PagePlus, the Prepaid Service Few People Know About even though theyare usually the cheapest option with the best coverage

Today I was doing the den meeting for my son's Cub Scout den, and part
of the program was about family budgeting and reducing recurring monthly
expenditures.

Besides the parent's suggestions of saving electricity by eliminating
all video games, and the scouts suggestion of cutting showers back to
once a month to save water and natural gas, one of the topics was saving
money on items like internet access, long distance, and cellular.

I mentioned that I paid only about $2.50/month each for cell phone
service for my kid's phones, and after the meeting I was surrounded by
parents wanting to know how to sign up.

PagePlus must be about the worst in terms of getting the word out about
their service. They'll be getting about six new accounts in the next
week thanks to me. Since Verizon is the predominant carrier in my area,
almost everyone at the meeting had at least one spare Verizon phone to
use (though the kids of course want a fancy camera phone--tough luck!).

I had to go into explaining how to sign up (having to buy activation on
eBay is kind of strange), and which phones to use (any phone that was
ever on Verizon CDMA), and explain the rollover, the re-upping every
four months, etc. All these parents were thinking of prepaid in terms of
the horrible deals with high minimums from Verizon, AT&T, Virgin,
Tracfone, Net10, etc. (T-Mobile doesn't work in my area, so they are not
a consideration).

PagePlus costs:
--------------
$76/1400 minutes = 5.4¢/min
$47.50/700 minutes = 6.8¢/min
$10/83 minutes = 12¢/min

Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
existing minutes. 50¢/month service charge.

In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

> Besides the parent's suggestions of saving electricity by eliminating
> all video games, and the scouts suggestion of cutting showers back to
> once a month to save water and natural gas

Obviously the latter is a joke, but the way you put those together, you
seem to think "elminating all video games" is a joke?

It's a perfectly rational thing to do. Of course, today's "I'm too
busy" parents just love the video games as an electronic babysitter...

In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

> I had to go into explaining how to sign up (having to buy activation on
> eBay is kind of strange), and which phones to use (any phone that was
> ever on Verizon CDMA), and explain the rollover, the re-upping every
> four months, etc. All these parents were thinking of prepaid in terms of
> the horrible deals with high minimums from Verizon, AT&T, Virgin,
> Tracfone, Net10, etc. (T-Mobile doesn't work in my area, so they are not
> a consideration).
>
> PagePlus costs:
> --------------
> $76/1400 minutes = 5.4¢/min
> $47.50/700 minutes = 6.8¢/min
> $10/83 minutes = 12¢/min
>
> Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
> existing minutes. 50¢/month service charge.

OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
site, where they say any of this?

Because it ain't there.

You can buy 700 minutes for $50, but they don't show any 1400 minute
airtime cards.

Oh, wait--last time I was on their site a few days ago, they had only
ONE airtime card available. What's with the jumping web site? They
don't have product to sell? They don't bother to keep airtime cards in
stock?

Same with phones--now they have 4, but the other day they had ZERO
PHONES available. That's just plain fishy. It smells of a local kiosk
dealer whose phone stock varies from day to day, depending on what fell
off the back of the truck last night.

Starter kits on Ebay are there, but only a couple of them, and there are
some $10 and $15 airtime cards, but no 700 or 1400 minute ones. The
whole thing looks skanky.

And why doesn't their web site sell starter kits? Why is EVERYTHING
done over Ebay--and badly, at that? The smell is getting pretty strong
here.

And none of what you say about re-upping and rollover is documented
ANYWHERE. Frankly, it all sounds like the smooth-talking used car sale.
Their web site looks like some kid did it in an afternoon and hasn't
touched it since.

And their coverage maps don't tell squat. Why do I care what "home
coverage area" I have or am in at any given time? Why are the maps all
radically different in nature, in look and feel and information given or
not given?

Given the piss-poor web site and total lack of documentation of
anything, why would I bother to buy anything from them? On your say so?
Why should I believe you, or any dealer, for that matter? "Here, it
works that way, really. No, I don't have any brochures or pamphlets to
give you. Just take my word for it, everything'll be fine." Yeah,
right. Uncle Sam's Honest Used Cars. Every car a creampuff, a steal, I
tell ya!

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> Besides the parent's suggestions of saving electricity by eliminating
>> all video games, and the scouts suggestion of cutting showers back to
>> once a month to save water and natural gas
>
> Obviously the latter is a joke, but the way you put those together, you
> seem to think "elminating all video games" is a joke?
>
> It's a perfectly rational thing to do. Of course, today's "I'm too
> busy" parents just love the video games as an electronic babysitter...

Except that the video games use very little electricity. Other than
that, I agree with you that many kids spend way too much time on video
games.

You cant buy from Page Plus direct. You have to go thru there sellers.
Unless this changed in the past 6 months or so.

That's why you see so many on eBay selling Page Plus time.
We have a guy that sells time in his little mom and pop store.
Funny thing is our town does not have local numbers for page plus users.

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote in message
news:elmop-29B3CA.20443723092007@nntp1.usenetserver.com...
> In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> I had to go into explaining how to sign up (having to buy activation on
>> eBay is kind of strange), and which phones to use (any phone that was
>> ever on Verizon CDMA), and explain the rollover, the re-upping every
>> four months, etc. All these parents were thinking of prepaid in terms of
>> the horrible deals with high minimums from Verizon, AT&T, Virgin,
>> Tracfone, Net10, etc. (T-Mobile doesn't work in my area, so they are not
>> a consideration).
>>
>> PagePlus costs:
>> --------------
>> $76/1400 minutes = 5.4¢/min
>> $47.50/700 minutes = 6.8¢/min
>> $10/83 minutes = 12¢/min
>>
>> Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
>> existing minutes. 50¢/month service charge.
>
> OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
> site, where they say any of this?
>
> Because it ain't there.
>
> You can buy 700 minutes for $50, but they don't show any 1400 minute
> airtime cards.
>
> Oh, wait--last time I was on their site a few days ago, they had only
> ONE airtime card available. What's with the jumping web site? They
> don't have product to sell? They don't bother to keep airtime cards in
> stock?
>
> Same with phones--now they have 4, but the other day they had ZERO
> PHONES available. That's just plain fishy. It smells of a local kiosk
> dealer whose phone stock varies from day to day, depending on what fell
> off the back of the truck last night.
>
> Starter kits on Ebay are there, but only a couple of them, and there are
> some $10 and $15 airtime cards, but no 700 or 1400 minute ones. The
> whole thing looks skanky.
>
> And why doesn't their web site sell starter kits? Why is EVERYTHING
> done over Ebay--and badly, at that? The smell is getting pretty strong
> here.
>
> And none of what you say about re-upping and rollover is documented
> ANYWHERE. Frankly, it all sounds like the smooth-talking used car sale.
> Their web site looks like some kid did it in an afternoon and hasn't
> touched it since.
>
> And their coverage maps don't tell squat. Why do I care what "home
> coverage area" I have or am in at any given time? Why are the maps all
> radically different in nature, in look and feel and information given or
> not given?
>
> Given the piss-poor web site and total lack of documentation of
> anything, why would I bother to buy anything from them? On your say so?
> Why should I believe you, or any dealer, for that matter? "Here, it
> works that way, really. No, I don't have any brochures or pamphlets to
> give you. Just take my word for it, everything'll be fine." Yeah,
> right. Uncle Sam's Honest Used Cars. Every car a creampuff, a steal, I
> tell ya!
>

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <46f6f23c$0$27170$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> I had to go into explaining how to sign up (having to buy activation on
>> eBay is kind of strange), and which phones to use (any phone that was
>> ever on Verizon CDMA), and explain the rollover, the re-upping every
>> four months, etc. All these parents were thinking of prepaid in terms of
>> the horrible deals with high minimums from Verizon, AT&T, Virgin,
>> Tracfone, Net10, etc. (T-Mobile doesn't work in my area, so they are not
>> a consideration).
>>
>> PagePlus costs:
>> --------------
>> $76/1400 minutes = 5.4¢/min
>> $47.50/700 minutes = 6.8¢/min
>> $10/83 minutes = 12¢/min
>>
>> Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
>> existing minutes. 50¢/month service charge.
>
> OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
> site, where they say any of this?

http://www.telecomservices.net/cgi-b...tam?tcon=21130

You'll get no argument from me that their web site is very weak and
uninformative, and that it's strange that you have to buy activation
kits from eBay if you have no resellers in your area.

It may be that Pageplus doesn't seem to want to compete with their
resellers, so their web site is very limited, I don't know.

The frequently asked questions are whether unused minutes roll over, and
how long cards last:

-Minutes do roll over as long as you re-up prior to, or at 120 days
-All cards extend the account for 120 days

I once had time expire and called them and they put back everything
(about $50). They didn't have to do this, it was my fault, but they were
pretty nice about it.

Their home coverage area is the same as Verizon's native coverage, and
in some cases includes Verizon extended coverage. You know if you're
roaming because you have to enter the phone numbers twice.

The big advantage of PagePlus, besides the low rates, is that you get
coverage that is unavailable with most other MVNOs, most of which are
GSM on AT&T, or CDMA on Sprint. In the west anyway, Verizon coverage is
far, far better than Sprint or any of the GSM carriers. Check Consumer
Reports for coverage surveys for your area.

The biggest annoyance of PagePlus, IMVAIO, is that the only way to know
when your 120 days are coming up is to call them. I keep track of it on
a calendar, but it's kind of a pain to not be able to check this on-line
or from the phone via an automated system.

They just seem to be a very low budget operation, not really set up to
sell direct to the end user, preferring to use resellers even at the
expense of having to pay commissions. And no, I'm not a reseller, just a
customer with two accounts.

They've been around since at least 2002, longer than most MVNOs. Some
big name MVNOs have come and gone during that five years, leaving their
customers stranded, i.e. Amp'd Mobile and ESPN Mobile.

Kevin Weaver wrote:
> You cant buy from Page Plus direct. You have to go thru there sellers.
> Unless this changed in the past 6 months or so.

You can call them and buy time. I've done it twice, most recently last week.

You can't buy the $80/1400 minute card from them, at least not on-line.

I think that they are an extremely low-budget operation, and not set up
to sell direct to the end user. Maybe this is a good business plan,
considering they've survived longer than some big name MVNO's that spent
fortunes on marketing, advertising, and fancy e-commerce sites.

On 2007-09-24, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
> Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> PagePlus costs:
>>> --------------
>>> $76/1400 minutes = 5.4¢/min
>>> $47.50/700 minutes = 6.8¢/min
>>> $10/83 minutes = 12¢/min
>>>
>>> Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
>>> existing minutes. 50¢/month service charge.
>>
>> OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
>> site, where they say any of this?
>
> http://www.telecomservices.net/cgi-b...tam?tcon=21130

How do you know how many minutes you get from this seller's cards?

The reason I'm asking is that right now on eBay there's a seller
who advertises his $50 cards as getting you only 425 minutes, here

http://tinyurl.com/3ycav5

which seems to suggest that not all $50 cards are necessarily equal.

This seems more than a little bit screwed up.

Dennis Ferguson

Dennis Ferguson wrote:
> On 2007-09-24, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>> Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>>> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>>>> PagePlus costs:
>>>> --------------
>>>> $76/1400 minutes = 5.4¢/min
>>>> $47.50/700 minutes = 6.8¢/min
>>>> $10/83 minutes = 12¢/min
>>>>
>>>> Add a minimum of $10 every 4 months to keep account active and roll-over
>>>> existing minutes. 50¢/month service charge.
>>> OK, so do you want to point to actual documentation, say on their web
>>> site, where they say any of this?
>> http://www.telecomservices.net/cgi-b...tam?tcon=21130
>
> How do you know how many minutes you get from this seller's cards?
>
> The reason I'm asking is that right now on eBay there's a seller
> who advertises his $50 cards as getting you only 425 minutes, here
>
> http://tinyurl.com/3ycav5
>
> which seems to suggest that not all $50 cards are necessarily equal.
>
> This seems more than a little bit screwed up.

I don't know why he's charging that much, but I think that used to be
the number of minutes for $50 cards last year.

It's complicated because you pay in dollars, but are credited in minutes.

The proper prices are the following:

An $80 card is good for 1400 minutes worth 12¢ each or "$168"
A $50 card is good for 700 minutes worth 12¢ each or "$84"
A $25 card is good for 300 minutes worth 12¢ each or "$36"
A $10 card is good for 83 minutes worth 12¢ each or "$10"

Some sellers discount the card's retail price slightly.

I don't know why telecomservices.net doesn't list the minutes you get.

In article <YoEJi.1387$6p6.719@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net>,
"Kevin Weaver" <kevinkeithweaver@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> You cant buy from Page Plus direct. You have to go thru there sellers.

Just go to their web site, you'll see that indeed you can buy from Page
Plus. Although their web site SUCKS.