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Cellular forums Home > Archive > Cingular cell phone service > September 2007 > Re: Seven-11 Speakout Wireless, The Prepaid Service few know about
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Re: Seven-11 Speakout Wireless, The Prepaid Service few know about
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| karlkrandall@sbcglob
al.net wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:34:37 -0400, vey <junker@ericvey.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Aren't most other prepaids 10 cents a minute?
Depends. Usually varies between 7 and 33 cents a minute depending on how
many minutes you buy at the same time. And if you don't use those
minutes in a certain amount of time, usually 90 days, you lose them, so
they can cost much more than that.
I find losing minutes intolerable. It's one thing to pay a flat rate and
not use what is available, but it is quite another to pay in advance for
a measured service, then lose what you paid in at their whim.
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| vey wrote:
> $1.25 a month
> 20 cents a minute
> 5 cent text messaging
> Minutes good for 365 days, anything less is a rip-off.
>
> $40 gets you in. Nokia 1600 (which is a sweet little simple phone).
> No need to "activate" the phone. Open the box and start making calls.
>
> Uses the "new" ATT network. No roaming and no roaming charges.
>
> It's a simple as that.
> Eat your heart out SMS. For me, it's the best. If you are talky, get
> a plan.
LOL, I won't eat my heart out, because I have a SpeakOut phone and
service. I got it mainly for comparison purposes in terms of AT&T
coverage versus Verizon coverage as it's too expensive to use except as
strictly an emergency phone. I got the Motorola V180, which they no
longer offer. They have cut back significantly on the SpeakOut program,
they used to offer a bunch of handsets.
There's an in-between being "talky" and an emergency-only phone. Many
parents want a phone for their kids where the kids can call for rides
home, contact their parents in places like amusement parks and shopping
malls, etc. This is more than four minutes/month, but well under the
need for a postpaid plan. I've averaged around 30 minutes per month on
the PagePlus phones, or about $3.60/month in airtime.
It's true that if you almost never make any calls, SpeakOut is
$2.08/month versus $2.50/month for PagePlus. However keep that 42¢ in
perspective.
With PagePlus, the remaining $2 (after the $0.50 monthly fee) will buy
you 17-37 minutes (depending on the amount of minutes you bought).
On SpeakOut, the remaining $0.83 (after the $1.25 monthly fee) will buy
you 4 minutes. $2.50/month on SpeakOut buys you six minutes.
So if you make more than four minutes of calls per month, PagePlus is
the better deal.
If you make four or fewer minutes of calls per month, then SpeakOut is
cheaper, and if cost is the only metric you care about then indeed it's
a better deal.
It's true that it's very nice that the minutes last 365 days, but the
only prepaid services with this feature are SpeakOut, and T-Mobile (if
you buy $100 worth of airtime all at once). 120 days on a $10 card,
which PagePlus offers, is actually one of the better expiration times,
some others are as low as 30 days on their least expensive refill, i.e.
$15 for Net10, and Net10 doesn't even sell their least expensive refill
on their web site (you can buy it in stores or on eBay).
I don't remember how much airtime you get with the SpeakOut handset.
With PagePlus, the activation kit gets you 100 minutes.
The problems with SpeakOut are the following:
1) High monthly fee ($1.25).
2) High per minute cost (20¢ per minute on-network, 39¢ or more
off-network).
3) Even worse than PagePlus in terms of a web presence for purchasing
airtime (no web presence at all other than a scan of their brochure and
some marketing material).
4) High roaming charges outside the AT&T service area (at least
39¢/minute, possibly more, according to their brochure (see
"http://www.7-eleven.com/products/docs/ sfw054111_mch_bro_06
_E.pdf")).
5) Coverage is much worse than PagePlus outside of metro areas (similar
to the AT&T versus Verizon coverage difference).
By the way, SpeakOut also sells a Sprint based service as well, but it
may be Nextel because they are touting "Press and Talk." Nextel service
is very poor, and there is almost no roaming available on other iDEN
networks. But it's not clear if it's Nextel based or CDMA 1900 MHz based).
For those that are interested, the SpeakOut SIM will work in an unlocked
or Cingular locked GSM handset. However they won't sell you just a SIM,
you have to get the phone as well.
In Canada, the Canadian version of SpeakOut seem to be the cheapest
prepaid, because Canada doesn't have the wide selection of low cost
prepaid carriers. I recently advised someone in Canada looking for four
emergency phones to use SpeakOut, since it would only cost then
CAD$10/month total for four phones.
[Copied to alt.cellular.attws. Cingular is no longer in operation, and
alt.cellular.attws is the proper venue for discussions regarding
wireless service from AT&T]
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| karlkrandall@sbcglob
al.net wrote:
>
> So it can be much less than your 20 (or 25 cents a minute), no one in
> their right mind should willingly pay more for the Seven thingie
> you're hustling.
There are two advantages of the 7-11 SpeakOut plan.
First, it's got a very low monthly minimum, though it's only slightly
less than the best prepaid service ($2.08 versus $2.50).
Second, the airtime you purchase is good for 365 days.
Other than that, it's got a lot of negatives. High roaming rates, high
in-network rates, high monthly fee, poorer coverage than other services,
and no web presence). Also, you _must_ purchase the phone at a 7-11, no
web sales. This is fine in areas of the country that have 7-11, but
there are some major metropolitan ares without 7-11 stores, i.e. Atlanta.
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| clifto wrote:
> vey wrote:
>
> I noticed the other day that Wal-Mart has raised the price of the $100
> T-Mobile card to something over $98.
>
See, I would never buy a $100 card. First is my innate distrust in all
things cellular. With my luck, I would buy a card and tomorrow they
change the "agreement" we have and turn it into a deal killer. Second is
that I only spend about $3 a month now at the "high" rate I am paying
including the "high" monthly rate I am paying.
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| SMS wrote:
High roaming rates, high
> in-network rates, high monthly fee, poorer coverage than other services,
> and no web presence). Also, you _must_ purchase the phone at a 7-11, no
> web sales. This is fine in areas of the country that have 7-11, but
> there are some major metropolitan ares without 7-11 stores, i.e. Atlanta.
No roaming rates. Can't roam. But when I was in the middle of a national
forest, my SO cingular service was working and costing me .20 and my
buddy's Page Plus was costing him .59 a minute. I guess Verizon decided
that putting a tower out there wasn't needed since another company had
done it and their customers could roam on theirs.
If you drive through any town that has a 7-eleven, you can buy a phone
and you need never step foot again in the store. It can all be habdled
either by the phone or by 800 number.
Is Page Plus they still selling those used phones in the tiny Georgia towns?
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vey wrote:
> SMS wrote:
> High roaming rates, high
>
> No roaming rates. Can't roam.
You most certainly can roam on 7-11 SpeakOut, and I have done it.
Go back and read the terms at
"http://www.7-eleven.com/products/docs/ sfw054111_mch_bro_06
_E.pdf"
"Extended Coverage Area is charged 39¢ per minute of service and may be
subject to additional charges."
Also look at the maps, and you can see the vast areas that are "Extended
Coverage." At least you're okay in most metro areas. But venture out to
where a small regional carrier provides service and it's a different story.
PagePlus also charges 59¢ for roaming, but you'll do a _lot_ less
roaming because you only get charged for roaming off of Verizon's
Extended Network (which included most smaller CDMA networks). Only once
have I ever been in a place where roaming was charged (you know you're
roaming when you have to enter the phone number twice). One other way to
get charged for roaming is if you have an 1900 MHz only handset in areas
where Verizon is only at 800 MHz, because you'll be roaming onto Sprint.
However there are almost none of these handsets on the market that work
on PagePlus (Sprint used to sell some, but I don't think they have them
anymore, and Sprint handsets don't work on PagePlus).
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| vey wrote:
> clifto wrote:
>
> See, I would never buy a $100 card. First is my innate distrust in all
> things cellular. With my luck, I would buy a card and tomorrow they
> change the "agreement" we have and turn it into a deal killer. Second is
> that I only spend about $3 a month now at the "high" rate I am paying
> including the "high" monthly rate I am paying.
Actually, with T-Mobile you want to buy a $100 card _before_ they change
the terms regarding future airtime purchases. One things that the
carriers have been pretty good about is honoring terms from older plans.
With postpaid plans they could just tell you that the terms have changed
after the contract is over, but they usually don't. With T-Mobile, they
never say that the $100 airtime purchase and "Gold Status" has an
expiration date for future airtime lasting a year. They're obligated to
give you the 1 year expiration as long as they're in business.
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| clifto wrote:
> SMS wrote:
>
> For those 100 minutes. The next 100 they sell you could come with different
> conditions.
No, what they say is that achieving "gold status," by buying the $100
card, means that all future airtime cards, of any value, are good for a
year.
They could, if they wanted to, end the whole gold program for new
prepaid users. However I think that the gold program is a very clever
piece of marketing, and enhances customer loyalty. For every user
spending very little amount per month, there are probably many that are
spending a considerable amount of money.
T-Mobile's attitude is different than the other carriers on prepaid. The
other carriers make their prepaid plans very unattractive in terms of
cost because they're fearful that their postpaid customers will change
to prepaid if they offer prepaid that is too good of a deal. T-Mobile
seems to believe that they have more to gain by pricing their prepaid
fairly.
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| SMS wrote:
> vey wrote:
>
> You most certainly can roam on 7-11 SpeakOut, and I have done it.
>
> Go back and read the terms at
> "http://www.7-eleven.com/products/docs/ sfw054111_mch_bro_06
_E.pdf"
>
> "Extended Coverage Area is charged 39¢ per minute of service and may be
> subject to additional charges."
>
> Also look at the maps, and you can see the vast areas that are "Extended
> Coverage." At least you're okay in most metro areas. But venture out to
> where a small regional carrier provides service and it's a different story.
>
> PagePlus also charges 59¢ for roaming, but you'll do a _lot_ less
> roaming because you only get charged for roaming off of Verizon's
> Extended Network (which included most smaller CDMA networks). Only once
> have I ever been in a place where roaming was charged (you know you're
> roaming when you have to enter the phone number twice). One other way to
> get charged for roaming is if you have an 1900 MHz only handset in areas
> where Verizon is only at 800 MHz, because you'll be roaming onto Sprint.
> However there are almost none of these handsets on the market that work
> on PagePlus (Sprint used to sell some, but I don't think they have them
> anymore, and Sprint handsets don't work on PagePlus).
I wouldn't use Sprint. Around here, only suckers use Sprint. Coverage is
awful. This is a Cingular NG, so I wasn't going to mention Sprint.
You are the first and only person I've ever heard that can roam on
Speakout GSM. You better tell the guy that runs the prepaid page about
this, because he says there isn't any. Many people have reported the same.
I just made a call the other day and the rate was $0.15 a minute. Don't
know why. But if I pay $25 for a card and only pay 3 cents more for
minutes that last a year rather than 4 months, I will gladly pay that
premium.
Also, I have never given the company any of my personal info. I go down
the the corner, pay $25 (plus sales tax) in cash and recharge my phone.
They don't know who I am and they have never asked.
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