Stump the Gadgetress: Options for cell phones without service
July 30th, 2007, 1:58 am · 6 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
Q:Can I purchase a cell phone over the internet and go to any cell phone company for service with out having to pay for a 1 or 2 year contract, say month by month? If so, what would be a good phone? — Don Schulz
Gadgetress: Contracts are a drag and if you want cell phone service, a long-term commitment is hard to avoid. But not impossible.
I spoke to the major cellular carriers and here are their options:
1. T-Mobile: You can bring your own phone but it’s a one-year contract. If you don’t want a contract, there is the pre-paid service, T-Mobile-to-Go. But you need to buy a T-Mobile prepaid phone.
2. Sprint: Bring your own phone and opt for Sprint’s month-to-month plan for $49.99 a month. The package includes 200 minutes plus unlimited nights and weekends starting a 9 p.m.
3. AT&T: The company doesn’t recommend using a non AT&T phone because unique software embedded in its phones are required for services to function properly. But you can buy a GoPhone from AT&T and get short-term service.
There are two options that don’t have annual contracts. The GoPhone Pick Your Plan is a month-to-month plan that starts at $30/month for 200 minutes. The GoPhone Pay As You Go plan allows you to buy minutes when you need them like a phone card. Minutes are 10 to 25 cents per minute.
4. Verizon Wireless: Sorry, you’re out of luck. Ken Muche, with Verizon, says it’s a quality issue:
“Our cell phone techs tweak, or overhaul, the inner workings of each make and model of phone (and PDA) to maximize their effectiveness on our particular network. … Phones not engineered to our network’s standard of excellence simply won’t work as well, or well at all, which leads to consumer dissatisfaction.”
Verizon does offer pre-paid plans if you buy special Verizon phones. Buy one and opt for the $0.99/day plan plus 10-cents a minute or the month-to-month plan starting at $50 for 300 minutes.
One feature unique to Verizon: The early termination fee of about $175 is reduced $5/month during the contract term. So, if you need to end service six months into a 2-year contract, you’ll owe $145 to get out of your contract.
The others…
And then there are the numerous pre-paid cellular companies, such as Boost Mobile in Irvine, Virgin Mobile and TracFone. While for most have plans that don’t require a long-term commitment, they do require a phone purchase.
As for the second part of your question, I don’t like to recommend phones unless I’ve had first hand experience with them. My advice is to check the review sites, from CNET.com to Mobiledia.com, Phonedog.com and even Amazon.com, where the biggest benefit is not the site itself but user reviews.
Handpicked goodness (or helpful sites I stumbled on while researching this question):
- PrepaidReviews.com: Offers reviews and customer comments on nearly every prepaid phone service available. Ratings are based on price, ease to obtain, fees, coverage area, customer service and quality of phones.
- The Chris Pirillo Show: How to Cancel Cell Phone Service
- CellReception.com, from the folks at Mobiledia, this site lets you search for cell-phone towers in your area to check how good your coverage should be. User comments offer more realistic experience.
- Get out of your cell phone contract by swapping it with someone else at celltradeusa.com
Fellow readers/techies, I’m sure you have suggestions too. Please share by commenting below. Thanks!
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7-11 has their own branded service (like boost or amp) and a promotion of buy a $50 prepaid card, and they give you the phone (with sim card which was key for me, since I wanted just the sim to use in my own phone.) I was looking for service only – I had an unlocked phone, and a SIM card for T-mobile, but TM would not provide service without charging me a “setup fee” so now I don’t buy airtime from them either. I got the service I wanted, with NO additional fees, no contract, and no ongoing commitment, and the $50 of minutes (at $.20/min) don’t “expire” for 365 days, infact any denomination of minutes I could buy and I get the same deal – 365 days.
What bugs me, if you do a search for “Free pre-paid Cell service” all the European providers come up, offering programs to GIVE you a sim card in order that you can use their network! What the hell is different about this market, they are able to get away with CHARGING a setup fee for the same thing! (remember I didn’t even need a sim card to use t-mobile, just turn the damn thing on, and they refused!)
I was reading your article in today’s Register. I have had almost> > every carrier out there. Recently, I have been in the process of> > relocating from Seattle to Orange County. As a result, I did not wish> > to have a long term contract. I wanted to wait to get settled in OC> > before making that marriage vow. So I have been on prepaid cell plans for the past 5 months. My wife and I first started out on T-Mobile’s to go program. We were happy with the service in Seattle. The price was good as well. However, since we used the phones to call each other a lot we thought that the Cingular Go Phone would be more suited to free in network calls for $1.00 per day. I must say that I have been very disappointed by Cingular’s service. Cingular does not note in their marketing collateral that their computers are ahead of your actual call time calculated on the cell phone. I have had several call where I am charged $.20 for calls between 42-52 seconds. I have brought this matter to Cingular’s attention only to be told that it cannot be true. They asked me to send them a photo of the screen when it does this. Yet, this is difficult since you the time and charges are on different screens, as well as the fact the the charge comes up after the actual minutes used. My calls are constantly dropped on the Cingular Network and custome service is inferior to what I have experienced with T-Mobile and Verizon. Suffice to say, I will not be signing a contract with Cingular when I make the change. This is all in lieu of the fact that my entire family is on their network
I am surprised you did not mention the no contract Tracfone. They give you 400 minutes and a year of service for about $100 and many times they have specials of even more minutes for that price. The good thing we found out about Tracfone is it seems to work everywhere even when in Central America, Panama and Costa Rica for example. Many used phones are available, but a new one costs less than $20 on sale which is frequently.
as to t-mobile’s claim that you need a t-mobile phone to use their pre-paid service: that is not true.
you can use ANY phone you want as long as it uses sim cards (GSM technology), is unlocked, and has the right frequencies.
take it to the store, and tell them you want to buy a prepaid sim card for t-mobile’s prepaid serivce.
living in little saigon, where people do this all the time (including myself), i should know.
the asian cell phone stores in little saigon can help you out with this, and they’re very friendly. so give it a try! :]