Inexpensive cell service

[Erni]

Anyone got advice on how to get basic cell phone service for less than the cost of a cheap AR15 per year? Need call and text for my teen. Would prefer to run a "smart" phone but without data service so it can be used with wifi.
Suggestions?

[Great-Kazoo]

Trac Phone (Wallyworld) basic flip with talk & text is $20 something dollars. You buy air time. What you don't use rolls over. Got the spouse one, she uses it or she doesn't. Right now she has 278min. Yeah it's for needed things. Not sure about the smp's.
It's not a monthly plan like everything else. Pay per minutes. CHEAPEST out there.

http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=trac%20phone

[fitz19d]

I bought a moto g for $50 (after $50 rebate, 100 otherwise) extremely good bargain smart phone. Full features, only worse than big ones when it comes to doing extreme gaming or something. Otherwise plays netflix fine. Great for maps/web.

I'm only paying $35/month thru cricket (walmart straight talk similiar). Thats unlimited text/talk/sms and 500mb of data which they doubled to 1gb recently. (I barely break 100mb due to using wifi at home/work) Seems hard to beat and the extra features/unlimited seems worth the extra 10 or so.

[Fromk]

I have a Virgin Mobile pay as you go plan. I got a real Android phone (as opposed to a "feature phone" which don't use the big app stores and are very limited) for $40 on sale at Target and it's $35/mo for 300 minutes with unlimited text and data. It's on the Sprint network which is isn't nearly as good as some of the others but you only need one bar to send a text. I'd call it pretty good for the money but research the network in the places you spend time.

[Great-Kazoo]

I bought a moto g for $50 (after $50 rebate, 100 otherwise) extremely good bargain smart phone. Full features, only worse than big ones when it comes to doing extreme gaming or something. Otherwise plays netflix fine. Great for maps/web.

I'm only paying $35/month thru cricket (walmart straight talk similiar). Thats unlimited text/talk/sms and 500mb of data which they doubled to 1gb recently. (I barely break 100mb due to using wifi at home/work) Seems hard to beat and the extra features/unlimited seems worth the extra 10 or so.

I have a Virgin Mobile pay as you go plan. I got a real Android phone (as opposed to a "feature phone" which don't use the big app stores and are very limited) for $40 on sale at Target and it's $35/mo for 300 minutes with unlimited text and data. It's on the Sprint network which is isn't nearly as good as some of the others but you only need one bar to send a text. I'd call it pretty good for the money but research the network in the places you spend time.

Both your plans have a monthly fee. Trac phone does not. And minutes roll over. Depending how much use it can run $17 - 25 monthly, if that.

[fitz19d]

Didnt mention that the cricket is AT&T, much better than sprint I was on.

Minute phones was what I was going to get, but in the newest iteration of cheap plans. Very few minute plans make sense unless you plan on sending next to no texts, zero email/maps, and use like 15minutes a month.

Minutes rollover, but I thought you have to put money in at some point. IE rollover one month and that's it?
If so, then I suppose that would work as emergency only extreme limited phone use. Could use a few hours a year and end up only at like $50.

[Great-Kazoo]

Didnt mention that the cricket is AT&T, much better than sprint I was on.

Minute phones was what I was going to get, but in the newest iteration of cheap plans. Very few minute plans make sense unless you plan on sending next to no texts, zero email/maps, and use like 15minutes a month.

Minutes rollover, but I thought you have to put money in at some point. IE rollover one month and that's it?
If so, then I suppose that would work as emergency only extreme limited phone use. Could use a few hours a year and end up only at like $50.

She pays after x days. I can check, or one can look at WM s link for more info.Use the link Luke.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Ting. I can set you up with a referral that gets you a $25 credit. Basic monthly service is $6/month and you pay for what you use in graduated amounts for voice, text, and data. They have a savings calculator so you can play around with usage levels and figure out what your average bill might be. They use Sprint phones, you can buy pretty cheap using Swappa (and much safer than buying over Craigs List or eBay).

EDIT: Corrected the monthly service rate to $6. FYI, the rate table is at https://ting.com/rates but as an example, 100 minutes and 100 text messages would cost you $12 / month while 500 minutes and 1000 text messages would be $20 / month.

[Brian]

Trac Phone (Wallyworld) basic flip with talk & text is $20 something dollars. You buy air time. What you don't use rolls over. Got the spouse one, she uses it or she doesn't. Right now she has 278min. Yeah it's for needed things. Not sure about the smp's.
It's not a monthly plan like everything else. Pay per minutes. CHEAPEST out there.

http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=trac%20phone

Who is the carrier? How's it work for you? Bug out bag / emergency car phone?
(Side note, is it still true that an old iphone/android can be used for emergency calls, even after you disconnect service?)

[Gman]

Old phones without a service plan can still dial 911.