we are seniors and want to buy inexpensive simple cellphone for emergency without contracts.where cani findone

Question

we do not have a cellphone. my wife works and i am retired. i am a heart patient and my wife would like to keep in touch with me when she is travelling in bus. we want to have an inexpensive cellphone with inexpensive contracts or no contracts at all. where can we buy such in seattle area. pl. help.
thanks

Answer 1

GOphone. Or any one that's a "pay-as-you-go" where you pre-pay airtime. I'm with you guys on that, I'm tired of being forced into contracts!

Answer 2

I'm going to repeat what a few others have said, but I want to be clear on everything, so bear with me.

First, definitely check for coverage in your area first. If you have neighbors, or friends or family in your area that have cellphones, ask them what kind of coverage they get.

Second, prepaid is almost always the way to go if you want a phone for emergencies only BUT, keep in mind that to keep it active, you usually have to pay every so often, depending on the value of the prepaid card you add - more on that later. For now, just remember that you *can* use 911 even from a phone with no carrier. It's a legal requirement, and is awesome.

Third, try and do the math. I know when I used to do some selling for Cingular awhile back, they had a Gophone Pay As You Go plan specifically geared towards emergency phones - 25c/minute, without the $1 access fee someone else mentioned - obviously if you use the phone for other than emergencies, not a good plan, but for you guys - probably right on the money.

Fourth, let's use the Gophone's cards as an example of what I mean by paying a certain amount every so often. When you buy a Gophone, you usually get a $10 'starter' airtime card you can add when you activate. It's good for 30 days. If you add more time before the 30 days are up, you keep your balance and the phone stays active. If you don't add before 30 days are up, you lose any balance on the account. If you don't add before either 60 or 90 days (it varies so check w/Cingular if you go with this particular plan) your account is cancelled, and you'll need to buy a new SIM card & reactivate the phone under a new number. Not sure if this is true with all phone companies, but I suspect it'd be similar.

Now, onto specifics. Currently, these are the cards they carry and how long they're good for:

$15 - 30 days
$25, $50, $75 - 90 days
$100 - 365 days

Having done the math a LOT, your best bet is to go with the $25 card for 90 days - that works out to about eight bucks a month. Well, technically ~27c/day, and the $100 card is ~23c/day, but there are two problems with that. One, if someone gets you a gift card for, say, $15 and you add it to the account - the system automatically takes the last card's expiration date. So if you put on a $100 card, good for 365 days, and a month later you put on a $15 card, good for 30 days - you've just given yourself the challenge of blowing $115 on your phone in 30 days! Also, remembering a YEAR later to add more money to the phone = pain in the rear!

Answer 3

I am a teenager with a small amount of money and so is my sister so we found a Cellphone Solution with Tracfone. Especially when it is as low as $8.33/month I even got my grandma one and she likes hers http://www.tracfone.com it is awesome it is a prepaid phone with no age limits no montly bills no hidden fees/costs and no contracts and with all the calling features such as free voicemail free caller id free call waiting and free nationwide long distance. all for as little as $10 a month calculated minimum usage because you have to buy a minute card every 60 or every 365 days depending on if you bought the year service card because the cheapest minute card is 20 dollars and you would have to add one every 60 days it would be around $10 a month which isnt bad. Hope this Helps!!!!!! Tracfone Wireless is awesome good luck choosing your phone!!

P.S. and a phone kit is only about $20 bucks @ your local walmart walgreens and family dollar stores etc. this includes up to 20 minutes and 60 days of wireless service included
And I will tell you when Tracfone Says they have "Nationwide coverage" they absolutely mean it I use it all the time and I would rather have nationwide coverage across the U.S. than have free mobile web on fridays with boost mobile but it all depends on the user preference or even if you want to make the monthly cost go down get a year service card for $100 and it works out to be $8.33 a month which is even cheaper than the $10 I mentioned earlier.

Hope this helps!! :)

Plus they offer a 30 day* money back guarantee + one year warranty on the cellphone at no addl' cost. So what do you have to lose??

I have quite a few tracfones and they are the best phones and service I have EVER had!!!

It also chooses the most reliable wireless carrier for the zipcode you enter so you will get the best possible reception for your home calling area zipcode. Example: my calling area is in zipcode 61554 and so tracfone chose U.S. Cellular as my cellular carrier and it has awesome reception 7 bars!! almost all the time!! So no dropped calls!

I also forgot to mention their is no daily access fees/charges because all those fees are included in your prepaid airtime card prices.

I also want to tell you something more about tracfone is that they have "nationwide" coverage in the united states even in hawaii alaska and the U.S. virgin islands. I originally wanted a prepaid Alltel U phone like baconman02 but to my surprise Alltel had no coverage whatsover in my hometown zipcode so tracfone worked for me.

OR

If you are a frequent talker you could try NET10 Wireless 10 cents/min 24/7/365 it is the frequent-user service also affiliated and provided by Tracfone http://www.net10.com

Answer 4

yea just buy 2 cellphones and go prepaid. There might be long distance charges but you'll have to get that when you get your cellphone. I'd suggest getting a Bell mobility phone because they are cheap as prepaid.

Or you could try going on a family plan which is where your whole family has cellphones but you share the minutes. Just look around the site if you want

Answer 5

Some of the best prepaid (no contract, no monthly charge) plans I've seen are T-Mobile To Go, Tracfone, and NET10. I personally use T-Mobile for regular use (after you spend $100 in airtime, it's about 10c a minute).

A couple others like GoPhone (from Cingular) charge you $1 a day, which comes out to abour $30 a month regardless of whether you use it. I've seen contract cell phone plans that are cheaper.

Answer 6

Before you Pick a cellphone please check out the website to make sure you will have service in your area. Many companys have prepaid phones but be prepared to pay twenty cents a minute. Trace phones have the worst area coverage. If you find one you like make sure to call the company and ask questions about service areas and fees.

Answer 7

Hi,

Personally, I am happy with the virgin phones sold by Radio Shack; no contract; its about .10 cents a minute; its a great buy.

Answer 8

If you would like to purchase online. I have a great website for you. I have used this website personally and heard about it by asking a question just like you did. They have prepaid options and even contracts with sharing mins as low as 49.99 per month. Check it out for yourself. They have major US carriers and website let's you view there plans and phones. Phones are really cheap with free shipping. Please check it out...u won't be sorry!

www.wireless-itch.com

Answer 9

Go to walmart and buy a $30 Tracfone.
No contracts, no monthy bills, you only purchase pre-paid airtime and use it whenever you want.
Check it out more at their website.

Answer 10

Me and my spouse in basic terms switched from All-tell to sprint those days. All we would have loved exchange into stable telephones with text cloth and talk. I trust you... in basic terms approximately each and all the cells available now are geared to do plenty extra! We ended up getting the Rumer 2 and it is not undesirable. despite if it nevertheless has some loopy advantageous properties like "relationship and chatting" on the main menu...Jeez!