Blackmail Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 so cingular fucked me up the ass too many times and I decided to cancell the account. Overcharging me every month and nickel and diming me. So I searched for what would be best alternative and I found it was.....cingular. cingular gophone prepaid. no contracts. weird.....my contract plan: $39.99 for 400 minutes, unlimited night and weekends, 10 cents for all text messages, $19.99 for unlimited mobile internet. my cingular go phone: $39.99 for 300 minutes, 1000 night and weekends, 10 cents for text messages and $19.99 for unlimited internet. By the way there are cheaper mobile internet pricing, I chose the most expensive. Almost indenticle plans but the prepaid one is better. pros: - no more getting overbilled, my price is the same every month. - text messages are not added to my bill like it was in the contract, they are deducted from the $40 you pay at the beginning of the month. - prepaid has rollover just like contract. - no contract, I can quit anytime. - I can change my plan every month if I want to. cons: - you can't pay cash if you get a prepaid "plan" you can only use a debit/credit card or checking account. (butyou can pay cash if you want to 'pay as you go') - you use at&t's old towers and not cingulars, so the coverage area is smaller than cingulars coverage area. (it's fine in metro detroit though) - you get no discount on phones, you pay full price (but cingular offers go phone packages that start at $30 for color phones). so really, why would anyone choose a contract? Check outcingular's website, the gophone deals are as good as their contract deals. Cingular gophone plans: $30 for 200 minutes $40 for 300 minutes, 1000 Night and weekend minutes $50 for 400 minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes $70 for 650 minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes, free mobile to mobile text messages are 10 cents each and are deducted from your balance. picture and video messaging is 25 cents each. you can choose to have mobile internet deducted from your balance for 1 cent per KB or add on a plan $5 for 1 mb $10 for 2 mb $15 for 5 mb $20 for unlimited I did a little more research and Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile also offer similar plans. Cingular also offers pay as you go where you buy prepaid cards but that is $25 per minute....no thanks! Prepaid is now a viable option. It used to suck. Did I sound like a commercial in this post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torn asunder Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 so what i see is, you're paying the same amount for 100 *less* minutes a month, (everything else looks to be the same) and the ability to cacel at any time!? or am i missing something? i'm a bit confused on the difference in the texting deal... i'm looking for a new plan myself, so i'm curious) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torn asunder Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 wait, maybe i got it - whatever you don't use, of the $40 you pay up front, rolls over!? would that mean that eventually, you could skip a month & use the rollover minutes alone, or does it mean you just pay less than $40 the next month!? do you know anything about the out-of-state coverage area? i'll try to check their website as soon as i can - just thought i'd ask. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marblez Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 wait, maybe i got it - whatever you don't use, of the $40 you pay up front, rolls over!? would that mean that eventually, you could skip a month & use the rollover minutes alone, or does it mean you just pay less than $40 the next month!? do you know anything about the out-of-state coverage area? i'll try to check their website as soon as i can - just thought i'd ask. =) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No, it does not work that way. If you skip a payment it GO's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torn asunder Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 well, then, other than being able to cancel at a month's notice, wtf is the point!? :blink i'm confused... :erm (like, if it has rolloever minutes, and you skip a payment, do you lose them? do they reimburse you for any unused balances? how is this plan beneficial!?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackmail Posted April 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 I cancelled the account because Cingular has major billing issues, they are notorious for it. I was getting $150 bills every month, sometimes they admitted their mistake and reduced it to $40, other times they made me pay and I had no choice. Now, all my bill are $40 and never more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torn asunder Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 ah... i see. thanks! =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneDead Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 i told you ted before about the go phone in the poll about it. t.a. - and whatever you don't use, does roll over. but you still do have to pay the 40 a month (if that is your plan). but say for example you don't use any of that 40, it rolls over. i have had my balance up to 150 something at one point. which is nice because if i happen to then talk for a long time (which i never do, but i could) i won't have to worry about going over my minutes because i have a ton stored up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce Critter Posted April 10, 2006 Report Share Posted April 10, 2006 Jon and I have the cheapest cell phone around. We simply don't have one. :grin We still use payphones. Not nearly as convenient, I know. But they're still around, and we use them. To be honest, we don't have need for cellphones, except for it would be nice to have one in the truck with us when on trips for safety & emergencies. But no cellphone contract or pay-as-you-go plan is cheap enough for just that. We had a Tracfone for a while. They used to roll over minutes. They don't anymore. And they raised the amount you have to spend monthly to once again be a waste of money for us. I wish there were something out there for people like us, who have no desire nor real need for a cellphone, yet who would like something on hand for emergencies. Even better would be something like that, but allowing one or two other callable numbers so, for instance, I can be at the store and call Jon at home to ask him a question about something I'm buying. But ONLY be able to call the home number, or something like that. Right now, we do have a cellphone, technically. Jon has to have one for work, and has to have it on him at all times. So they provide him with Nextel. We have to pay $15.00 a month out of his paycheck, and he gets something like 300 minutes a month, which he pretty much only uses to call me during the day. So it works out for us kinda, as he can take it with him even off work hours. So if we're on that trip up north, the phone will go with us. Doesn't work for me, though, if I'm in that "at the store" scenerio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaneDead Posted April 11, 2006 Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 Jon and I have the cheapest cell phone around. We simply don't have one. :grin We still use payphones. Not nearly as convenient, I know. But they're still around, and we use them. To be honest, we don't have need for cellphones, except for it would be nice to have one in the truck with us when on trips for safety & emergencies. size] <{POST_SNAPBACK}> i used to be anti-cell phone but after having 3 kids and always having a pretty crappy car made me want to have one for safety/emergencies. plus when i drive out to my mom's which is 45-60 minutes away i feel better doing so with my phone. and i have to drive through bad neighborhoods sometimes to get to other places and feel better doing so when i am alone with my phone. one time i got stuck somewhere and had to call my son's school to tell them i would be late to get him. so now in one way i love having a cell phone and almost feel like i can not drive around without it but that also makes me hate it. it is like i have become too dependant on it. i wish i could feel comfortable just using a pay phone but i am glad i do have one. in recent months i got a flat tire, in a bad neighborhood, and just called my friends i was going to see to come pick me up. otherwise i would have had to walk to a phone, walk back and wait. i guess i have gotten too scared in my old age. :grin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackmail Posted April 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2006 yeah and the other thing i like is that text messages just come off of your $40 plan......whereas with a contract they added 10 cents per text. I never used all my minutes, so I just think this pre-paid deal works much better for me. no more headaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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