NorCalSavant

As our son is getting busier and busier with sports, band and other activities in his high school, it made sense to get him a cell phone.  That way, he could call us whenever needed when he is out by himself at an event.

So, I looked at a number of different options.  Broadly, there are two options for cell phone service.  There is the monthly option where you purchase a subsidized phone and sign up for a calling plan with a set number of allowable minutes every month.  You may have to sign a year long or a two years long contract.  The cheapest monthly plans start at about $15 a month.  The unused minutes in a month can sometimes be rolled into the next month depending on the specific plan.

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowmancer76/

The other option is to go with a prepaid cell phone service.  In this case, the phones themselves are not subsidized by the carriers as much as in the monthly plans.  But you are not locked into a monthly plan.  You can purchase as little or as much you expect to need.  The catch here is that the purchased minutes are generally valid only for a fixed period.  But the call rates can be as cheap as 10 cents per minute.

In our case, the phone was needed basically for infrequent emergency use.  I didn’t want to get locked into a plan where we end up paying too much for very little use.  It made more sense for our needs to look at a prepaid cell phone service rather than a recurring monthly cell phone plan.  I looked at a number of prepaid cell phone service options to select one.

TracFone

TracFone is one of the large prepaid cell phone service providers.  It uses the AT&T network.  Consequently, it has a vast national coverage area.

TracFone has many cell phone choices available ranging from $10-$60 for a basic phone to stylish flip phones with Bluetooth and VGA cameras.  The cell phone manufacturers include Motorola, LG, and Kyocera.  You can also buy some of these track phones at your neighborhood brick-and-mortar department stores like Sears.  The phones usually come with 20 minutes of initial prepaid airtime.

After activating the phone, you have to purchase additional minutes and add them to your account.  The TracFone web page here shows the airtime cards you can purchase.  The minutes are valid for 90 days to a year.  You can also buy a Double Minutes for Life Card with which you can get double minutes on all future cards except the one card that comes already with double minutes.

However, the best deal is to get a phone which includes double minutes for life.  Because I did that with the $30 Motorola W376g phone, I could get a total of 1,050 minutes from the $100 card with 400 minutes and 250 bonus minutes.  That comes to about 9.5 cents a minute for calls during any time of the day.  Also, because the minutes are valid for a year, we could spend less or more in a month as needed.  $100 a year is about $8.33 a month for about 87 any time minutes which is a better deal than any monthly plan.  Best of all, if we purchase additional minutes before expiry of the card, any unused minutes can be rolled over to the expiry of the new card, which is fantastic.

If you want to see detailed reviews of TracFone and various other prepaid cell phone service providers, check out Prepaid Reviews.

Cell Phones for Children

During the course of my research, I found some companies marketing cell phones geared specifically to children.  Firefly Mobile bills itself as the mobile phone for mobile kids.

The Firefly phones come with three different plans, all without a contract and activation fees.  But that is about all there is good about it.  As far as the call rates are concerned, they are not a good value.  The prepaid minutes cost 15 cents per minute on top of a daily access fee of 35 cents per day.  The monthly plan minutes cost 10 cents per minute but with the same daily access fee of 35 cents per day.  The access fee alone costs about $10.50 per month.

The third plan called the Buzzme plan has no daily access fees but the monthly costs are $10 a month for 25 minutes or 40 cents a minute, and $20 a month for 150 minutes or about 13 cents a minute.  These minutes expire every month, that is to say, use it or lose it.  The other two plans’ unused purchased minutes keep rolling over as long as the access fees are paid.

Their phones called the flyPhone and glowPhone are for really little kids, and of course, our teenager would not be caught “with that thing” in a million years.  It is clear that if our teenager could get past the looks of these phones, they still would not make good money choice.

TracFone versus iPhone

I came across this YouTube clip comparing TracFone with iPhone.  It is a funny spoof on what you have to shell out for an iPhone compared to a TracFone.  The clip doesn’t even compare the per minute call charges, which I am sure are probably a better deal on the TracFone.

I have nothing against the iPhone.  It is a cool gadget and could be a great functional choice under some other circumstances.  But for now, for his emergency use in high school, the TracFone seemed like a better choice especially if good old Dad is footing the bill.

What is your experience with search for an inexpensive cell phone service?  What have you found to be a good value?

No related posts.