Any ideas on pre-paid wireless ? specifically:

[AlinPA]

AT&T FREE-2-GO
T-Mobile Easyspeak
Virgin Mobile
Tracfone
Thanks for taking the time.

[madmom]

1. we use Tracfone...

no problems whatsoever.Cards can be bought almost anywhere,just remember to keep your battery charged.

[Blue Gardener]

2. I have TracFone

I've had it for about 1.5 years with no problems at all. Don't know about the rest of them. It's perfect for someone who doesn't have to be glued to the phone all the time, but wants it available for emergencies or road trips.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

5. Tracfone's pretty good. Only 60 days of service for $19.99 .

For 40 airtime units (whatever that means).

You can have payments deducted from your checking account or credit card also.

here's the site: http://www.tracfone.com/home_page.jsp?b=i&flash=YES&p=W

[Cheswick2.0]

3. I use Verizon koychera

Verizon is the service.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I had AT&T Free-2-Go for a while, in the hope that

it would let me use up minutes at my own speed, but in fact, it charged my credit card every month, so it was otherwise like a regular cellphone. Then it stopped charging my credit card automatically or warning me when I was running low, and I'd want to make a call, only to find out that my account had been cancelled for "non-payment." So I'd have to call AT&T and get reinstated.

The last time AT&T did that, I got fed up and decided to switch to Verizon, which had the best deal at the time. However, even though it was legal to port phone numbers, AT&T refused to release my number unless I reinstated myself, i.e. paid for another month that I wasn't going to use. :grr:

As I looked at TracFone, it seemed that you were required to buy new cards every month, too.

What I would really like to see is a prepaid phone that doesn't make you buy a new card every month but just lets you use the phone until you've actually used up the minutes.

[AlinPA]

6. At&T Free-2-Go, TMobile and Virgin now all have 90 day

renewals; Tracfone is 60 days + they have a 1 yr for 95$. I was wondering how reliable they are.

thanks.

[madmom]

7. TracFone is as reliable as a land line

We were amazed when our daughter called us in Ohio from the Grand Canyon area.Sounded like she was standing beside us talking.If you use the phone to chit chat and such TracFone would be to expensive,but for emergencies and short calls it's the only way to fly IMO .

[Bunny]

8. I had TracFone for several years and really liked it.

Buy the one-year thing - it's a pain in the ass to have to renew your service every month or whatever. Reception is very good, the phones are pretty much low frills - no bells and whistles if that matters to you.

I switched to a conventional cell service because my kids' dad was using his TracFone to keep in touch while he was on the road (truck driver), and I was constantly having to get his minutes renewed. It got to be a pain in the ass.

But if you don't plan to talk alot, TracFone is great.

[AlinPA]

9. Thanks, everyone, I was leaning Tracfone and you helped me make

the decision. I just ordered Tracfone's new v60i for 99$ on their internet site. Radio Shack had them for 129$. I also found a writeup on the AARP site that was positive. Some say their customer service is weak, but overall they look OK to me.

[markus]

10. Using Virgin Mobile

and it seems to be OK. We're a low usage profile family, and this way I, my daughter and my wife can all have a phone for less than the cost of a two-line standard plan.