Prepais Cellular - Story from the Washington Post Today
Jun 2, 2005, 9:17 am
#1
In Memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Easton, CT, USA
Programs: ua prem exec, Former hilton diamond
Posts: 31,801
Prepais Cellular - Story from the Washington Post Today
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...referrer=email
An interesting read.
After my continuing hassles with Cingular, I bit the prepaid bullet last week and I have to say, I was nuts for not doing it earlier. Haven't canceled the Cingular service yet, but I don't expect them to fix the hundreds of dollars of overcharges, so that's just a matter of days. Wanted to try other options first.
Cingular - $54 a month or so after the taxes and all the other charges were added on.
T-mobile - $14 gets me a SIM for my phone delivered with 120 minutes on it (ebay). Sure, it's got a fairly soon expiration date (three weeks), but another $100 gets me a year on it, and another 1,000 minutes.
A total of $114 with them gets me 1,120 minutes, good for a year. That amount of minutes will probably last me 10 or 11 months based on my usage. Coverage is way better where I use the phone then it was with Cingular, and since I use the phone as a phone, things like the web browser aren't that important to me.
I'm saving $40 a month this way. The only difference I can see at this stage is I have t-mobile coverage, and not Cingular, but in my office, and around my home area, it's way better coverage then AT&T or Cingular offered.
Ignore the college people, or people with no or bad credit, it jsut works for people who want to save a ton of money, whose calling patterns make sense for them to look at it.
There's also another gem in the story -
TracFone has figured out a way to make money on it's 10-cents-a minute service in parg because they display the number of remaining minutes on the handset screen, chich minimizes customer -service calls....
Imagine that, provide information people need without having them wait on hold for 20 mintues to speak to somebody half way around the world.
An interesting read.
After my continuing hassles with Cingular, I bit the prepaid bullet last week and I have to say, I was nuts for not doing it earlier. Haven't canceled the Cingular service yet, but I don't expect them to fix the hundreds of dollars of overcharges, so that's just a matter of days. Wanted to try other options first.
Cingular - $54 a month or so after the taxes and all the other charges were added on.
T-mobile - $14 gets me a SIM for my phone delivered with 120 minutes on it (ebay). Sure, it's got a fairly soon expiration date (three weeks), but another $100 gets me a year on it, and another 1,000 minutes.
A total of $114 with them gets me 1,120 minutes, good for a year. That amount of minutes will probably last me 10 or 11 months based on my usage. Coverage is way better where I use the phone then it was with Cingular, and since I use the phone as a phone, things like the web browser aren't that important to me.
I'm saving $40 a month this way. The only difference I can see at this stage is I have t-mobile coverage, and not Cingular, but in my office, and around my home area, it's way better coverage then AT&T or Cingular offered.
Ignore the college people, or people with no or bad credit, it jsut works for people who want to save a ton of money, whose calling patterns make sense for them to look at it.
There's also another gem in the story -
TracFone has figured out a way to make money on it's 10-cents-a minute service in parg because they display the number of remaining minutes on the handset screen, chich minimizes customer -service calls....
Imagine that, provide information people need without having them wait on hold for 20 mintues to speak to somebody half way around the world.
Jun 2, 2005, 10:30 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus
Posts: 35,411
FWIW, T-Mobile and Cingular still share networks in a lot of places (at least for now...) Also, T-Mobile lets you dial #min# to find out how many minutes you've used on your plan in the current billing cycle.
Jun 2, 2005, 3:32 pm
#3
Join Date: May 1999
Posts: 6,084
Originally Posted by xyzzy
FWIW, T-Mobile and Cingular still share networks in a lot of places (at least for now...)
Originally Posted by xyzzy
Also, T-Mobile lets you dial #min# to find out how many minutes you've used on your plan in the current billing cycle.
Jun 2, 2005, 7:07 pm
#5
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Pennsylvania
Programs: HHonors Silver
Posts: 4,030
While we're on the topic, #999#(SEND) on TMobile prepaid makes the phone display minutes left (but not when the minutes expire). T-Zones will show you minutes and their expiration, but you need a WAP-capable phone.
Jun 3, 2005, 9:39 am
#6
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: NY Metro Area
Programs: AA 2MM Yay!, UA MM, Costco General Member
Posts: 49,036
Welcome to the light side of the force cordelli 
I have had TMobile for about 2 years (postpaid) as well as Verizon. TMobiles coverage is very good in my opinion. A good friend and business colleague has ATT and he is always borrowing my phone because of coverage issues. I think you will be very happy with TMo.
I have had TMobile for about 2 years (postpaid) as well as Verizon. TMobiles coverage is very good in my opinion. A good friend and business colleague has ATT and he is always borrowing my phone because of coverage issues. I think you will be very happy with TMo.