best cheap cel phone plans
Awesome free independent noncommercial service comparing monthly rate for all cel phone services.
be sure to check out the plan finder on there to filter and set parameters for what kind of usage you're searching for
thread on cheapest annual plan with low minutes, just to keep phone number alive
https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/1jl8obd/what_is_cheapest_annual_price_to_maintain_a/
cheapest prepaid annual plan with unlimited voice, text, some 5g data for between 60$-100$/year
tracphone (they use verizon network) also includes free new moto G play 5g phone.
Seems like you'll get the best deal if you just by a new phone+unlimited 1 year plan every year between nov. black friday and end of december
Not sure if you'll be able to smoothly port and keep your cel phone number doing that.
Services I use:
1) Page+plus, uses verizon network, $2.50/month, for low usage
The pay as you go plan takes 10$ add on credit that lasts 4 months.
I have a google calendar recurring email reminder that goes out every 119 days,
and my credits roll over.
I don't mess with trying to time 120 days for fear of losing rollover credit.
I'm up to about 70$ now of credit racked up.
2) h2o wireless unlimited voice, text, no data, 5$/month
they use AT&T network.
You buy a full prepaid year for 60$ + taxes, for about 70$.
This service is decent enough,
but h2o wireless has screwed me many times over the past as they changed their pay as you go plans,
changing plans without informing me,
charging my credit card through auto pay for some new changed plan I didn't sign up for.
Terrible customer service, underpaid immigrants who can't speak English well and can't help you with your problems.
If you need AT&T for where you live, the 1 year deal is good.
I'm looking to ditch them as soon as I find something cheaper and more reliable with better customer service.
3) tello pay as you go, 20$ rollover credit added on every 90 days, avg. 7$/month
Tello used to have the most awesome pay as you go plan for low usage users.
Credit that never expires, and add on credit only cost 10$ every 3 months.
Currently, if you want pay as you go and rollover your credit, you have to buy 20$ credit every 3 months.
They use tmobile and sprint networks I believe.
and my credits roll over.
I don't mess with trying to time 90 days for fear of losing rollover credit.
I'm up to about 250$ now of credit racked up over several years.
On tracfone, how to keep your phone # and add cheap minutes
lucid24-frankk asked:
how does this work exactly? > Another trick is when QVC, HSN, eBay have 2 flip phone bundles for $30-$50 for the pair - each phone with a year of service and 1200-1500 service units. I activate them and transfer to my good phone.
your good phone is a different old tracphone that you've been able to keep the same phone # alive for many years, and you just buy the tracphone bundles on QVC for the minute credits every year?
answer
>How does this work?
Setup a Tracfone online account if you don't have one.
Assuming you have the number you want on the good phone:
Buy the bundle phone(s). Activate them. You must active the bundle phone itself with the SIM it came with to get the bundled service units and service time.
Wait a day or more. This step is not technically necessary, but if something goes wrong with transferring the bundle units it makes it easier for customer support to understand what happened.
In the online account, do a transfer of the bundle phone to the good phone (that is on active Tracfone service). If all goes well the bundle units will add to the existing units. You can also do this by phone call or chat session to customer service.
If you have more than one bundle phone to "harvest" the bundle units just repeat the above up to a year after the bundle phone was purchased.
>your good phone is a different old tracphone that you've been able to keep the same phone # alive for many years, and you just buy the tracphone bundles on QVC for the minute credits every year?
That's pretty much it. The good phone doesn't have to be from Tracfone. I have done it with generic factory unlocked phones that have BYOP Tracfone service.
QVC and HSN also each have a first time buyer discount of $20-$30. I haven't bothered trying to fake being a first time buyer again.
I mostly buy the bundles to harvest the service time and units by transfer to a better phone. One time I did use the bundle phone as my primary. I usually buy the cheapest bundle. The cheapest phones aren't very good.
The service units roll over as long as the service time does not run out. I have service units that have rolled over for years. I don't use much. I buy a new bundle in time to keep my service end date from expiring. I guess that would be about every 11 and a half months.
I occasionally watch for clearance sales and specials. You can buy a bargain bundle and not activate/harvest for up to a year.
Tracfone changed from unlocking after a year to 60 days a couple of years ago. They unlock reliably. The cheap phones I buy aren't worth it to me to sell on eBay or elsewhere. I have given one of the better phones to a friend that they use on Verizon Prepaid. Some of the others I use around the house on Wifi like micro tablets. I put free Textnow service on one of them. I keep one in the car with no service in case I forget my real cellphone. Any phone, even without service, can call 911. The car phone isn't worth much so I don't care if it gets ruined by heat and cold. During power outages I can use several of them, left charged, sequentially for information and entertainment using my cellular hotspot.
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