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Cellular forums Home > Archive > AT-T wireless service > September 2007 > Re: PagePlus, the Prepaid Service Few People Know About even though
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Re: PagePlus, the Prepaid Service Few People Know About even though
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| Bob Fry wrote:
> SMS has been hard-selling PagePlus on another group, claiming it is
> the only prepaid plan worth squat...and that other plans are never any
> good.
>
> I say that given the variety of ways the prepaid plans charge for
> their service (connection fees, daily use fees, minute fees, monthly
> charges, and expiration of minutes), the best plan depends on a
> person's usage pattern.
>
> But SMS can't see that. Kinda a black-and-white view of a colorful
> world.
"Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level and beat
you with experience." Loath as I am to neglect this excellent advice, I
feel that I need to respond to this post by Bob, so here goes...
It's certainly possible to come up with a usage pattern where there are
better deals and expirations than with PagePlus.
When looking at prepaid carriers you want to look at:
a) per minute cost
b) minimum monthly cost
c) coverage
SpeakOut Wireless has a lower minimum monthly cost at $2.08/month ($25
per year). They also have a one year airtime expiration versus four
months on PagePlus. On the other hand, their airtime prices are much
higher, and their coverage poorer.
T-Mobile can have a minimum monthly cost of as low as $0.83/month if you
"go gold" with an initial purchase of 1000 minutes for $100. The $100
purchase also extends all future airtime purchases to a 1 year
expiration. But their airtime cost is more than PagePlus at each
recharge level. Their coverage is much, much poorer.
Virgin, Tracfone, AT&T, have high minimum monthly fees at $5.00, $6.67,
and $8.33 respectively. All have poorer coverage than PagePlus.
If you do a lot of international calling, STI Mobile is a good deal with
a $3 monthly fee, but a flat rate of 10¢/minute plus a fee for some
countries, but many countries you can call at no extra charge, including
most of Mexico, and much of western Europe and Asia
("http://www.stimobile.com/ratelookup.aspx"). Their coverage isn't
nearly as good as PagePlus because they use the inferior Sprint network,
with no roaming.
The worst deals in prepaid are from the companies with very high monthly
minimums, such as Net10, which has a $15/month minimum. The per minute
rate isn't very good either, considering the high monthly minimum,
though it's better than Tracfone.
See "http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm" to learn more.
-For the absolute best coverage, choose PagePlus
-For the absolute lowest recurring monthly cost, choose T-Mobile and go
"gold"
-For the lowest international rates, direct from the phone, choose STI.
I think the problem is that in Bob's case he got taken in by Net10 and
is trying to defend the decision by making these ridiculous statements.
No one would think any worse of him if he just admitted the mistake and
moved on. After all it's not such a big deal in the scheme of things.
I have no connection to PagePlus. I just hate seeing people getting
taken in by these carriers that trick people.
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