T-mobile vs Tracfone

    I have both a T-Mobile and a tracfone, both of which I purchased
cheap .  At one point, I thought I remembered someone telling me that
the T-Mobile phone had the edge, but looking at the cards in the store,
I don't see that.

   Essentially, my wife wants a phone in her car that she can activate
for a year at a time, and have at least an hour or so of emergency use
on it if her car breaks down.  She will not use it otherwise, or give
out the number to family or friends.

   So the question is this: which one has minutes that don't expire for
a whole year, perhaps rolls the minutes over from year to year, and/or
costs the least for roughly 1-2 hours of service annually?

                                                         Thanks!

 

After the initial purchase of time and minutes on Tracfone, the minutes
last forever until you use them. You can renew time month to month for
$5.99 automagically with their Service Protection plan.

--
Peace,
Steve
southiowa

Offering rural highspeed ISP access.  
www.bubbalink.com

 _TKh3DRnZ2dnUVZ_jGdnZ2d@earthlink.com:


On Tracfone, the minutes are good for 30, 45, 90, or 360 days
(and other durations IIRC) depending on how many minutes you buy.
More minutes, more time to use them. But the minutes are cheaper
bought in larger numbers.

Personally I don't like Tracfone as a limited use phone.
Unfortunatly, 7-11 no longer offers it's Speak Out plan.
15 cents per minute, 365 day expiration. $10.00 minimum
purchase.  But it's no longer available.

Here are a couple of web sites that compare prepaid
cell phone plans.

http://www.cellguru.net/index.htm
http://prepaiduswireless.com/

 _TKh3DRnZ2dnUVZ_jGdnZ2d@earthlink.com:


I can't explain it better than that, I know that I have so many minutes
and buy a month worth of time for $5.99.  I rarely use minutes and these
may last me for years.  I have a cell that does all I need for about
$70/year.
I'm not shilling for tracfone, don't know to compare it to anything, just
know how it works for me. YMMV.

--
Peace,
Steve
southiowa

 

We have 2 T-Mobile prepaid phones.  For years.
To get it right at the lowest cost per year you pay for $100 worth of
minutes at the start.
They often have promotions - we got 1200 minutes for that.
That $100 makes you a "Gold Member,"  meaning minutes won't expire
after a year - if you buy more minutes before the year is up.
I just did a yearly update on one to keep about 400 minutes from
expiring.  Paid $10 for 100 minutes.  $10 is the least you can pay to
refresh the expiration of minutes for another year.
My wife has had her phone for about 5 years and total cost for minutes
has been about $200.
No roaming charges, and anytime, anywhere.
We only do voice calling.
Good coverage from Illinois to Florida.
Coverage that you need is the first thing to consider.
If you're a light user as we are, it works fine.
Your wife will probably call from the store or elsewhere if she gets
delayed.  Mine does.  But we use the vast majority of our minutes when
we are on vacation.
I've had mine 3 years and spent $120 total on minutes.
The initial $100 and two $10 yearly updates.
Still have at least 500 minutes.  Only used minutes because we used it
on vacations to "equalize" the minutes on the 2 phones.
I think I only made one call when not on vacation - just to see if it
worked.  I often forget to bring the phone with me when going
somewhere locally.
Doing the $100 "Gold Member" deal up front is what makes it work for
us.

--Vic