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

At 24 Sep 2007 18:47:07 -0700 SMS wrote:

> On the one occasion when I missed the refill date, I called them
> and they restored $50 worth of minutes I had lost. I doubt if the
> large carriers would have been nice enough to do that.


When I was a Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems (eventually Cingular,
then AT&T) dealer I'd called them on behalf of customers several
times and had expired balances restored. (And that was back when
prepaid minutes were $0.65!) Generally their policy was they'd do it
for anyone, ONCE. After that you were stuck if you forgot to refill.

I used to keep a calendar for my prepaid customers and call them a
week or so prior to expiration, take a credit card over the phone and
refill for them (only if they preferred that arrangement and agreed
to it, of course!)



--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
>to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
>PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
>re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
>card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).

Might be easier to use the Yahoo store -

http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo...paidcards.html



--

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

....George Bernard Shaw

SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>>> Yeah, four months is about as short as I'd tolerate in terms of having
>>> to do refills. I can't imagine having to do them every sixty days.
>>> PagePlus is one of the easier ones to refill, just call them and they
>>> re-up your account, without having to enter any PIN numbers, or buy the
>>> card directly from their web site (which does require a PIN number IIRC).
>>
>> Might be easier to use the Yahoo store -
>>
>> http://pagepluscellular.stores.yahoo...paidcards.html
>
>Then you have to enter the PIN to recharge it, rather than just letting
>them do it.

Not sure what you mean - as I remember, just entered the phone number,
and the minutes (and time extension) were added automatically...


--

Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

....P.J. O'Rourke

Steve wrote:

> Not sure what you mean - as I remember, just entered the phone number,
> and the minutes (and time extension) were added automatically...

This is true, it's not a big deal. For some people they just want to
call up and get the phone recharged without entering anything. I called
them because their e-commerce site wouldn't take my Visa card, and they
did the re-upping for me.

Todd Allcock wrote:

> I used to keep a calendar for my prepaid customers and call them a
> week or so prior to expiration, take a credit card over the phone and
> refill for them (only if they preferred that arrangement and agreed
> to it, of course!)

Now that's good service!

BTW, there is one advantage of a service like Tracfone and Net10. Since
their phones use proprietary firmware, and can't be unlocked (though
some models can be reflashed to standard firmware, and unlocked, if you
send them to a service that has the equipment), the phones are very
cheap, and easy to buy in retail stores. For short term visitors to the
U.S., something like Net10 would be a lot cheaper than roaming on their
home carrier (assuming they had a 850/1900 MHz GSM capable phone).

Buying a PagePlus capable phone is not so cheap--you can buy a Verizon
prepaid phone, but these cost a lot more than a TracFone, or Net10
phone, so for short term use it's expensive. You can buy T-Mobile SIM
cards, but T-Mobile coverage isn't very good.

On Sep 26, 1:01 am, SMS <scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote:
> Todd Allcock wrote:
> > I used to keep a calendar for myprepaidcustomers and call them a
> > week or so prior to expiration, take a credit card over thephoneand
> > refill for them (only if they preferred that arrangement and agreed
> > to it, of course!)
>
> Now that's good service!
>
> BTW, there is one advantage of a service like Tracfone and Net10. Since
> their phones use proprietary firmware, and can't be unlocked (though
> some models can be reflashed to standard firmware, and unlocked, if you
> send them to a service that has the equipment), the phones are very
> cheap, and easy to buy in retail stores. For short term visitors to the
> U.S., something like Net10 would be a lot cheaper than roaming on their
> home carrier (assuming they had a 850/1900 MHz GSM capablephone).
>
> Buying a PagePlus capablephoneis not so cheap--you can buy a Verizonprepaidphone, but these cost a lot more than a TracFone, or Net10phone, so for short term use it's expensive. You can buy T-Mobile SIMcards, but T-Mobile coverage isn't very good.

I got a T-mobile prepaid and use only for very important calls. I'm
using ever reliable Onesuite prepaid calling card and Onesuite Voip
for my long distance calls. Saves me a lot especially for those long
calls to U.K. and Singapore. You can track your usage online and
there's an option to hear your balance or minutes whenever you make
calls on the prepaid calling card service.

Zee wrote:

> I got a T-mobile prepaid and use only for very important calls. I'm
> using ever reliable Onesuite prepaid calling card and Onesuite Voip
> for my long distance calls. Saves me a lot especially for those long
> calls to U.K. and Singapore. You can track your usage online and
> there's an option to hear your balance or minutes whenever you make
> calls on the prepaid calling card service.

Yes, OneSuite is the way to go for long distance, especially
international calls.

OneSuite is also a good companion to prepaid and postpaid cell phones
for international calls, since they are so much less expensive than
international calls dialed directly.

They also have started to have a lot of toll-free international access
numbers ("http://www.onesuite.com/access_international.asp").

T-Mobile is a good deal in prepaid, especially once you buy the $100
card and get the one year expiration on all future airtime purchases.
Alas, the T-Mobile coverage out west is not good at all.

"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:46f7fd11$0$27203$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> Godzilla Pimp wrote:
>
>> Yes indeed. PP is the best prepaid service out there for anyone in native
>> Verizon territory. An old and reliable company. You can use any Verizon,
>> Alltel and some Amp'd phones or buy a shiny new INpulse phone at Walmart
>> or Target. The other good alternative for folks in the central US where
>> native Verizon coverage is often lacking is Tmo2go. Check out the people
>> who know instead of posting speculative crap.
>
> T-Mobile has very spotty coverage in the western region, so they're not a
> good choice for prepaid (or postpaid) out here. I've used them with no
> problem on the east coast. It's not that they don't want to improve their
> coverage, it's that to do so means placing towers in places where they
> can't get zoning approval for towers. It's not like satellite dishes where
> the FCC prohibits any zoning ordinances from preventing satellite
> receivers.

Tho rapidly improving, Tmo2go coverage is not as good as Verizon's, which is
tops. But in the central US (outside of major urban areas) you will be
roaming and paying about 50c/m on Page Plus while with Tmo2go roaming is
free.

Check your maps, neighbors and friends for coverage in your area.

http://www.howardforums.com/

In article <13fnvt6d2hnq1b0@corp.supernews.com>,
Godzilla Pimp <me7@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
>news:46f7fd11$0$27203$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net.. .
>> Godzilla Pimp wrote:
>>
>>> Yes indeed. PP is the best prepaid service out there for anyone in native
>>> Verizon territory. An old and reliable company. You can use any Verizon,
>>> Alltel and some Amp'd phones or buy a shiny new INpulse phone at Walmart
>>> or Target. The other good alternative for folks in the central US where
>>> native Verizon coverage is often lacking is Tmo2go. Check out the people
>>> who know instead of posting speculative crap.
>>
>> T-Mobile has very spotty coverage in the western region, so they're not a
>> good choice for prepaid (or postpaid) out here. I've used them with no
>> problem on the east coast. It's not that they don't want to improve their
>> coverage, it's that to do so means placing towers in places where they
>> can't get zoning approval for towers. It's not like satellite dishes where
>> the FCC prohibits any zoning ordinances from preventing satellite
>> receivers.
>
>Tho rapidly improving, Tmo2go coverage is not as good as Verizon's, which is
>tops. But in the central US (outside of major urban areas) you will be
>roaming and paying about 50c/m on Page Plus while with Tmo2go roaming is
>free.
>
>Check your maps, neighbors and friends for coverage in your area.
>
>http://www.howardforums.com/
>
>


But are the TM phones quad-band? To be fully fair to GSM and TM in the
lack of coverage areas, if the phone can't talk on 850 and/or 1900, then
coverage may be lacking. Leaving one of those bands out and the
roaming/coverage claim is only half true (roaming may occur on the other
band, but the phone doesn't pick it up).

Scott

> But are the TM phones quad-band? To be fully fair to GSM and TM in the
> lack of coverage areas, if the phone can't talk on 850 and/or 1900, then
> coverage may be lacking. Leaving one of those bands out and the
> roaming/coverage claim is only half true (roaming may occur on the other
> band, but the phone doesn't pick it up).

You can use a quad band phone, or a 850/1900. I think all the T-Mobile
phones are 850/1900 or quad band these days (or tri-band with only the
1800 MHz non-U.S. band, which is essentially worthless outside the U.S.).

The issue is more that they don't allow the same amount of roaming onto
other carriers on the prepaid as they do on postpaid.

Even on postpaid, TM's roaming is limited when they have a network in
the area, even if they have no coverage in a specific location. I.e.,
the TM map for my house shows one bar (the reality is that it's very
difficult to make a connection).

At least in this area, AT&T customers can use the 1900 MHz T-Mobile
network, for now anyway (AT&T sold it to T-Mobile after Cingular
acquired AT&T wireless and got the more desirable 800 MHz spectrum). I
have an old Motorola tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900) and it works with a
Cingular SIM card, at least where T-Mobile has coverage.