posted
Midge is a beautiful girl, but not just a footgirl, she's also a dear friend (and a longtime friend, at that). Recently she's fallen on some hard times - acrimonious breakup with a (buttmunch) boyfriend, roommate skipped town and she had to find a smaller, more affordable place quickly. When you work at Albertsons, you've got to make every penny count.
She was three months behind on her cell phone bill and they finally cut the cord on her, so to speak. When you are a young girl, a cell phone is more than just a phone; it's a security device, and a practical must. So we went to Walmart to take advantage of a special promo, and get Midge a pay-per-use cell phone; an emergency lifeline, and something to bridge her situation to better times.
What we got was pretty astounding (to me). I had no idea what you could expect from a pay-as-you-go cell phone, and wasn't expecting much. Here's what we got for Midge:
1. A Cell Phone. Made by LG, it was much better than I expected. Although rudimentary, it has text message capability, interchangable themes, a variety of ringtones preloaded and good call clarity.
2. Two months and 300 minutes of calling time. This was part of the promo. She's got 300 minutes of talk time, and two months during which to use them. Whichever expires first, she must then reload.
The box came pre-packaged with a nice little case (with belt clip), a home charger, car charger and a hands-free headset & mic. Wow.
We took Midge's phone to a coffee shop, logged in to NET10 and activated it. Within a few minutes of activation, the 300 minutes were there! When you boot up the phone, your total remaining minutes is on the display, as is the number of days / months left. It worked! And all this for $29.00.
She doesn't have a credit card (the easiest way to recharge minutes), but can add minutes online, by calling a toll-free number, OR typing a code number into the phone from a recharge card ... which she can purchase from Walgreens, Fred Meyers, etc.
I got Midge a recharge card for an additional 300 minutes / two months, which she can use when her initial balance runs out. Now she has a lifeline and a great deal of piece of mind, and the price was more than fair.
Overall, I am astounded by the ease of use, the setup, quality of hardware and convenience of it all. Midge is happy and I'm relieved. It was a red-letter day, thanks for Net10, LG and a great technological world, where even the low-life is pretty high.
[ March 24, 2009, 03:25 PM: Message edited by: Ben Del Amitri ]
-------------------- Respectfully,
Ben
Malory in Signature Posts: 5772 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by diamond johny: I've got one myself but the credit well go fast! I was talking for 30 min. & went thru $10. But it is a nice phone.
We figured out you can save money by pre-purchasing minutes in large denominations. The primary purpose of this is for emergency use, but with 600 minutes of talktime, she's in pretty good shape (that's ten hours of talk time).
She's got a self-imposed daily limit of ten minutes and if she sticks to that, it she's good for the next four months. Since the minutes are on a "use it or lose it" basis, she'll start talking it up when she nears the end of each two-month period.
With any luck, she might be back to a point where she can re-establish service with her regular carrier, within four-six months.
-------------------- Respectfully,
Ben
Malory in Signature Posts: 5772 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Self-imposed daily limit of 10 minutes for a 20 year old girl.... buahahahahahah! Excuse me! Methinks she'll blow through that 300 minutes in a week!
Keep us posted on this. I'm curious if she'll keep to her pledge.
quote:Originally posted by LeDaemon: Self-imposed daily limit of 10 minutes for a 20 year old girl.... buahahahahahah! Excuse me! Methinks she'll blow through that 300 minutes in a week!
Keep us posted on this. I'm curious if she'll keep to her pledge.
posted
I recently got the exact same phone/deal. For me it's great. I don't live to talk on the phone. I suggested the same thing for my daughter, but like LD said, that wouldn't last her a week. For those that can control their talk time, it's a great alternative to those $100 plus phone bills that others (like my daughter) get.
I've had mine for 20 days and I've still got 183 minutes left. If I want to have a long conversation with some one I do that face to face or online.
Things will get better. She's got at least one very good friend. She'll do alright. Best of luck to all.
-------------------- It's a sick world, and I'm a happy guy! Posts: 762 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
A former collegue of mine who's from Ireland told me that in Europe, prepaid minutes is pretty much the norm. When the minutes are used up, they can just go into any local convenience store and "re-up". Only in the US are people still paying a monthly fee for the most part. Any truth to this?
quote:Originally posted by Five For Feet: A former collegue of mine who's from Ireland told me that in Europe, prepaid minutes is pretty much the norm. When the minutes are used up, they can just go into any local convenience store and "re-up". Only in the US are people still paying a monthly fee for the most part. Any truth to this?
Most European countries do use a monthly-plan system for cell phones, and there are some who use Annual Subscriptions (paying for a full year at a time). Like the U.S., there are pay-as-you-go alternatives almost everywhere, and even rental cellular for foreign tourists.
Like the U.S., most people (and all business entities) in other countries prefer monthly-based plans. Without them, your access to niceties such as GPS navigation, push-email, text-based messaging, free nights & weekends, mobile music, etc. would be limited or completely unavailable. This is why pay-per-use companies always offer several monthly alternatives ... to allow one to "step up" and incorporate one or more of these special features.
I (and footgirls) went to Germany a few times for private foot parties, where we were granted access to some pay-as-you-go Rental Phones. It turned out to be much more convenient than calling cards and I did learn much about them while there. Fortunately, almost all of Europe is using the GSM system, so if you are from the U.S. and your carrier is AT&T or T-Mobile, you can actually use your own phone (depending on the model) or just bring your SIM card and use it in a rental phone over there.
Japan, like Europe also uses monthly-based systems, but offers less in the area of pay-as-you-go alternatives. Over there, you can use your cell phone to pay for purchases at vending machines, and many other amazing things.
Pay per use cellular is still (generally) relagated to people who are, for some reason unable or unwilling to qualify for a monthly plan. It has gained some headway, and some of the non-GSM based phone companies in this country are beginning to try and offer more attractive alternatives for pay-per-use customers.
Verizon, for example (a Non-GSM carrier) is now offering fully-featured text phones such as the Blitz, at a very fair & reasonable price (under $100 at Best Buy), and keeps open a door for subsequent upgrade or transfer to a monthly plan, as the user sees fit.
Given the breadth of choices and plan opportunities, the pay per use offerings continue to get better as each day passes.
-------------------- Respectfully,
Ben
Malory in Signature Posts: 5772 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by LeDaemon: Self-imposed daily limit of 10 minutes for a 20 year old girl.... buahahahahahah! Excuse me! Methinks she'll blow through that 300 minutes in a week!
Keep us posted on this. I'm curious if she'll keep to her pledge.
It's been a week now and Midge had logged six minutes of use; granting her sixty-four extra minutes to burn. It is a "use it or lose it" situation with these minutes, so she'll no doubt find use for them before the initial sixty-day period ends.
-------------------- Respectfully,
Ben
Malory in Signature Posts: 5772 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
i wish her luck. she's pretty. i don't know about this company, but a friend of mines in dier times is using it.. MetroPCS.. unlimited everything for $40 a month. and i do mean unlimited evertying. she's using that phone for all that it's worth! beats her pre-pay deal which is what your friend has.
hope this info helps her out somehow.
RPM
p.s. in hard times, no matter how young, you can discipline yourself to use your minutes wisely. she doesn't sound like the 'dumb' type!
quote:Originally posted by RPM: i wish her luck. she's pretty. i don't know about this company, but a friend of mines in dier times is using it.. MetroPCS.. unlimited everything for $40 a month. and i do mean unlimited evertying. she's using that phone for all that it's worth! beats her pre-pay deal which is what your friend has.
hope this info helps her out somehow.
RPM
p.s. in hard times, no matter how young, you can discipline yourself to use your minutes wisely. she doesn't sound like the 'dumb' type!
MetroPCS is one of the most outstanding cellular services companys in the country. They are not available in this area, and we have nothing quite as excellent as their "all everything" plan for $40.
What is "normal" (as opposed to unlimited everything, and using one of my accounts as an example ... $79 per month for 1350 minutes, nights and weekends - add $15 per month for unlimited text messaging - add $35 per month for Blackberry / PDA Data plan - add about $40 - $50 in city, state and federal fees & hidden taxes and you've got about $170 - $180 per month on a "79-dollar" calling plan!
I've got Malory on a family plan with one of my personal accounts and if we didn't pay extra for the unlimited text messaging on that, she'd have me up in the STRATUSPHERE with that bill (yes, she does pay her own bill ... she pays me, I pay the phone company). I've got Paisley on another family plan, and she once boosted my bill up by over $300 in one month, in text messaging alone (from CANCUN, for crap's sake!)!!!
That's for my Blackberry, and the same extras & data plan charges go for my iPhone as well, but I haven't even mentioned GPS, which I do subscribe to on my non-business account, and that amounts to another $12 per month.
MetroPCS is a company that does "Unlimited Only", a fantastic concept. In the realm of the large, mainstream cellular providers, Sprint was the first to offer unlimited-everything at a very fair $89 per month. Others are now following suit, but none of them are from the mainstream providers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.).
If we had MetroPCS here, I'd take a look at that, and if Boost Mobile had the kind of phones I want / need, I'd take a hard look at their $50 unlimited offering.
[ April 09, 2009, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: Ben Del Amitri ]
-------------------- Respectfully,
Ben
Malory in Signature Posts: 5772 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
MetroPCS is just now getting into the NY area. I heard it's huge in Florida though!
I hear ya on all the addages.. My wife currently is killing me on the texting.. so i'm getting her the unlimited package this month.
i've been a sprint guy for years.. but i can't wait for them to offer a bit more with their packages (i'm still on one of their ancient packages.. the fair n flexible one)
i used to use a ton of talk time (between my two phones).. and now wifee is taking up all my minutes ever since i've put her on the plan. just sky high every month!!! but that will soon change.. this economy has one good thing to offer... and that is the only thing good about it... causes folks to revisit phone usage habbits!
on the upside, no home phone bill to add on top of the cell bill.
I've got Malory on a family plan with one of my personal accounts and if we didn't pay extra for the unlimited text messaging on that, she'd have me up in the STRATUSPHERE with that bill [/qb]
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