First Time Cell Phone User

I believe Verizon to be the best service. I get reception with Verizon when those around me can not get reception with other providers. They all have about the same plans. Very important; Figure out what you need before you go in. They are sales people and will try to sell you up. I have never found a salesperson that can give you one straight answer.
Good Luck
L.

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I put my mom-in-law on Virgin Mobile. It only costs $20 every 3 months. Now that's if you don't use it. It costs money every time someone calls you or you call out. She has hers for emergency use only. Now when she babysat for us, we put her on a $16 a month plan which includes only 100 minutes. Either way it was a cheap plan. Hope this helps.

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I've had AT & T for several years and am very happy with it. We travel quite often and most always have service. Just recently we were at a youth camp and the people with AT & T were the only ones who had service. People with Sprint and Verizon were asking to use our phones because they couldn't even dial out. Anyway..this has been my experience.

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Check out this website: http://www.jitterbug.com/

Affordable. Service starts
at just $10 a month¹. No
long distance or roaming
fees². No contracts.

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Get a phone that you will need to pay for the minutes that you use as you go. Not a plan.

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Hi J.-

I have a prepaid plan through t-mobile that works for me. I have to buy new minutes once a year but otherwise it's always worked when I needed it and it's relatively cheap. I think $100 buys 1000 minutes for the year or you can buy smaller increments too starting at $10.

Good Luck,
K.

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Try one of the pay-as-you go plans. I used Virgin Mobile for a while and really liked their service. You only buy minutes if you need them. Keep in mind that you need to have minutes available on your phone for people to call in and you usually have to buy minutes at least once every 90 days to keep the phone active.

This is a less expensive choice if you won't use the phone very often. If you end up using it more frequently, you might consider a service like Cricket, which doesn't have any contract, but has some good rates for unlimited minutes.

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You might want to consider getting a Pay As You Go phone. You get get them anywhere from Walmart to AT&T stores.

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If you only plan to use it very little I would suggest a Pay as You Go Plan, you can pick up a phone at Best Buy, Target even Walmart and just add minutes to it with your debit Card. This way you shouldn't be locked into a Contract. I'm with T-mobile and have been for at least 8 years and love them, but AT&T is good and I've been told Verizon is good, but I didn't like them. Hope this helps.

1 mom found this helpful

I have a pre paid phone from t-mobile that I bought at Target. No frills, but works EVERYWHERE!!! I really am happy with them and the customer service. I ended up with a prepaid phone despite the fact I have a plan monthly because I dropped my 200 dollar cell phone in the water 1 week after I bought it, and did not want to spend much money on a new one just yet!!! I had no ides that you could just buy a prepaid phone from your provider and just stick in your sim card and voila phone works!!!! I will never spend a fortune on a phone again!! Good luck!!!

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Hi, my husband and I have tracfone's cheapest phones, $15 new or $9 refurb thru their website. My husband's is a refurb and works just fine, no problems with anything. It works out to about 10 cents/ minute when you get Double Minutes and 200 minutes at a time. No frills, but we can text. Have to say we switched from Verizon because their customer service was beyond atrocious. Never had one good experience with them. I would definitely do pay as you go at first just to get your feet wet, then you can switch easily if you want.
Hope that helps.

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For minimal use I would go with a pre-payed plan. That way you only pay for the minutes that you use and you can't go over and be charged huge fees. There is no contract, and if you can't afford the minutes one month it is o.k. because you pay for them before you use them. Target is a good place to find the pre paid phones. This is also good because you can get phones as cheap as 30$ and up to 100$, so with the pre-paid you have alot of control over your costs! Good luck!-L. W.

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Cricket. They require no contract with several plans to choose from.

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Your best bet would be a prepaid cell phone. Voyage is good & so is tracphones. Just remember they are convenient little things and eventually you'll end up going with a monthly plan. (time flies when you're having fun and it is fun to visit with Mom, Sis & Friends on phone)

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Someone suggested Cricket. I would not suggest that. My son used that provider and it was awful. They don't have towers all over the place so you may rarely have signal. I believe the pre-paid option will be best for you since you only plan to take incoming calls for emergencies. Good luck!!

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cricket wireless. it is prepaid and there are no contacts. it is not okay for going out of town, however. but a prepaid plan seems to be the best for that very need.

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i have been with Cricket since they first came to houston and I enjoy talking on my phone all day every day and my bill is always $120.00 for two phone. It never goes up and they have other plans that are cheaper I have one of the more expensive ones because my husband travels and I get my roaming for the same price instead of a higher bill. For the same price you get internet among other things. Theres no contracts and if you can't pay the whole bill you pay $20.00 per phone on bridge pay and it gives you 7 more days to pay the full amount or bridge pay again. For example my bill this month was $120.00 (like always)I paid $40 because I have two phones well $37 went to my bill and $3 went to paperwork. my bill is now $83 no late fees now extention fees. my husband went to Jackson, mississsippi in a wooded area in the middle of nowhere and I was able to talk to him. I have had cricket for 3 years and if you want good one on one info about the cricket service I'll get you with a good man who will tell you what they have and you tell him what you need, he will get you set up with what works for you.

1 mom found this helpful

I have the same issue. I went with a no contract phone from virgin mobile. You just have to make sure to add $20 every 90 days to keep your account activated.i don't talk on the phone a lot, but wanted a cell phone in case the preschool needs to contact me.

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Hey J.. I went out to Best Buy and got the GO phone. I love it. No plans or contracts. You buy the phone and put your own amount of money you would like to put on the phone. I put $35.00 on mine and I put it onthere in June. I still have 30.00 left on it because I only use it it I have to. Its awesome and its a motorolla phone works great and it only cost $20.00. I always have a signal. When you want to add for to your balance you do it all on line.Check it out!! I love it!!B.

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I have a GO Phone with ATT. I only pay when I use it. Since my husband has ATT, we talk for free. I pay $1 service fee if I use the phone that day and 10cents/ minute. You can roll over minutes too. There are other plans as well. Check out ATT.com/GoPhone.

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I would recommend a Jitterbug cell phone. As little as you plan to use it , just choose the $10.00 per month plan.

I would not recommend a Cingular cell phone. I feel they ripped me off for over $500.00 once but they refused to make it right with me.
Now I have a Jitterbug and I am happy with them.
M. C.

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We've used Net10 prepaid phones for the past several yrs & love it. They have, so far we've found, the lowest per minute rates, great coverage & great service all around. The service is very easy to use, no contracts, the minutes roll over but they DO have a due date which means if you buy, say, 300 minutes, they are good for say, 90 days, then you must add more on or before that due date or the phone will turn off but you can easily get it turned bk on but at least w/prepaid, you don't hafta worry with contracts, or HAVING to pay that each month plus additional taxes (except the sales tax to buy the cards of course), surcharges, other meaningless charges, etc. You get great nationwide coverage plus you can add minutes via your phone, the internet, or just buy a minutes card & add or you can set up automatic add-on minutes which automatically adds minutes w/deduction from your checking account each month or however it's set up. The phones usually come w/300 minutes already on the phone. They have different types like nonflip phones & regular flip phones and now have camera phones as well which I just upgraded to, it also has web access plus other features & I think you can even download tunes onto it, I know you can definitly download ringtones but you can read/learn more on their website at www.net10.com I believe is correct or just do a general search for Net10. Having Net10 may not sound glamerous or hip as having 'verizon' or other well known service but, honestly, I was skeptical at first but found myself unable to afford a regular contract service so my hubby, who had Net10 already (upgraded from Cricket...had lousy reception & coverage) talked me into getting a net10 & I have been very happy w/it. I didn't have a need for a PDA or other fancy device so this met my needs. Good luck!

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Hi J.,

There are great plans out there for just about every cell phone company...we have AT&T and I have been very happy with their service. I think all of the companies probably offer a pre-paid plan as well. My advice would be to research a little online - sometimes you can get deals for free phones, etc. with a signed agreement. Good luck!!

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I am with AT&T was Cingular... They have a plan that lets you roll over minutes that you haven't used. Also when you sign a 2 year contract you phone is free. I would just shop around since school is staring you should be able to get a really good deal. Good Luck!!

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Cheapest isn't always the best option. The best area coverage is through Verizon and they have pre-paid plans. I have experienced excellent customer service as well.

Good luck!

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you might want to look into cricket too. i think they have prepaid plans too. i don't have any other info though. i use sprint and hate it lol

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My husband and I both have Sprint phones. We've had Sprint for years and have not had any problems with the company or the phones. We had Verizon at one time and weren't too happy with them, although our local phone is through Verizon and as a home phone company they've been great.

With Sprint we get shared minutes and calling from one Sprint phone to another is always free. We have other family members with Sprint phones so that comes in handy.

With any phone or company I am sure you can find one with the phone you like and the options/plan that is best for you.

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Hi J.,

If you are looking to save money and just use it for the preschool try the prepaid phone in Walmart or Target. I am not sure the quality of the prepaid phones. Where ever you decide to go make sure you ask a lot of questions.
We use Verizon. I can't think of any problems that we have had with them.

Good luck.
LK

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As long as you don't plan on leaving the Austin area, Criket is the cheapest for what you get. Be careful if signing up for one of their specials, though. When Criket runs a special monthly rate for new customers, it normally does not include voicemail. My husband pays $50 a month for unlimited talk, text, voicemail etc etc. You can even get internet for a few dollars more. Best part is that he hasn't had any dropped calls.
It's also a pay ahead plan. You pay for a month at a time.

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If you are only planning on using it minimally, avoid contracts and all the extra fluff found with the major companies. I personally go through Sprint, but I am always finding a way to "lock myself into a new contract" but don't mind.

In your case I would either recommend Cricket or Pocket. Both do not have contracts and both are gaining better coverage, including last I heard you could use Cricket nationwide(I would double check both companies for coverage to determine if they meet your needs). They both average about 30 bucks a month for unlimited calling and often include text messaging in their pricing.

Also, there are go phones, but those tend to be expensive regarding purchasing minutes. Plus its always good to have a phone on you in case there is an emergency at school, work, or in the car.

Hope this helps.
A.

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I am just like you :) I resisted cell phones until my daughter started Kinder (she's going into 3rd this year). I have been using a Motorola by TracFone, this is my second TracFone. The one I have now costs about $14 and does not normally come with 'Double Minutes for Life of Phone', I believe... It was $12.88 with 'Double Minutes for Life of Phone' so I "upgraded". You only buy Minute Cards when you need them. I normally buy 60 minute cards since my minutes are automatically doubled. Card prices are: $19.99/60 minutes, $29.99/120 minutes, and they also have cards for 240 minutes and more. Every time you add time to your phone you also add 90 Days of service (the window you have to use your minutes). I normally use about 120 minutes every month or month & a half and my Days of Service have added up and now expire in September of 2009. I haven't had any problems with service, just typical things such as problems getting bars in a few places (there aren't many places that I don't get a signal).

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