Best prepaid cellular service?

[Brett Wustman]

Just curious if anyone has experience with prepaid cell phone service. We are getting rid of my grandma's cell phone because she never uses it, and it is a waste of $50 a month. However, we want her to have a cell phone just in case she has an emergency/car trouble. Anyone have an opinion on any of the services out there?



Brett

 

[L Roberts]

I have used Tracfone for many years. I have never tried anything else to compare it to, but it offers pretty reliable service out here in the boonies where I live and drive.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Dunerunner,



Any cell phone can call 911 whether you have an active service or not. I mention that because if you only need one for emergencies than keep her current one with a car charger and store it in the glove box and cancel the service.



TJR

 

[Dave S 2]

My suggestion, includes $25 airtime

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Keep in mind, that if most of your family is on Verizon for example, even via the Verizon pre-paid phone that is still a FREE call.



Which means, other than a monthly minimum that you MUST pay into the system, you would spend virtually no money.



So I suggest you stick with the most common carrier that your family uses...

 

[Doctor CAD]

However, with Verizons prepaid, you must pay every day that you use the phone, so those "free" calls do cost you.



Tracphone is .05 to .10 per minute always. No monthly fee, no per-day charge.

One benefit to Tracphone is that they piggyback on just about everyones signal towers, so the service is available even when only one tower is around. My Verizon phone doesn't work well at my house because the closest tower is not a Verizon tower, but the Tracphone doesn't care. At work, we have indoor Sprint repeaters and the Tracphone works on them also, but not the Verizon phone.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

True, I believe it is a dollar. That said, if you use it every day of the month, your bill will be 30 bucks (assuming you call Verizon customers).



Not a bad price or unlimited calling. I am paying 175 to 185 a month for mine plus all of my added on goodies...