Do you have a cellphone plan, or pay as you go?
By Bella75
@nixxi76 (3191)
Canada
April 27, 2008 3:45pm CST
Do you have a plan for your cellphone, or do you own a pay as you go? Myself? I owned a pay as you go. I am use to this way because I've been using this type of plan for years now probably 10 years or so. I love that there is no monthly bill that show up in the mail, and no secret small print that you have to sign for in the contract. I like the one time fee and no yearly contract that you have to go on.
I think the only thing about pay as you go I dislike is that they don't have much good variety. I've heard that you can buy any cellphone and transform it to pay as you go but when I've asked outlets that sell these handy phones, they tell me only certain phones you can do that to.. not all.
3 people like this
14 responses
@kaysue4 (951)
• United States
28 Apr 08
I have a cell phone plan and have for years. I make the mistake of renewing my contract when I need an updated phone.
Now, I have changed my plan again, to unlimited everything on my main phone, to 200 minutes on hubby's phone plus unlimited cell to cell, and then my internet card for my computer is also on my bill.
Now, my son has a pay by the month plan, so he has to come up with the money to pay for his bill every month. He likes the texting, call waiting, ect.
I did try this plan, but I didn't like the service and the dropped calls, where my son is mostly the texting and doesn't talk much on the phone.
1 person likes this
@kaysue4 (951)
• United States
29 Apr 08
Well with my provider you pay 5 dollars for unlimited cell to cell with anyone on that provider.
I need to get new phones, so I ended up renewing until 2010! I wanted to do away with the one cell phone because we can hardly afford what we have now, but they get you no matter what.
@nixxi76 (3191)
• Canada
29 Apr 08
I've also heard of the unlimited cell to cell plan and I think that's really great to have.. if I'm not mistaken, is that when you can talk to your family on your top lists for free or pay a certain amount a month for the service?
I don't text all that much myself but I have a pay as you go and sometimes my cellphone provider leaves messages when you go to add minutes telling you the latest features and fees incase you are interested in purchasing them. The last two times I bought evolve prepaid cards (I believe it was two times ago) I heard my cellphone provider's message and they said as of March 2008 texting messages would be increasing with their fees from $0.15 to $0.20. Good thing I don't text at all that much but if I did I wouldn't be too happy!
Thanks for your comment kaysue
@sassygirlanne007 (4517)
• United States
28 Apr 08
I have just 3 months ago gotten my first cell phone on a plan. before that I had a pay as you go but now that I am 18 my mom got me a new phone with a plan so i can learn to pay a bill on time.
1 person likes this
@sassygirlanne007 (4517)
• United States
29 Apr 08
eh the prepaid was ok but I didn't really care for it when I started wanting to do more with my phone. Having a plan is allot nicer for me because then I have more options of what i can do with my phone. but I prepaid is a very good choice for first phones of for those with low income who can't afford a monthly bill.
@minnie_98214 (10557)
• United States
27 Apr 08
I have a plan and like it that way. I also like my provider as we have a month to month contract so I can cancel at anytime I want to.
1 person likes this
@minnie_98214 (10557)
• United States
28 Apr 08
No problem I am with Sprint if you can get them they do the month by month contracts.
1 person likes this
@jesbellaine (4139)
• Philippines
29 Apr 08
Nope, I don't have cellphone plan.
I prefer buying a prepaid card for it.
In that way, I can really limit the use of my account.
hehe. Cheers!
@sharkbiter (382)
• United States
28 Apr 08
I have a plan service. I have thought about switching to payas you go, but am uncertain about it. My plan is working out pretty good. I have had it for years, but I can't get a signal where I live so I only use it when I'm out somewhere. At this point a pay as you go plan would probably be better for me.
1 person likes this
@nixxi76 (3191)
• Canada
29 Apr 08
Well sharkbiter, if you do decide to get a pay as you go, just ask them questions about how well the signal is and how far they run through your state or province. Either pay as you go or a total different cellphone company all together?
Thanks for your comment
@xXxMikesWifeyxXx (3072)
• United States
28 Apr 08
I have a pay as you go plan. my phone isnt all pretty and pink with jewels on it BUT it does so me what i want so i dont complain.
I have the alltelu plan. i have an lg ax145 for my phone. for 30 dollars a month i get unlimited text messaging to any carrier,free nights and weekends, and free alltel to alltel calling. of course i do have to pay alittle extra if i want to use my phone during the weekdays.before 9pm. but i only use that for emergencys because if i wanna talk to someone i can text them for free instead:D.
www.alltelu.com
if i go there to reload money. i get 60 extra bonus minutes. and the minutes last forever. (when you get mminutes) and not use money anyways.6 minutes last new 2 weeks not bad:)..
1 person likes this
@nixxi76 (3191)
• Canada
29 Apr 08
Hi mikeswifey long time no chat nice to hear from you again 
I looked on this website you left for me to browse and I noticed a phone there for $9.99? Is that for real? Wow if it is!!
It looks like a really nice phone!
I don't believe this alltelu is a Canadian cellphone provider unfortunitly because I've never heard of it before, but I'm wondering if they let Canadians buy them because I love most of their phones then get a company to hook me up here? I think it's something definitly positive to look into.
Thanks for the information and have a great day!
I looked on this website you left for me to browse and I noticed a phone there for $9.99? Is that for real? Wow if it is!!
It looks like a really nice phone!
I don't believe this alltelu is a Canadian cellphone provider unfortunitly because I've never heard of it before, but I'm wondering if they let Canadians buy them because I love most of their phones then get a company to hook me up here? I think it's something definitly positive to look into.
Thanks for the information and have a great day!
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
28 Apr 08
I have a cellphone plan my husband and I share the minutes on our phone we have neve gone over the mintues so we just pay one set price.
I am going to get my son a cell phone for his birthday but I am going to start him on a pay as you go phone to see how he does with it before adding him to my plan.
1 person likes this
@nixxi76 (3191)
• Canada
29 Apr 08
That's such a nice gift to give your son, I'm sure he's going to love that! I have a friend, and she bought this cellphone where she had to pay for the phone and she spent $100.00 and the minutes were unlimited for a whole year! Isn't that unbelievable? She bought the cellphone from 7-11. She bought herself another pay as you go phone but keeps this other one for backup uses.
@asawanialvin0611 (1877)
• Philippines
28 Apr 08
i want to control my spending so i only have prepaid card for my phone
1 person likes this
@WANDALIE44 (888)
• United States
27 Apr 08
i have sprint and a monthly plan i pay for 750 minutes $39.99 ( that's a plan ive had since 2002) mobile to mobile is $5.00 $10.00 for pcs vision and $7.00 for insurance. i also have thier internet card for $59.99 a month. i usually dont go over my minutes so my bill is pretty much set every month. i rather have a monthly plan then a pay as u go.
1 person likes this
@nixxi76 (3191)
• Canada
27 Apr 08
That sounds like a reasonable plan wandalie. I am so use to having a pay as you go for many years now but sometimes I do wish that I had a plan which I can't get due to bad credit history which I'm fixing now so maybe sometime in the future I'll be able to.
A plan I'm guessing would be nice because then you don't have to worry about running out of minutes and it's a nice reliable way to keep a phone!
Thanks for your thoughts
@chas1808 (20)
• United States
28 Apr 08
i have a pay as you go with corr all u have to pay is 20 dol for 10 days no matter how much u use it. the only thing i dont like about it is that you cnat call out of state on it and you cant go down past birmigham with it and im not sure how far up i can go(fyi i live in alabama).
1 person likes this
@nixxi76 (3191)
• Canada
29 Apr 08
hi chas,
My pay as you go phone is actually pretty good for going distances.. I've never tested it while travelling because I never get to go on vacations or travel due to my busy work schedule. Yeah pay as you go is good for setting a limit on how much you want to spend and what I usually spend is $15.00 and that lasts me a whole month but what's bad about that is they do have an expire date which is silly because it's not food lol
@danielsm (50)
• United States
27 Apr 08
Nahhh I have a plan that I pay by its a lot easier and I know what i am gonna pay wether I use my phone alot or not. I like the pal where you can talk to people with your same phone company or family that way I can talk to friends and family wihtout end you know what I mean. I wont have to worry about the bill coming in way over my head and me not being able to pay it or having to not pay something else. Some companies I think need to warn you and give oyu a call when your like at 100 dollars or so that way you wont keep goign higher and have to ruin your credit. Just like a credit card when you max it out. Once the bills come paying the mnimumum will not help becuase interest is basically what you are paying it and its just keeps coming and coming.
1 person likes this
@nixxi76 (3191)
• Canada
29 Apr 08
hi danielsm,
You should mention your idea to your cellphone supplier about asking them to give you a call when you've reached a certain amount of money on your bill and see what they say or I'm wondering if customers that buy their phones will just do it because it's a request? I've never heard of this but I think it's a really great idea and yes same with credit cards forsure!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
