3 to 4 cent per/min Prepaid Airtime with a little work: PrePaid SIM + GrandCentral

I have been doing this for almost 6 months, I have been selfish, and reluctant to share, I have seen the fatwallet effect. (So can you blame me?) Yet I have gotten far to many great deals to not share, the last was My Vostro 1400 Notebook. Which I love. Thanks FW. I digress. This may be to much hassle for people that use a lot of airtime.

I know that a lot of people have been using GC + Gizmo for Free VOIP in and out bound calls.

You will need a GrandCentral Account. Here is where Supply & demand might affect this deal. ( A local Grand central number that is not long distance where you live and cheap supply of SIM cards on e-bay; as well this will last until T-Mobile or AT&T change their PAG plans/promos or GrandCentral changes or leaves beta etc. )

I have been buying SIM Cards on e-bay (a T-Mobile $30/150 minute SIM card can be won for about $5-6 shipped depending on the e-bay seller)

After the first purchase you might find a seller that will deal direct on multiple SIM cards. I have dealt with an e-bay seller named TONY he has about 16,000+ feedbacks and ships fast, his cards have had a min. of 45 days and 145 minutes on them. (No relationship to seller) Don't worry about what area code you get, it doesn't matter. You give out your local GrandCentral number.

How it works :

Grand central allows you to have up to 6 phone numbers listed that will ring ( if a SIM card is not in the phone it will not ring or go to Voice mail) You can have up to 6 numbers that GrandCentral will ring (This is great when you run out of time on one card you pop in another all calls will then automatically ring on the active SIM card.)

I carry a 1 year Tmobile Gold Airtime SIM card and a disposable SIM in my wallet (see link below for photos on how I safely carry them. ) You could carry 2 disposable sim cards rather than a Gold account SIM (the reason I keep a T-Mobile Gold is if I use up my time to fast or have time left over at the end - I just order after I use them up or they expire, You could just load $10 in a pinch using a credit card.

The SIM cards ship taped back on to the plastic card, I carefully place the metal contacts on the inside I tape one of the ends together making sure that the cards are on opposite spots so they will not rub, then I tape the other sides. Then slide it into a pocket in my wallet. See photos:

Safe way to carry spare Sim cards
Photo 2 Safe way to carry spare sim

Pros:
Local number that you can control Who/When/How people can call you. Great for Craigslist, E-bay, Ex-GF/BF, etc..
Cheap Airtime last longer than 30 days
No contracts -
Can also ring your home or work number as well saving you airtime. ( as well as you can transfer a live call and walk out the door and drive off - Seamlessly. (See GC features)
Great for occasional Cell users not Power users.
Google owns GrandCentral -

Cons:
Voice-Mail is through GrandCentral and not T-Mobile
Having to switch out the cards often if you talk alot,
Having to change the numbers in Grandcentral when you get new cards.
I am sure that their are others.
Caller ID shows a phone number of the Area code and phone number of the SIM card, good and bad- ( You can initiate the call from GrandCentral to bypass this and show the number that you gave out, but you have to be at your computer, as well you could just dial *67 or turn off Caller ID on you Cell phone (YMMV depending on model)
Google owns GrandCentral -

Bonus Deal for people with Family in the Philippines.

My wife is from the Philippines (Not a FW deal or Mail Order - I lived in the PI for 5 years) Here is another thing that can make your US airtime almost free. It is a Program called Aryty Aryty Linky Send Prepaid Credit to Mobile Accounts in the Philippines. You have to have a Cell phone they send you a SMS with a code. We have been using it for almost 18 months. No tricks/No Surprises/ No Credit card needed (For free trial) You can get up to $3.29/P150 in Airtime credits for usage in the Philippines depending on the Carrier. Aryty sends a SMS to the person in the RP with a Load.

But to make the most of this you have to have a new e-mail address for each SIM card.

If this belongs in the deal discussion please move it there,

Cheers!

Wow, long post. If I'm correct, basically what you're saying is:

1) Get GrandCentral account and give out GrandCentral # as your contact #
2) Buy cheap SIMs on fleabay with prepaid minutes.
3) Use SIMs in phone.
4) Place the new number associated with the SIM in your GrandCentral account each time you switch to a new SIM

Brevity.

but how do you get .03/.04 prepaid airtime ?

I am not getting it. You pay $30 (plus shipping) and get 150 minutes. That is about 20 cents per minute. If you go with T-Mobile $100 card directly (which u can get for $92.15 from cheapphonecards/ save8 coupon), you get 1000 minutes. That is less than 10 cents per minute...

Edit: OK, I get it now. What he is saying is that the $30 denomination T-Mobile card sells for $5 to $6 on eBay...

darkfallz said: did anyone understand what he just said...or did your eyes glaze over after the first 5000 words like mine did

Look up, and I explain it in about 50 words.

Good deal, but I think you mean to say 0.03 dollars or 3 cents, not 0.03 cents.

OP, are you extracting the price? It's about $8 on eBay. It's never under $6.

Do you know how these sellers got the cards? Is it legit?

ponchg007 said: 100% legit. I have been doing this for a few months too

but how do sellers get the 150 minutes for such a low cost?

I got this from the item description that eBay seller tony has on the $30 150 minute cards.

IMPORTANT*********IMPORTANT**********IMPORTANT**********IMPORTANT
My supplier is testing out all the sim cards before it is shipped, and will test call several minutes. Your total minute on the card will be little less than 150 minutes. Your getting a card that works for sure.

krsjuan said: I got this from the item description that eBay seller tony has on the $30 150 minute cards.

IMPORTANT*********IMPORTANT**********IMPORTANT**********IMPORTANT
My supplier is testing out all the sim cards before it is shipped, and will test call several minutes. Your total minute on the card will be little less than 150 minutes. Your getting a card that works for sure.



Yes that is the e-Bay seller that I have purchased from, I have always gotten at least 145 minutes and been able to use the cards a minimum of 45 days before the expiration date.


tomprc said: ponchg007 said: 100% legit. I have been doing this for a few months too

but how do sellers get the 150 minutes for such a low cost?

I am sure that many of us seen the FW deals with a Free $30 worth of Airtime, They activate the phones and the SIM cards, Someone sells the phones and Tony and other e-bayers sell the SIM cards, if it was'nt legit T-Mobile would zero out airtime T-Mobile makes the money when you add the time in increments ( till you hit 1000 minutes to make it to Gold.) At Gold it is .9-.10 a minute (depending on the amount of the bonus)

In theory if you only got 45 days each purchase 45days x 8purchases = 360 day for $48. (8 x $6). You could have 12 months airtime with 1,200(APPROX) minutes for $48 no taxes. This is the Cheapest occasional air time for 12 months. Yet being able to ring home/office or hotel room or motel room in another city will allow you to save your airtime ( Best follow me forwarding ever.)

UNLIMITED INCOMING CALLS ON T-Mobile?: yes

For those that have a T-Mobile contract phone with a Favorite 5 Plan : you make your Grand Central Number one of your 5 Favorites : FREE INCOMING MINUTES ---- ( THIS REQUIRES A CONTRACT, but this is fantastic if you have a Teenager that gets a lot of calls ( you do have have to train them to have thier friends call them right back, but it could save you a bundle)

This also gives you a permanent phone log like Vonage had ( Through Grand Central) ( Which you don't get with a Pre-Paid T-Mobile account a Phone Log) You can just forward all their voice mails to their e-mail. You also get call screening, and recording.

mpkb said: I've bought from that Tony guy a few times. There's a few minutes used up off the 150, but negligible. He does have a lot of sales completed with a high feedback. I'd buy from the guy again.

He is the only guy that I have bought from, he ships quickly, responds to e-mail quickly, he does sell direct - paypal for payment shipping is only $1 for multiple cards. It doesn't hurt to ask the seller when the cards expire, his cards have the phone number and the date they expire on the plastic card. You can verify the number and airtime, with #NUM*, #999#, I have logged in to T-Mobile on several of the cards ( they will SMS your PW).

Is grand central closed to new user?

all168 said: Is grand central closed to new user?

No - you need an invitation. You can beg for one here.

davidbeckham said: on top of the initial $30 credit cumming from the sim card, how much more would we have to buy so as to qualify for the gold status?

maybe yes.

hommer said: UNLIMITED INCOMING CALLS ON T-Mobile?: yes

Pls excuse my ignorance. Could you explain this a bit more please? So I add my Grand Central Number to one of my 4 myfav number. Lets say when a friend using Cingular calls, I ask him to call back at my Grand Central number and get Free incoming minutes?

And also, is Grand Central free? Cheers

For a more in depth discussion see this Thread:T-mobile and Grand Central thread

Yes Grand Central is Free, ATM it is in Beta it is Owned by Google, BTW Gmail is also owned by Google and has been in Beta over 3.5 Years. So we can only hope that it stays in Beta as long, I wish that I had GrandCentral when I was in Sales. It is a power business tool.

Has anyone considered using a dual-SIM card holder to hold both the gold-rewards (standby card) and the temporary SIM card? I have never tried one of these, but there seem to be two different types, one that needs cutting the simcard, another that doesn't (but will result in bulkier simcard). Not sure how well they work, but there are several on eBay. Link

OrygunSunset said: mpkb said: I've bought from that Tony guy a few times. There's a few minutes used up off the 150, but negligible. He does have a lot of sales completed with a high feedback. I'd buy from the guy again.

He is the only guy that I have bought from, he ships quickly, responds to e-mail quickly, he does sell direct - paypal for payment shipping is only $1 for multiple cards.

Sounds good but I must be missing something. Shipping cost is $4.99 on the auctions I see for tony000000.

just got my sim card today. Trying it out. Works great. Just wondering since I give out the Grandcentral number and then people see my SIM card number when I call. OP mentioned being able to call from within grand central. How does one do that? You can't call directly from Grand Central right? You need Gizmo or something to CALL FROM GrandCentral don't you? Thanks.

Most definitely the FatWallet effect. I have been buying from him for months n months n months. Even when he had fewer listings per day, I never had to bid higher than $0.99 Now there is a substantially higher number of listings, and practically impossible to get in low.
Irony is, that every time someone responds to this thread, including myself, more people become aware of this deal. While that is great in the FatWallet spirit, it doea affect the bottom line for those of us already on it. No hard feelings on my side, though

OrygunSunset said:
Bonus Deal for people with Family in the Philippines.

My wife is from the Philippines (Not a FW deal or Mail Order - I lived in the PI for 5 years) Here is another thing that can make your US airtime almost free. It is a Program called Aryty Aryty Linky Send Prepaid Credit to Mobile Accounts in the Philippines. You have to have a Cell phone they send you a SMS with a code. We have been using it for almost 18 months. No tricks/No Surprises/ No Credit card needed (For free trial) You can get up to $3.29/P150 in Airtime credits for usage in the Philippines depending on the Carrier. Aryty sends a SMS to the person in the RP with a Load.

But to make the most of this you have to have a new e-mail address for each SIM card.
Cheers!

Thanks OrygunSunset!

I just sent the free P115 load to my sister-in-law's phone.
I am not sure that I will use the service but the freebie was nice.

BTW, for others, the free load for signing up is P150 to Globe and Sun numbers, or P115 to Smart.

how about the outgoing caller ID? what number the other side sees, you SIM number or GC number?