OT- Contract Free Cellular Service

[v860rich]

I'm not a big phone user and we have a land line. But for travel and long distance we have a AT&T GoPhone. We got it back when you could get a 10 cent a minute deal. We prepay $25 for 90 days and if we don't use up the $25 at the end of 90 days it rolls over into the next 90 days. You do have to renew every 90 days or you loss any credit you have. We have it automatically renew and charged to our credit card so we don't miss the renewal and loose our rollover. To give you a idea of how much we use it, I think we have $250 credit on it now.

This is exactly what we use. Have never had to use their cust service except when we lost a phone, and that wasn't a huge problem.
We rent a piece of our ground to a cell tower co and right now they only have a T Mobile antenna on their tower.
They have another tower within 2 miles of our's and it only has T Mobile on it.
They're telling me that T Mobile is trying to get better rural coverage and that's the reason these antennas are so close together.
So maybe they are trying to up their game. Around here they sure advertise a whole bunch.

THANX RICH

[wierdscience]

I have friends that have had good luck with Straight Talk.

Same here, don't know about their customer service, it's been four years since I have needed it knock on wood.

[Paul Alciatore]

Pure Talk! OK, my cell phone usage is not that great, and I seldom use the my phone on the internet. I wanted a phone for use as a phone and that is what I have. I purchased the smallest amount of data that they offer and have never used even that much because I get the internet through my home wifi most of the time that I am browsing on it. I also wanted phones for my wife and son and later added a fourth for my mother, who is two time zones away in California.

I have been with Pure Talk for about 8 or more years now with no problems. As I said, I have four phones on the account and am currently paying about $38 per month for all four and including that small amount of data (400MB) on mine. It was always just a monthly bill, absolutely no contract. I can use any current, unlocked phone and they just send SIM cards for them, sometimes free and sometimes for a small charge. And I do mean small, probably just to cover the time and postage to send them ($3.00). Oh, and my talk time never expires. I stopped checking on the amount available when it went over 10,000 minutes. As for getting a phone, they always have unlocked phones available at good prices. I have purchased around 5 or 6 phones from them, and most of them were flip phones for $10 to $25. My current Android phone I purchased from them for around $100 or a bit more. I treated myself on that one.

I am on an older, family plan which I believe is no longer available, but they have newer plans so you can talk to them about what you need.

https://www.puretalkusa.com/

[TRX]

My whole family is now on Redpocket Mobile. They resell all the networks, though Verizon is more expensive. The wife and I have 500min/500text/500mb for $10/mo each.

I used them for a year and a half. I'm deep in Verizon country, connectivity with any other carrier is too iffy to be useful.

No complaints about Redpocket's service. Getting set up was a hassle; their web site appears to not work with Firefox or Chrome running on Linux. (circa mid-2018, anyway)

[Mark Rand]

I guess that my understanding of 'contract free' isn't the same as everyone else's. I have a 'pay as you go' SIM that I add credit to when the credit runs down, without any monthly charges.

Because I don't make many calls and the vast majority of my data usage is on my WiFi, the phone costs me about £5 per year to run...

[gellfex]

I guess that my understanding of 'contract free' isn't the same as everyone else's. I have a 'pay as you go' SIM that I add credit to when the credit runs down, without any monthly charges.

Because I don't make many calls and the vast majority of my data usage is on my WiFi, the phone costs me about £5 per year to run...

European cell service has always been very different than the US. Nobody does that here, there's always a minimum monthly one way or the other.

[PStechPaul]

I've been very happy with my little LG Tracfone. I use it only for some phone calls (I still have a land line), and for texts. I have occasionally used its camera, but I also have a Nikon L22 Coolpix I carry with the phone, and use it for images and video. If I travel, I take my laptop with me and usually there is WiFi available for internet use. So I pay $149 for two years of air time and something like 600 minutes (my phone has a triple minutes deal), so it costs me $6.20 per month. And I have 4200 minutes accumulated. I am not a "Cell Phone Zombie"

[browne92]

I suggest shopping networks before services. My understanding is, there are 4 networks in the U.S., each with different coverage: AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile and Sprint. Anybody else (Boost, Consumer cellular, Virgin, etc) works off one of these 4 networks. I would pick a network with coverage that works for you, then find a suitable service.

I'm with Boost, which is on the Sprint network, my GF is on AT&T. Her dad has a hunting camp about an hour away. When we leave my house, I lose service about 20 minutes down the road. She loses service about 20 minutes from the camp.

T-mobile recently purchased Sprint. FTC wouldn't allow the buyout without there being a 4th network, so Dish Network (yes, the TV people) said they would do it, if they were allowed to piggyback along with T-mobile/Sprint while they got going. I'm guessing any duplicate assets from the merger will get sold off to Dish Network.

I'm hearing Boost customers will end up on Dish Network, so I might be shopping soon too.

[gellfex]

I suggest shopping networks before services. My understanding is, there are 4 networks in the U.S., each with different coverage: AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile and Sprint. Anybody else (Boost, Consumer cellular, Virgin, etc) works off one of these 4 networks. I would pick a network with coverage that works for you, then find a suitable service.

I'm with Boost, which is on the Sprint network, my GF is on AT&T. Her dad has a hunting camp about an hour away. When we leave my house, I lose service about 20 minutes down the road. She loses service about 20 minutes from the camp.

T-mobile recently purchased Sprint. FTC wouldn't allow the buyout without there being a 4th network, so Dish Network (yes, the TV people) said they would do it, if they were allowed to piggyback along with T-mobile/Sprint while they got going. I'm guessing any duplicate assets from the merger will get sold off to Dish Network.

I'm hearing Boost customers will end up on Dish Network, so I might be shopping soon too.

The great thing about Redpocket is they have all 4 networks. When you order a "starter kit" it comes with 3 sim cards. If you want to switch you just activate a different sim. My son had Verizon because its better where he's at college, but now he works summers in Alaska where ATT is profoundly better (and cheaper), so he switched.