Mother's Day Special - Free shipping from TracFone

TracFone is also having a special. Get FREE SHIPPING on all offers of $19.99 or more at TracFone.com.

Now it's just a matter of finding a cell phone over $19.99.

It jus so happens that TracFone is also offering the Motorola v176, but for $59.99. Here are the specs:

• Features text messaging, voice mail, free caller ID, free call waiting*
• Color display with screen savers and wallpaper
• Battery talk time over 6 hours and standby time up to 12.5 days
• Pre-loaded ringtones
• Handsfree speaker phone built-in
• Multimedia Games
• Weighs just 3.06 ounces
• Alarm clock
• TracFone Airtime Balance Display shows you how much airtime you've used and how much is left, so you control your costs
• Includes up to 20 minutes of starter airtime upon activation**

* Caller ID and call waiting may not be available in analog service areas or outside your local calling area.

** In order to qualify, simply activate your TracFone on the Web at TracFone.com and register your e-mail address while you're there.

From the previous post, Net 10 offers this phone for $89.99. The difference is 300 minutes (Net 10) vs. 20 minutes (TracFone). Of course, there are other choices to look at.



Technorati Tags: cellphone, cell phone, TracFone, Motorola v176, prepaid cellphone, Mother's Day cell phone promotion

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Prepaid cellphones, pt 2 - Guide to buy

Link to Prepaid cellphones, pt 1

Where to buy pre-paid cell phones

Unlike a contract phone where the most important factor for buying is the features of a particular cell phone, prepaid cell phones require a more sensible approach. The most important factor is probably cost. Since the phone is likely to be a one-time purchase (unless it breaks and sometimes it's free with a promotion), then it is best to compare the price per minute of the phone cards. Of course, this may change over time, but you gotta start somewhere.

Available vendors.

	Lowest Card (USD)	Minutes	$$$/Min	Service Date
Net10	$30	300	$0.10	60 days
TracFone	$19.99	60	$0.33	90 days
Cingular	$15	60	$0.25	30 days
Boost Mobile	$20	varies-day, eve minutes	$0.10 - $0.20	monthly service
US Cellular	$25	100	$0.25	monthly service
Amp'd Mobile	$20	200	$0.20	60 days

Things to consider

1) Not all cellphone plan carrier serves every area. As an example, US Cellular is not one of my options because they don't cover Southern California as of this date.

2) You have to buy the cellphone upfront. Unlike contract plans where the cost of the phone can be buried in the service agreement for payment over time, prepaid phones will cost you anywhere from $50.00 and up for the phone.

3) Be sure to add minutes to your phone before the expiration of the service dates. In prepaid phones, you're leasing the phone number that's assigned to you. If you let it expire, that phone number can be assigned to someone else; you can re-subscribe, but you'll get a different number. Adding minutes before the service date expires keeps the phone number in your name.

Suggestions

Reviewing the above options for cell phone vendors, the most widely available carrier seems to be TracFone. Their 90 days service date also makes a lot of sense for me since I do not intend to use the cell phone a lot. At $0.33/minute, TracFone seems to be the most expensive of all the vendors above. However, if I purchase 120 min for $29.99, the rate drops to $0.25/min. Additionally, there's also an option for 400 min for 1 year. Tracfone also runs a promotion from time to time. Currently they have buy a 1 Year Card and get 50 bonus minutes and a FREE phone.

Technorati Tags: cellphone, cell phone, Cingular, Net 10, TracFone, Boost Mobile, US Cellular, Amp'd Mobile, prepaid cellphone

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