Cell Phone Question

Thomason

Thomason

Joined
Nov 28, 2002
Messages
9,375
I need to tap into the huge knowledge base of BFC members. I have a cell phone that I never use. I just like the idea of keeping it in the car for emergencies. Since I never use it, I got the Trac-Phone deal with pre-paid minutes instead of a more expensive plan with a monthly charge. The problem is that with these pre-paid minute phones you not only buy the minutes there is also a time limit. One month, 6 months, a year, or whatever. Even if you have not used your minutes, when the time limit expires you have to purchase more and extend the time.

Is there such a thing as a cell phone plan without the time limit, that remains active until the cows come home? I hate spending money for minutes I don't need just to extend the time and keep the phone active.

I started to post this in Whine and Cheese because I am most certainly whining about spending money that could be better spent on more sharp and pointy things.:D
 
What kind of emergencies are we talking about? Any cell phone should get 911 service regardless of whether or not you have a purchased plan.
 
The only thing I anticipate using it for other than 911 is maybe an auto breakdown on the road. I looked around and I don't believe what I am wanting is available. Be it monthly payment of prepay plan, the company will get an ongoing revenue, with what I am wanting they would not. So I understand why no one seems to offer such a thing.
 
I have a phone like that with Cingular (now ATT) and last year they offered a 365 day "top-up" for $100.00. IOW, you paid the 100 bucks and wouldn't have to worry about their usual 30-day,60-day,90-day expiry BS for a year. It expired a couple of weeks ago - and I still had $78.00 on the account when it "expired". You can't win - I doubt there is any regular cell carrier that offers a pre-paid phone with a no-limit airtime plan. I just factor in the money I lose as the cost of "peace of mind".
 
If you get your minutes from one of those "minute cards" I don't think the minutes start until you activate the card by using it for the first time. So just keep a brand new unused/unactivated card in the car with your phone.

Edited to add: I think "pay-as-you-go" is the commercial name for this type of cell phone service...
 
Thomason said:
I started to post this in Whine and Cheese because I am most certainly whining about spending money that could be better spent on more sharp and pointy things.:D
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Put the cell in the glove box with the unactivated card, just like Markksr said. Then go find me and you another Cover, Your money has been saved.

Let's see 39 buck x 12 months= At least one good Cover sharp and pointy.:D

Have a good one Rob,

All the best to ya,
Jim
 
markksr said:
If you get your minutes from one of those "minute cards" I don't think the minutes start until you activate the card by using it for the first time. So just keep a brand new unused/unactivated card in the car with your phone.
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Just playing the devil's advocate here, but how long does it take to activate the card, and how complicated is the process? If you're bloodied and disoriented while trapped in your car upside down in a ravine at night, fumbling around for your phone and dialing 9 - 1 - 1 may be doable. Anything substantially more than that may be a problem.
 
Bronco said:
Just playing the devil's advocate here, but how long does it take to activate the card, and how complicated is the process? If you're bloodied and disoriented while trapped in your car upside down in a ravine at night, fumbling around for your phone and dialing 9 - 1 - 1 may be doable. Anything substantially more than that may be a problem.
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I considered that, but:

1)I believe any cell phone will call 911 regardless of "minutes remaining"

2)otherwise it's not that difficult to "recharge" your minutes IIRC you scratch off and reveal a code, call a number, and enter your # plus the code
 
markksr said:
I considered that, but:

1)I believe any cell phone will call 911 regardless of "minutes remaining"

2)otherwise it's not that difficult to "recharge" your minutes IIRC you scratch off and reveal a code, call a number, and enter your # plus the code
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Unless you're on T-Mobile.

I used them for prepaid for a while, until I went through three prepaid cards trying to get my code--that kept scratching right off the card with light pressure from a coin.

I actually had to argue with the manager of the store, explain I wasn't scratching "unreasonably hard," and had him scratch the code off himself to see what happened.

You might just be better off getting a low minutes, monthly plan. I've seen some of the promos starting around 9.99. They try to get you on overage costs, but if it's just in your glovebox for making 911 calls, what overage can you make?
 
markksr said:
If you get your minutes from one of those "minute cards" I don't think the minutes start until you activate the card by using it for the first time. So just keep a brand new unused/unactivated card in the car with your phone.

Edited to add: I think "pay-as-you-go" is the commercial name for this type of cell phone service...
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But that card still "expires" after a certain time and the unused "pre-paid" minutes will be lost. I think the OP is looking for something that does not expire, ever. Unfortunately, that doesn't exist.
 
Trac phone works good not a phone guy mine is usually turned off but when I need it- It works, you can load them up get double min.s and get up to a years service. you can extend the years service thee months at a time- no bills, no hassle, if you talk on the phone a lot may not be a good idea though.

"Hello Pong can you please make me some Phad Thai? I will be there in 20 min."

that's the extent of me talking on the cell phone.. :)
 
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There's another thread going over here that might provide you some answers.

Sorry to be that guy, but... do you have a landline at your house that you use regularly? I ditched mine a decade ago, and use the cell phone only. (Not that I recommend this route, I'm tied to two cell phones every waking hour (one is for work) and pay Sprint about three good factory slipjoints (wife and I on one plan) every single month. The wife, of course, couldn't dream of living without her cell phone, while I dread the day I get cancer in both legs... :rolleyes: :D).
 
I worked at Radio Shack for four years and dealt with these questions regularly. Any cell phone tower will pick up a 911 call. The phone doesn't even need to be activated. Trac Phone minuted expire after 90 days unless you purchase the year card. A prepaid service that provides unlimited service is Virgin Mobile, though it will be about 50$ a month. The same applies to Boost Mobile. Last I heard, Cricket was charging 30$ a month for unlimited calling. None of those companies require contracts. Net 10 is a part of Trac Phone, has a smaller service area, but is much cheaper. You get around 200+ minutes for 20$ I think. My point is thus: all the prepaid services have expiration dates on their prepaid plans. At least those that I have dealt with. Verizon and Tmobile have prepaid programs that I know nothing about.
 
You used to be able to buy "forever" pay as you go minutes, but it appears that most of the companies are now going with ones that have an expiration date.
 
jdm61 said:
You used to be able to buy "forever" pay as you go minutes, but it appears that most of the companies are now going with ones that have an expiration date.
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The expiration date has been in place for six or seven years.
 
This thread is 4 years old. I'd be surprised if anything about cell phones from 4 years ago still applies today.
 
One thin that still applies is that minutes always expire. Why? Two reasons. A) The company has to carry those minutes on its books as a liability and they don't want a lot of liability stacking up on their books and making it impossible for them to get credit. B) If they don't expire, then the company either has to contact you and verify that you still want to "let it ride" or refund you to clear that liability and if they can't find you, they the value has to be turned over to the state e. How often they have to contact you varies by state. If the purchase agreement includes the expiration, then the company only has to carry the debt for a limited time and the whole uncollected debt thing doesn't apply.

One other change that has happened in recent years is the analog cellular service has been discontinued. So, if you stashed an old phone in your glove box a few years ago counting on free 911, that phone may now be unusable. Even older digital phones do not have GPS in them. For emergency use, you definitely want a phone with GPS geolocation.

The answer to the 911 question is that the Federal Communications Commission requires all wireless carriers transmit mobile 911 (e911) calls to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), regardless of whether the caller subscribes to the provider's service or not. They are required to carry that call for six minutes; but, my understanding is that no carrier enforces that six-minute limit. Even so, I question the wisdom of counting on this. For about $25, you can get a phone with 30 minutes on it that expires in one year. This is less than seven cents a day for this safety and security.
 
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How do you find and dig up an old thread on Cell phones in a knife forum.

That is peculiar.
 
Bronco said:
Just playing the devil's advocate here, but how long does it take to activate the card, and how complicated is the process? If you're bloodied and disoriented while trapped in your car upside down in a ravine at night, fumbling around for your phone and dialing 9 - 1 - 1 may be doable. Anything substantially more than that may be a problem.
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You can always call 911 regardless of activation. It just needs to be a working phone
 
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