each when you purchase $50 or $100 cards. If you
>use more than 300 a month, you'd likely be better off with a T-Mo
>monthly plan ($29.99 for 300 minutes plus free weekends, $39.99 for
>600 minutes/month plus free nights and weekends or 1000 "anytime"
>minutes but no free nights or weekends.)

OK

>With T-Mo's new Flexpay plans you can now take a monthly plan like
>those above with no contract.

Interesting. I could get a pots paid plan WITHOUT any
contract?

>If you're already a broadband subscriber at home, VoIP would likely
>be a cheaper home phone replacement.

No broadband at home right now but have thought abt
that. If I were to get broadband at home I've thought
abt going with pre-paid plan for cell

At 25 Sep 2007 15:32:38 -0500 [email protected] wrote:
>

> >With T-Mo's new Flexpay plans you can now take a monthly plan like
> >those above with no contract.
>
> Interesting. I could get a pots paid plan WITHOUT any
> contract?


Yes. The "catch" of course, is they won't give you a discounted/free
phone, since there's no contract to subsidize it.

Having said that, you can pick up a cheap prepaid T-Mo phone at
Walmart or Target, take it into a T-Mo corporate store (not an
independant dealer) and activate it on Flexpay. (T-Mo would rather
have you on contract, of course- Flexpay was really designed as a
last resort plan for the credit challenged, so just refuse a credit
check and they'll put you on flexpay.)



--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

On Sep 26, 1:01 am, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
> Todd Allcock wrote:
> > I used to keep a calendar for myprepaidcustomers and call them a
> > week or so prior to expiration, take a credit card over thephoneand
> > refill for them (only if they preferred that arrangement and agreed
> > to it, of course!)
>
> Now that's good service!
>
> BTW, there is one advantage of a service like Tracfone and Net10. Since
> their phones use proprietary firmware, and can't be unlocked (though
> some models can be reflashed to standard firmware, and unlocked, if you
> send them to a service that has the equipment), the phones are very
> cheap, and easy to buy in retail stores. For short term visitors to the
> U.S., something like Net10 would be a lot cheaper than roaming on their
> home carrier (assuming they had a 850/1900 MHz GSM capablephone).
>
> Buying a PagePlus capablephoneis not so cheap--you can buy a Verizonprepaidphone, but these cost a lot more than a TracFone, or Net10phone, so for short term use it's expensive. You can buy T-Mobile SIMcards, but T-Mobile coverage isn't very good.

I got a T-mobile prepaid and use only for very important calls. I'm
using ever reliable Onesuite prepaid calling card and Onesuite Voip
for my long distance calls. Saves me a lot especially for those long
calls to U.K. and Singapore. You can track your usage online and
there's an option to hear your balance or minutes whenever you make
calls on the prepaid calling card service.

>> Interesting. I could get a pots paid plan WITHOUT any
>> contract?
>
>
>Yes. The "catch" of course, is they won't give you a discounted/free
>phone, since there's no contract to subsidize it.
>
>Having said that, you can pick up a cheap prepaid T-Mo phone at
>Walmart or Target, take it into a T-Mo corporate store (not an
>independant dealer) and activate it on Flexpay. (T-Mo would rather
>have you on contract, of course- Flexpay was really designed as a
>last resort plan for the credit challenged, so just refuse a credit
>check and they'll put you on flexpay.)

Ok well I already have an unlocked GSM phone thru
another carrier so it sounds like I could use it to try
T-Mobile out huh?

>I got a T-mobile prepaid and use only for very important calls. I'm
>using ever reliable Onesuite prepaid calling card and Onesuite Voip
>for my long distance calls.

Let me get this straight

You are using a pre-paid calling CARD in conjunction
with a prepaid cell phone?

If yes, how does that work?

At 26 Sep 2007 10:17:49 -0500 [email protected] wrote:
>
> Let me get this straight
>
> You are using a pre-paid calling CARD in conjunction
> with a prepaid cell phone?
>
> If yes, how does that work?

He's using it for INTERNATIONAL long-distance. Domestic is included
with the cell service, but T-Mo, like most cell providers, have
exhorbitant International rates.


--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

At 26 Sep 2007 10:16:30 -0500 [email protected] wrote:

> Ok well I already have an unlocked GSM phone thru
> another carrier so it sounds like I could use it to try
> T-Mobile out huh?




Yep, you've got nothing lOse except the first month's service fee!--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

Zee wrote:

> I got a T-mobile prepaid and use only for very important calls. I'm
> using ever reliable Onesuite prepaid calling card and Onesuite Voip
> for my long distance calls. Saves me a lot especially for those long
> calls to U.K. and Singapore. You can track your usage online and
> there's an option to hear your balance or minutes whenever you make
> calls on the prepaid calling card service.

Yes, OneSuite is the way to go for long distance, especially
international calls.

OneSuite is also a good companion to prepaid and postpaid cell phones
for international calls, since they are so much less expensive than
international calls dialed directly.

They also have started to have a lot of toll-free international access
numbers ("http://www.onesuite.com/access_international.asp").

T-Mobile is a good deal in prepaid, especially once you buy the $100
card and get the one year expiration on all future airtime purchases.
Alas, the T-Mobile coverage out west is not good at all.