LIH Prem

deleted - misread the reply.

jonu

For AT&T PAYG, the number goes away 60 days after the expiration.

weekilter

After you achieve "gold reward" status (buy a $100 immediately or buy enough vouchers that it equals $100 then one more refill and you can add just a $10 voucher to keep the account active for 365 days.) This is on T-Mobile. AT&T is a different story.

weekilter

Well, that means you're a better person than I am doesn't it?! No one has ever posted the same information twice ever have they? I didn't think so. I am such a bad person. I didn't realize that it was mandatory to read through all responses to a post before it's safe to reply.

pbearmedic

I thought Virgin Mobile in the US was GSM Pay-as-you-go???

weekilter

Nope. Virgin Mobile is a CDMA MVNO that runs on Sprint in the US and a CDMA MVNO in Canada that runs on the Bell Mobility network. Likely VM in the US and in Canada got a better deal as an MVNO on those networks rather than on AT&T (who has the majority of MVNOs or T-Mobile which only has a couple MVNOs.)

redondo-beach

Boost mobile is $10 for 3 months , 10 cents a minute ,

its on Sprint CDMA but if you only needed it for a phone you can by a cheap Boost Mobile phone at Target , walmart etc

you would have to add $10 every 3 months on the Boost website ,

RB

LIH Prem

It's just normal etiquette, that's all it is, and that's all it was.

-David

Loren Pechtel

Huh? From T-mobile's website:

Refill Value Whenever Minutes® Availability Gold Rewards Whenever Minutes® Gold Rewards Availability
$ 10.00 30 90 days 35 1 year

It seems to me that you get 65 minutes & 90 days for $10.

Note, also, that Gold Rewards status only persists for a year. Even if $10 got you a year once it wouldn't the next time around because you wouldn't be in Gold Rewards status anymore.

LIH Prem

In practice it doesn't work that way. If you are gold (which you get with the first $100 fill) when your minutes are close to expiration they always send an offer via sms and any top-up extends your expiring minutes for another year.

It's been that way for at last a few years now. (for as long as I've had it.) Not sure when it started.

-David

Loren Pechtel

No offer arrived last time. This time I'm going to be out of the area for a couple of weeks before the year is up so even if they send something I probably won't get it.

LIH Prem

Well, they might have ended that promo, or maybe they only offer it to those that keep topping up with $100 refills? I won't know until my minutes get close to their expiration date, if I make it that far this year.


If it helps, there's a callingmart 10% off offer on t-mo refills out there.

there's a minimum purchase of $18, so you would have to buy 2 $10 refills for $9 each to take advantage of the offer at the lowest fill level. The refill PINs themselves have a shelf-life of 90 days, so you can buy one now, and use it later when your minutes are about to expire.

I usually just add another $100 fill every year, and remember that my cell phone plan is costing me $8.33/month with no discounts. (less if I use any callingmart discount, with this one it's $7.50 a month).

I guess if they aren't extending your minutes, then there was a great suggestion earlier in the thread about going with google voice and buying whichever provider is offering the cheapest prepaid deal.

-David

Loren Pechtel

That's what I've been doing.

I'm local, I just don't use even then 1,000 minutes/year that I get from that $100.

LIH Prem

Well, I guess we have to look at the big picture. $8.33 or less a month is a great deal for cell phone service.

Most people here pay that much in taxes on their cell phone bill each month.

-David

Yub

Callingmart may be a good option for buying refills if you don't have a credit card accepted in the US as they allow payment through PayPal.