School me on cell phones

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Merkava_4

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You guys have any recommendations?
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I'm thinking I should probably get a cell phone someday to use for emergency roadside assistance. No telling how long I'd be on the side of the freeway waiting for somebody to come by with a cell phone. If I had one, I'd just keep it inside the car for emergencies.

I don't think I need a smart phone, (whatever a smart phone is
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). I just need a phone that's
capable of calling a tow truck. How about one of those prepaid phones; how do those work?
 
All cell phones will dial 911. Even if they aren't hooked up to any carrier and you aren't paying a bill.
Your best bet is pre-paid. Basically you go to your favorite convenience store. You buy a card or a voucher in a decided denomination from 5 dollars and up. You then get a code on the card or voucher. You dial the number on the card/voucher,follow the prompts and when asked type in your PIN number.
Voila. The phone now knows how much credit is in your account,all you do is dial.
Some carriers will grant more minutes if you buy a more costly card,some will allow your credits to purchase unlimited texting for a lump sum,or unlimited evenings and weekend for a lump sum.
Once your account is depleted its back to the store for another card.
Pre-paid phones are either purchased outright,or you can buy a SIM card that turns any phone into the pre-paid number you purchase.
I suggest getting an old phone and charger from a friend. Usually they can be had for free. Go buy a SIM from the carrier of your choosing. Put the SIM card into the chip port found behind the battery and your in business.
But if its an emergency only phone(9-1-1) then you don't need a carrier. All cell phones will put a 911 call through.
 
I got my Mom and Dad a Tracfone, cost was $9.99 for the phone, and $100 for a year of days and a thousand minutes...

These phones use two metrics, days and minutes. You get 400 minutes and 365 days with a year card, look on Google for extra minute codes or retailmenot.com...

Extra minutes and days can be bought, but the cost of these add up quickly...
Stick with the year card, 400 minutes, and bonus minutes...
 
wow, I thought I was the last to get a cell phone. I like non contract pay by the month phones. You buy the phone at Walmart or Amazon, make sure it is compatable with your monthly plan / company (I have a Boost Mobile compatable phone that works with BOOST Mobile, which costs me $50 a month unlimited phone and texting useage - except foreign calls . You will use more minutes that you think)> The phone cost $40 on amazon-a BOOST specific model. It is not a super fancy phone. I also got on e-bay and purchased a spare charger, car charger, and battery, plus a small SD memory card to hold all my phone numbers as back up plus some pictures. (way cheaper - usually - than buying at a retail store).Some folks buy a new product that is essentially a laptop battery in a box - you charge it and it can charge a phone several times. This would be useful if you have a cell phone in the car with a dead battery (car and phone).I'll bet other folks can suggest a brand - carrier - that has good signal reception in your area. Wal-Mart is a big seller - but buy the accessories on e-bay. Finally - learn to text message. This is not to be 16, UNO, but as a safety measure, k? I read this a long time ago that when 911 happened many cell towers failed and the others were swamped. Supposedly a voice phone will get a busy signal, but a text message might be received and then sent to destination.Wish I could find the article, but it sure makes sense. A tower doesn't know how long an inbound cell call will last, but it quickly can accept, process, and temporarily store a text msg of determined length. Anyway, lots of other folks on here are sharper on cell phones than me.
 
You guys got any specific brands you recommend?

Is there that much difference between phones or is the difference in the carrier?
 
Get a bundle with the phone, usually includes a car charger, hands free earphone, wall charger, and carry case.
 
The requirement of all cell phone is dialing 9 would give you emergency call without the service: 911 in the US, 999 in Brittan, 119 in China, etc.

If you are just using it for emergency, get a dumb phone with fresh battery used and keep it charged. You can usually get a 2 year old phone for free from friends. I would keep 1 in each car connected to a car charger at all time, then 1 in the house with wall charger connected. They are free anyways.
 
Look at the minimum price a phone would cost you over a year.

Looks like the Verizon is $15 a month, or $180 a year...
 
Coverage is important also. I just took two cross country road trips, with three cell phones in the car.

1 verizon contract phone, 1 verizon prepaid phone, 1 tmobile prepaid phone.

The verizon phones would give service where tmobile would not at several rural areas during the trip.
 
Right now I'm looking at a Kyocera Coast by Boost Mobile. The only thing I can't figure out is whether the phone comes with any minutes when you buy it. Their website says all you do is buy the phone and then go online to activate it. They don't say whether I get any free minutes with the purchase of the phone of if I gotta buy some minutes after activating it.
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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Right now I'm looking at a Kyocera Coast by Boost Mobile. The only thing I can't figure out is whether the phone comes with any minutes when you buy it. Their website says all you do is buy the phone and then go online to activate it. They don't say whether I get any free minutes with the purchase of the phone of if I gotta buy some minutes after activating it.
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If it's the "pay as you go" plan, then you pay 20 cents per minute.

http://www.boostmobile.com/shop/phones/kyocera-coast/#plans_1
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
Coverage is important also. I just took two cross country road trips, with three cell phones in the car.

1 verizon contract phone, 1 verizon prepaid phone, 1 tmobile prepaid phone.

The verizon phones would give service where tmobile would not at several rural areas during the trip.



I have noticed the same thing.

Verizon has the best network, if you want a phone that's going to work more often get one that's Verizon based.

Driving along I80 their were a number of times I could make calls and even stream video on my Iphone where my buddy with his At&T based phone had no or very limited service.
 
Not sure what you mean by that. You can make calls right out of the box... you'll just get a bill for them at 20 cents/minute, both outgoing as well as incoming. There are no free minutes.
 
probably no free minutes included, my BOOST plan starts around $50-55 per month and slightly drops the longer you pay on time, or buy the refill card at a store.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Not sure what you mean by that. You can make calls right out of the box... you'll just get a bill for them at 20 cents/minute, both outgoing as well as incoming. There are no free minutes.


Oh okay. I was under the impression that the phone came with 300 minutes out of the box.
 
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