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pasusan's avatar
pasusan
Explorer
Mar 03, 2014

No contract cell phone service

Sorry for yet another cell phone question. I did a search, but would like to get more info.

My MIL wants a cell phone for purely emergency use - probably won't use it but a couple times a year. She wants it for when she is out and about shopping and what not... Just in case.

I don't know anything about prepaid (or really cheap) cell service so I'm asking you guys.

She had Virgin Mobile, but didn't use the phone much and not at all for a while so stopped the service. She told me she paid $10/month, but the cheapest no contract plan I found was for $20. So, I'm not sure about that...

I know a lot of folks here talk about Tracfone, so I was leaning toward that till I found this site which doesn't even include TracFone in its top ten.

We would prefer something where you buy minutes that would last so it wouldn't be a monthly fee... Any suggestions?

Oh - she lives in the Washington DC area in Maryland.
  • 2oldman wrote:
    I guess if *she* wants one, ok, but I got my dad one and he rarely used it. It was turned off all the time anyway, so in any 'emergency' it wouldn't be much good. Some old folks just forget or don't want to learn to operate one.
    I know what you're saying - she probably will forget to charge it. :R

    I'm not at all excited to be pulled into this, but I'm hoping to find something for her that is simple and cheap. And we would feel better knowing she would be able to call someone if her car broke down or something.

    I've started looking at AT&T's GoPhone - either $2/day of use or .10/min. That sounds like it would be cheap with no monthly fee or contract.
  • Tracfone for me. They use different carriers in different regions. I like the flip phone as it is easy to use and you can usually find a one year air card with 400 minutes (doubled or tripled by choice of phone) on ebay (shopcelldeals) for about $85.00 and that comes up to less than $8 per month. They usually have deals on cell phones as well.
  • I guess if *she* wants one, ok, but I got my dad one and he rarely used it. It was turned off all the time anyway, so in any 'emergency' it wouldn't be much good. Some old folks just forget or don't want to learn to operate one.
  • Consumer Cellular is a great company. As low as $10.00 per month. Take a look at them here;consumer