Curious about PagePlus

[RedStickHam]

First, I apologize for posting this in the tech forum. It was a mistake.


Been browsing this forum and like what I'm reading about PagePlus. I'm on contract to ATT with the 700 minute family plan shared between 2 phones(mine and my wife's) with per use text and data. We never use data, and only occasionally use texting, so our bill usually runs between $80-$90/month. We also rarely use more than 200 minutes between us every month. Wife is dissatisfied with A.T.& T. and wants to leave once our contract is up, but with Verizon's new pricing structure, we're not sure if that is where we want to go.

Unlike many of the other prepaid carriers, PagePlus seems to have good customer service and the rates look good along with the coverage. The only thing I don't like is the 2 phones they are presently offering. I prefer the smaller bar phones or flip phones. I have the ATT F160 by ZTE and my wife has a Pantech Breeze II. I know these phones aren't compatible with PagePlus, but if I switch over, would like to find similar phones that will work on with it.

One problem we have had with ATT that we know can happen with any provider is text spamming. ATT has tools that help block text spamming, like being able to block texts from the internet or email and for the ones that don't get blocked, ATT is always willing to remove the charge from our bill. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with PagePlus in that area and if they offered any tools for reducing text spamming.

Not sure if I'll buy online or go to a dealer. When I run my zipcode in the find a store section, a bunch of Circle K's come up, but other local zips yield a few cell phone shops. PagePlus looks like a better alternative for someone like me than the most of the other prepaids. Have 9 months left on my contract so that gives me plenty of time to do research.

[Bob859]

My wife and I were in a situation similar to yours. We were spending $81/month for two phones on AT&T. In January '09, we switched to Page Plus and we have saved hundreds of dollars. I am very happy with Page Plus.

You do not have to buy a phone from Page Plus. You can use most Verizon phones. You can find good phones on Ebay, and for what you are describing, you can probably find phones for less than $25/each. Keep in mind, 4G phones and Verizon phones that were originally sold for their "Inpulse" (i.e. prepaid) service will not work on Page Plus.

Since you only need 200 minutes per month, you should be able to get by for an average of about $5 each for voice, plus 5 cents for each text that you send or receive. When you purchase $80 of airtime, it will give you 2000 minutes. The minutes will be good for one year and they will roll over if you add at least $10 at the end of the year. Page Plus will also debit 50 cents from your account on the 25th of each month. I would recommend reading all of the details on the Page Plus website.

I have never had any trouble with SPAM on my Page Plus phone, so I don't know what to tell you about that.

You are going to save a great deal of money by switching from AT&T to Page Plus. You might want to do the math and see if your savings will warrant cancelling your AT&T account early and paying their ETF

[prepaidcelluser]

Also, regarding the $80 card being 2,000 minutes....

That's not exactly accurate. It's how it's billed, but...

If you purchase that card - the largest denomination they sell - It will have an $80 balance in the beginning, and each minute you are connected to the tower will result in $.04 being deducted from your balance.

Since there is a $.50 / month fee to keep the line active if you aren't on a monthly plan, over the course of a year, $6 worth of the $80 will be eaten up by the monthly fees, so you don't *really* have 2,000 minutes to use.

Also, that money can also be used to pay for texts. Both incoming and outgoing texts will result in a $.05 deduction from your balance.

If you buy a PIN in a smaller denomination, the cost per minute is higher. The $80 card gets you the cheapest per-minute talk rate.

Personally, I am on The Twelve plan - for $11ish (I have a membership with a dealer that sells airtime at a reduced rate - normally The Twelve costs $12) I get 250 minutes, 250 texts, and 10mb of data a month. Were I to be using an $80 PIN, the 250 minutes would run $10 and the 250 texts $12.50, and the 10mb of data would be about $10. I never use all my minutes or texts, but I do use enough that The Twelve is cheaper for me than being charged per text / per minute.

[lue83]

me and my wife are saving an average of 60 bucks on our cell phone bill by switching over to pageplus. before we were paying 85 bucks a month without no text for sprint and now we both are only on the 12plan which saves us a ton of money. i cancel my sprint just earlier this month and pay up that 60 dollar ETF since i only had 7 month of contract left on the 2yr deal. i've been with pageplus for the past 4 months and i have no complaints plus the coverage is excellent. you can't go wrong with pageplus....

[Pinoy.Boy]

200 minutes between the two of you.
Doesn't use data.
Rarely use texts.

Pageplus $12 a month sounds perfect for you couple. The best and cheapest phone for pageplus right now is the Palm Pixi Plus. The Pixi Plus is around $35 to $45, depending on where you look.

[Frontierjustice]

Not sure if I'll buy online or go to a dealer. When I run my zipcode in the find a store section, a bunch of Circle K's come up, but other local zips yield a few cell phone shops. PagePlus looks like a better alternative for someone like me than the most of the other prepaids. Have 9 months left on my contract so that gives me plenty of time to do research.

I've noticed the same thing ... my local Circle-K's have P+ airtime cards and until recently they had P+ phones in clamshell packages. (That generation of P+ phones were refurbished ... P+ has sold *new* phones for only the last year or so.)

I've bought phones for P+ on eBay .... typically a Motorola RAZR V3m or an LG VX-5400, either Verizon or Alltel. You could choose a phone already setup on P+ and just port your number in or get a suitable area code.
Regards, FJ

[prepaidcelluser]

200 minutes between the two of you.
Doesn't use data.
Rarely use texts.

Pageplus $12 a month sounds perfect for you couple. The best and cheapest phone for pageplus right now is the Palm Pixi Plus. The Pixi Plus is around $35 to $45, depending on where you look.

Actually, for them, two $80 PINS might be the way to go.

If they use 200 minutes total between them, that's an average of 100 per person.

At $.04 / minute, that's $4 worth of phone calls a month, plus the $.50 fee.

That's a savings of $7.50 a month per line over The Twelve... $15 / month... $180/year.

Obviously, a few texts would eat into that a bit, but it would take 3,600 texts in a year to get them up to the amount they'd spend on a year's worth of two Twelve lines.

They may find that one is best on The Twelve and the other an $80 PIN, once they are no longer sharing a plan.

[Bob859]

Actually, for them, two $80 PINS might be the way to go.

If they use 200 minutes total between them, that's an average of 100 per person.

At $.04 / minute, that's $4 worth of phone calls a month, plus the $.50 fee.

That's a savings of $7.50 a month per line over The Twelve... $15 / month... $180/year.

Obviously, a few texts would eat into that a bit, but it would take 3,600 texts in a year to get them up to the amount they'd spend on a year's worth of two Twelve lines.

They may find that one is best on The Twelve and the other an $80 PIN, once they are no longer sharing a plan.

That sounds like the perfect plan for them. It looks as though they will be saving about $900/year.

[RedStickHam]

Thank everyone for the responses. I was looking at some old bills and realized I may need more minutes after all. Even though we don't use more than 100-200 minutes a month of our 700 minute allotment, some months we do use a lot of mobile to mobile and night/weekend minutes which aren't taken out of the 700, so we'd probably need more minutes after all. The $80 deal still looks good and the $29.95/month plan looks like a good deal too. There's no way we'd run out on that plan.

There's also the text spamming issue. I've had my cell number for 16 years and my wife has had her's for 7 and we got some text spam sent through the internet but since we disabled that, they stopped. A year or so ago when we cut our landline, I started getting them and this year, she started getting them. Some months we get a lot of them while others, like last month, we only got one each or none at all. Even thought it isn't a lot of money per text, we still don't like paying for them. If we switched, we'd keep our cell phone numbers because we've had a bad experience previously with a recycled phone number.

Verizon is changing its pricing structure and ATT says they may follow suit, so I'm looking into other options.

[Slinkwyde]

The best and cheapest phone for pageplus right now is the Palm Pixi Plus.

No. The Pixi Plus is the cheapest smartphone for Page Plus, but not the best. WebOS is a dead platform that was never very popular. The best phone for Page Plus is the Droid Incredible 2 (for now). The Pixi is smaller and cheaper but far less capable.

RedStickHam, do you actually prefer a featurephone over a smartphone or are you just trying to avoid the cost of a data plan?

[RedStickHam]

No. The Pixi Plus is the cheapest smartphone for Page Plus, but not the best. WebOS is a dead platform that was never very popular. The best phone for Page Plus is the Droid Incredible 2 (for now). The Pixi is smaller and cheaper but far less capable.

Redstuckham, do you actually prefer a featurephone over a smartphone or would you like a smartphone without a data plan (using WiFi instead)?

What I have now is a feature phone and that's what I want to stick with. I don't use data on my plan at all, all I do is talk and some texting. I don't have a Facebook, Twitter, etc., I have to constantly update, I don't surf the web on my phone, I basically just need a phone with bluetooth capability since I also use my cell phone as my home phone through a XLink cellular interface.

[sjv]

I use the LG Octane on PP and it works like a charm. Maybe more than what you need but great for texting and talking. I'd look on ebay for used Verizon phones. Just stay away from Verizon prepaid phones and blackberries. They will not work.

I agree that the $80 standard plan (which you actually have to buy through external sellers like callingmart) is the best deal for your purposes. If you don't text its like 1850 minutes a year of talk time. If you run out just buy more.

[Boz1]

Just to clarify, Blackberries WILL work on PPC, but they need modifications for internet to work.

The Palm Pixi Plus really might be your best choice, since you aren't looking for much more than a feature phone. It will do everything you want and more, with no modifications. Otherwise, and LG Ally is a capable phone for mostly talking and texting. Although a bit under powered in comparison to other Android phones, it has one of the best physical keyboards available, would easily replace a feature phone, and they are available used starting at around $35-$40 delivered on eBay.

[RedStickHam]

I use the LG Octane on PP and it works like a charm. Maybe more than what you need but great for texting and talking. I'd look on ebay for used Verizon phones. Just stay away from Verizon prepaid phones and blackberries. They will not work.

I agree that the $80 standard plan (which you actually have to buy through external sellers like callingmart) is the best deal for your purposes. If you don't text its like 1850 minutes a year of talk time. If you run out just buy more.

You are probably right there. What I'd probably do first is try the 120 day plan and if Page Plus works for me, then I'd either get the $80 deal or one of the monthly plans.

I found a Motorola Rapture VU30 flip phone that the dealer says will work on Verizon or PagePlus for around $60 with no contract. This phone isn't on the list of phones that work on PagePlus, but it looks like a phone that will do what I want it to do.

[janzman]

How do I get into the service menu of lg octane 2