I have been a cell phone user for several months now. I own a TracFone cell phone (which is a Kyocera K126C model). The reason why I like TracFone a lot is because there are no monthly fees, bills, unexpected surprises, etc. with the phone that I have. It is the type of cell phone that puts people in control. With a TracFone cell phone, a person can add as many minutes to it as they like, regardless of how much or little they talk on the phone. Plus, my phone has a Double Minutes For Life benefit, which means that all future minute cards that I add automatically double and also add more service days to the service end date (for instance, if I add a 200 minutes card to my phone, I actually get 400 minutes, due to the double minutes benefit). I would never use a cell phone from a provider that charges high prices for minutes that I won't need, expensive cancellation fees, etc, because I feel that those types of phones (contract phones) are not good for some people's budgets. I understand that every person has their own preferences as to what type of cell phone they want to have, and what features they want on it, etc., but I will stick with Tracfone. Their phones are excellently priced to fit almost every person's budget and help cut costs on phone service a lot.

I'm thinking about getting a prepaid phone through Straightalk. Does anyone have this plan and is it as good as it sounds?

I listened to a Clark Stinks recording specifically because he never mentions coverage or quality when he talks about these new cheap cell phone services. I was anxious to here his response about that and felt he didn’t really answer it. I agree with the caller. Why should I buy into a lot of grief loosing signals, or not getting a signal to save money on cell service? If the coverage is not there, or is a poor quality, than you’re comparing apples and oranges when you just consider price.

I've been a Net10 user for 2 years and never paid any additional fees. I pay 10 cents a minute and 5 cents a text. I've had great service and used it while white water rafting in North Carolina and down in South Florida. The people claiming to pay fees must be using a different service. Great show, Howard.

I like the ability to pay only for what I use on Tracfone, but I guess Sarah, Bob, Ron, Al and DT never had to call customer service. I had a question I wanted an immediate answer for, so I called, instead of using e-mail. I was told the wait would be "approximately 10 minutes." I was "on hold" for 2 hours, and heard their stupid, "Your call VERY IMPORTANT to us..." message 167 times," but never talked to a real human being. I had to hang up because the battery in my handset went dead. Have you ever tried working on the computer with a voice repeating,"Your call is very important to us..." every 43 seconds?

OK, Cell, so what is the name, what is the website of this 2-cent a minute all the time plan that you have? Please share!

I have already beaten all of your plans. I spend 2 cent a minute all of the time . It never expires

I am very happy with Tracfone. I am a low minutes/month user and for $100 I'm good for a year.

Switched to Boost little over a month back. Coverage is not as good as Verizon. I fly alot and am always needing weather and local information, so hoping the unlimited internet will help. Happy so far, just coverage is not the greatest.

Their "unlimited" mobile-to-mobile calling is only to other Boost, Nextel and Sprint. I couldn't see what they charge for calls to other carriers.

I have had TracFone for about four years now and I love it. I can enough minutes to last me for a year for $100 and they roll over if you don’t let them expire. The coverage is nation wide with no roaming. The low volume user couldn’t ask for more.

I have had nothing but problems with Virgin Mobile. I am switching to Tracfone this week. My Mom has had Tracfone for 5 years and is very happy with the service and the great coupons they have for online purchase of minutes. Thanks

Went with them years ago on Clarks's recommendation and haven't looked back. Love their corporate culture -- like Southwest they're laid-back, cool, and customer-oriented. GREAT service. Other carriers are cheaper per minute now, like NET 10 above, but it's not that big of a difference to make me switch and possibly have to compromise on service. I'm still paying less than $7/month!

While with Virgin I've switched plans a few times, changed phones, and got GREAT customer service at every turn. And again, less than $7/month. Beat that, big 4!

All these alternative plans sound great, but the only coverage I get in my area of Texas is AT&T. How can I verify that if I change over to another company, such as mobileboost, that I will have coverage in my area?

I like Trac Phone for low usage. It costs about $6 per month and I don't loose minutes. I can get a year +800 minutes and flip phone for $129. I use few minutes per month; great price and free roaming anywhere in USA.

I just started looking into buying a new cell phone because I am going to Mazatlian,Mexico for vacation and would like to do more traveling. The price is right for the Phone,unlimited calls,and call all over the World for $9.95 per month. It sounds too good to be true. What is the catch 22?
Thanks
Dorothy

Ntelos wireless is also an excellent carrier for unlimited if you live in VA, WV, and some parts of KY and OH. Unlmiited starts off at $39.99.

Clark,
I can help wondering why you never mention TraFone as a pre-paid cell phone service. My wife, 16 year old daughter and myself all use one, and it has worked out great for us. They seem to work everywhere, and as far as I can tell, they are inexpensive. Recently TraFone had a promotion with a particular model which doubles your minutes for the life of the phone. We purchase 120 minutes for $29,95 and we get 240 minutes. For our purposes this is more than enough. They come with texting, a low grade camera and voice mail, along with the access to the internet. Because we don't use them a whole lot, mostly just to keep track of each other, it cost's us an average of $29.95 per month, total.

check out Page Plus. Pay by the minute, can even use your Verizon phone.

My wife rarely uses here phone. With "Gold Rewards" it cost $10 to add another year!

Clark you are absolutely correct. Net10 is ONLY ten cents a min. No sur charge or monthly charge.

Been very happy with tracfone, use less than 60 min a month, and did not set up voice mail so I can screen unwanted calls.Plenty of regular phones at hand when needed.

I'm the biggest penny-pincher ever, but I've been with Verizon prepaid plan for two years now. I tell you, it's the way to go. Honest! Trust me! Besides, Verizon just bought out Alltel. Did you know that? What does that tell you about Verizon?!

After doing the math last year on our plan, we switched to Virgin Mobile. We have saved $269.34 in ten months switching from Verizon to a VM pre-paid plan.