Cell phones forum: Virgin Mobile or Cingular Wireless prepaid service.

Rollover doesn't work with pre-paid. Cingular is much more recognized and virgin mobile is for the younger crowd. Get an actual contract with an actual carrier.

Are you looking for one for cingular ??? What do you mean by "sending and receiving cell phone signals"????? Most flip phones these days have a speakerphone, a browser (not fully enabled). Modern handsets all have a camera nowadays. Even the most basic phones with the features you listed have cameras. You can still buy the phone and not use the camera functions. With all that said, I would say that the phone for you would be............ the LG C1500 from cingular. Its review is here on cnet.


Also, quit the "Big Steve" thing...it's not necessary

If rollover means you don't lose your money at the end of the month, Virgin does allow you to rollover. Virgin has the best price plan for low-volume users. It is pitched to the younger set, but I'm 56 and I love the plan. Fifteen dollars for 3 months and you don't have to worry about extra charges and add-ons or loss or theft of the phone. Who cares if Cingular is more recognized....

Honestly, I wouldnt get EITHER one. I'd go with boost mobile all the way, and I do plan on switching from Virgin Mobile ASAP.

Currently, I have VM and all these charges are really putting a damper in my balance.
*check VM's site and you'll know what I'm talking about*

Texting is CURRENTLY 10cents to send and free to receive..BUT on june 14, they will change to 5cents to send AND receive.

Internet: $1.00 for 24 hours or up to 500kilibites. *it goes by FAST*

Balance check: 5 times a day for free then 2cents after that.

VXL *Virgin XL* :10cents to browse unless unsubscribed for the whole day.





With Cingular, its a different story as well.

of course they have two different plans *pick ur plan, or pay as you go*
I'm not so much of a fan for pick your plan but if thats whats useful to most customers, then so be it.
As for the pay as you go:

*CHECK CINGULAR'S WEBSITE ON THEIR PREPAID PLANS:

http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/wireless-phone-plans/cell-phone-plans.jsp?WT.svl=2206800016&q_catid=2206800016


AS FOR BOOST MOBILE, YOU CAN CHECK OUT THEIR RATE PLANS HERE:

http://www.boostmobile.com/plans/services/text/



I guarantee u will ENJOY BOOST MOBILE'S RATE PLANS ALOT MORE THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER PREPAID SERVICE out there right now.


Hope that helps.

now that you really think about it, it REALLY depends on how much and WHEN you talk. See, I talk ALOT more on the nights/weekends *for boost mobile, thats only 10cents...rather than the 25/10deal for Virgin Mobile*

As for texting, 10cents to send and free to receive, and pix = 25cents to send and free to receive is what boost mobile has*...BUT virgin mobile's pricing has different than boost mobile. their pricing is 10cents to send/free to receive, BUT on june 14, they will change to 5cents to send and receive, and pix is 25cents to send and receive.

I receive ALOT of text messages and most of the time, i dont really have to respond to them b/c their just quick heads-up from my friends. but im going to start getting charged from virgin mobile as soon as those rates go into effect.

Down where I live *in southern maryland* nextel's service gets excellent service so ill have no problem getting boost mobile.

I'm more worried about the cost and how much I use on a regular basis. Thats why I thought boost mobile would be a great choice over virgin mobile. I wouldnt have to worry about being charged too much for the internet *on VM's phones, which is a $1 for only 500kbs/average of 50 pages* than boost mobile's phones *which is 20cents all day for unlimited use*

anytime =)

I think you should do some research on the network first.
My area does not get good signal for Cingular, so there is no point to get a phone that does not work.

If you are not a heavy cellphone user, really does not matter which do you pick.
If you do use your phone for web, txt message then you will need to think about all those hidden charges.

Currently, I have a VM phone and I am very happy with it.
The only complain I have is I wish VM has some better looking phone. I don't know about Cingular; but for T-Mobile, you can use any T-Mobile(open) phone for their pay-as you go service.

good luck.
ray

I think they have the best pay as you go plan. If you add $100 worth, you have 1 year to use them and all you need is to add $100 once a year. Better than having to add monthly IMO.
They have smaller plans, i.e. $10, $20 etc., but these need replenishment more often.
Provided you have coverage for it in your area, I recommend T Mobile. You can also get a cheap no frills Nokia from them for about $50. If you have your own unlocked tri band GSM phone, you can purchase just the sim card and the minutes and use your own phone.

Dear Salvadori:

First of all; thanks for your post. If I did select Virgin Mobile; am I correct to assume that Virgin Mobile is the prepaid unit of Sprint PCS?

If I did decide to go with Virgin Mobile; do they charge you a daily access fee even though you don't use the phone?

For example I might not get out of the house more than 2 to 3 days during the week. The time that the phone sits here at home remaining charged; would Virgin Mobile still be charging me a daily access fee for the phone's use even if I don't use it?

Please advise whenever you can and again; thanks for your post.


Big Steve
Biloxi, MS


End Of Message
05/18/06

Rick:

Thank you for your post. If you used a phone a few times a month; accumulating no more than 50 to 100 minutes a month in actual airtime; which plan would you recommend going with if you chose Virgin Mobil? Minutes per day? Minutes per month? With Cingular would you choose the $1.00 a day fee and all calls at 10 cents per minute or no daily fee and all calls at 25 cents per minute?

Would you also recommend that I consider adding T-Mobile into this comparison or should I limit my selection between only Cingular Wireless and Virgin Mobile? If I understand your post you recommended Virgin Mobile over Cingular? What was the manufacturer's brand and model number of the phone you recommended in your previous post?

I submitted a post earlier in this forum in which I stated that I am disabled and don't drive and the cell minutes which I would use on a monthly basis would probablty not exceed 50 to 100 minutes per month. I would use my phone just to make local calls and consider such a phone to be for emergency use only.

I'm in the 50+ year old age group and I'm not into playing games nor would I be using my phone to do any form of text messaging nor would be using it to download anything. I'm considering pre-paid service so I have to keep my needs simple.

If my income wasn't an issue I might consider attempting to qualfy for a cell phone contract but since it is an issue; that's the primary reason why I'm taking a very close look at pre-paid cell phone service.

The only other feature that I would like to add to a phone if I could afford to qualify for a contract would be some form of internet service; no email service; just internet service. Can anyone tell me if internet service is available on pre-paid phone plans or not?

Although I have managed to maintain somewhat good credit over the years I just can't see myself paying
$40.00 to $60.00 a month for the next 2 years just to have a cell phone that I probably wouldn't use no more than 2 to 3 times a week; accumulating no more than 50 to 100 minutes per month; that's why I'm taking a close look at pre-paid cell phone service.

Another comment which I'd like to make; there have been some in this forum who have posted comments in this forum such as automatically assuming that once someone mentions or asks anything about pre-paid phone service verses contracted cell phone service that the person making that inquiry must either have a questionable credit history or be a deadbeat.

I resent such comments made by others who have participated in this forum and not having all of the facts those who post such comments shouldn't do so and if you're reading my posts; you know who I'm talking about.

You should think twice before you submit a post bashing another poster and you for one have absolutely no right to be judgmental; no right to set out and bash another member of this forum especially if you don't know all of the facts which you clearly don't.

The comments made by the majority of the members in these CNET forums are very valuable to me because they help me try to make good informed buying decisions on whatever it is that I might be researching at any given time which right now is pre-paid cell phone service and I hope to receive a few more posts from others which will help me to make a better informed buying decision when it comes to choosing a good pre-paid cell phone service.


Big Steve
05/20/06

Rick:

Again; thanks for the post. Do you have pre-paid accounts with both wireless phone companies? What about T-Mobile; should I also consider them or not? I noticed several of the phones offered on Cingular's website for their pre-paid service are listed as refurbs; would you buy a refurb cell phone if you went with a pre-paid service?

If I understood you correctly you would choose Cingular over Virgin Mobile and select Cingular's $1.00 a day access fee plan with calls at $0.10 per minute? Can minutes roll over on Cingular's pre-paid plans? Which phone would you recommend that I go with if I selected Cingular?

They have a nice looking Sony Ericsson(sp?) phone; it is a refurb and not a flip phone but it seems to have the features that I want. Are Sony phones any good? Sony refurb phones? Again; thanks for your comments.


Big Steve
Biloxi, MS
Katrina survivor


End Of Message
05/20/06

Rick:

I checked out Cingular's website and all of their refurb phones under their prepaid phone plans carried only a 90 day warranty. They had a nice phone by Sony; ( Model #T290a ) which was a refurb selling for $29.99 + applicable sales taxes but I do believe if something did happen to that phone after the 90 day warranty had expired I'd have nothing more than a very nice paper weight made by Sony.

Unfortunately Cingular.com does not offer that same Sony phone; ( Model #T290a ) as new unit; they offer it only as a refurb unit. As for my comment; ''Are you reading this''? My comment was not directed towards you; it was direct towards someone else who had posted previously in this forum. Again my comment was not directed towards you.


Big Steve
05/21/06

Rick:

I did contact Cingular's toll free customer service number last night and did speak to a sales rep who informed me of the following:

Sony Ericsson T290a refurb available on Cingular.com with a 90 day warranty for $29.99 was available by phone; a new phone with a 1 year warranty for $59.99 which I'm seriously considering.

The sales rep also recommended that I go with the $1.00 per day usage charge which is charged for days only when I use the phone and my calls would be $0.10 per minute.

He also recommended that I purchase at least $25.00 worth of calling minutes which would expire in 90 days verses minute packages of lower denominations which would expire in 30 days.

Overall the guy at Cingular was nice but he also was high pressured; wanting me to go ahead and do the deal. I told him I'd have to think about it and I'm still thinking about it.

About Ebay; I am a member and also have a PayPal account which I've never used; there were several Sony T920a's listed on Ebay. One guy claimed to have a brand new one which he wasn't using because he just recently signed up for contract service with Cingular.

The bidding price last night for his phone started out at $25.00. I wonder if I bidded for his phone and won could I take his Sony T290a to my local Cingular store and establish prepaid service?

I never can reach anyone at my local area Cingular store to ask them that very question; I am able to leave a message on their store's voicemail but no one has ever offered to call me back.

Cingular's toll free customer service rep did tell me last night that I should be able to do it although I would also need a sims card with the phone before I could establish any type of prepaid service at any local Cingular Wireless retail store. What's a sims card?


Big Steve
05/22/06

Rick:

Again; thanks for your comments. You made a statement in your second paragraph; something to do about you like what they said about hurricanes. Would you mind explaining?


Big Steve
Biloxi, MS
Katrina Survivor


End Of Message
05/22/06

Rick:

Good link.


Big Steve
Biloxi, MS
Katrina Survivor
05/23/06