Stow away Emergency phone? $7!

mikea

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
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Feb 12, 2005
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Lake County, IL
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iWin
AT&T Wireless is selling refurbed Nokia pay-as-you-go GoPhones for $6.99+tax shipped.
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-ph...are&siteId=pnkDUx_cu3o-Nsown8risrmQwDN_4dyMfg

I just ordered two. I figure I'll leave one in each car for emergency use in case I don't have my iPhone or it won't work. (You can even use the iPhone or other SIM in this phone. - pre-iPhone4.) I can store it in the plane, too.

My only worry is if the phone gets stolen and the thief runs up a $1000 bill. I'm going to hide the SIM it comes with and not activate it until I need it. I'm going to look to see if you can get a limit on the bill.

BTW, this car lighter adapter from Monoprice is decent quality and has a USB connector to power up or charge a phone or GPS: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10826&cs_id=1082602&p_id=4878&seq=1&format=2
It has a light and a slide mounting plate to hold it.
 
I heard that ANY cellphone active or not can dial 911. Never tried it though but if true, it's a good thing for used/replaced phones.
Isn't this the reason for used cellphone donations to battered woman's shelters?
 
I heard that ANY cellphone active or not can dial 911. Never tried it though but if true, it's a good thing for used/replaced phones.
Isn't this the reason for used cellphone donations to battered woman's shelters?

Yep. The word I got is that GoPhone doesn't have any service until you buy some, so a thief could only use it if they provided a credit card number to buy some minutes.

Some of the plans they have are for $3 or $5 a day service where the clock isn't started until you use it that day.
 
Yep. The word I got is that GoPhone doesn't have any service until you buy some, so a thief could only use it if they provided a credit card number to buy some minutes.

Some of the plans they have are for $3 or $5 a day service where the clock isn't started until you use it that day.

Why keep the SIM card with the phone then? IF you need to call 9-1-1, you can do it without the SIM.
 
Why keep the SIM card with the phone then? IF you need to call 9-1-1, you can do it without the SIM.

You could buy some minutes with a credit card (or carry the pre-paid card) and call for a tow, call home, or whatever.
 

I have an AT&T GoPhone and here are some of my experiences with them.

Yep. The word I got is that GoPhone doesn't have any service until you buy some, so a thief could only use it if they provided a credit card number to buy some minutes.

Some of the plans they have are for $3 or $5 a day service where the clock isn't started until you use it that day.

Before a GoPhone can be used it has to be activated with AT&T. I did this through the Internet when I bought mine. According to the User Guide that came with the phone that was the preferred choice but a secondary method is to call 1-877-426-0525 from another phone.

The plan I have is $.10 per minute for all calls to any number except to other AT&T cell phones in which case there is no minute charge. The catch is that there is a $1 charge the first time you use the phone on any given day. If You make lots of calls to only AT&T cell phones your total cost for the day would be $1.

The next rub is that when you buy airtime it has an expiration date. The usual airtime buy I make is $25 which expires in 90 days from the day you buy it. So, if you have a GoPhone and you never use it your monthly cost is going to be about $8.33. In my case we use the phone enough that we use most of the $25 before it expires. Your airtime dollars roll over if you buy more before the expiration date. AT&T starts sending you nag emails and text messages about 10 days before your airtime expires. If you are trying to maximize the benefits you don't buy more airtime until the DAY BEFORE expiration because the expiration clock starts over on the day you buy. The nasty that they do (IMHO) is the expiration actually occurs at 00:01 on the expiration date so if you wait until that date to buy more airtime you have lost any previous unused balance.

You can get details at http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/index.jsp


Why keep the SIM card with the phone then? IF you need to call 9-1-1, you can do it without the SIM.

I have had lots of cell phones over the years. I discovered that some of them will not operate without a SIM card installed. Some of them will.

You could buy some minutes with a credit card (or carry the pre-paid card) and call for a tow, call home, or whatever.

Yeah but see above about activating the phone. Once the phone is activate you have to buy airtime even if you don't use it. This seems reasonable to me because they are providing a phone number for your phone and they are maintaining service for you even if you don't use it.

As an aside --
I also have a cellphone with NET10. It is $.10 per minute for every minute and $.05 for text messages. No daily charge. But, like AT&T, the minutes expire. It costs me $30.90 (tax don't you know) for 300 minutes that expire in 60 days. Whenever you buy more minutes they roll over both the current minutes remaining and unused expiration time. This has been a good deal for me. Until my grandson went to Oklahoma for the summer I had accumulated about 750 minutes. He talks a lot -- now down to 210 but he is coming home soon.

A strange benefit is that NET10 is an AT&T reseller so the network coverage is the same as my AT&T GoPhone and if the GoPhone connects to the NET10 phone there is no per minute charge on the GoPhone but there is the $1 per day charge. The NET10 phone always charges $.10 per minute.

Hope this helps.

Bruce

Edit: I said NET10 $30.90 for 90 days but it is only 60 days.
 
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Just buy a TracFone and a $99 400-minute annual card. Net cost $8.25/mo and the minutes don't expire as long as you keep buy another card before the year's up.
 
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