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| Middle children of history  |
I’d like to have a backup cell phone at home for emergencies since we do not have a land line. It would be used very rarely (or possibly never) so I can’t see it needing more than about 50 minutes of talk time per year. What’s the most cost-effective way to do this? For example, my mother came over to watch our infant son one day. She forgot her phone at home and had no way to contact anybody in case of emergency since my wife and I were both at work. So, my wife loaned her phone to my mother, but then of course my wife did not have her phone all day. I see Tracfone has some plans, but they are about $100/year for 400 minutes plus the cost of a phone. We will never use 400 minutes. Are there any options for a package of minutes that are cheaper or that don’t expire so quickly? I have an old Sprint Motorola Razr flip phone that was working fine when I upgraded to a smart phone years ago. Would that be useful with some sort of budget pre-paid package? | ||
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The cake is a lie! |
My dad still uses an old flip phone and buys those pre-paid phone cards from target. Just buy a $20 card, and load up the minutes as needed. | |||
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| Raised Hands Surround Us Three Nails To Protect Us  |
When buying prepaid flip phones are cheap. Like $20. So I wouls not bother with the RAZR I was unable to locate any prepaid that the minutes did not expire in 60 days with most being 30 days. ———————————————— The world's not perfect, but it's not that bad. If we got each other, and that's all we have. I will be your brother, and I'll hold your hand. You should know I'll be there for you! | |||
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Optimistic Cynic |
Ting has a plan that costs $6mo. (plus low-toll minutes used). Can be used with nearly any device (they piggy-back on T-mobile and Sprint for the actual service). If you don't care about mobility, you can opt for an ATA+POTS phone(s) (or one or more SIP phones) with voip.ms (calls go over your Internet data service), and just pay very low per-minute rates (on the order of $0.002/min.) for actual calls made (incoming calls are not tolled). I don't think I pay $40/yr. for my home phone service, and a business client of mine (40+ employees) has cut their phone costs to under $25/mo. | |||
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| Shit don't mean shit |
Do you have gmail? There's a plugin for gmail where you can make calls from a web browser, anywhere in the US for free. It's not Google voice, but a browser plugin. I used to use this for work all the time. I bought a Plantronics speaker phone. As long as you have an internet connection you can make calls (but not receive them). If you have gmail, look in the lower left corner of your webmail for a telephone. Click it and you are prompted to install the plugin. Speakerphone I used: http://www2.plantronics.com/in...100&skuId=sku5460022 | |||
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Now and Zen |
I have a Tracfone smartphone, I simply purchase the minimum airtime every 90 days (60 units). That is 84 dollars a year and the minutes rollover every time, I don’t know how much data, text and minutes I have at the moment, however it is quite a bit, I never have used the data and lately I text more than talk. Tracfone also has a bring your own phone program, if you have a phone that is compatible with their system you can use it and keep the number you already have. ___________________________________________________________________________ "....imitate the action of the Tiger." | |||
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Member |
I'd go with Tracfone, if you go the smartphone direction, you're paying less than $9/month and if you get a phone w/triple minutes/text/data, it becomes a better deal. If you look around you might be able to get a new Moto E (it is an older phone) smartphone w/Triple minutes/data/texts for under $30. I would not recommend using FreedomPop...even though it's "free", you're using their data network to make calls & text, this can cause issues if you doing something like 2-factor authentication where you get a text with a verification code, it may not work because email services may consider your number to not be a real number...never had issues with Tracfone. ...let him who has no sword sell his robe and buy one. Luke 22:35-36 NAV "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16 NASV | |||
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Dies Irae |
T-Mobile has a PAYG plan for $3.00/30 minutes/month cycle.
LINK I've had this for a few years on a secondary phone. IIRC, you're supposed to be able to use Wi-Fi to make calls with no use of minutes. Every so often, I go by their store and put ~$30.00 on the number. IDK if you can bring your own phone, but they'll have some inexpensive phones. | |||
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| Middle children of history |
Thanks for all of the good options guys, I'll check them out. Trying to keep this simple so that the older family members helping with child care can easily make a call if needed. The suggestions reminded me that I do have an old iPhone 4S sitting around that I use just for music sometimes. It runs so slowly though that I don't think I would trust it to work as needed in an emergency. | |||
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His Royal Hiney |
Dang. That's a great tip! And with most laptops, you probably don't need a headset as it would have microphone and speakers already. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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| Member |
I've been using Total Wireless for a little bit now. So far so good. They supposedly use Verizon's network which is basically a must where I live. Plus I was able to use the iPhone that I already had. | |||
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| Member |
Tracfone user here for past several years. I have a LG 840G and I get triple minutes for each air time card I activate. Example: $20 airtime card (60 minutes), give me 180 minutes for 90 days. Only issue I have is with the carrier...AT&T. Spotty reception in the boonies. ********* "Some people are alive today because it's against the law to kill them". | |||
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אַרְיֵה |
I too, use Total Wireless for my "main" phone. But that does not really answer the question in the original post. He is looking for a "backup" phone for occasional use. Reading his question, it is apparent that many months the phone would not even be used at all. As far as I know, the absolute minimum charge for Total Wireless would be $25.00 / month plus sales tax and 911 fee, which would come out to almost $325.00 / year (my area, my sales tax), or about six and a half bucks / minute of talk time for the use that he is projecting. Total Wireless is great, very cost-effective for a main phone, but not a good choice for a back-up that will see very little use. I am looking for the same thing as Brett B (original poster): a service provider for a back-up. I have a spare phone that will work with any of the major networks in the U.S. What I need is a pay-as-you-go plan with a long (six months or a year) expiration on the plan, or a low cost pre-pay service that does not expire in 30 or 60 days. הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים | |||
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| Member |
In this situation wouldn't a voip box and google phone number be the best solution? It is something I plan on doing but have not just yet. I have internet and no phone service. | |||
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| Middle children of history |
It looks like the most cost effective method is to buy a Tracfone for ~$20, and then buy their plan at $19.99 for 60 minutes for 90 days. That's about $6.60 per month not including the cost of the phone. Only issue is that the basic flip phones that Tracfone sells all have pretty poor reviews. It sort of defeats the purpose if the phone doesn't actually work when needed. For example: https://shop.tracfone.com/shop...re/phones/tf-zte-z32 I have read that old iPhones can still call 911 even if they do not have service activated. While I try to find a reliable Tracfone I'll rely on my old iPhone 4S for 911 calls only for now since I know it will actually work. | |||
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