Disposable Phones (Full Version)

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poise -> Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 12:27:50 PM)

My son, who moved to England last year, is coming for a 2 week visit soon.
I'm thinking his cell phone service would charge him ridiculous roaming charges
here in the states, and since I no longer have a landline at my house, I was thinking
of getting him a temporary cell phone with minutes and texts for his use while here,
but just staring at the wall full of options makes me dizzy.

Has anyone actually purchased any of these disposable phones, and if so,
what were the pros and cons?

Also, I know there are several international travellers that post here.
Is this what you do as well when travelling, or do you use your own?
If you do use your own phone, how outrageous are the charges?



searching4mysir -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 12:59:35 PM)

Tracphone isn't to bad. The phones can be as low as $14.99 and you can get them with "double minutes for life". The minutes usually expire in 30-60 days from purchase unless you keep adding more (then it keeps making the expiration date longer).



LadyConstanze -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 1:09:58 PM)

When I'm in the US, I usually have a pay as you go phone as the roaming charges are pretty stiff, I usually buy the unlimited monthly plan ($50) which works for me.



SpaceSpank -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 1:14:30 PM)

If his phone is compatible with one of the network here, you might be able to just pick him up a SIM card with a cheap or pay as you go plan to put in his phone while here.

If not compatible, then yes one of the cheapo pre-paid phones is the best bet.



LadyConstanze -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 1:17:43 PM)

The UK phones are usually locked and tied to one provider... But if he has an old and unlocked one, he could use that with a SIM card



ARIES83 -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 2:13:16 PM)

Yer my friends did this when they went to
bali, and i'm not sure how your phone
companies do things but here in aus you
can grab a cheap ass phone for $50+ from
Woolworths and that would probably be on a
Rechargeable call credit setup where you can
make calls till your money on the phone runs
out, then you just go to a supermarket and
buy more call credit.

It's a good way to go for a phone while your
on holidays and you don't have to worry to
much about breaking it while your doing all
the fun holiday stuff.

-ARIES



LadyConstanze -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 2:20:24 PM)

Poise, if he needs it, I can post my US phone to him and he posts it back when he's back, I won't need it for a couple of weeks.



poise -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 2:43:15 PM)

LadyC, that is a very generous offer, but if worse came to worse, I can lend him my cell phone
should he need to make a call, but I'm not eager to be getting calls for him in the middle of the night. :)
I am looking for the best options for him to have a phone exclusively for his use alone, and so far it looks
like tracfone or something similar is the way to go. If it weren't for his new IPhone, the SIM card option would be nice.
Thanks to all of you who have offered feedback!



DaddySatyr -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 2:46:39 PM)

Wallyworld Straight Talk phone $29.99 and $45.00 for unlimited 30 day use.



Peace and comfort,



Michael



FrostedFlake -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 2:57:02 PM)

I think I gave $40 for my Tracphone.

You buy a couple or three months service along with a few or a lot of minutes. If you use it, the service time stacks up, if you don't use it, the minutes stack up. If you let it expire, the minutes go away. Mine has Double Minutes, so each costs a dime. Coming or going, long distance or not. International CAN be done, but is enough trouble that you won't. The coverage is good along the I-5 Corridor. There are bare spots, way off the beaten track, but they seem to be getting smaller. The battery lasts several days. Unless you talk a lot.

My phone has a keyboard, essential for those RUDE BASTARDS who text incessantly. My phone has a camera, though a small one, which requires a USB3 cable to download. It also has a Browser Button, which costs a half minute every time I accidentally press it. It seems Tracphone sells phones that look a lot like an I Phone, but I cannot comment on capability. I suggest you inquire, as the net on my phone is useless.

I have been pleased with this phone, tho I don't text or surf. I had a Net10 (same company, I think) for a few years and upgraded because of declining service. I found it was slowly getting difficult to understand people.

Bonus data : I dropped this phone from my bike at speed. Scratched it up, but didn't damage it.

Note : If I leave the phone near my computer, it makes loud, awful noises through the speakers.



GreedyTop -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 3:51:03 PM)

poise, you have mail... and Iam off toattempt a nap while the weather isn't quite so "severe"



SpaceSpank -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 3:55:23 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: FrostedFlake


Note : If I leave the phone near my computer, it makes loud, awful noises through the speakers.


You have unshielded speakers or the wires care ludicrous amounts of interference along them.

All that is is the RF from the phone being picked up and "played" by the powered speakers. I used to randomly get CB signals from truckers through my old PC speakers because they were completely unshielded pieces of crap.



poise -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 4:02:21 PM)

You are all so awesome for sharing your ideas (and offers!) with me. Thanks so much!



hardcybermaster -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 4:05:30 PM)

do you not have a friend with an old phone he can borrow? Surely loads of people have old mobiles knocking around?



KYsissy -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 4:12:35 PM)

most of the prepaid piggy back on Sprints network. if Sprint is good in your area, should be no problem. you might check Virgin as well. online or at Target.Yy



Lucylastic -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 4:13:20 PM)

I use tracphone.....when in the us,its well worth it.got it back in march with a 20$card, and its still working today:) I think that was 40 bucks very well spent for 6 months of intermittent but always on standby use



poise -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 4:16:56 PM)

I do have several good friends, as well as many family members that may have an old phone or 5 laying around,
but I'm not overly fond of having to borrow anything from anyone. Thanks for the idea though!



poise -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 4:20:07 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: KYsissy

most of the prepaid piggy back on Sprints network. if Sprint is good in your area, should be
no problem. you might check Virgin as well. online or at Target.Yy

That was another concern I had, so thank you for that. I do have Sprint, and they were
nice enough to give me a free mini tower, since coverage was so poor in my area.



igor2003 -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 4:28:42 PM)

I've used nothing but Tracfone for about 6 years now.  I've bought minutes enough so that even if I didn't use my Tracfone again the time wouldn't expire until some time in 2024, but even at that, for me it is a lot cheaper than any monthly plan I could buy considering how much (or little) I use the phone.

My particular phone is a Motorola flip-phone with text, camera, and web browser.  I think the cost was $29.99, plus I paid the extra for double minutes for life.  Over all I'm pretty happy with it, though the only way to get the pictures off of this particular camera is to email them to yourself (or whomever you want to send them to).

There are phones available that have triple minutes for life included, but those are the ones that are more Internet friendly.

Some countries are not on the Tracfone network, but I'm pretty sure the UK is.

Here is a link to the Tracfone website where you can probably have most all of your questions about them answered.  http://www.tracfone.com/



kitkat105 -> RE: Disposable Phones (8/7/2012 7:00:15 PM)

Odeen jailbreaked (jailbroke?) my iPhone and I'm using the StraightTalk sim in it.



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