This file contains a summary on the cheapest way to maintain a cellular phone in the Boston area for those who only plan to use their cell phone only occasionally. Erratta (Nov. 6, 2003): I have switched from AT&T Prepaid Wireless to Virgin Mobile and am very happy with the change. Virgin Mobile is superior in all respects. It is both cheaper and more convenient. For instance, it is much easier to add money to your account with Virgin Atlantic -- you can do so simply by pushing a few buttons. AT&T makes you call them up, wade through audio menus, and then enter your credit card number *every* time you wish to add money. With Virgin Mobile you can also get your current balance with the push of a few buttons. The Vox 8500 flip-phone I purchased for $100 to use with the service is tiny and ergonomic. Now I can actually keep the phone on me all the time because it will fit comfortably in my pocket along with my wallet, unlike my previous cell phone. Virgin Mobile also allows you to send and receive SMS messages, unlike AT&T. Received SMS messages are all free. Ones that you send from the phone cost you 10 cents each. Errata (Mar. 6, 2003): Virgin Mobile has recently entered the U.S. market, and they seem to have the best deal that I know of. The first 10 minutes of each day cost $0.25 each and remaining minutes cost $0.10 each. Long distance is free and there are no roaming charges. You can operate your phone anywhere in the U.S. (that has Sprint PCS service, for Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint network) for the same rate. Your account remains active as long as you add money to your account every 90 days or less, and unused money rolls over when you add more money. When you add money, you must add at least $20, so like AT&T, this means that you can maintain your cell phone service for only $6.66 a month, but with Virgin Mobile, you get free roaming, less frequent account refilling, and at least twice as much air time. Also, I believe that Virgin Mobile gives you a 60 day grace period for unused money. With AT&T, if you don't add money into your account every 45 days, you lose any money that was in your account. You lose it instantly, as soon as the 45 days is up. With Virgin Mobile, if you haven't added money to your account in 90 days, they will temporarily turn off your phone number, but I believe that you have an additional 60 days before you lose the money that was in your account. Errata (Sep. 12, 2002): The disparaging comment about AT&T immediately below must be moderated a bit. AT&T's expiration period remains at 45 days, but they now sells $10 refills. With $10 refills, the cost per minute is high ($0.50), but if you don't use the phone much, it will only cost you $6.66 a month to maintain your cell phone with $10 refills. Errata (Jan. 28, 2002): The information contained herein is now a year out of date. The overall picture is more or less the same, but many of the details have changed. For instance: AT&T is a lousy company. A few months after I bought a phone from them, they changed their expiration period to be 45 days rather than 90 days. This makes service from AT&T twice as expensive if you don't use the phone much. Verizon's current deal is somewhat better than described below because they offer $0.10 per minute nights and weekends. They can also usually be talked into selling you $15 virtual cards by credit card over the phone, rather than having to buy $30 cards. Cingular sells $10 cards that expire in 30 days and $20 ($30?) cards that expire in 90 days. They also offer $0.10 nights and weekends. From: Douglas Alan Subject: Summary of information on prepaid cell phone services Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 18:49:08 -0500 Here is the summary I promised of the information I have gleaned on the cheapest way to maintain a cellular phone in the Boston area for occassional use. The executive summary is that prepaid plans are the cheapest for this purpose. AT&T and Cingular sell services that will cost you $8.33 for 20 minutes of use per month. Cingular sells a service that will only cost you $3.33 per month if you only use it for 2 minutes a month. For billed cellular service, the cheapest rate is $20 a month. The companies that give you the most included time for your $20 are VoiceStream (75 included minutes + .30/additional minutes) and AT&T (60 min + .40/additional minute). But these deals are not as good as the best prepaid rates. Both Cingular and and AT&T have prepaid cards that would give you time for $0.30 a minute if you are spending $20 a month. That $20 will give you 66 minutes of air time, and unlike a billed plan, if you don't use up all of your "free" time for the month, it will roll over to next month. Conclusion: the best prepaid plans are more cost effective than the best billed plans for up to one hour of use per month. (If you are going to use much more than one hour per month, billed plans are definitely better. For $30 a month, for instance, Verizon will give you free 200 minutes during the week, plus an additional 1,000 minutes of weekend time. All of this time includes free long distance.) olszowka@sophia2.somerville.ma.us informed me, "If you want REALLY occasional use, you can buy a cell phone and get no plan at all. Whenever you attempt a call you will be connected to the roaming operator who will ask for a Visa card number. You will then be charged $4.00 for the first minute and $2.00 for each additional minute on your card. Free calls such as *1 and *911 are still free." Simson Garfinkel says to go with Verizon since they have the best coverage and customer support. Mike Grant writes, "Sprint PCS has a deal that's like $1/month, but you can't just get on it. You first need to have a phone at least 6 months (maybe a year now, not 100% sure), then you can switch into that plan. It costs like $1/min though to make calls on that plan." Just like with billed calling plans, if you chose a prepaid plan, you will need to own a cell phone that will work with the service provider you have chosen. You can usually save a significant amount of money by buying a phone from this service provider. For instance, Tracfone sells cell phones for as little as $20, Verizon sells one for $50, and AT&T sells a nice one for $75. A Nokia 8260 normally costs $300, but typically only costs $200 if you buy it from your carrier. There is a cost to getting such a good deal, however. Usually such phones are "locked" so that they will only work with the original carrier. It can be nontrivial or impossible to unlock a locked phone. Another complication is that no matter how you acquire your phone, you will need to have one that supports the transceiving technology used your carrier. There are six different standards in use in the Boston area: (1) AMPS/NAMPS analog, used by Cingular, Verizon, and Tracfone; (2) TDMA 1900MHz digital PCS, used by AT&T; (3) TDMA 800MHz digital cellular, used by Cingular, (4) GSM 1900Mhz digital, used by Omnipoint/VoiceStream (5) CDMA 800Mhz digital PCS, used by Verizon; and (6) 1900MHz CDMA digital PCS, used by Sprint. Some cell phones support more than one standard. For example, the oh-so-small-and-sexy Nokia 8260 supports (1), (2), and (3), which means that an unlocked version of this phone can be used with four different carriers: Cingular, Verizon, Tracfone, and AT&T. If you want a cell phone that will work in foreign countries, it should probably support GSM 900 Mhz and GSM 1800 Mhz, in addition to one or more of the above standards. Most of the following information was obtained from www.point.com. All of these services include domestic long distance in their per minute rate. That is, it costs you no more to call California than it does to call next door. All these services, as far as I'm aware, will roll over your unused minutes to a new card if you activate a new card before the old card expires. That is, you will never lose unused minutes as long as you keep buying and activating cards on time. All of the services will deactivate your account and take away your phone number if you do not activate a new card before the old card expires. Some of them charge an activation fee to reactivate your account and some of them do not. All of them are likely to give you a different phone number than you originally had. (They claim that they have to pay someone else per month for the right to use the phone number.) Thanks to Laurie Beth Brunner, Simson L. Garfinkel, Michael Grant, Benjamin Levy, Erich Eyler, Kiran Wagle, Andrew LM Shalit, Laurie Beth Brunner, Alex Latzko, Mark J. Dulcey, Troy Wollenslegel, and olszowka@sophia2.somerville.ma.us for their help in finding and evaluating this data. Services listed in order from least expensive to most expensive, assuming 20 minutes of use per month: - AT&T Local Enhanced Prepaid Wireless, $8.33 - Cingular Start Talking Prepaid, $8.33 - AT&T National Enhanced Prepaid Wireless, $13.20 - Tracfone, $13.20 - Verizon National Prepay Wireless, $15.00 - Verizon Prepay Wireless, $15.00 - Omnipoint, $25.00 - No service, at least $42 Services listed in order from least expensive to most expensive, assuming 2 minutes of use per month: - Cingular Start Talking Prepaid, $3.33 - No service, $6 - $8. - Tracfone, $8.00 - AT&T National Enhanced Prepaid Wireless, 8.33 - AT&T Local Enhanced Prepaid Wireless, $8.33 - Verizon National Prepay Wireless, $15.00 - Verizon Prepay Wireless, $15.00 - Omnipoint, $25.00 Detailed information on services (listed from least expensive to most expensive, assuming 20 minutes of use per month): AT&T Local Enhanced Prepaid Wireless Card size: $ 25.00 Card expiration period: 90 days Cost per minute: $ .35 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 8.33 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 8.33 Card size: $ 50.00 Card expiration period: 90 days Cost per minute: $ .30 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 16.67 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 16.67 Card size: $100.00 Card expiration period: 90 days Cost per minute: $ .25 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 33.33 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 33.33 Card size: $200.00 Card expiration period: 90 days Cost per minute: $ .15 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 66.67 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 66.67 Roaming charge per minute: $ .85 Activation fee: none Technology: TDMA 1900MHz digital PCS Cingular Start Talking Prepaid: Card size: $ 10.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .50 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 5.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 10.00 Card size: $ 20.00 Card expiration period: 180 days Cost per minute: $ .45 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 3.33 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 9.00 Card size: $ 50.00 Card expiration period: 180 days Cost per minute: $ .40 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 8.33 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 8.33 Card size: $100.00 Card expiration period: 180 days Cost per minute: $ .30 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 16.67 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 16.67 Roaming charge per minute: $ 1.95 Activation fee: $ 30 Technology: TDMA 800MHz digital cellular or AMPS/NAMPS analog Caveats: Cannot accept incoming calls while roaming. AT&T National Enhanced Prepaid Wireless Card size: $ 25.00 Card expiration period: 90 days Cost per minute: $ .66 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 8.33 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 13.20 Card size: $ 50.00 Card expiration period: 90 days Cost per minute: $ .50 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 16.67 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 16.67 Card size: $100.00 Card expiration period: 90 days Cost per minute: $ .35 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 33.33 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 33.33 Card size: $200.00 Card expiration period: 90 days Cost per minute: $ .25 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 66.67 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 66.67 Roaming charge per minute: none Activation fee: none Technology: TDMA 1900MHz digital PCS Tracfone: Card size: $ 8.00 Card expiration period: 30 days Cost per minute: $ .79 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 8.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 15.8 Card size: $ 20.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .66 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 10.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 13.20 Card size: $ 50.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .49 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 25.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 25.00 Card size: $100.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ 0.38 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 50.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 50.00 Roaming charge per minute: double the normal per minute cost Activation fee: none Technology: AMPS/NAMPS analog Additional Features: o Paid-for time doesn't actually expire until 120 days after first use, but account will require reactivation and getting a new phone number if a card expires before a new card is activated. o Coverage includes all areas of the U.S in which there is cellular coverage. Caveats: o You cannot buy time online, or via an 800 phone number. You can, however, mail order prepaid phone cards. o You must buy a special TracFone (they are modified to always show you the number of units you have remaining) to use this service. You can get a TracFone for as little as $20 though. Verizon National Prepay Wireless Service: Card size: $ 30.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .50 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 15.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 15.00 Card size: $ 50.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .40 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 25.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 25.00 Card size: $ 75.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .35 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 37.50 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 37.50 Card size: $150.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .20 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 75.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 75.00 Roaming charge per minute: included Activation fee: $ 25.00 Technology: CDMA 800Mhz digital PCS Caveats: You are charged for both the time it takes for someone to leave you voicemail *and* for the time it takes you to fetch the voicemail. Verizon Prepay Wireless Service: Card sizes, rates, and expirations periods are the same as for the previous service (Verizon National Prepay Wireless). Roaming charge per minute: $ .85 Activation fee: $ 15.00 Technology: AMPS/NAMPS analog Caveats: Service area only includes from NE area from North Carolina to Maine. Roaming outside the service area costs $2 per minute. Omnipoint: Card size: $ 25.00 Card expiration period: 30 days Cost per minute: $ .50 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 25.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 25.00 Card size: $ 50.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .40 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 25.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 25.00 Card size: $100.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .33 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 50.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 50.00 Card size: $200.00 Card expiration period: 60 days Cost per minute: $ .25 Cost per month using 2 minutes: $ 100.00 Cost per month using 20 minutes: $ 100.00 Roaming charge per minute: unknown Activation fee: none Technology: GSM 1900Mhz digital No service: Cost per minute: $4 for first, $2 each additional Cost per month using 2 minutes: $6 for one call, $8 for two Cost per month using 20 minutes: at least $42 |>oug