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Prepaid: A plan for those not obsessed with cell phones

Posted Mar 13 2008, 01:44 PM by Karen Datko
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We are among the four or five people in the country over the age of 12 who don't have a cell phone. Do we really want to be in touch with everyone all of the time? Why do we need to have a conversation about what the cat threw up, or what Oprah said, when we're driving, boarding airplanes or browsing in supermarket aisles?

Admittedly, a cell phone would come in handy once in a while: When you break leg on a mountain, your car dies in the middle of nowhere, or you really need to make a call and there's no pay phone in sight.

"Paidtwice" at I've Paid For This Twice Already says a prepaid cell phone plan is the way to go for the occasional cell phone user.

Paidtwice used to think that prepaid plans were for people with bad credit, until she realized how much money she could save. She used to pay $60 a month for a family plan. Now she pays about $14 a month total for two prepaid phones, and even got two free phones through company promotions.

"Once I let go of the 'cost-per-minute' factor and started focusing on the 'cost per month,' I realized that I was throwing tons of money away on minutes I wasn't using," she writes.

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Comments

 

With the cell phone, you don't even have to go completely prepaid to save money. I have cricket service and love it. There's no contract, and no credit checks. I pay just $45 a month, and I get unlimited calls, unlimited texting and unlimited mobile web access. I get the benefits of ala-cart pricing becasue I can shut it off any time I like, but I don't have to count calls or messages. Plus, I bought my phone at http://www.mycricket.com and paid just $29.99 for it.

Jason (Posted 06.19.08 6:51 PM)

Jason, you are so correct on Cricket.  I have a prepaid because I am an infrequent cellphone user (Cingular/AT&T), but I get tired of refilling every 30-45 days as there is no rollover with this plan.  My son has a Cricket phone and he loves it.  I'm switching.  

The only problem I've seen with Cricket is that some of the phones are very expensive....or at least they were when Cricket hit town two years ago.   Many of the cheaper phones are refurbished phones and only come with a 30-day warranty.  I am going to look into them again, but the plan is great!  

I have a Razr that was given to me and I've heard that Cricket may allow users to use other phones on their plans, but I'm not sure if this is correct.  I have fallen in love with this phone as it has a camera and video which proved to be a lifesaver for me when my ceiling collapsed in my apartment due to leaks from above.  

Carla (Posted 06.20.08 8:33 AM)

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