Foo - Prepaid cell phones

I'm trying to figure out what the best deal is in regards to a prepaid cell phone. The main purpose of this is for a road trip, but at some point afterwards I may actually use it.

I've looked through every major brand and for some reason I'm thinking tmobile. No additional charges, or bills, or fees, but the minutes are the most expensive of all the plans. Except if you buy 100=1000 minutes. Virgin sounds awesome, but after reading reviews on them, and peolpe losing coverage really easily I think not. Tmobile has really good coverage, but from what I hear, the prepaid phones are 850hz and that affects the signal strength or something, thus making me not get as good coverage, is this true? anyone know?

I use a T-moblie prepaid when I'm out of my area. I'm pretty happy with it. You can buy those
add-minutes cards at most convenience stores.

I have T-Mobile pre-paid and have for several years. Coverage can get a little sketchy in remote areas. I have had no other problems with them and will continue to use them.

I've been subscription TMobile since they were Voicestream and have never had a glitch. Just over ten years I think. Good coverage.
I am aware that you asked about prepaid, but I just wanted to give a good character assessment to the name.

Tmobiles minutes seem to be towards the higher end price wise, but from what I hear they are great for prepaid. I think I'll go with that one since I already was about to get it.

Does anyone know if the frequency for the phone changes it's reception quality?

between say this

https://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Detail.aspx?class=prepaid&device=968857e1-ce82-4948-88b3-7e74c812ebb4

or this?

https://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Detail.aspx?class=prepaid&device=f6556ea5-36e5-437d-b514-70b9eb819b08

Hmm I got my question answered.

Looks like tmobile is the choice. I'm going to go pay by the day, a dollar for the day if I dial out then 10c a minute after that. Unless it's tmobile to tmobile, in that case we both get it for free. My GF has tmobile, so it's a dollar a day for unlimited talking.

Hmm I got my question answered.

Looks like tmobile is the choice. I'm going to go pay by the day, a dollar for the day if I dial out then 10c a minute after that. Unless it's tmobile to tmobile, in that case we both get it for free. My GF has tmobile, so it's a dollar a day for unlimited talking.

Just an added note.......After being with them for just 5 years they put me on preferred status. I now have unlimited weekends-texting-image and I pay only for my week day minutes.

I have a lot of other services as well, but they will put you into a better deal after a few years. I don't know if this is available to pay-as-you-go. (I have a Blackberry Pearl and it needs extra plan components to be able to do BB stuff.)

As far as best-total-value in cell phones, I use two phones and services.
Metro-PCS for local. Unlimited Minutes and Text for home area
T-mobile prepaid for out of area.

It works for me.

T-mobile here, both prepaid (if I'm giving a phone to a family member), and normal.

Forget that $1/day nonsense.

Net 10. 10 cents per minute - period. Very happy with them, and their cards are widely available. Phones at Wally world.

Forget that $1/day nonsense.

Net 10. 10 cents per minute - period. Very happy with them, and their cards are widely available. Phones at Wally world.

A dollar a day for unlimited, and only get charged when I call out. That beats .10 minute. :D

I have had a Tracfone for the past 6 months or so. I use it for occasional brief calls. I'm not sure of the cost/min, it depends on the bonus deal I find whenever I add a card.

I added a new bunch of minutes last month. I had bought a 200 min/3 month card for $40, I had found a bonus code online that gives 100 bonus minutes when adding a 200 min card, so 300 minutes total. This will last me 4-6 months.

My Motorola phone holds a charge well and gets good reception. It works for me.

There is a Yahoogroup for Tracfone users, it can be quite informative.

A dollar a day for unlimited, and only get charged when I call out. That beats .10 minute. :D

It depends on how much you use it. My net 10 phone averages out to be $15 per month but if I was on it for hours a day then the $1 day would make a lot more sense.

It depends on how much you use it. My net 10 phone averages out to be $15 per month but if I was on it for hours a day then the $1 day would make a lot more sense.

True. If I was to spend the dollar, I'd end up using it some 2-3+ hours.

I've used Virgin for the past three years, and have been very happy with it- no problems with coverage, and I've bee all over the US in that time.

Tracphones are decent, I picked up a $15 handset, a $20 card for some talk time when I was at a renfaire, and I did not want my usual PocketPC on my person, so the Tracphone worked perfectly just as a tiny phone that remained in a pocket. I may consider buying a Motorola cable and unlocking it, but the cable is more expensive than the phone.