explain prepaid cell fones
 

We've had AT&T since it was Cingular Wireless years ago. We live out in the sticks, literally because most of the trees have dies! Anyway my husband is in the oilfield and has to make calls daily, the service is not the problem it's the fones! He's had 4 to my one, this last one has been bad since the begining and he's just fed up. Prepaid may not work out either but at least when he throws the fone off a tower he won't be under contract! Can someone explain how it works and maybe suggest a good one. Verizon usually works here and AT&T.
ok, advise.

We have a prepaid phone that we got at WalMart (I can't remember the brand... whatever WalMart carries) & we love, love, love it! The phone itself is great & the service of the company is truly the best customer service we've ever gotten anywhere. Trac Phone... that's what it is. We got it just as a "let's see if we really want a cell phone" deal, thinking if we decided to stay with a cell phone, we'd get a "real one" & have been so happy with this little cheapie, we haven't switched! And we've never run out of minutes (of course, we don't have a teenager texting 24/7 or anything on it either). I would say, go for it!!!

Tracfone uses the verizon network. You buy the phone and add minutes. I usually get mine from HSN because I get 1200 minutes and 365 days with the phone and triple minutes if I need to buy minutes. Tracfone doesn't take minutes whether you use it or not. I just get a new phone every year and don't have to buy anymore minutes because I don't use it that much, but if I needed to buy minutes they would triple (if a buy a $10 card which is 30 minutes it would triple to 90 minutes, for example). When you buy minutes it also add days to your phone. So it is minutes and days, we buy minutes on the internet and the service is good. You can transfer your number and minutes if you need to buy a new phone and I have seen the phones at Family Dollar for $20 and I have seen them on sale for $10.

My daughter got one from Walmarts and hated it. The phones weren't that good and kept dropping calls. She'd gotten two of them; one for her and one for her boyfriend. When they split up Walmart let him go into her account and change the phone into his name. When my daughter asked them about it they said well he knew her birthday; she told them you can find that on the internet. So they were supposed to have locked down her account and make it impossible for that to happen again; a month later he did it again. She canceled and went back to Sprint. My son now uses her Walmart phone and you buy so many minutes at a time. I know that Family Dollar also has one that my grandson has and it can either be monthly or you buy a card with minutes on it. Its a matter of finding out what works in your area or your husband's area I guess would be more of the problem.

What has been the problem with the phones? Quality of the call? Phone breaking? Or is he honestly tossing them off of a tower?

I don't know about AT&T but I know with Verizon if the phone isn't getting good reception you can take it back (within 30 days I think).

My husband used to buy a G'Zone (by Casio) because they are rugged - drop proof, water proof, shock proof, basically ... husband proof. He LOVED his first one, then he got the new-improved model and the call quality was POOR. He took it back to Verizon and we both got I-Phones. The I-Phone isn't indestructable like his G'Zone phone was, but the call quality is fantastic. As a bonus we are both discovering all other wonderful things we can do with an I-phone - like get instant weather updates (pretty handy when you work in the field), check e-mail, send pictures ("Is this the right part boss?"), maps, I have a compass on mine and a stud finder too. They really are amazing little devices.

If he's tossing ... I mean *dropping* them off a tower then look into getting the insurance with your carrier and they will replace the phone when it is dropped ... I mean *falls* from 100 + feet.

With the pay-as-you-go phones ... (at least the service I have that we use when we are in England) you have to purchase the telephone outright. If you purchase a cheap phone, you get a cheap phone with lousy reception. If you purchase an expensive phone with good reception and it falls off of a tower ... your still out the $$ for the phone. You're not "renting" the phone, your only renting the phone service for a limited amount of time.

Sue, your post cracked me up, btw, what kind of "stud" finder? LOL. the service is ok, sometimes when he opens it to make a call it says "emergency calls only allowed" which made me think the bill wasn't paid, whew! that wasn't it. it turns off at will, and sometimes it just says "please try again" this has been since it was 2 wks old and of course when I call India or China or wherever they are, they all want me to do the same tests for 15 min and in the end they want to send me a new battery.
thanks for all the tips, I think I'm going to give the trac fone a try, at least it won't add 2 more years to our contract!

AT&T has some cheap Go Phones and reasonable monthly plans. If you're making a lot of calls they have one that is unlimited calls and texts for $50/month. Or if you only use it a few days a month, they have another plan that is $2/day for only the days you make or receive calls. Various other plans as well.

I have been very happy with tracfone. Just get one with a cover for the buttons or you will "butt-dial". I can take photos and send them to email boxes. I get reception where ever I am, but I am always near a town.

have had Tracfone from Walmart for years. Best little phone I have had. My son bought one and did away with his land line.

I used Tracfone for many years and was always pleased with it. Even able to call home from the middle of the ocean while on a cruise. I would buy the one year plan and always got a lot of extra minutes. I still think that was the best phone/plan I ever had. Now my kids have me on their family plan but I miss my old tracfone.