beyond wireless opinions

I've decided to go with either beyond wireless
gobeyondwireless.com or t-mobile to go. The main
attraction for the beyond wireless
is the minutes never expire. The T-Mobile
only gives you the really cheap minutely
rates if you buy the large $100 1000 minute card
that's good for a year. Beyond lets you
get by with just having to make a minimum of
1 min per 60 days to keep the account
open, other than that the minutes last
forever. The reason I wanted this kind
of plan is that my last phone I just wanted
for occasional use, emergencies and stuff
like that. These expensive $50 per month
plans that the big companies have are way
too much for me (now). I use a similar cheap
internet plan for my long distance (zaptel.com)
and got spoiled with not having minutes expire.
However I'm skeptical that a small co. like
Beyond WL can pull it off w/out bad service.

Has anyone here use them and have any negative or
positive opinions?
thanks
Mark

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Mark,
Beyond and T-Mobile are among the top choices for prepaid. I have both,
plus a few others. Beyond has excellent customer service. Most people
there are knowledgable and have bent over backwards to help me...and others.
Their only limtation is limited local numbers, but my purposes that's not
important. But their service won't last "forever." They use the ex-AT&T
TDMA network which will be turned off in early 2008. I buy less than $20
worth of time a year with them, and if you won't use much time, you could
survive on their "free" 35 minutes of time given after activation. Yes,
bring your own phone and the service is free.

The T-Mobile phone with a $100 card is a step above. The minutes will last
a year, but you can renew for another year with as little as a $10 card
which I will do at the end of my first year. No calls are necessary.
Discounts on their cards are available at www.cheapphonecards.com. 3 years
with them would total about $35 a year. With T-Mobile To Go you can get a
local number and you also get some free internet access, T-Zones, which at
least gives you the weather and some news.

Both choices have some coverage limitations.

Another good choice is www.stiwireless.com who uses the Sprint network. Buy
their phone ($85) and get a $79 rebate, and minutes don't expire, also
available at cheapphonecards.com. They also require a call every 60 days,
but they offer local numbers. STI requires a $50 card to activate, but
cheapphonecards was activating the phones with as little as a $10 or $20
card.

Bill Radio
Click for Wireless Reviews at:
http://www.mountainwireless.com



"Mark" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:q7j7f.1613$I65.1361@trnddc01...
>
> I've decided to go with either beyond wireless
> gobeyondwireless.com or t-mobile to go. The main
> attraction for the beyond wireless
> is the minutes never expire. The T-Mobile
> only gives you the really cheap minutely
> rates if you buy the large $100 1000 minute card
> that's good for a year. Beyond lets you
> get by with just having to make a minimum of
> 1 min per 60 days to keep the account
> open, other than that the minutes last
> forever. The reason I wanted this kind
> of plan is that my last phone I just wanted
> for occasional use, emergencies and stuff
> like that. These expensive $50 per month
> plans that the big companies have are way
> too much for me (now). I use a similar cheap
> internet plan for my long distance (zaptel.com)
> and got spoiled with not having minutes expire.
> However I'm skeptical that a small co. like
> Beyond WL can pull it off w/out bad service.
>
> Has anyone here use them and have any negative or
> positive opinions?
> thanks
> Mark

Bill Radio wrote:

> Mark,
> Beyond and T-Mobile are among the top choices for prepaid. I have both,
> plus a few others. Beyond has excellent customer service. Most people
> there are knowledgable and have bent over backwards to help me...and
> others. Their only limtation is limited local numbers, but my purposes
> that's not
> important. But their service won't last "forever." They use the ex-AT&T
> TDMA network which will be turned off in early 2008. I buy less than $20
> worth of time a year with them, and if you won't use much time, you could
> survive on their "free" 35 minutes of time given after activation. Yes,
> bring your own phone and the service is free.
>
> The T-Mobile phone with a $100 card is a step above. The minutes will
> last a year, but you can renew for another year with as little as a $10
> card
> which I will do at the end of my first year. No calls are necessary.
> Discounts on their cards are available at www.cheapphonecards.com. 3
> years
> with them would total about $35 a year. With T-Mobile To Go you can get a
> local number and you also get some free internet access, T-Zones, which at
> least gives you the weather and some news.
>
> Both choices have some coverage limitations.
>
> Another good choice is www.stiwireless.com who uses the Sprint network.
> Buy their phone ($85) and get a $79 rebate, and minutes don't expire, also
> available at cheapphonecards.com. They also require a call every 60 days,
> but they offer local numbers. STI requires a $50 card to activate, but
> cheapphonecards was activating the phones with as little as a $10 or $20
> card.
>
> Bill Radio
> Click for Wireless Reviews at:
> http://www.mountainwireless.com
>
>
>
> "Mark" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:q7j7f.1613$I65.1361@trnddc01...
>>
>> I've decided to go with either beyond wireless
>> gobeyondwireless.com or t-mobile to go. The main
>> attraction for the beyond wireless
>> is the minutes never expire. The T-Mobile
>> only gives you the really cheap minutely
>> rates if you buy the large $100 1000 minute card
>> that's good for a year. Beyond lets you
>> get by with just having to make a minimum of
>> 1 min per 60 days to keep the account
>> open, other than that the minutes last
>> forever. The reason I wanted this kind
>> of plan is that my last phone I just wanted
>> for occasional use, emergencies and stuff
>> like that. These expensive $50 per month
>> plans that the big companies have are way
>> too much for me (now). I use a similar cheap
>> internet plan for my long distance (zaptel.com)
>> and got spoiled with not having minutes expire.
>> However I'm skeptical that a small co. like
>> Beyond WL can pull it off w/out bad service.
>>
>> Has anyone here use them and have any negative or
>> positive opinions?
>> thanks
>> Mark

I ended up going with Page Plus pre-paid, it seems to
have an even better deal than Beyond or T-Mobile
Mark

Bill Radio wrote:
> Mark,
> Beyond and T-Mobile are among the top choices for prepaid. I have both,
> plus a few others. Beyond has excellent customer service. Most people
> there are knowledgable and have bent over backwards to help me...and others.
> Their only limtation is limited local numbers, but my purposes that's not
> important. But their service won't last "forever." They use the ex-AT&T
> TDMA network which will be turned off in early 2008. I buy less than $20
> worth of time a year with them, and if you won't use much time, you could
> survive on their "free" 35 minutes of time given after activation. Yes,
> bring your own phone and the service is free.

What Bill says is absolutely correct. I have four Beyond Wireless
phones, and they are great because of the excellent coverage and the
AMPS capability. My numbers are non-local, but no big deal. The biggest
issue is that eventually the TDMA network will be gone and Beyond
Wireless has already stated that they are moving to GSM.

T-Mobile has the best prepaid GSM plans, though in many places the
T-Mobile coverage is lacking, i.e. in my neighborhood there's been a six
year battle, spanning Pacific Bell to T-Mobile, to put a tower in. It's
still being fought by residents whose houses back up the place where the
tower would go.

My mother just dumped her AT&T/Cingular GSM and went to T-Mobile
prepaid. She went from $50/month to $100/year, since she doesn't use
even 80 minutes per month. I walked her through unlocking her AT&T
locked Nokia handset because she didn't want a new phone, and T-Mobile
transferred her numbers from her old SIM to her new SIM. I called the
T-Mobile store where she lives and explained to a salesperson what
needed to be done, and he was very helpful. In my mon's case, her main
use of the cell phone was for "free" long distance nights and weekends,
but something like Talkloop or Onesuite is much more cost effective.

I see a problem for some carriers when more people realize that 10 cents
per minute, and not engaging in mindless gabfests, is a lot better deal
than $40-50 per month.