Pageplus vs Tracfone

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:01:35 -0800, SMS <[email protected]>
wrote:

>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.

Unlocked, quad band GSM phones can be had under $40. If you look at
the cost of a phone versus the other costs of havinga cell, it's not
the big factor.

My wife has Page Plus and I have T-Mobile prepaid. When we travel we
should be good for at least one having coverage.

---

› See More: Pageplus vs Tracfone

RG

I think I read something about that, got any info that you would pass
on? Sounds like something I might consider since I am all ready a
Verizon user. How do you like it and I assume you can take your cell
and use it on the road also? Just curious!

Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> 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.

--
Lee US Army Retired
2004 Georgie Boy Cruise Master
Skype: lee.g.bray and logitech

On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:09:43 -0600, Paul Miner
<[email protected]> 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.

And the answer is "yes". Page Plus's $80 plan would more than meet
your needs, so it's $160 a year for two. If you really feel the need
for a monthly plan, their $12 plan times two is $24 a month.

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:11:22 -0700, Todd Allcock
<[email protected]> wrote:

>At 29 Jan 2012 09:21:47 -0500 Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>> 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.
>
>
>As we've pointed out many times, with your relatively low usage, you
>could switch to PagePlus, use your current phones, keep the same coverage
>(PP is just a reseller off Verizon service) and pay a small fraction of
>what you pay now- probably half of that $40/month you just thought was
>"very reasonable."
>
>The only major advantages Verizon offers over PP are larger data plans
>and subsidized handsets, which, ironically, neither of which you take
>advantage of, making your resistance to consider switching perplexing.

And he's paying a rate that includes covering the cost of new handsets
every two years and not getting one. A good part of that $40 is for
the phone, not the actual service.

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:33:38 -0600, Paul Miner
<[email protected]> wrote:

>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.


No. You can call Page Plus CS and have them activate your phone
without buying any plan. You can then get the $80 plan from any
dealer. PP does not sell it directly, but what else can you do with
the activated phone except buy some plan somewhere. They get the money
either way.

"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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).

IMPORTANT NOTE CLARIFYING/AMPLIFYING THE ABOVE:
(sorry if this has already been covered in the thread)

If you (1) initially have PP service paid for via, for example, an $80 PIN
(which gives you $0.04/min call and $0.05/text rates)...

and you then (2) decide to switch to a Monthly Plan ("The 12"; "Talk n Text
1200"' Unlimited Talk n Text"; "The 55"...

and you then (3) then decide to cancel your Monthly Plan and switch BACK to
the pay-as-you-go "standard plan"...

YOU LOSE THE INITIAL LOWER PER-MINUTE AND PER-TEXT RATES THAT YOU HAD FROM
YOUR PIN.

In this scenario, when you switch from the Monthly Plan in (#2)
back to a pay-as-you-go "standard plan" in (#3) all remaing cash from your
$80 PIN would be be charged at the a la carte rate of 10 or 12 cents per
minute (as I type this I can't remember which) and (I think, but I can't
remember for sure) 10 cents per text. YOU WILL HAVE LOST THE $0.04/min call
and $0.05/text rates THAT YOU ORIGINALLY HAD BY PURCHASING AN $80 PIN BY
MOVING TO AND THEN AWAY FROM A "MONTHLY PLAN."

On 1/29/2012 2:31 PM, Lee wrote:
> RG
>
> I think I read something about that, got any info that you would pass
> on? Sounds like something I might consider since I am all ready a
> Verizon user. How do you like it and I assume you can take your cell
> and use it on the road also? Just curious!

Verizon Wireless is my "service provider" for BOTH my landline phone and
two cell phones. Note that Verizon and Verizon Wireless are two
separate corporations.

>
> Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>> 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.
>

I've told what I know.

For more, consult your local VZW store! YMMV!!

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:36:25 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

>On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:11:22 -0700, Todd Allcock
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>At 29 Jan 2012 09:21:47 -0500 Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>>> 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.
>>
>>
>>As we've pointed out many times, with your relatively low usage, you
>>could switch to PagePlus, use your current phones, keep the same coverage
>>(PP is just a reseller off Verizon service) and pay a small fraction of
>>what you pay now- probably half of that $40/month you just thought was
>>"very reasonable."
>>
>>The only major advantages Verizon offers over PP are larger data plans
>>and subsidized handsets, which, ironically, neither of which you take
>>advantage of, making your resistance to consider switching perplexing.
>
>And he's paying a rate that includes covering the cost of new handsets
>every two years and not getting one. A good part of that $40 is for
>the phone, not the actual service.

It's my bill that's $40 a month. Richard's is $70. You guys are
talking about Richard, primarily.

--
Paul Miner

On 1/29/2012 10:11 AM, Todd Allcock wrote:

> The only major advantages Verizon offers over PP are larger data plans
> and subsidized handsets, which, ironically, neither of which you take
> advantage of, making your resistance to consider switching perplexing.

That's very true. $7-10/month of a Verizon non-data monthly plan is for
new handset subsidy ($12-15/month for data plans). Worst case, even if
you don't even want a new handset, take it and resell it since you're
paying for it anyway.

Richard enjoys throwing money away and that's certainly his right.
Nothing anyone here can say will make him stop, nor does Verizon
particularly want people like Richard to know how to use their network
for substantially lower cost. It you mention Pageplus to 99 out of 100
people you'd be met with a blank stare, and they would not believe
anything you told them. Ironically, Pageplus has been around even longer
than Tracfone, but they don't advertise and keep a low profile.

“It's best not to argue with people who are determined to lose.

Once you've told them about a superior alternative, your responsibility
is fulfilled and you can allow them to lose in peace.”

Mark Crispin, Inventor of the IMAP e-Mail Protocol

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:58:28 -0500, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

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

More important for your fiscal integrity: if you don't play you can't lose.

:-) Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

On 1/29/2012 12:07 PM, tycho wrote:

> If you (1) initially have PP service paid for via, for example, an $80 PIN
> (which gives you $0.04/min call and $0.05/text rates)...
>
> and you then (2) decide to switch to a Monthly Plan ("The 12"; "Talk n Text
> 1200"' Unlimited Talk n Text"; "The 55"...
>
> and you then (3) then decide to cancel your Monthly Plan and switch BACK to
> the pay-as-you-go "standard plan"...
>
> YOU LOSE THE INITIAL LOWER PER-MINUTE AND PER-TEXT RATES THAT YOU HAD FROM
> YOUR PIN.

It's funny you mention this because when I changed my wife back to
pay-as-you-go, the CSR noticed that the lower per minute rate was gone
and she had a supervisor approve restoring the 4¢/minute rate. I didn't
even ask her to do this. I think you're right, that the default is to
lose the 4¢/minute rate. Maybe they were not supposed to give me back
the 4¢/minute rate.

On 1/29/2012 1:10 PM, Paul Miner wrote:

> It's my bill that's $40 a month. Richard's is $70. You guys are
> talking about Richard, primarily.

The $70 must include his land line. No way he would be paying $70 for
two cell phones since the family plan would be less than that.

On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:43:03 -0600, Paul Miner wrote:

> with new models introduced so often it's hard to keep up
> with what's good versus what's less good.

Ya know, "less good" than the latest/greatest can easily still be plenty
good enough for many folks -- me among them, and quite possible you, too.

Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:31:17 -0500, Lee <[email protected]>
wrote:

>RG
>
>I think I read something about that, got any info that you would pass
>on? Sounds like something I might consider since I am all ready a
>Verizon user. How do you like it and I assume you can take your cell
>and use it on the road also? Just curious!
>
>Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>> 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.

The Verizon Wireless home service is a VOIP box that use the cell
network instead of your internet connection. It's a box you plug a
conventional phone into. Yes, you can take it with you but you need to
have access to a real (not cell) phone as well. It is independent of
your cell phone itself.

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:41:04 -0800, SMS wrote:

> 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.

Sorry: I know only three ways to reach my Page Plus (PP) voicemail:

1) select Messaging > Voicemail > Call Voicemail on your PP handset;
2) dial #738 from your Page Plus phone, enter password when prompted;
3) call your mobile phone from a different phone; while your greeting is
playing, press # and enter your password to access your voicemail.

What "backdoor Verizon voice mail numbers" are you referring to, please?

TIA; and cheers,
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP. -- tlvp