The DMFL is pre-registered to the IMEI like the C139 was.
I saw it first time in the store today and now it is on their web site. Web site says no stores within 100 miles of me carry it. Hmmm, guess they are wrong.
97 cent shipping or free site to store.
Will probably be like the C139 was, not available in all stores.
If you're looking for prepaid cell phones, a better deal is the periodic Target promotion for T-Mobile phones where they include the phone free with a $100 card. That comes to 10 cents a minute good for a year, and unused minutes extend for another year when more minutes are added later. I don't think TracFone can come close.
rolfecms said: If you're looking for prepaid cell phones, a better deal is the periodic Target promotion for T-Mobile phones where they include the phone free with a $100 card. That comes to 10 cents a minute good for a year, and unused minutes extend for another year when more minutes are added later. I don't think TracFone can come close.
And I don't think T-Mobile can come close the the coverage that TracFone provides. T-Mobile is great in a metro area or along major highways. Get off the main drag or in a rural area and you have nothing. The newer phones may not even be able to roam on the 850 mhz. which cost double minutes per minute of usage.
phildawg
Member
posted: Jan. 29, 2008 @ 7:12p
rolfecms said: If you're looking for prepaid cell phones, a better deal is the periodic Target promotion for T-Mobile phones where they include the phone free with a $100 card. That comes to 10 cents a minute good for a year, and unused minutes extend for another year when more minutes are added later. I don't think TracFone can come close.
I use the double minute for life card and am able to buy 2 60 minute cards when the deal pops up on the site for 20 bucks.
I use promo codes which net me generally 60 bonus minutes, but 30 bonus minutes is easy to get over and over.
So what I'm saying is with the 2-60 unit card deal with refurb phone that pops up a lot with free shipping, I'm able to regularly pay 20 dollars for 300-360 minutes (2x150minutes or 2x180minutes). I'm sure you can do the math, but that equates out to .067-.056 cents per minute. Last time the deal popped up, I bought 4 phone packages so have several months stock pile of the cards.
The charge per minute sounds great - thanks for clarifying the bonus codes that you normally use to buy the cards. What kind of expiration dates do you get with these combinations?
rolfecms said: If you're looking for prepaid cell phones, a better deal is the periodic Target promotion for T-Mobile phones where they include the phone free with a $100 card. That comes to 10 cents a minute good for a year, and unused minutes extend for another year when more minutes are added later. I don't think TracFone can come close.
I spend less than $100 to get a year worth of service with my tracfone.
If you scroll down to the middle of the Wal-Mart page for the TracFone LG225 (under "Similar Items"), you'll also find this phone for just $12.88:
TRACFONE Motorola C139-4 Prepaid Cellular Phone w/ Bonus Double Minutes For Life. Here's the Link!
If you just want a simple, basic phone without all the bells-and-whistles included in the LG225, this Motorola C139-4 deal is the bomb! Add a $39.88 200-unit, 90-Day Airtime Card (which turns into 400 units), and it comes out to slightly less than 10-cents per minute. And, TracFone airtime rolls-over if you purchase another airtime card before the 90 days are up. Not a bad deal!
I switched to TracFone last year because I basically use my cell phone for short conversations or emergency situations. Spending 30 to 40 bucks every month on a one or two year contract was a real waste of money - for me anyways! (This scenario is not recommended for households with teenage girls!)
relax159
Member
posted: Jan. 30, 2008 @ 12:09p
I agree, less than 100.00 for one years service. 49.99 one year with 800 minutes. I would like to get my hands on one of these phone without paying for the double minutes since I already have them. I am curious, would a GSM unlocked, 850/1900 mhz, work with tracfone?
relax159 said: I am curious, would a GSM unlocked, 850/1900 mhz, work with tracfone?
The short answer is, "no". The prepaid TracPhone software is installed into the phone itself, not in the sim card. Also, the sim card on TracFones is locked into a specific phone and is not interchangeable (in other words, the sim card will only work with the phone it came with). TracFone locks their phones into the network through codes and software, so a random GSM phone won't work even it it's unlocked
relax159 said: I am curious, would a GSM unlocked, 850/1900 mhz, work with tracfone?
The short answer is, "no". The prepaid TracPhone software is installed into the phone itself, not in the sim card. Also, the sim card on TracFones is locked into a specific phone and is not interchangeable (in other words, the sim card will only work with the phone it came with). TracFone locks their phones into the network through codes and software, so a random GSM phone won't work even it it's unlocked
ThankYou said: rolfecms said: If you're looking for prepaid cell phones, a better deal is the periodic Target promotion for T-Mobile phones where they include the phone free with a $100 card. That comes to 10 cents a minute good for a year, and unused minutes extend for another year when more minutes are added later. I don't think TracFone can come close.
I spend less than $100 to get a year worth of service with my tracfone.
Once you have put a total of $100 in refills (not necessarilyall at once) in a T-Mobile account, any future refill, which can be as little as $10, will extend the expiration date by a year.
To get the 10 cents per minute rate with T-Mobile (for the life of the account), you have to add $100 in refills all at once.
It's true that T-Mobile's coverage is spotty, even in big cities.
I think you've summed it up quite nicely - when using prepaid phones you need to determine how expiration dates effect your phone usage.
We used to have Virgin but got really tired of having to remember to 'top-up' to avoid the dreaded expiration dates. Moved on to T-Mobile To Go based on this: Spent $100 got a free phone. The $100 got me minutes that don't expire for an entire year. So I don't have to think about getting more minutes for a whole year - assuming that I don't use the them all up before then, which I normally don't. Any minutes left get rolled to another year when more minutes are added. This to me is the ultimate convenience - once a year renewals at very competitive rates. On line you can get more minutes discounted too, so it ends up costing me around 9.4 cents per minute.
So if you want to constantly chase the best rebate deals on minutes that expire every 30 or 60 days, go for it. I'd rather spend my time chasing other good deals on this forum!
It seems some people aren't real fans of T-Mobile, but I haven't had any reception, connection or support problems with them. Customer service has always been more than helpful.
It seems some people aren't real fans of T-Mobile, but I haven't had any reception, connection or support problems with them. Customer service has always been more than helpful.
It's not that most aren't real fans of TMO. I think it is mostly the opposite. Meaning, most TMO users just can't understand why anyone would want to use another pre-paid wireless provider when they could get TMO for a year at a time for 10 cents a minute.
The country is big and considering the sparse coverage of TMO as compared to AT&T, AKA Tracfone, there are a lot of wireless users that are not in the best service areas for TMO.
Anytime there is a Tracfone discussion there is going to be a TMO user that comes in and says how great it is and that the per minute rate is 10 cents and why doesn't everyone use it. I don't think the Tracfone users jump into every TMO discussion saying how great Tracfone is compared to TMO.
Most Tracfone users probably don't jump through the hoops and chase the great deals just to get cheap cell minutes. A lot probably have a limited selection of options and just chase the deals to make the limited option more affordable.
Right now you can buy from Net10 and get a combined total of 12 months of service and 1800 minutes for $103.29 including shipping and tax. And that gives you a new phone every 4 months if you want it. That gives you a per minute rate of 0.057 (5.7) cents per minute. And with that you don't have to try to find bonus codes that may not work and call tracfone when you didn't get the bonus minutes. Or spend time looking for your list of previously used codes to make sure you don't try to use them again.
It seems some people aren't real fans of T-Mobile, but I haven't had any reception, connection or support problems with them. Customer service has always been more than helpful.
It's not that most aren't real fans of TMO. I think it is mostly the opposite. Meaning, most TMO users just can't understand why anyone would want to use another pre-paid wireless provider when they could get TMO for a year at a time for 10 cents a minute.
The country is big and considering the sparse coverage of TMO as compared to AT&T, AKA Tracfone, there are a lot of wireless users that are not in the best service areas for TMO.
Anytime there is a Tracfone discussion there is going to be a TMO user that comes in and says how great it is and that the per minute rate is 10 cents and why doesn't everyone use it. I don't think the Tracfone users jump into every TMO discussion saying how great Tracfone is compared to TMO.
Most Tracfone users probably don't jump through the hoops and chase the great deals just to get cheap cell minutes. A lot probably have a limited selection of options and just chase the deals to make the limited option more affordable.
Right now you can buy from Net10 and get a combined total of 12 months of service and 1800 minutes for $103.29 including shipping and tax. And that gives you a new phone every 4 months if you want it. That gives you a per minute rate of 0.057 (5.7) cents per minute. And with that you don't have to try to find bonus codes that may not work and call tracfone when you didn't get the bonus minutes. Or spend time looking for your list of previously used codes to make sure you don't try to use them again.
Thanks for the info - can you provide a link to the Net10 $103.29 deal? I looked on net10.com but can't find it.
Reception is key as you point out - live in Chicago so not an issue here.
Chasing rebates for cheaper cell phone minutes is akin to driving an extra 5 miles to save 10 cents on a grocery item - you might save some money on groceries but how much is it costing you in time and gasoline?
choose the refurb Nokia 1600 for $30. It comes with 300 minutes upon activation and an additional 300 minute card.
If it doesn't show up using your zip code try another. My zip is 15931 and it shows up. I have a friend in Maryland and the refurb doesn't show up for him.
Vector50
Member
posted: Feb. 1, 2008 @ 1:57p
How do you get a coverage map for Net10 for your zipcode? I only get the map for the whole country.
choose the refurb Nokia 1600 for $30. It comes with 300 minutes upon activation and an additional 300 minute card.
If it doesn't show up using your zip code try another. My zip is 15931 and it shows up. I have a friend in Maryland and the refurb doesn't show up for him.
Thanks - took a look and if I needed a phone that looks like a pretty good deal.
Still have an issue with the cost to own over a year though. Did a quick calc and here's what I came up with:
$30 for phone and 120 days of service - leaves 240 days left to make it a year $60 for 120 more days - leaves 120 days $60 for 120 more days Therefore $30 + $60 + $60 = $150 for one year of Net10 pre-paid phone service.
As you can see the expiration dates impact the annual cost of owning a prepaid phone. So while you may be getting a cheaper per minute cost, you still need to shell out more than $100 here to get phone service for a year. By chasing rebates and such you can lower this cost but the fact is it does not change the time frame that those minutes are good.
Compare that to shelling out $100 for 1,000 minutes and a year's worth of service. When they run specials you get the phone free too.
It matters, of course, how many minutes you use per year - so in the about example should you use all of the $150 worth of the Net10 minutes then this might be the phone for you. But if you're like me and roll some of the original 1,000 minutes to the next year then TMO makes more sense.
I am not wedded to TMO (or a salesman) so don't get me wrong. I'm willing to switch if it makes sense to, but I've not been convinced yet.
choose the refurb Nokia 1600 for $30. It comes with 300 minutes upon activation and an additional 300 minute card.
If it doesn't show up using your zip code try another. My zip is 15931 and it shows up. I have a friend in Maryland and the refurb doesn't show up for him.
Thanks - took a look and if I needed a phone that looks like a pretty good deal.
Still have an issue with the cost to own over a year though. Did a quick calc and here's what I came up with:
$30 for phone and 120 days of service - leaves 240 days left to make it a year $60 for 120 more days - leaves 120 days $60 for 120 more days Therefore $30 + $60 + $60 = $150 for one year of Net10 pre-paid phone service.
As you can see the expiration dates impact the annual cost of owning a prepaid phone. So while you may be getting a cheaper per minute cost, you still need to shell out more than $100 here to get phone service for a year. By chasing rebates and such you can lower this cost but the fact is it does not change the time frame that those minutes are good.
Compare that to shelling out $100 for 1,000 minutes and a year's worth of service. When they run specials you get the phone free too.
It matters, of course, how many minutes you use per year - so in the about example should you use all of the $150 worth of the Net10 minutes then this might be the phone for you. But if you're like me and roll some of the original 1,000 minutes to the next year then TMO makes more sense.
I am not wedded to TMO (or a salesman) so don't get me wrong. I'm willing to switch if it makes sense to, but I've not been convinced yet.
I used Net10 for about 18 months and had great service, coverage, phone. But at the end of my last year I had too many minutes to throw away and the only way to keep them was to buy more. I transfered all my minutes to my wifes phone and used a 600 minute card I had to keep the service active. Then I sold the phone with 1700 minutes on eBay for $130. I didn't pay much for the 600 minute card because I got in a deal from Net10. I made a little money, but at least I didn't have to throw away 1100 minutes.
If you use minutes, Net10 is a good deal. If you don't Tracfone is a better deal. If you live where TMO has coverage then it is a good overall deal either way. Better if you don't use minutes. But you have to have coverage. If I understand correctly, $100 will ger you 1000 minutes and 1 year with TMO. And just before the year is up you add $10 and it extends everything for another year. That is 2 years for $110 which is $4.58 a month. If you don't use many minutes you can maintain Tracfone for that in any coverage area.
jimates said: Right now you can buy from Net10 and get a combined total of 12 months of service and 1800 minutes for $103.29 including shipping and tax. And that gives you a new phone every 4 months if you want it. That gives you a per minute rate of 0.057 (5.7) cents per minute.
I think what he's suggesting is to buy three phones from Net10, getting 120 days' service each time you activate one, for a total of 360 days.
Page Plus Cellular offers a 1400-minute card for $80, which happens to also work out to 5.7 cents per minute. However, it only extends one's expiration date by 120 days.
granjero said: ....Page Plus Cellular offers a 1400-minute card for $80, which happens to also work out to 5.7 cents per minute. However, it only extends one's expiration date by 120 days. Thats one of 2 issues I have with PP service. Expiration dates of less than a year & a non-GSM network (SIM-less).
zapjb said: granjero said: ....Page Plus Cellular offers a 1400-minute card for $80, which happens to also work out to 5.7 cents per minute. However, it only extends one's expiration date by 120 days. Thats one of 2 issues I have with PP service. Expiration dates of less than a year & a non-GSM network (SIM-less).
As a matter of fact, TMO is GSM. My phone is quad band unlocked (got for free) and I bought another SIM card for trips to the UK. While there I get free incoming calls from the USA and local UK calls are 10 cents using that SIM card. Again a 1 year expiration.
As was stated earlier, for $110, you get two years of service with TMO. ($100 first year then $10 to extend another year. No chasing rebates, switching phones or other jumps thru hoops.
rolfecms said: zapjb said: ....Thats one of 2 issues I have with PP service. Expiration dates of less than a year & a non-GSM network (SIM-less).
As a matter of fact, TMO is GSM. My phone is quad band unlocked (got for free) and I bought another SIM card for trips to the UK. While there I get free incoming calls from the USA and local UK calls are 10 cents using that SIM card. Again a 1 year expiration.
As was stated earlier, for $110, you get two years of service with TMO. ($100 first year then $10 to extend another year. No chasing rebates, switching phones or other jumps thru hoops. Why quote me? I was saying that I 2 issues with PP. I'm currently with TM prepd ~2yrs.
zapjb said: rolfecms said: zapjb said: ....Thats one of 2 issues I have with PP service. Expiration dates of less than a year & a non-GSM network (SIM-less).
As a matter of fact, TMO is GSM. My phone is quad band unlocked (got for free) and I bought another SIM card for trips to the UK. While there I get free incoming calls from the USA and local UK calls are 10 cents using that SIM card. Again a 1 year expiration.
As was stated earlier, for $110, you get two years of service with TMO. ($100 first year then $10 to extend another year. No chasing rebates, switching phones or other jumps thru hoops. Why quote me? I was saying that I 2 issues with PP. I'm currently with TM prepd ~2yrs.
I was agreeing with you - an adding a few more comments. Sorry for the confusion.
I use the double minute for life card and am able to buy 2 60 minute cards when the deal pops up on the site for 20 bucks.
I use promo codes which net me generally 60 bonus minutes, but 30 bonus minutes is easy to get over and over.
So what I'm saying is with the 2-60 unit card deal with refurb phone that pops up a lot with free shipping, I'm able to regularly pay 20 dollars for 300-360 minutes (2x150minutes or 2x180minutes). I'm sure you can do the math, but that equates out to .067-.056 cents per minute. Last time the deal popped up, I bought 4 phone packages so have several months stock pile of the cards.
Thanks for the heads up. I have DMFL...does the deal you referred come along regularly? ...and...Green to you.
Bryster
Member
posted: Feb. 10, 2008 @ 10:27a
Thanks Op, my TMO ran out of minutes (the $88 deal from Target last year), and I recently purchased a $10 card....which got me 35 or 38 minutes ack!
Still trying to figure out this or Virgin or Net10 but this seems the best
Ever since breaking free from silly contract based phones I've been soooo happy. One thing that pay as you go helps you do is reduce unneccessary talking on the phone. You know, like when your driving home from work just rambling to someone...
dragonsforever
New Member
posted: Feb. 11, 2008 @ 1:26p
Hi
was wondering if you or anyone else knows of a promo code that works for a 120 min tracfone card that can get you bonus minutes?
thanks
kantonburg
Thrifty Member
posted: Feb. 22, 2008 @ 3:43p
Been looking for a tracfone and saw this
Tracfone Granted it's $140, but it comes with DMFL and includes a year of service w/800 minutes. Good deal?
kantonburg said: Been looking for a tracfone and saw this
Tracfone Granted it's $140, but it comes with DMFL and includes a year of service w/800 minutes. Good deal?
If you look at the TMobile web site (Link) you can find phones for $30. If you buy a $100 phone card you get 1,000 minutes and they don't expire for a year, then the following year you can extend them for another year for as little as $10.
kantonburg
Thrifty Member
posted: Feb. 22, 2008 @ 4:16p
rolfecms said: kantonburg said: Been looking for a tracfone and saw this
Tracfone Granted it's $140, but it comes with DMFL and includes a year of service w/800 minutes. Good deal?
If you look at the TMobile web site (Link) you can find phones for $30. If you buy a $100 phone card you get 1,000 minutes and they don't expire for a year, then the following year you can extend them for another year for as little as $10.
Unfortunately TMobile is basically useless where I live
kantonburg said: rolfecms said: kantonburg said: Been looking for a tracfone and saw this
Tracfone Granted it's $140, but it comes with DMFL and includes a year of service w/800 minutes. Good deal?
If you look at the TMobile web site (Link) you can find phones for $30. If you buy a $100 phone card you get 1,000 minutes and they don't expire for a year, then the following year you can extend them for another year for as little as $10.
Unfortunately TMobile is basically useless where I live
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