PagePlus Cellular

[motoloca]

Anyone using it? and what do you think about the service (on the verizon network) and rates?

[Bill in NC]

I'm using an old Nokia 5185i as a "glovebox phone" with PP, cost $15 to activate with 100 minutes (get PP activation off ebay)

There is a $0.50/month fee (you lose a few minutes/month), so the
effective rate for the cheapest refill works out to about 18 cents/minute

Since this is an occasional use phone, I like the 120 days before minutes expire that PP offers (90 days max for most others) - but, for the activation kit only, minutes expire in 90 days instead of the normal 120 days

Roaming is too expensive ($2/minute!) for even occasional use, so get something else if Verizon has poor coverage in your area.

Here in the Carolinas, the other cheap prepaid for occasional users would be STI Mobile (but you pay close to $100 up front, and wait for a rebate) or CPS (Verizon as well, but more expensive per minute than PP)

[iansltx]

I have STi and yes it's $84.95 up front (with the CheapPhoneCards coupon code payme25, see my blog) but the minutes are very cheap and if you have Sprint coverage it's the way to go, since the rebate makes the phone free. CPS AFAIK only has numbers in a city or two, but the roaming rate is less than that of PagePlus (99 cents vs. $1.99).

[dmarkson]

Pageplus roaming is 99c/minute. The higher rate is incorrect.

You'd think these MVNO's would spend more than five minutes a year on their websites!

[motoloca]

dmarkson,

Are you the cellguru guy? I'm impressed and honored to know ya!

I already have sprint on contract, as well as a virgin mobile on their network, so I won't use them anymore for prepaid.

I have the issue of having a few cell phone numbers I don't want to "lose", and its sucky PP and Beyond wireless don't offer porting. But I do admire Beyond wireless says their minutes never expire, so in effect you never have to reload minutes as long as you use at least a minute a month (Until TDMA/Cingular Blue service goes under)...

I guess I will start another thread about whats the cheapest prepaid because now I'm mostly interested in keeping a couple phone numbers alive with minimal cost.

It does sound like PP aint that bad if you have Verizon in your area, and if you have ATT in your area and sure you won't be roaming, them Beyond Wireless is great too...(no monthly charge)...

[Paul-the-Phone]

But I do admire Beyond wireless says their minutes never expire, so in effect you never have to reload minutes as long as you use at least a minute a month (Until TDMA/Cingular Blue service goes under)...
<snip>
It does sound like PP aint that bad if you have Verizon in your area, and if you have ATT in your area and sure you won't be roaming, them Beyond Wireless is great too...(no monthly charge)...

Beyond Wireless requires a minute every 60 days, not one a month. Even at 4x roaming, Beyond is still cheaper than many other plans. With a $10 card, minutes are 12.5 cents home/50 cents roaming while PagePlus is 99 cents roaming. In most parts of the country, both Orange and Blue TDMA are now home areas for Beyond. My phone now says AT&T in some Cingular Orange areas in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas where it used to say ROAM.

[dmarkson]

Yes,I am the cellguru guy

Beyond and Pageplus are great deals right now.

The problem with Beyond is that TDMA is being shut down slowly. There are some spots in NH/VT where USC is only running CDMA/AMPS right now. Cingular TDMA-1900 is starting to be shut down in some areas (where they have TDMA-850). It's still okay as there is still analog, but for anything more than an emergency phone, it's getting hard to recommend it. If you already have a phone, or can get one really cheap, then its worth giving it a shot.

PagePlus has good coverage, but airtime is not as cheap as Beyond, although its great for a Verizon MVNO where many times airtime expires in 30 to 60 days.

[motoloca]

Cellguru, any hunch or predictions on what will become of TDMA service in the metro NYC area, long island, and also, Florida cities???

[Paul-the-Phone]

I'm not the Cellguru, but being heavily populated, the NYC area and major cities in Florida will be among the last spots to go. All TDMA is likely to go in late 2007 or early 2008. Carriers will no longer be required to have analog after February 18, 2008, and Cingular hopes to end TDMA at about the same time. However, Cingular has told the FCC they will never shut down TDMA (since they want to hang on to that bandwidth as long as possible). The politics will be interesting when they finally do turn off TDMA.

[dmarkson]

TDMA will probably degrade to the point where you are always getting fast busies (happened to me on the NY/ON border this summer, both on Cingular and on Rogers). The issue is that the carriers would love to reallocate their bandwidth to CDMA and GSM. They are doing that gradually.

As an example of lost bandwidth, if I force my Verizon phone to analog and make a call, and then try and access analog from another Verizon phone, it gets a fast busy signal. You can see that there are not manly channels of analog left. The same thing is happening to TDMA.

[iansltx]

Wierd thing but the night before last something similar but different happened to me on my STi (Sprint CDMA) phone. I got a "Sorry this phone number can't be reached will you please try you calla gain later" message when calling to a landline phone. I wasn't charged and the second call went through but still that's kindof wierd.

And about TDMA and analog, my mom has probably one of the only carriers around that still only sells analog in some areas. Some parts of their network are TDMA, some parts are even GSM, but the features are only that of analog (no caller ID, no text) even on the TDMA parts of the network. The GSM parts are normal (used by TMo and Cing to roam off of) but I don't see CellOne analog being turned off at the deadline unless they have very, very few customers.

On TDMA I have to agree with dmarkson; there is a real chance (Nextel-sized chance) that when you dial on a AT&T TDMA network you'll get a fast busy signal. I actually had this happen to me in Austin in the summer, before the networks merged. Now the situation is probably worse, though in the few calls I've made on that phone I haven't run into fast busies, though the call quality is a bit harsh.

[tszefr]

I'm not the Cellguru, but [chop]... and Cingular hopes to end TDMA at about the same time. However, Cingular has told the FCC they will never shut down TDMA (since they want to hang on to that bandwidth as long as possible). The politics will be interesting when they finally do turn off TDMA.

That's ok Doc you seem to be on top of it. What are they doing, talking out of both sides of mouth?

Oh I forgot that is normal they are a phone company.

On TDMA I have to agree with dmarkson; there is a real chance (Nextel-sized chance) that when you dial on a AT&T TDMA network you'll get a fast busy signal. I actually had this happen to me in Austin in the summer, before the networks merged. Now the situation is probably worse, though in the few calls I've made on that phone I haven't run into fast busies, though the call quality is a bit harsh.

Bah. They wouldn't dare would they Ian?

I think I am doing my part. Come to town almost every day with my Free2Go turned on and usually a Beyond too. Sometimes I may fire up as many as 4 other inactive TDMA phones so they know we are out here.

Now I just have to try making a call sometime. Should have done it out in Taylor the other nite when TMO proved to be next to useless. I test the SMS regularly but rarely talk.

[iansltx]

Bah. They wouldn't dare would they Ian?

Huh? ;/

Anyway I myself have little interest in whether AT&T TDMA stays or goes. I only have about $4 in minutes on my 3560 now and no minutes on my 5165, which can be NAMed to a different carrier if I want anyway. I use my STi phone, which has coverage everywhere I need it for less than Beyond would cost me since I an only afford maybe a $20 card at a time. Since STi is coming out with SMS soon I can live with them.

Only problem is both my dad's and my mom's phones are TDMA, and both roam off of AT&T TDMA when there's no home signal. Of course, the home signals are fine since Five Star (dad) only lately (last 4 months or so) converted to CDMA and since CellOne is still on analog (though they'll eventually go GSM). Still...

[motoloca]

So when TDMA dies, so does Beyond Wireless?

About the fast busies, I get that alot of NEXTEL!! But then when I wait a few minutes and try again, it usually goes through fine. Whatever causes that?

I never got fast busies with PagePlus yet...

[ngnetzky]

So when TDMA dies, so does Beyond Wireless?

About the fast busies, I get that alot of NEXTEL!! But then when I wait a few minutes and try again, it usually goes through fine. Whatever causes that?

I never got fast busies with PagePlus yet...

Not Necessary, Beyond Wireless seems to have good business going with excellent Customer Service. I heard from Beyond themselves, and they were in process of trying to work out deals with GSM and/or CDMA carriers. I also heard from these boards, that the discussions with these carriers were having growing pains. However, I can't imagine that Beyond Wireless will go down without a fight. Only the future will tell.