"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:51:44 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:41:33 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:24:02 -0400, John H.
wrote:

I'm thinking of getting out of the contract cell phone plan and getting
a
prepaid plan. T-Mobile, for example, sells 1000 minutes for $100 and
they're good for a year.

Does anyone here have a prepaid mobile phone? If so, with whom and how
do
you like it?

My brother has one and loves it - he thinks it's the best deal around.
Several of Mrs. Wave's friends have pre-paid phones and swear by them.
I guess it's a pretty good deal.

As others have remarked, it's all about coverage. Some pre-paid
phones vary their coverage by carrier - some are associated with
T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T etc. The ones that are associated with the
major carriers are the best from what I've read.

I'm more of a traditionalist and have this thing about brand loyalty -
it's served me well over the years. We have Verizon - been with them
since - well, forever. Great customer service, they give us any phone
we want when we renew and because we're "loyal" customers, get a few
freebies in terms of minutes. Excellent coverage too.

Last renewal we got unlimited text messaging for free - neither one of
us use it, but we got it. :)

I just looked at my phone and I have used 21 minutes in the past six
months - I didn't even know you could find that data on the phone -
just took a blind shot in the dark. :)

And how much have you paid in the past six months for that phone.

I honestly don't know.

I know we're on some kind of family plan because we still have one in
medical school, but I couldn't tell you what the cost is.

That's the whole reason I'm thinking of a pre-paid phone. We'll sometimes
go several months without one call being made on the cell phone. Hell,
they
won't even get turned on. But that $30/month just keeps going to AT&T!

Well, the phones are part of the business and as such, a business
deduction.

Maybe when Mrs. Wave retires (yeah - like that's going to happen).

We use the cell phones for all the long distance, except a fax now and then.
Since both of our daughters and their husbands live in SoCal, we probably
save enough to pay the $70 / month for 1100 minutes. ATT gives you 15%
discount for AARP. Very good return on a $21 for 2 year aarp signup. Plus
we travel a lot in retirement, and can keep in touch with friends and
family. Mom is 93, so she gets lots of calls and they are toll calls from
my home phone. Since I have had cell phone for years I am used to it.
Company paid for it for about 7 years.