My grandmother has been without a cellphone for about 10 years now, she wants one but has been turned off by the contracts, so this year I am thinking about getting her a Go-Phone or a Tracfone, i was just wondering if anyone has an experience with them and which one might be the better choice...

i was hoping to go with verizon, but I don't think there is any way to do it without having to still have an account with them.


any input you guys could give me would be awesome... thanks

 

how much will she use it?

 

you can get a verizon inpulse pre-paid phone, but its at least $30/month for that. ($1/day, unlim verizon to verizon, and unlimited nights)

next step up is easypay, which is basically having a plan without a contract... its $50/month for 350 mins, or $70/month for 700. unlim verizon to verizon, 3000 nights and weekends. no contract.

sounds like the best option for her would be something like virgin mobile, which allows you to pay as little as $20/90 days and wouldbe best for emergencies. also- if you put $100 on the virgin mobile account, it keeps it active for an entire year, so assuming she'd only be using it for emergencies, that would be the best option.

just stay away from boost mobile.

 

i have prepaid with tmobile. no complaints.

 

she most likely will only use it when she goes out and uses the phone, which will be seldom, but not just for emergencies, possibly 1-2 times a week

as far as virgin goes i don't want to go with sprint's service, it's too spotty in my town. it's even worse than cingular's

i guess the best option for me is to get her a gophone.. unless anyone has heard complaints i think this is what i'm doing.

 

go-phone is cingular.

sucks that sprint's service sucks in your area, cause virgin has the best deal going as far as i know.

inpulse is a good option but its 30/month. if you already have your own post-paid plan, why not add her on to yours and make a family plan? from the way you're describing her usage, you probably wouldn't even notice the few mins she'd be taking of yours.

what do you currently have?

 

i have a regular plan with the rest of my immediate family, the problem is that there are people who may "borrow" her phone...


as far as service around here goes it is pretty much Verizon>cingular=t mobile= most other networks>nextel/sprint

even i was impressed by the rates for virgin, but honestly, if she can't use the phone what good is it? and at the rate she'd be using it i don't think there'd be a problem with paying 10-20% more per minute... i mean figure she uses $5 a week it may only be an extra dollar to assure it will most likely work.