Cingular and T-Mobile Updates

First I'll start with the comparatively small news: T-Mobile's T-Zones internet is now snazzier-looking, though this means it'll load slower on ye olde GPRS phone. Anyway, there is now a search box on quite a few pages (though it just searches within the limited T-Zones WAP deck) and a new theme that includes the T-Zones logo and various outher eye candy. You can also mess with voicemail settings from the My Account screen now, and the FAQ section inclusdes a bit about national (not international) roaming! Problem is, this roaming, slated to be on Cingular and EDGE Wireless networks, is reputed by the rep I talked to to not be on yet. :( Well at least T-Zones looks nicer and is still free.

Second is the better deal here: Cingular now has quite a selection of phones available (refurbished but that's still great) on their GoPhone website (http://www.cingular.com/gophone) at very nice prices. Before you go over there, check out DealKing and see if you can get $30 back extra from them, though that's about all I know about their promo. Here's the list (the last I checked) of what phones they have (I'm just looking at ones $50 and under), for how much, and how they're rates (by my experience and others')...

As a side note, only a few days ago they had the absolutely sweet, though refurbished, Nokia 3220 cameraphone available...for $40!!! I should've bought one, but alas I didn't. I beg of everyone to take a good look at the models they have and get them while they last, though as a consoling note I'm sure the Samsung c207 and Nokia 6010, and probably the Sony-Ericsson T290a will last for awhile...

Nokia 6010 - $30 ++++ - Tame phone, but a good one
Sony-Ericsson T290a - $30 ++++ - Again basic, but seems to be more feaure-rich, though in my opinion less user-friendly, than the Nokia
Samsung C207 - $30 +++ - It is reputed that the Java on this phone flat out doesn't work, but the fact remains that it is small...
Motorola v173 - $40 +++ - Right. This is the same thing as Tracfone sells, except a little cheaper and refurbished, Personally I'd choose elsewhere but if the shoe fits...
Nokia 6061 - $50 +++ - Normally you wouldn't be able to go wrong with a Nokia, but people have complained about low volume in this otherwise stylish basic flip.
Samsung x497 - $50 ++++ - This is a nice phone, no doubt about it, being a color flip with an external caller ID screen (the 6061 lacks the latter feature). But it is rather large; I've used one for a minute or two



Oh and by the way, Cingular's $100 card now lasts a year. Finally they're in the game again in that respect, but their voice rates are still a good bit higher than they should be (25 cents vs. 10 cents or maybe a tad less with T-Mobile). So I'd unlock the Nokias with a code generator (if you don't have one email me with your model and IME1 and carrier if it's not Cingular and I'll get some codes back to you) or the other phones with a T-Mobile unlock voucher (*grin*) and put them on T-Mo. But then again, Cingular has a nice coverage footprint and un-limited (as in you can go wherever but you pay an arm and a leg for it) internet so I wouldn't throw out the Cingular SIM just yet.

PagePlus Update

It seems as though PagePlus has given their airtime cards a few more minutes. The $25 card is now 200 minutes (up from 150), the $10 card is a minute more (71), and the $50 card has 25 more minutes (425 total). Considering the monthly fee and saying that you used the card for the full 4 months (thus $2 in monthly fees) here's the math:

$10 card -> 56 minutes -> 17.85 cents a minute
$25 card -> 184 minutes -> 13.6 cents a minute
$50 card -> 408 minutes -> 12.25 cents a minute
$80 card -> 780 minutes -> 10.25 cents a minute

All in all the per-minute rates aren't that bad, but CheapPhoneCards doesn't seem to carry them any more. Keep on the lookout for someone who does and gives a discount while doing so, then email me so I can put that info here.

Vaporware and Things To Come: Tracfone, STi, CheapPhoneCards

First of all let me start out with the last thing...I am as surprised as anyone else that CheapPhoneCards has gone a week without introducing really their new MVNO. I can't wait for it, as I barely use my STi phone and those daily fees really add up. Come on CheapPhoneCards, let tomorrow be the day that ReadyMobile's flatrate plan makes its appearance!

CheapPhoneCards has also increased the prices on their LG 5225 phones. So now an open-box 5225 is the same price as the refurbished, older 5350. I'd pick the 5225, even though it doesn't have analog (the 5350 doesn't have web access...). The new 5225s are now $89 (or $94 with the car charger\case extras) so with discounts they're $76.95, or $27 plus airtime Not horrible, but not great either.

Speaking of STi, the second topic: they're introducing a hybrid plan. Or rather re-introducing; back when their 10\12 cent plan carried a $1.95 monthly fee (about 6.6 cents a day) they also had a hybrid (aka postpaid-without-the-contract). This time, however, the deal seems a lot worse...100 minutes and unlimited nights\weekends for $49.95. Seems a bit odd, because the STi rep kept saying "5 cents a minute". Maybe it's 1000, in which case it'd actually be a quite good plan, for someone who would otherwise be on postpaid but doesn't like contracts. Overage minutes, reminiscent of Sprint's new Fair&Flexible plans, are 10 cents apiece. This plan will launch April 1st.

A second thing about STi: now all their phones come with $50 in airtime...except now it's phone-specific "starter" airtime so

a) You can't transfer phone-to-phone
b) It's an extra cost on STi's website if you buy a phone from there, making the phones rediculously expensive
c) The airtime is nonrefundable so if you hate your phone you might as well eBay it as most of your money is sunk into nonrefundable airtime

Then again the airtime may just start being included in earnest on the 1st, taking phone prices down to a sane level, but then again it might not, rendering STi wierder than ever.

Now to Tracfone: they are releasing new GSM phone models soon to very soon, or at least that's what PhoneScoop and LetsTalk think...

The Motorola c257 (I don't expect that Tracfone will get a camera phone for a few more years ;) ) is a likely, thin successor to the c155 wierdphone. It does have a nice big, bright screen (128x160, 16-bit, the same as the LG 5225 or LG 225) and...yeah...it's as thin as a CDMA Razr (maybe a little thinner at 0.59 inches), but the one pitfall is that its speakerphone is only one way, one pet peeve that made me migrate from my LG 5225 (listen only) to the 225 (two-way). It's nice to see Tracfone getting a pretty modern phone like this, probably for around $50 if the past is an indicator of future performance, and especially nice to see that the phone is thin.

The Motorola v176 is a chubbier phone, a flip that's successor (probably) to the v170\v171 currently on Tracfone and Net10. Again, it gets a bigger screen (looks to be the same as the c257), upgraded looks (personally though I think the phone is pretty ugly but that may just be me) and a one-way speakerphone. Again, this will probably retail for $80 like the v170 did around the time it came out. Personally though, since this phone offers no real advantages over the c257 other than being a flip, I'd take the likely-cheaper bar phone.

It will be refreshing to see Tracfone stock these new models. I hope they'll do it soon. I kind of have my eye on the c257, if for no other reason than it's thin and is a bastion of free incoming SMS.

Now for some undocumented writing: the sweepstakes is still going on, and now there are two Nokia 5165s, each with a home charger and battery, as second prizes. As said before, complete an offer for the "FREE" link in the link bar at the righthand side of this page to enter. The first prize will most likely be my 225, along with its car charger, home charger, leather case, and $10 airtime PIN (I'll get the PIN when I send the phone to the lucky one-in-eight winner). But please enter soon; the sweeps ends May 30th, and if I don't have all eight entries by then I'm not giving out the prizes. So click on over and sign on; the 225 is a nice phone, even with STi's wierd rates.

Undocumented Writing 2: Virgin Mobile's Shorty and K10 phones are now around $30 at my Wal-Mart. They're $35 online, along with the Kyocera Slider (V5). The Slider Sonic is $200, and the Snapper is $100. This is a pretty good time to get a Virgin Mobile phone, but personally I wouldn't get a Virgin Mobile phone; the rates for EVERYTHING are too expensive and the $35 phones (Shorty, V5, K10), while OK phones, are starting to show their age (think the age of the GSM Tracfones currently available...ech).

New MVNO: Coming Soon To CPC!

I called CheapPhoneCards today because I needed to order another $10 STi card and the reward points mechanism wasn't working correctly. Well I got my card and this info about a super carrier that is coming out next week on CheapPhoneCards...

Movil Mobile (aka Movil Lista, see below)

13.3 cents a minute flat
No Expiration
Includes a Toll-Free Number (heh heh my phone is always local now), I'm guessing 1-866-xxx-xxxx
Text Coming Soon
Cingular Network (prepaid of course, but that's still big)
Phone *may* be free with a rebate (see below for a little more; the guy at CPC didn't know everything either)
Phone comes with 50 minutes (10 + 40 minute card)
Phone is nice and small, if basic (Siemens A56 is the first offering)
Free international calling to some countries (as in no extra cost above airtime)
Call Waiting, Caller ID, Voicemail, 3Way Calling, Domestic Long Distance (of course)

All in all the offering is pretty darn good. You get a number that's always local, no expiration date, and a large service footprint. It's voice only for the moment, so it's not a full-fledged STi replacement (no camera phones, no web access, no text yet) but for voice only you get a good deal. As far as the rebate goes here's what the guy sent me (probably a direct quote from Movil Mobile but he was somewhat usure about it in general):

"Movil Mobile offers a $39.95 rebate. You simply submit $40 worth of purchased Movil refill pins along with your rebate. You can purchase them upfront or over time. You have six months to submit your rebate."

In other words if the A56 turns out to be $40 then with the rebate will make it free. Not quite like a free LG 5225, or one with $4.05 back, but there's no active service period either so the rebate gets to you fast. I'm thinking from the wording that you buy $40 in airtime before six months are up, then write down the PINs on the rebate form as sort of proofs of purchase. You can of course add the airtime to the phone. Then you mail in the rebate (before six months are up) and get back the $40 you paid for the airtime, or around that amount. So I suppose you could think of the rebate more as $40 worth of free airtime than making a free phone, but you can think of it both ways and be happy either way...

I was also told that this and ReadyMobile (www.readymobile.com) are the same company, just that this wing is newer and aimed at the Latin sector (don't worry; it and Movida and Tuyo Mobile, some other such carriers, speak English just fine). I was told that ReadyMobile is doing an overhaul right now supposedly to match its rate scheme with this one, which is nice because currently that wing's rates are pretty bad. This is good because Movil will probably get the somewhat nicer phones of Ready and Ready will probably get the same rates as Movil. The slight downside is that Movil may share the usage requirement of Ready:

30 days of inactivity (no calls AND no refills) - $3.95 fee
60 days of inactivity (same) - termination

But it's not that bad really, putting the carrier's policies in that arena with U Prepaid, whcih has a similar 30-day requirement (except no refill part; you have to call). It's not quite as good as Beyond Wireless TDMA or STi Mobile were, but they're both gone now (the former to technology going obsolescent, the latter due to ?greed?) and $1.60 a year isn't that bad.

In short, we've got pretty much of a winner here, recreiving the baton of unlimited expiration from a now-miserly STi Mobile or a now-aged Beyond Wireless TDMA. I'm getting it.

STi Sale!

CheapPhoneCards.com today put their LG 225 and 5225 STi phones on deep-discount sale! The paymecell coupon code still works on the LG 5225 bunbles, except now they're $20 cheaper, making the phone and $50 of airtime a cool $68.95. In other words, for $18.95 you get a very capable, if somewhat battery-sucking, color flip phone. The LG 225 is marked down to $99 with a $50 card but paymecell doesn't work so your price will stay around there when you add the paltry 5% or so in coupon codes you find on the website to the price. Still, aside from the airtime the phone is a cool $50 or so, not bad considering you could get it for maybe $10 less a few months ago...with a rebate that should arrive in the next few weeks. :) Rebates and STi junk fee aside, now is a great time to get a cheap phone on STi.

Oops! Double typo (in bold)

Oh, and CheapPhoneCards just put online a few open-box 5225s with $50 airtime cards. I'm on the brink of getting one; with paymecell they're $52.95! $2.95 with no rebates is superb for even a refurb color flip phone with external caller ID display, and this isn't even refurb!

STi on CPC, My T-Mobile To Go, AirVoice Disappointments

Sorry for the long period of nonposting. It's spring break and I've taken up with a vengence my other hobby: pure computeres (namely compiling five or so systems donated to me into two or so). Anyway, it looks though like I haven't missed awfully much.

First off, CheapPhoneCards now has the LG 5350 phone in stock, and has dropped the price of the LG 5225 by $10. They also have the LG 225 again. Small problem about the 225: there is no coupon code of any big value (cell4 takes 4% off but that's not much) for it. But with the 5225 paymecell still delivers a nice $19.80 discount, making the phone\card combo $84.95, $34.95 if you count the $50 card that comes with the phone at face value. Not bad, until you remember that you could get this phone for the same price with a $10 card a few months ago...and get $89 back with a rebate! As said, they also have the LG 5350 and it, like the 5225 and the Samsung a460, has the ability to be discounted by paymecell. As a result you can get a color flip phone with external caller ID (albeit old and refurbished) for $60.95 including $50 in airtime. $11 isn't bad for a color flip...

Second, the long-awaited release of My T-Mobile for T-Mobile To Go is here. Note the omission of an exclamation point. The offerings on the site are quite underwhelming if you ask me and practically everyone else. Sure you can see your balance and expiration date, and add airtime, and see what your phone is and what services you can get, but you can't actually sign up for any new services, nor can you see a call log online, which in my opinion and a lot of others' is the big point of online account management, My T-Mobile included. Sure, it's a nice perk, but I'd rather have sooner...

The third thing: T-Mobile is going to open up roaming (for the same rate as home calling) onto Cingular and Edge Wireless (!) for prepaid, thus filling in a good bit of dead spots that 1900 MHz signals can't reach. Also, they will have $1.49\minute Mexico and $0.49\minute Canada roaming. Others have said that they'll also get the same international roaming countries and pricing as postpaid customers, but unfortunately I don't know who to believe yet: them or the TMo reps I've talked to. They're also supposed to have a bigger, better version of T-Zones for T-Mobile To Go, including real (POP3) email, driving directions, chat and a whole bunch of other stuff, but again there are discrepancies (such as the site that says it has it and reps who say it's only for postpaid). I'll keep everyone posted.

The fourth thing: AirVoice. Sorry people, but these guys have proved a disappointment. Their TDMA plan is no more and noncompetitive when compared with Beyond Wireless. Their CDMA plan is similar to Locus Mobile's fairly expensive Viva Wireless (short expirations, half-price night and weekend calling) except with more expensive rates and I think less local numbers (25 cents daytime vs. 18 cents). Their GSM service is plagued with the short expiration dates that are common to most Cingular-based MVNOs (Beyond Wireless GSM not excepted), contrary to my first impressions, and they don't offer any redeeming qualities (read: web access). Oh, and AirVoice Express's SMS is a whopping 10 cents both ways! Sorry to get people's hopes up on the GSM part of the service but I'm sad too...

OK. Now for the last thing: the Go4Prepaid Sweepstakes is still going on! I'm still waiting for 7 more people (3 for FreeiPodShuffle, 4 for FreeiPods) to complete their offers before May 30th. Let's get this thing moving; I have stuff to give away :).

AirVoice GSM and CheapPhoneCards

First off, I have re-found a carrier that I had heard of nearly a year ago: AirVoice. Now they have a GSM plan (before they didn't) that's pretty competitive in reality. All airtime expires in 90 days, which is much better than Beyond Wireless if you buy their $10 card (despite my loyalties to that once-great carrier). Also their rates are pretty good, with the $10 card giving 70 minutes and their $100 card giving 1000, with $20, $30 and $50 cards in between. I'm 99% sure that they use the Cingualr network. The only problem here is finding a SIM card for their service; eBay seems to be the only place, though it is rumored that you can activate a Cingular SIM with them. I will try the latter action tomorrow. Their site isL

http://www.airvoicewireless.com

Second, CheapPhoneCards (see link at right) has resurrected the huge promotional values of their paymecell promotional code for the moment, giving a huge 20% off the STi phones they carry. This means that for $45.74 you can get both an STi Samsung a460 (not a great phone but a phone nonetheless) and a $50 airtime card...that's less than the price of the airtime card alone...with the "cheap" promotional code! Even with the daily fee I'll probably pick one of these up, put a $10 card on it, and give it to a friend, probably keeping the $50 card for myself, and reviewing the phone. The discount also applies on the LG VI-5225 packages, making the phone and $50 of airtime $93.74. Adding a car charger and leather case kicks the price up to $97.74. That makes the phone $43.74 (like $39.99 plus tax basically), which isn't bad at all for a color flip with an external caller ID screen. Now if only STi would kill the ten cent daily fee again we'd all be happy. I was also informed though that this code will, after a few weeks, go back down to 5% like its cousin payme25, so I'd say grab this promo while it lasts...

New Tracfone Deals

Gone are the free Motorola v170 with 250 minute card\Nokia 1100 with 60 minute card deals. Now the only deals in GSM areas are either of these phones are their being free if you get a 1-year card, which is now $100 but has a promo code for 100 extra minutes. I think that the v170 is refurbished while the 1100 is new. So you get 470 minutes (120 + 250 + 100) for $110 or so...not too great but not insane either considering you're getting a 1-year card in the mix. Personally I wouldn't buy; seems too much like a contract with a free junk phone to me, albeit a 1-year contract with a fee of $8.50 a month for 35 minutes a month, all paid in advance with no refunds...

Sweeps Alert, Boost Walkie

Just as a sort of warning to everybody, FreePay, the company that has the Free iPod\Free iPod Shuffle promo, will kill my account on the 30th of May if I don't have ALL the referrals done by then. Not good. As a result, I need eight signups before then. Please complete your offers so that this whole sweeps won't turn into a flop. By the way, I will be using a different place other than FreePay for subsequent sweeps.

Also, Boost Mobile yesterday took 33.333333% off their walkie talkie rate, making it a much more bearable $1, the same as Cingular's unlimited Mobile to Mobile GoPhone. Looks like STi won't be as hard competition, plus all Nextel\Boost customers have a walkie number while most STi customers don't...

On Second Thought...Stuff about STi and Alltel

OK, so I decided that there was enough prepaid phone news to post. My bad. Anyway...

First off, CheapPhoneCards, which has had no STi phones on their site for about a week and a half now, has just added the LG 5225. Unfortunately, they, like STiMobile.com, require a $50 card to be purchased along with the phone. There are three coupon codes that you can use, paymecell, payme25 and cell4, but the lowest the price is going to get is $110.24. In other words, you basically get free shipping and about $3 in reward points if you buy from CheapPhoneCards.com over getting the phone from STiMobile's store. CheapPhoneCards is a better deal, but don't look for the miracles that were happening (phones where you get money back with a rebate, plus some airtime) a few months ago. :(

Second news is better news. I applaud U Prepaid (at http://www.alltel.com/personal/wireless/plans/prepaid.html) for

1) Low rates (15 cents a minute isn't bad, plus the daily plans are great)
2) No expiration (as long as you make a call every 30 days you aren't socked $4)
3) A HUGE network (Verizon + Alltel, 59 cent roaming where these networks don't service, which isn't much)
4) Great phone availability

You've probably heard about the first three great things, but let me tell you about the fourth. First off, the bad news: you have to pay an additional $55 on top of the "phone price" to get a certain phone on prepaid. $20 of that goes toward airtime so it's not a total loss. But anyway, here are the phones Alltel offers (the good news) and the prices, including the $55 for activation and airtime (think of it as 133 minutes free with the phone, or $20 free if you have the daily plan, which is really great for people who use more minutes). By the way, I seem to remember that you can get web access for $20 a month...not cheap but pretty good considering the huge coverage footprint. By the way, the model name links are to PhoneScoop descriptions, while the price hotlinks are to Alltel's product page.

Audiovox 8910 - $90 - This is a camera phone. Not the best brand but it is a camera phone and now, with no more STi rebate, the cheapest camera phone that I know of for prepaid, outside of eBay.

Kyocera SoHo (KX1) - $70 - This is a pretty nice starter phone; it's a color flip with an external caller ID display. Again, not a super brand but from what I've heard the SoHo is a solid, if visually quirky, phone.

Kyocera Slider Remix (KX5) - $270 - You'll pay dearly for the luxury, but nobody will EVER know you're on prepaid with this phone, which has an MP3 player, 1.3 Megapixel camera with video recorder, and Bluetooth. Granted, Virgin Mobile sells their Slider Sonic for around $200, but it doesn't have nearly as good features, rates or coverage.

Kyocera Candid (KX16) - $135 - This is on the expensive side for a simple cameraphone, even for prepaid, but it appears to be solid phone and it's pretty new to boot.

Kyocera KX440 - $175 - Personally I wouldn't get this phone on U Prepaid, firstly because of its price considering it doesn't even have a camera, secondly because of U Prepaid's lack of Touch2Talk service, the thing this phone was built for. Neverthless, if you need something rugged Alltel has it in this phone.

LG AX4270 - $135 - Another phone I wouldn't get on U Prepaid, this guy doesn't have a camera, nor any other redeeming feature that justifies its rather hefty price tag. Of course, if you like the phone though, go for it...

LG AX4750 - $170 - Hmmm...yet another phone not suited for U Prepaid. Its primary focus of features is walkie talkie, as with the Kyocera KX440. U Prepaid doesn't have that yet, so I'd mark this phone off as a choice, unless you really like the big ole speakerphone speaker.

LG AX5000 - $165 - Boy, this phone is expensive, but it just might be worth it, with a camera that has a flash and no-training-required voice dialing. Then again, this may be too much to pay for a normal-sized camera phone, meaning that U Prepaid has the...

Motorola Razr V3c (CDMA Razr) - $305 - Say it with me now, "expensive". Now that we've got the moderately insane cost of this model out of the way we can whoop about having the CDMA Razr on prepaid! Granted, T-Mobile and Cingular already sell their Razrs with prepaid kits, but even Cingular doesn't have the coverage that the combined Alltel\Verizon network does. Plus the newer v3c has key features that are simply better, among them video capture, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and EVDO high speed data. I doubt you'll be able to use the last feature on U Prepaid, but it just might work, which means that if you're in an EVDO area you'll be getting speeds from a prepaid phone that you used to think only came from your home-bound DSL connection. Oh, and did mention that this is a Razr? As in THIN? :)

Motorola v262 - $105 - There isn't much special to say about this phone, which is about on par with the Kyocera KX1, except that it's moderately cheap, which is always good, and that it's a Motorola, so if you like brand names here you go.

Motorola v265 - $145 - Yet another phone Alltel isn't pushing on their prepaid service, but the fact remains that it's a pretty good phone. It has a camera, speakerphone, other such good features, and a Motorola logo.

Motorola v710 - $205 - This is a pretty good phone, at a pretty high price. It has an MP3 player, a 1.2 megapixel camera, bluetooth, and a full-sized SD slot, plus all the normal goodies. It's not a Razr, but neither is it $305, and it still has a lot of nice features. For an advanced user I'd say this is at worst a fair buy.

Nokia 6235i - $165 - If you want the Nokia brand name on U Prepaid, prepare to pay. But you do get a good-looking bar phone with infrared, a video camera and an FM radio. And a nice little Nokia logo.

Nokia 6255i - $225 - This is a phone that's definately expensive, but it does have a lot of features, a flip, and a Nokia logo. Among these features are an MP3 player, a video-capable camera, streaming audio and video, Bluetooth and an FM radio. It's a lot of money but once again you have a phone that will never be accused of being prepaid (aka for now "old and featureless")

Samsung n330 - $145 - Personally I wouldn't pay this much for a non-cameraphone just because it says "Samsung" on it and has a pop-up, pop-down screen, but to each his own...it is a pretty good phone if a phone is all you want, but so are cheaper models...

So that makes 15 handsets available for U Prepaid out of the 18 available for Alltel as a whole. This beats the prepackaged (not counting eBayed or otherwise "introduced" prepaid phones) count for any other carrier that I know of for sheer selection on prepaid phones. Impressive, though most handsets will cost you. But if you want a phone you can be proud of, rates you can be proud of, a network you can be proud of and expiration you can be proud of, U Prepaid just works, though you may have to swing by an Alltel store aways from where you live to get one of these phones (and a non-local number) if you live in a Verizon-only area.

Sweeps Update

Just to let everyone know, I've received one more than enough potential referrals on the FreeiPods site and thus I've changed the link to freeipodshuffles. On either site I'll only accept the first few offers completed to keep the sweeps numbers nice and small. I'll email the other people that are potential referrals as people complete the offers on either site. To get technical, only the first 5 offer-completed referrals on the Free iPods site will be entered (that means 4 more and I'll post as people complete offers) and only the first 3 offer-completed referrals on FreeiPodShuffles.

To stress the point I WILL post here when people complete offers so people don't needlessly throw away their completed offers. Oh, and I WILL have more sweepstakes after this one is over. Hope this helps anyone wanting to enter my sweeps and have a nice day everyone!

P.S. The reason there's no prepaid phone news here is there is no prepaid phone news elsewhere worth enough to post here. When there's enough news I'll post it. Hopefully that time will be around the end of this week...

Sweepstakes Rehash

OK. To keep this topic known I'm rehashing in short the Go4Prepaid sweepstakes. For more info, scroll down to the full post.

WHAT YOU GET:
Grand Prize - Either an LG 225 with accessories or a Boost i285 with accessories. The former will come with at least $5 in airtime, the latter with around $30. Software, ringers and wallpapers are also included for both phones (actually no wallpapers on the i285 because it can't do them).

1st Prize - Nokia 5165 with home charger

TO BE ELIGABLE - Follow the current referral link (right now it's Free iPod) and complete an offer.

I'll draw the winner as soon as I have the 8 required referrals. Yees, your chances are 1 in 8 that you'll get a pretty good phone...

Tracfone Promo Code

Tracfone SMSed another promo code directly to the home screens of my mom and dad's Nokia 2126s (seems to be the delivery method of choice now for promo code ads, and of coure the message is free). The code is 59879.

Tracfone CDMA

I'm happily reporting that Tracfone (who knows when they did it) now has Nokia 2126s on their website. If you want to get them from there type in 78624 for the zip if yours only shows GSM phones (Nokia 1100, 2600, Moto c155, v170). The phones ARE $30 plus tax though so my offer ($30 for a 2126 with 120 minutes) still stands. Oh, and I can help anyone needing a referral for their new phone; just email me.

Go4Prepaid Sweepstakes!

Okay, so I want to promote my site and get rid of a phone and get a few freebies in the process. With these filthy motives I present the first Go4Prepaid Sweepstakes!

First of all, to qualify you need to click on over to the Free iPod link in the link bar and complete an offer. After 4 people have done this it'll change to a Free iPod Shuffle link. Click that one too. You can enter multiple (in this case up to 2) times in my little sweepstakes by entering once when I have the iPod link up and one when I have the iPod shuffle link up. If you've alreaady completed an offer you're already entered into my little sweepstakes. When both my freebies are on their respective ways I'll pick the winner and send the prize off.

I have two prizes, and I'll choose the winner of the greater-value one first but otherwise you have an equal chance of getting one or the other. One thing though is that no one person will get both prizes. With that little bit of legalese aside, here be the prizes:

GRAND PRIZE (either or, my choice, with a good chance that it'll be the 225 since I will have to pay $30 or so to get the other phone up and running again, though if STi lowers their rates again the winner may get the Boost):

A great condition Boost Mobile Motorola i285 with a home charger and extra faceplate. It also has a ringtone I bought, a racing game and TeleNav (not standard with the i285; I paid for it) with one route. The phone will come with a newly reactivated sim card with $20 of airtime on it. This phone is rather basic and rather low on battery life (model characteristics, not due to my use) but it's ultrasmall for an iDEN phone and has great reception (better than any other iDEN phone I've run across).

--OR--

My right now primary cell phone, a very good condition LG 225 cameraphone on STi Mobile, complete with car charger, case, home charger and manual. It will have at least $5 of airtime on it. It, software-wise, has 13 downloaded ringers (mostly movie themes but other stuff mixed in), a few downloaded wallpapers, various downloaded games and apps (basic stuff not worth mentioning) and Opera Mini, which lets you browse the full (HTML) web, or most of it, if you pay STi 19 cents a day for data services. This phone will be the prize if everybody becomes eligable between the time I receive the rebate for this phone and when either STi once again kills the 10 cent daily fee (April at earliest) or I sell the phone locally. Neither are likely to happen so it's pretty safe to assume that you'll get this phone if the winner gets their prize after I get my rebate.

1ST PRIZE:
Yeah, this is summat of a joke, but this lucky winner gets my very own, great condition, Nokia 5165 TDMA phone as well as a home charger. You can use this on whatever TDMA servie you have locally (Beyond Wireless is no more...) or use it in analog mode for a Verizon-based prepaid service where Verizon has an analog signal (which is generally where they have an 850-MHz digital signal). I may even throw in an extra battery.

Some Quick Notes:

-There are only eight referral slots total for the iPod and iPod Shuffle, combined. So you have a SUPER chance of winning something, especially since I'm offering two prizes (though one is a bit more of a joke prize...).
-Some of the offers there are free so you could say "no purchase necessary"...
-I will email you when you show up as having completed an offer on my referral account, which will be when the same thing shows up on your account
-If you're already participating in the FreeiPods or FreeiPodShuffles promos through somebody else's referral link sorry but for that particular promo you won't be eligable here to enter, as I wouldn't get credit.
-Clicking through my referral link won't make it any harder for you to receive your own free iPod or free iPod Shuffle. If you had gone straight through www.freeipods.com or www.freeipodshuffle.com the only thing different is that you wouldn't be able to enter my sweepstakes.
-Sorry, no prize substitutions. If you don't live in a Sprint or Nextel service area (depending on the phone I send) then you may not want to sign up, though I'd give you
the Nokia 5165 if you really wanted it and you won.

I guess that's about it. If anyone has any other questions about this deal, email me...

Tracfone Promo Code

Tracfone sent an SMS to my dad's phone (for free) with a promo code (I don't personally own a Tracfone...yet). It said you can get 30 extra minutes on any airtime card (its wording ws 40 units or more but anyway...) with the promotional code 50386. Which means that you can get 90 minutes on Tracfone for $20...not bad at all considering that this is just 22.2 cents a minute. Enjoy, everyone!

STi WARNING #2!

To borrow a cheesy tagline from half the lower-tier horror films available on store shelves now, Evil Never Dies. STi is reinstating the 10 cent per day fee March 19th. Looks like they once again fall off my reccommended providers list. Fortunately, this one month free of the evil daily fee-for-nothing (besides free lng distance to about 16 countries, none of which I call - ever) gives me enough time to qualify for the $100 rebate on my camera phone. Once I get the rebait (I spelled it that way intentionally) this phone is up for grabs, for the same price that Sprint sells it for on their website with a 2-year contract ($50), and with more stuff than Sprint sells it with (case, car charger and home charger would be included).

I'm completely disgusted with STi in case you can't tell. Granted, their fee isn't here yet but I'm still highly annoyed. Unfortunately I doubt this widespread annoyance will get STi to stop nickel-and-diming us to death (literally) for a second time...once again let me sing the saga of a great prepaid company gone terribly wrong...

The interesting thing is that those ten cents per day may be going into branding, as in the ugly STi logo being put onto the plastic of their phones with more than just a sticker. Or am I just seeing things on the Samsung a820 displayed poudly on STi's homepage? Granted, it's a nice phone and I would love to have it, but unless STi kills the daily fee for good I'm not biting...unless they give me a REALLY good reason to do so (30-day service period $100 rebates on the Samsung a820 anyone?).

On a side not, a rep actually did mention a rebate on the Samsung a820 coming next month to promote STi's ReadyLink aka Press and Talk service. But I probably won't stick around. Let the search for the best carrier around these parts begin... :(

STi Phones: New True Blue :)

Okay, there aren't any blue phones except the old LG 5350 but STi has finally made available most of the phones it has in its lineup on their site. Furthermore, the prices are OK. The sad thing is though that CheapPhoneCards now doesn't have any good deals (only the Samsung a460 and that at their former deal which is not bested by STi's site) but that may change next week when they get the Samsung a820 in. Anyway...

All STi phones on the site require the purchase of a $50 refill card and possibly some cash for shipping and maybe tax, but the breadth of offering is large and when you take into account the fact that you'll probably use up the card anyway eventually the prices aren't that bad...

Samsung a460 - Free
LG 1200 - Free
LG 5350 - $20 ($19.99 but anyway if I quote a price it's really a wee little penny less on their site)
LG 5225 - $60
Sanyo 200 - $60
LG 225 - $100
Samsung a820 - $100

There are no rebates involved any more, or at least not right now, so no outrageous deals, but the phones aren't that bad for the price either...by the way the Samsung a460 and LG 5350 are refurb but that usually means nothing as to quality detriments

Samsung a460 - For a freebie this is a nice phone; I think it even has web browsing. Granted, the screen is black and white but this may be a plus in some cases and it has poly ringtones and suchlike amenities. With the Virgin Mobile Shorty, also black and white but a mere bar phone (though a Nokia) selling for $40 on Amazon this isn't such a bad deal. Oh, and did I mention it was free?

LG 1200 - You'll probably want to stay away from this phone, but the fact remains that it is pretty darn free and it is a flip phone. Disposaphone here we come ;).

LG 5350 - This is a lot of phone for $20. It's pretty old and a mixed bag as far as ratings go but it is a color flip with an external (black and white) display plus it does have analog capability (the LG 1200 doesn't; only 19800 digital) so if you break down you can still call 911 or make a horrendously expensive credit card call.

LG 5225 - The old STi standby is now pretty expensive but the phone is solid, if on the old side. It's didital-only and battery life isn't stellar but it has web access and is in general good all around. If you want web access and have a budget limit of $75 or so for a phone on STi here it is.

Sanyo 200 - If you just use voice and text this $60 phone is superb, if you can live without a caller ID display. Since it's a Sanyo it is tuned for Sprint's network and will thus net you the best reception on STi (99.9% sure). Plus there's a gloriously huge speakerphone grille on the outside so everything is gonna sound loud and clear. Once again, there's no caller ID display or web (on Sprint this was called a "Voice Phone") but it's a darn good basic phone with STi's darn good airtime rates so it's a winner. Interestingly though, my local Wal-Mart is selling the Movida version of this phone (Latino-centric 20 cents per minute or cheaper with a large daily fee) for $50, but the airtime would even the difference out pretty quickly.

LG 225 - If you can live without walkie talkie this is simply a great phone, doing everything it does pretty darn well, though if you get in a dead spot the otherwise strong battery will get sapped unreasonably quickly. At $100 plus airtime it's no longer an outrageously cheap bargain of a camera phone but it's still worth the price.

Samsung a820 - This phone is the newest of the STi lineup, both in date added to STi and date added to Sprint (it has never seen a red diamond logo). It's expensive (just as expensive as the 225) but a massive speakerphone grille, a massive external screen and the ability to do ReadyLink (STi is iffy about whether it will call Sprint but I'm thinking it will) set it out from the pack. If you were thinking of putting your family on Boost for walkie, don't. This phone has faster data access, more reliable text, clearer voice and walkie talkie (if not faster to connect on the latter) and best of all cheap pricing on everything, though the phone is $20 more than its iDEN match, the i450 (which is a lesser phone in my opinion). If and when STi does get a rebate on this phone that brings the price down to less than $50 I'll get it to see how it works.

So no, there aren't any blue phones on STi yet that are really snazzy, but the opening of the selection on the website bodes well for this company's future, especially with its putting a Sanyo phone within easy reach.

Trac Promo Codes

Here are some promo cods (the hotlink in the title)...

STi Update!

Just to let everybody know, the STi fee removal for the 10\12 cent plan is bona fide! I placed a text call this morning and it gave me the same balance as yesterday. I'm happy, aren't you? :)

As a side note, there is no more double minute promo for the Nokia 1100 in GSM areas on Tracfone. No big loss there though. Otherwise everything is the same, except that the big promotion box in GSM areas is the 1100 with the 1-year card.

Boost, STi, and Various other important miscellany

First of all I want to shout from the treetops that STi is supposed to repeal the 10 cent fee for the 10\12 plan! Looks like I'm not selling ym camera phone after all! :) There aren't any rebates available for STi phones right now, except for the wierd Staples rebate that makes you use about $50 worth of airtime to get a $100 rebate, but still this is good news.

Second, Boost Mobile is supposed to decrease walkie-talkie in mid-March. Its price, that is. It will then be $1 a day. For this reason, and for TeleNav (turn by turn driving directions powered by Nextel GPS...suffice it to be called "rockin'" ;) ) I'm going to keep my Boost Mobile i450.

I have two Boost phones and yes I'm selling the other one, the i285. I'd be willing to accept $30 for it, except that shipping cots a bit, so I'm thinking more like $35. It's worth every penny; it's the smallest iDEN bar phone I know about, and while the battery life isn't good the reception is, beating out any iDEN phone that I've come up against yet. It has about $15 worth of stuff I put on it, namely TeleNav (plus one route), a ringtone, and a racing game. The sim card inside it is inactive, but it's cheap to replace. Email me if you are interested, ye readers.

Third, taking the principle that Beyond Wireless TDMA was able to activate CDMA phones, I'm going to try to activate my Nokia 5165 on a Verizon prepaid, USAOneRate (www.usaonerate.com). Granted, it will run in analog only, but it should be home coverage and it will be a neat experience, as well as a nice way to resurrect an otherwise-useless phone.

Speaking of USAOneRate, I'll talk later about it and other Verizon prepaids. Suffice it to say that the map on its site is incorrect; only Verizon towers are home territory. But the rates are not too bad...though there is a nasty 5 cent daily fee.

Tracfone Specials - Part Three

Sorry this was so long in coming but life once again caught up to me. This is the best part of Tracfone at the moment: GSM. At least as far as prices go for minutes...

Starting small, Amazon has the Nokia 2600 for $40. No tax and free shipping make this phone nice. If you want it, which you have good reason to, get it here, though if you are willing to settle for less you can get better deals.

Next up is the Nokia 1100 with a 60 minute card for $27 shipped and taxed from Tracfone's website. If you get two or more you will get free shipping. Each phone will get at least 180 minutes, with the potential for up to 320 minutes if you refer from another of your phones, then add the airtime card with the aforementioned promo code, then transfer the whole sheband to the referrer phone. Which makes for a cool 7 cents a minute or so if you get two phones and thus kill shipping costs. Of course the phone is refurbished but it's worthy enough to even be used as a normal Tracfone, not just as a vehicle of profit.

You can also get a free new Nokia 1100 with your choice of the $130 double-minute card or the $100 1-year card. Sounds like a 1-year contract with a cheesy phone to me, but hey, it's not all that bad. For the first you'd end up with probably 620 minutes plus double minutes for a year, making for about 22.5 cents a minute. On the second you'd get 570, for about the same cost per minute but less initial outlay and no doubling.

Now for the grand finale: the Motorola v170 deal. New airtime rates have made this good deal even better, netting a pretty darn capable, though annoyingly small-screened, color flip phone (the only color flip on Tracfone) with a total of between 400 and 420 minutes (depending on the promo code used) for $54 or so. If you have another Tracfone and do the refer-a-friend fandango you'll end up with 500 to 520 minutes. That works out to about 11 cents a minute, not counting the shiny new (okay, it's a refurb but looks like new) flip phone. Even without referring yourself and jumping through umpteen hoops you still get 12.5 or so cents a minute.

So yes, Tracfone has some good deals. All of the above phones have outgoing text at .3 units each, and incoming text at 0 units each (yeah, free) so if you want a lean mean texting machine this is actually a pretty cheap way to go. I might have to pick up one of these myself, even though there aren't any local numbers here...

Tracfone Specials - Part 2

Unfortunately, CDMA seems to be the technology Tracfone is trying to downplay on its website. The only phone available is the abysmal (or so I've heard) Motorola v120c, which costs $27 (tax and shipping included; if you get two phones shipping would be free so more like $21.40 apiece with tax only) and includes a 40 (now 60) minute airtime card. It is a fairly good deal though, since with each phone you get 120 minutes (port it over to the Tracfone of your choosing, which could also refer the phone and get 100 more minutes) plus at least 60 from the airtime card. With the promo code I mentioned awhile earlier you could actually get 100 minutes on the card (COULD is the key word here) so 220 (or even 320) minutes total. There are better deals out there in my opinion but this one is OK if you can live with getting another phone (same story as the TDMA Motorola v60).

Amazon has the Nokia 2126, but it's $22 plus shipping. Dunno about that one...

Tracfone Specials - Part 1

In these posts I'll tell you what all you can get on Tracfone's (and others') websites. They're all pretty good deals, but some are better than others.

First, TDMA:
On Tracfone's website the only model available for TDMA is the Motorola v60it. You can get it either for $60 plus tax for just the phone or $140 including a double-minute card. Yes, that would make the phone, which is brand new (not the model, the phone; the model is old as the hills), $10. Not bad, until you find out that it's a subpar phone. But even with this in mind with tax you get 720 minutes for $150 or so, plus one year of service and double minutes, if I heard right about the promotional code for the double-minute card. You could just activate the phone, get the referral minutes (refer another Tracfone, preferably yours), then port all the other minutes over to your main Tracfone (mor on what that should be later), then add the double-minute card. Right, I lied. You can get 820 minutes with this deal...not bad considering you get a year of service and a phone that's sellable for something on eBay...

Amazon, on the other hand, as a truly nice deal. They have the Motorola v120t, which unlike its CDMA brother is a truly nice phone, for $30 with no tax or shipping charges. Granted, there aren't any airtime cards or other such junk included in the package, but hey, this is the last haven of the cheap TDMA Tracfone. If there's superior TDMA service in your area, and Tracfone runs on that carrier (more on that in another post) then by all means buy it. Just keep in mind it's not the most modern of phones.

Tracfone Changes...

In the last few weeks several things have changed for the better around Tracfone. One thing is somewhat a change for the worse but I'dd take the good stuff :)

First of all, though you now have to enter EIGHT HUGE CODES to activate at least a new Nokia 2126 (may be for other models as well) or put in SIX HUGE CODES for one that hasn't had the program enabled, you mow most likely have access to Tracfone's nifty Rapid Refill system on the Nokia 2126. What happens is

1. You put in your airtime code and the promo code right after it in a certain menu of the phone
2. You wait
3. You get a nice message saying that you need to restart your phone since airtime has been added

The system still has a bug or two but now you never need touch a landline again to refill your phone, though you'll probably want to use the web to find good deals on airtime.

Speaking of airtime, there have been some nice minute increases that finally puts Tracfone on par with every other prepaid comany as far as price per minute goes. Here's what has changed:

40 minute card ($20) is now 60 minutes
100 minute card ($30) is now 120 minutes
200 minute card ($50) is now 250 minutes
1-year card (previously $90) is $10 more expensive (now $100) but gets 100 more minutes (250 total)
Double Minute card ($130) now has 400 minutes

In other words, the montly cost of Tracfone ownership just went up by about 85 cents if you just purchase off-the-shelf airtime cards, but rates are now in line with normal prepaid carriers like Simple Freedom (for Verizon areas RIP) and Cingular StopPhone...er...GoPhone, with the $30 card giving 25 cents a minute (120 minutes). Plus there are a few promotional codes that you can use to get a bit more airtime. Mor on those a little later.

By the way, if anybody wants a Nokia 2126 Tracfone, which are reputed to be rare creatures in some aprts of the US, my Wal-Mart supercenter usually has plenty (between a half dozen and a dozen). Yes, I'll ship the phone, charger, manual and of ourse battery out (no big blister pack to save postage) for $30 loaded with 120 minutes (the other end of the referral would go to either myself or someone who pays $10 for it), or rather with 20 plus I'd email the 100 later so I can ship the phone ASAP. If you want 220 minutes the phone is $40. I'm not leaving much room here for postage and PayPal fees and such (dunno if there would be any on PayPal but anyway...) so it might end up being $32 or $35 for the phone with 120 minutes (and that much higher on the 220 minute phone) if I find out that I lost money on the first phone or two I send out, which at Wal-Mart costs $21.36 including tax if my memory serves me right. I'm doing this because this is a nice phone and some places just won't give it to you. And yes, it would come activated to whatever zip you tell me. Or unactivated for $40. email me with any questions.

OK, now to the promo codes for airtime...

59837 which expires the 28th gets 200 minutes extra on a double-minute card
59647 which does the same thing (no expiration date posted) for a normal 1-year card
57381 which adds 50 minutes to any other card but may be expired already

Additionally it seems like you can use any active promo code on the new airtime value corrosponding to the one it was designed for. In other words, if a promo code (like the foursomes in the often-found booklet that came with earlier Tracfones) worked on a 200 minute card it will work just the same on a 250 minute card. This makes for some nice deals on airtime.

I'll probably post more but time escapes me right now. Hope this helps everyone.

Beyond Wireless: Out With The Old, In With The New

January 31st was the last day that Beyond, or anyone else for that matter, could activate any TDMA phones on AT&T's roam-able network. *Sounds taps*. But Beyond Wireless isn't gone yet. They now have a pretty good service on Cingular's GSM network.

Naturally you won't be able to use the old TDMA phones, and as a consequence of the network shift there's no more practically unlimited roaming. With this goes double-dialing though, but I still think double-dialing is a small price to pay for cheap home minutes and roaming everywhere. Cingular's Pay As Yoy Go network, which Beyond runs on, seems to have free roaming on certain small networks though, so the coverage map on the site is inaccurate in a positive way in some areas, though you'll definately not get all the coverage a Cingular plan gets, and where there's no home rate coverage there's no service.

Now to the phones. You can buy a sim card (ah the joys of GSM) for $16.66 including shipping, which gets you $6 in airtime as well (more on airtime later) so you can use any Cingular or unlocked phone out there as long as it has 850 and 1900 bands (all but those ritzy Europhones or really old Voicestream phones have both). Keep in mind though that as far as has been seen the only services Beyond GSM offers are, like its TDMA sibling, voice and text messaging so don't buy too rich. They can even activate an unactivated Cingular sim card, though I'm not sure about how much airtime (if any) that they give you. You can also buy one of (only) three phones off of their website, one of which is good and the other two of which are of dubitable value. There's the $60 Siemens S56, probably the best non-camera, non-MP3, non-keyboard, non-PDA phone out there. In other words it's definately made for talking on, and it does that, as well as other phone-centric features, well. It even has bluetooth!

The other two phones are the not-so-hot ones. There's the oh-so-old Motorola T720 and the oh-so-lousy LG C1300, around $65. I'd look elsewhere for a flip phone, like eBay. An interesting thing Beyond GSM had when it just had come out about a week ago was the Motorola c155 for $50, so if you wanted that phone and didn't want Tracfone's high rates you could get it, though I for one would pass.

As far as rates go things can be rather sketchy but everything seems to be very good, though a far cry from TDMA's super rates. The $5 card, with 36 minutes, remains, but on all cards there are now expiration dates, which range from 15 ($5) to 90 ($100) days. The lowest monthly cost is achieved with the 60-day $15 card, which gets 105 minutes. The lowest per-minute cost is of course the 1000-minute $100 card, just like on TDMA, except with the expiration date.

Interestingly, the billing system on Beyond GSM is based on play dollars (you ALKWAYS get between 15% and 70% more than the cost of the card, depending on how big a refill you get) similar to Cingular's GoPhone Pay As You Go system, and, seemingly jsut like it as well, you get texted with your balance after each phone call. Minutes are decremented at 16.75 or so "play cents" each from your balance, which in real life as said before ranges from 10 to about 14 cents. As a side not, if you buy from a bricks-and-mortar Beyond Wireless dealer (as opposed to their website) you get less minutes for any given ($5, $15, $25, $50 or $100) refill amount so it's definately better to buy from their site.

Text messaging is more of a blurry subject. Incoming text is always 6 cents, probably in "play money", while outgoing text rates vary, ranging from 8 to 6 cents depending on how many are sent, I guess within some mystery time period... Realistically incoming text will be more around 3.5-5 cents (refill values once again factor in) with outgoing text proportionally cheaper, but I'd rather just have free incoming text and a steeper outgoing rate. If you text a lot you probably want to look elsewhere.

All in all, Beyond Wireless has come out with a reasonably competitive GSM product after the demise (plays taps again) of their excellent (though roaming in my area) TDMA plans. It won't get anyone jumping up and down for joy, but it's a good deal for people who just talk and text a little and are in Cingular areas (I'm not so I won't be getting this, not until Cingular stops razing the bar here in central Texas at least). Oh, and the Siemens s56, as well as the "activate your own sim card" and "activate with your choice of number" bits are nice things we've all come to expect from a pretty good prepaid reseller.

STi Mobile: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This post has been a long time in coming but first let me tell you the good:

STi now has Walkie Talkie service! It's 49 cents a day and available on the Samsung a820. Problem is, it is supposedly limited to STi only as of right now; so maybe no ReadyLink to Sprint yet. Also the phone is $130, plus a $50 card. A $100 rebate will probably come, along with its being available at CheapPhoneCards.com so you only have to get a $10 card with it, and that at a discount. Anyway, it's the cheapest walkie choice on prepaid, with a nice new phone.

Now for the bad, and there's lots of it. I'll start sotly, then work up to the huge points.

First of all, though STi now gives you free international calling to some countries with all plans, the list has shrunk to 15 countries or so. For the rest the rates range from reasonable to highway robbery. That's sad.

Second, there are no more rebates for the STi phones sold online. If you want a rebate, prepare for using 100 minutes a month for three months, thus sort of nullifying much of your rebate money because of all the airtime you have to buy. Anyway, now all STi phones are overpriced. I'm not paying $150 for an LG 225, $100 for an LG 5225 (or even %85 if paymecell still works on CheapPhoneCards) or $130 for the Samsung a820, PLUS a $50 card if I want the 225 (which CheapPhoneCards has ceased selling,a t least for now) or the a820, even if it has really cheap walkie talkie, web access, picture messaging or just plain old voice minutes!

Third, and this is HUGE: STi now has a STUPID, UNANNOUNCED, SLIMY LITTLE DAILY FEE! Yes, I feel that strongly about it. They didn't tell anyone it was coming. It just happened...for 10 cents a day the only added benefit for 10\12 users like myself is that you get free international calling to 15 countries. I don't know any phone numbers over there.

The other STI plan now has less distinction than it ocne had from the 10\12 plan. It used to have a flat rate (18 cents) per minute that included free long distance to a HUGE amount of countries. No more. It gets the same short list of freebies. But not only that, its rate structure has totally changed, rendering it a very much hybrid plan only good for people who use a ton of minutes per month, at least by prepaid standards. Yes, it's 7.9 cents a minute (applause) but with a 39 cent fee EVERY SINGLE DAY (just like the 10 cent fee on the other plan). BOOOOOO! Yes ladies and gentlemen, that's $11.70 per 30-day month just to keep your phone ready to make a phone call. Of course if you're used to Virgin Mobile this isn't so bad; 3 minutes a day on this plan is about even with Minute2Minute. But Virgin Mobile has a $25 color flip phone with external caller ID. STi's phone is now $85 or more. No good.

I remember about a year ago when I passed STi off because of its $1.95 monthly fee. This was back in the good ole days when the free phone (only 30 days of active service were required) was an LG 1200. Bleh I know. Granted, the plan didn't even have text messaging, or international calling for that matter, but now the minimum is $3 a month, or if you want a hybrid $11.70. Granted, for some people it's still OK but for myself, who use the phone between 50 and 100 minutes a month, the 10 cent fee drastically increases the price per minute, making some other carrier more economical. And I'll find that carrier, and quickly, unless STi gets that 10 cent fee off their plan.

I have a hunch the fee had something to do with STi's having to pay Sprint huge gobs of money to be the second prepaid carrier (the first prepaid MVNO) with walkie talkie service. But I'm not pitying them; a mandatory daily fe is absolutely negative when it comes to keeping customers.

In this vein I offer my LG 225 cameraphone for $60 shipped, with car and home chargers and a case, plus maybe some airtime, as soon as my rebate check comes in. If you can't get a good prepaid deal elsewhere STi may be the cheapest you can get, or you may really really want web and picture messaging, though it will, in sum total, cost you $12 a month or so. Also I'm selling my friend's LG 5225 for him, at $50 with the same accessories plus a data cable. It's available now.

Needless to say I'm really sad to see STi go this way but the way they added the daily fee leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I'm already paying them 29 cents for web and picture messaging I know but I don't want a 33% fee increase for no gain on my part, especially when they don't tell me about it. When their rates subside again I'll go back but not until then.

As an aside, I trned off web and picture messaging a day or two after the daily fee-for-nothing started. PLSPictures, I found, allows 30 days for you to download every single one of your uploaded cameraphone photos as one big zipfile before they delete them off of their system. Just so everyone knows. Oh, and by the way, the 225's photos look very good on a computer screen as long as you weren't moving the phone too much when you took the picture. Of course, you probably saw that already with my previously posted pictures.

In short, bye bye STi as soon as I get my rebate. I'll say hello when they kill the daily fee on one of their plans and put rebates back on their phones (or at least make them less expensive). Until then I'm scouting the world for the greatest prepaid carrier that has local numbers in my area (T-Mobile sadly doesn't), keeping a near-zero-balance Boost Mobile phone for the local number, walkie and GPS and a T-Mobile To Go phone for other stuff. Which reminds me, my i285 and Nokia 5165 are both waiting for buyers. Email me...

Virgin Mobile Developments

Now to the big-name Sprint provider. First of all, the highest level of their Month2Month plan ($50 plus junk fees) now has unlimited nights and weekends. Wow, who knew VM could be civilized?

Actually, they can't be. At first glance their new "Inner Circle" plan seems great. It looks like you get unlimited calling to 3 people for 70 cents a day. Or is that unlimited nihgts and weekends? Neither. Rather, you get unlimited calling to three people ONLY on nights and weekends. What a rip...I can get REAL unlimited nights and weekends elsewhere for $18 a month (xTreme Mobile).

As far as phones go though they just got a little more reasonable. The Audiovox 8610, while not a great phone, has become the cheapest color flip with an external caller ID screen, at $25. Yes, it's a refurb phone and yes it's an Audiovox but if you want to try out Sprint coverage you can get a fuzzy idea of what it's like from this phone. The Kyocera Slider Sonic is down to $200 but that's still outrageously expensive for what you get.

Never mind; I take that back about the phones getting cheaper. They have just cleared out a lot of their old phones, leaving only color ones. Right, there's no Nokia Shorty on their website any more. The Kyocera Slider is the same drab $40 as it has been for awhile, but if you really want a slider phone it's cheap. The only other phones on the site (besides the Sonic, the regular Slider and the Vox 8610) are the Snapper (Audiovox 8915, $100) and the Kyocera K10 ($50) whose prices are unchanged since...a few months ago? Yeah, that sounds right...

Oh, and by the way, the Shorty is back up to $30 at my Wal-Mart. Let the dust collecting begin, as the Nokia 2126 Tracfone is sitting right next to it and is only $20.

T-Mobile To Go Developments (have to start somewhere)

Sorry, but I've been doing various things for the past several days and haven't caught this blog up to the changes made in the prepaid world on and around February 1st. I'll tackle T-Mobile To Go and Virgin Mobile tonight, with the others later.

First of all, T-Mobile's voicemail now works normally, namely that you get the specially-formatted voicemail message that lets you listen to a newly received message with just one button push. Nice...

Second, though little know, the $25 and $50 cards are now 166 and 500 minutes on Gold Rewards, respectively. I got all this info from a TMo rep, but sounds right.

Third, if you want to get free text messaging don't hope to keep it for too long; T-Mobile knows about the bug and is starting to work to patch it, or so I've heard. But it's not patched yet so have fun while it lasts...

Fourth, T-Zones is going to get bigger any day now. It'll still be free and not unlimited, but it will be larger than what it is right now.

Fifth, an account management system (but no call logs yet) will be added as well as an online photo album funtion (MMS charges apply, so it will cost 25 cents per photo uploaded) around the time the new T-Zones comes out.

Sixth, and probably the best of all, T-Mobile To Go will get (at the same time as it gets T-Zones and account management I think) free (yes free) roaming on Cingular's and Centennial Wireless's towers! Roaming in Mexico and Canada will also be available, albeit at an extra cost. Hey, I'll take 10 cents a minute with a $100 1-year card that's good almost everywhere where a normal, expensive, Tracfone GSM phone would have coverage. And no, there won't be any more fees for this...more on why I said that bit later...maybe tomorrow...

Have To Start Somewhere: Virgin Mobile

Sorry, but I've been doing things for the last few days. But a lot has happened on and since the 1st. I'll tackle Virgin Mobile first, then tomorrow you should hear about the other carriers...

First of all, now on Level 3 you can actually get unlimited nights and weekends

Free411...BLOCKED!

As much as I love STi, I found one thing to ahte about it. Actually it's a Sprint problem, but the old standby Fre411 (1-800-FREE411) which does what it says and does it well is now simply a fast busy on my STi phone. On a friend's Sprint PCS phone it gets a "call cannot be completed at this time" error. Verizon still works fine, but Sprint (and thus STi) has joined the anti-free411 bandwagon first pioneered by Allel. :( If you do a lot of 411 calling bring a PagePlus phone with you.

Good Deal Again!

Just to let you guys know Tracfone has the Motorola v170 deal I mentioned awhile ago again. Gotta go but I think I'll get it :)

U Prepaid!

Really quickly, this is the Alltel prepaid that we've been waiting for for a few days but have yearned for forever. Granted, the entry price ($15 for the Kyocara SoHo plus $35 to activate plus $20 for the minimum initial airtime = $70) is on the steep side but get this: for the first time on a name brand prepaid you have unlimited expiration. If you don't use a minute every thirty days you get charged $4 which is no fun, but if you remember to call someone (or yourself) once a month you've just found the third cheapest-per-month prepaid service EVER (1st and 2nd are Beyond Wireless and STi, which are in basically a deadlock) at 15 cents a month and the furthermore it has more non-roaming service than the combined home areas of STi and Beyond combined, even if just the square miles were added up for both and no overlap was assumed! Now that's what I call good: a $70 prepaid package that can last up to 130 months...not that the phone itself would last that long but anyway...

Oh and by the way you can get internet access on U Prepaid for $20 a month. Granted, it's steeper than STi or Boost but again its coverage area dwarfs that of both combined and it has the speed of STi and costs less than a month of 'net access from Virgin Mobile or Verizon (INPulse and EasyPay now have web at 99 cens a day), or 2 MB from Cingular (1 cent per KB).

What are you going to use the internet for? To download spiffy apps for your new $305 ($250 plus activation and airtime) Alltel CDMA Razr of course! Or your $70 SoHo. Or a huge number (for prepaid) of phones in between.

As an unrelated sidenote, I received a Boost i450 as the object of a trade (for my i415) today. I'll tell more later, but my first impressions are small screen, wierdly slow processor, good reception for both cellular and GPS and a form factor small enough to actually be mistaken for one of the larger "normal" (CDMA\TDMA\GSM) modern phones! As another sidenote, even more unrelated, my 15th birthday is the day of the SAT, as in this Saturday the 28th. Yes I'm that age and no I don't need anyone to wish lottery luck on my venture into SAT land; last time I made a 1390. Wish me a good one if you want...and again click those ads like your phone would go dead without them ;).

STi & ReadyLink!

Contrary to popular (well OK, just my) knowledge STi's first walkie-talkie capable phone isn't the excellent Sanyo VI-2300. But life's still good...

If you're wondering what the hotlink in the title is, that's the phone that will very soon be on STi's website. No clue as to how much it will cost there but I know it's coming and that it supports ReadyLink and STi does too.

You're probably wanting to know how much ReadyLink is per day. Surprise! Not as much as I had heard well over a month ago. Though the upcoming ReadyLink fee doesn't include web access (it can be added though) or picture messaging (a nonissue as the current capable phone doesn't have a camera), it's also really cheap comapred to, say, Boost Mobile ($1.50 per day that an outgoing walkie call is made) or the previously-supposed price (79 cents a day including web). Ready? It's 49 cents a day!

Granted, ReadyLink doesn't have nearly as many subscribers as there are Nextel and Boost Mobile customers, nor is it as fast as iDEN walkie talkie usually is (there are exceptions where iDEN connection times unexplicable soar to more than a second, or even two, but anyway...) but the voice quality is better, your walkie number is your phone number, and the price is dirt cheap for prepaid. True, contract subscribers get this feature for $10 a month, but with STi you can turn it on and off and on contract plans the $10 gets another $2 or so of taxes and fees added. Oh, and if you wanted to compare apples to apples, a 30-day month of STi walkie service is $14.70.

Now to the phone, the Samsung A820. This is one of the larger flip phones in the Sprint lineup, but not obnoxiously so (referencing any iDEN phone besides the i830, i833 or i835). In design one could almost mistake it for a Sanyo, with a prominent speakerphone grill on the front of the phone complemented by a gargantuan, though black-and-white, external display that has more resolution than the display on a Nokia 6010 or 2126. Inside, the phone looks very good as well. Oh, and did I mention that this phone is so recent that the Sprint version had the new logo exclusively on it? Battery life is average to good, voice dialing is good, and the speakerphone is good. Anything else to want in a midrange phone with walkie talkie and no camera? Again, I don't know the price as of right now but I will know soon and if it's cheap enough with rebate I'm getting it, since if I turn walkie talkie service off the maitenance cost is near nil.

By the way, STi customer service (aka 611) is a lot faster now. At one point I was waiting 15 to 20 minutes for a representative. Now the wait is generally less than a minute. Thanks for hiring more reps STi!

Another by the way, I hope CheapPhoneCards gets this phone. In fact, I think I'll only buy it if they get it. Anyway, I'm glad this hunk of push-to-talk plastic is coming out, giving prepaid some competition in that area.

More Corrections...

The Tracfone I was talking about is actually the Motorola c343a. The c353t is the color TDMA version, and the c331t is the black-and-white version.

Correction, Your Honor

On the TDMA post, I neglected to mention the Nokia 8260\8265. These are both OK phones though not overly notable. If you can get one for as cheap as the 3360 get it. If not, don't.

On the Cingular post, the Nokia 6010 for $30 is a refurbished version, though cell phone companies usually do an excellent job of making refurbs like new. Also, you can get the Motorola v173, the Cingular version of the Tracfone v170, for $40 refurbished. New versions of these phones are $70 and $80 I believe.

Another thing on TDMA: the other model I was forgetting on Panasonic was the Versio. Nothing incredibly great here. The ProMax, as I just found out, is actually quite small, sort of like a dignified little home phone in its look.

Guess that's it. If anyone has any comments or anything like tht please email me, and click an ad or two while you're at it. :)

TDMA Phones

Most of us know that Beyond Wireless is cutting off TDMA activations on the 31st of this month. So those of us who want their prized service have precious little time to get it. But what phone do you want? First of all, you'll need a phone that's either AT&T or not SOC-locked (US Cellualr TDMA works fine, as do most phones that say Digital on them or have no branding). You may also be able to use Cingular TDMA phones. Second, here's a guide to what phones are how good, for the phones most on the market (I'm not going to talk about eh old extendable-antenna Nokias that weighted half a pound)...

NOKIA

I'm pretty sure these guys made the most TDMA phones. Made is the usual verb here, as TDMA phone production has, as far as I know, ceased. They also made the most feature-rich TDMA phone, though, as is the typical Nokia style until about 2005, it's a bar phone.

5165 - This is possibly the most "out there" TDMA phone. It has all the functionality (voice and text) that Beyond Wireless TDMA allows and reception is good. If you don't mind a small yellow-backlit screen and a bricklike from factor (as in near-unpocketably large) you should be very happy with this very cheap ($5-$10 is the usual price) phone, which has scads of accessories available.

5160 - If you just talk this phone is fine. It's the older brother to the 5165 and sports a boxier faceplate (for best looks change with a 5165 faceplate) and a lack of outgoing text messaging. I reccommend this less especially since it's a little rarer and probably is just as expensive as the 5165.

5125 - This is the dual-band cousin of the 5165. It should work just as well since most 1900 band coverage on TDMA is supplemented by reception on the 850 band or is dead already. But it is rarer I think so probably not a great deal.

5120 - This is the dual-band version of the 5160. Read the comments on the 5160, than the differences between the 5165 and the 5125 and that's about what this phone is.

1260\1261 - If you want modern and basic, this is it. It has a pretty large black-and-white screen and I think a calculator and works pretty well overall, though not excpetionally well. I'd pass this up though unless you can get it for less than maybe $15 as phones that are a good bit better aren't much more expensive. Also this is not a terribly well-known phone so it may be a little more expensive that way.

1220 - Again, the dual-band cousin of its xx60 model. Haven't seen any though.

2260 - If you want a refreshing blue backlight and vibrating alert with once again a more modern phone, here you go. Beware though that it's pretty expensive and reception has been termed less than great. I'd personally pass this up for (once again) a better-featured model.

3560 - One of the four color TDMA phones, this is the older brother to the Nokia 6010\3595 still seen today on GSM networks. As such you can expect modern features, though some things, due to the nature of the TDMA network (such as web access) just aren't there. You can probably find this phone for below $40. I got mine (now traded) for $21.99 shipped. I heartily reccommend this phone if voice and text are your thing and you live in an area covered by the TDMA network. Talk is nice and cheap with Beyond so I'd say consider this phone if that's most of what you'll be doing even with CDMA and GSM carriers as options. Oh, and you can trade faceplates with a 6010 or 3595 for a look near-indistinguishable from a nice modern phone.

6560 - This is the Ferrari of TDMA phones. It's small, light, and can do everything TDMA can't as of now (TDMA could do web once; this could too). It's priced pretty high (as much as $90 and usually around $60-$70) but if TDMA is your thing nobody will know you have a TDMA phone with this as your Nokia of choice.

3360\3361 - These aren't particularly pretty or advanced or any such thing, but they once again do the job of making and receiving phone calls and text messages well. They're cheap too ($20 I think is the usual).

6360 - If you don't need a color screen and want advanced features welcome to TDMA's version of heaven. This longish but thin handset has infrared and plenty of other nice features, though I don't think web is one of them (you couldn't use it anyway). But as a warning this phone tends to get expensive ($40-$50 the last time I looked).

6160/7160 - These phones are similar in that they're pretty advanced but also pretty old, on the level of a souped up Nokia 5165. The 7160 has a slider form factor. The 6160 is a brick. I almost forgot to talk about these since they're prety rare.

I guess that's it for Nokia. Now to

MOTOROLA

These guys didn't make as many TDMA phones, but here they are:

v120 - This phone, which is poor in its CDMA incarnation, has been surprisingly well-reviewed for TDMA. If you want a $30 card on Beyond Wireless and will pay $6.95 for shipping, you can just by this phone flat out and easy.

v60 - Sure it's one of the two TDMA flips, but it's as bad on TDMA as the v120 is on CDMA. I'd make this a phone to pass up, in favor of...

v60 color - This is a phone that's pretty good at doing phone calls and text messages and has the distinction of being the only TDMA color flip. It's not that expensive either, at maybe $50.

c353 - This is the fourth color phone on TDMA and arguably the most basic. It has a $60 CDMA counterpart on TracFone but you should be able to get it for maybe $40 on eBay. It's an OK phone but keep in mind that it may not have the modern interface of the Tracfone version, and if it does it will have the same wierd shorcomings discussed two posts ago.

c343 - Take the c353 and give it a black-and-white screen. I think it's a little cheaper. If ou want a nice-looking prety darn basic TDMA phone here's your chance, though I'd go for the c353 or better a Nokia model.

StarTAC - Do you want to be retro? If the answer is yes welcome to the TDMA ersion of this phone. I think it's only dual-band but if you want retro and a pretty good phone to boot here it is. Just don't think too cheap.

Now for

PANASONIC

I don't know much about these phones but they're basically the same except that some have speakerphones or ruggedized chassis while others don't. Battery life is generally not too great, but the phones aren't too bad and tbey are customizeable in such wierd ways as backlight color. The DuraMax is the durable phone (hence the name), the ProMax has a speakerphone, the Allure may also have the speakerphone and then there's one more model whose name slips my mind right now...thay're all not too expensive but not too plentiful either.

SONY\ERICSSON

These guys generally made some good TDMA phones, though there aren't a whole bunch of them and the interface is certainly different than usual. Some of these phones have small (heightwise) screens so kep that in mind while looking around in this area. One notable phone is the T60LX or T60D (not to be confused witht he rotten T62u GAIT phone) which has plenty of nice features (though no color screen or infrared) and an interesting "egg" shape. Not too expensive either...

MITSUBISHI

One of the least-known phone manufacturers, these guys made good, though very, very few, phones. You'll probably have to look for a long while to find one.

With that ends my somewhat in-depth look at TDMA phones. I'll probably post eBay closed auction prices later but hope this helped people who want to go Beyond.

GoPhone: Go For It!

Right now Cingular is offering two phones, one of which comes in two varieties. The Nokia 6010, the old stanby of GSM that is a great basic phone, if basic can be termed to a phone capable of web access, MMS, text messaging and voice calls (probably can), is $30. Surprise, so is the Samsung c207, a phone more likely to stay on Cingular (not as easily unlockable) but small and neat enough that you might just have to get the cable and unlock it for T-Mobile as well.

If you want the c207 you have two choices: buy it new for $30 or buy it refirbished for $30. What's the difference? The new one had a $30 mail-in rebate that you need to redeem to get that price. The Nokia is new.

Nice thing about all GoPhones is that if you go to DealKing (I think DealKing.com) and follow the directions somewhere there you can get $30 back from them for getting a GoPhone, or that's the last I heard. So you can give it a try and if it works you've just become the proud owner of a free prepaid phone, a comcept pioneered by STi Mobile ;).

Of Shorties and Tracfones

First, the Nokia Shorty is now back up to $29.98 at my local Wal-Mart, upping it back into ripoff status. I would've posted a photo of it Saturday morning when I was in the store but STi's picture messaging is strangely defunt of late. Watch this phone not sell ;). Amazon has it for a penny more...until you figure out they don't charge tax or shipping and Wal-Mart does charge tax :). I'd go for the Tracfone 2126 right now since it's $10 cheaper and in color.

And about Tracfone, as it turns out if you have those lovely promo code booklets you can still use them with the new beefed-up airtime rates. I know this because some people walked up at Wal-Mart wanting to add airtime to their Motorola c353 (more on that later) or is it c343 (can't remember). Anyway, without a promo code (added airtime over the phone and the prompt didn't let me do another promo code after the first failed; didn't get there fast enough) there were 250 minutes added to the phone. One of those famously huge codes (there were three of 'em) that I typed into the phone enabled that nice little feature called Rapid Refill so that time I was able to put in the promo code easily (for 30 minutes) and tada we had 280 more minutes. Not bad for $50 plus tax (about 19.1 cents a minute all told).

Now about the Motorola c3?3, it's that $60 phone that few people buy. I actually found it to be relatively useable though it has the flaw of REVERSED SEND AND END KEYS AAAAAAAH!!!! Anyway besides that and a slightly wierd menu scheme the phone was very useable and seemed to hold a signal well. It seemed to have the exact same screen (and a similar menu layout) as the Motorola v170 GSM Tracfone flip (now seen with cingular branding as well) which means it had a screen medium-sized for a bar phone (slightly larger and higher-resolution than the Nokia 2126's but the 2126 makes better use of the screen) but abysmally small for a flip (I mean wouldn't you expect a larger screen on a flip phone...come on). Enough with the screen and menu system ranting: the phone seemed a bit cheap but certainly useable, a feeling you get with the v170 except to a lesser extent, mostly because the buttons aren't placed or responding ultra-correctly relative to the surface of the phone.

Anyway, not on to Rapid Refill. For the few, the proud, the people who have it turned on in their local areas (some zips seem to have it, some do not) and have a modern enough phone (anything from the Nokia 1100 or 2285 on) welcome to, upon your next code-punching frenzy, something that makes adding airtime refreshingly easier: a menu option that lets you put the airtime code, with the promo code right after it, into the phone. You get the appropriate number of minutes a little later via a free text message. Genius...why so late Tracfone? Oh yeah, it's because the phone keeps track of airtime. ;)

Simple Freedom - Changing?

I've heard many things. First, it seems as though Alltel will be changing its Simple Freedom service into the super prepaid plan I mentioned a post or two ago. Second, I've heard that Simple Freedom is being pulled out of stores where the Verizon network is the network the phones are being activated on. Third, I've heard that the pull-out is just for rebranding and it will be released again.

I'm inclined toward the tird option. Simple Freedom's footprint is the same as the new prepaid plan's, and my store for one (I'm in a Verizon-only area, but Alltel isn't too far away) still has several Simple Freedom phones in stock. Granted, roaming is more expensive, but the large home area is just as much cheaper (actually more, 10 cents cheaper vs. 9 cents more expensive) so I'm not too sad. I'm rooting for Alltel...and yes I have more to say about my adventures in cellular land but that must wait...

Tracfone, Alltel Prepaid, Virgin Text

Well, a couple of things here.

As to Tracfone, they've dropped the super deal with the Motorola v170 and $50 card for the price of the card plus tax. They still have the Nokia 1100 deal (the one with the $20 card) as well as one with a $130 card and a new phone ratehr than a refurbished one (doesn't really make a difference as refurb units are excellent quality). As to their CDMA selection, it is still pitiful online, with only the Motorola v120 available (in a promotion similar to that of the Nokia 1100 on GSM). If anyone wants the Nokia 2126, I'll send 'em for $30 activated or unactivated but in either case rid of the large packaging, as my local Wal-Mart has them in stock.

Tracfone's TDMA selection is looking up however, though it is still ailing. They now offer the Motorola v60 flip, though just in areas that offer TDMA service only (zip 26121 is a way to get the phone). The new phone alone is $60 plus tax, though the promo code 80041 may take 15% off the price. The new phone with a double-minute card is $140 so if you can sell the double-minute card for $100 you have a reasonable priced flip phone. One small problem: the v60's TDMA version has been badly reviewed, as has the v120's CDMA version, though it will probably still work to some extent.

Now, about Virgin Mobile's SMS. I've been informed that as of March 15th the pricing will change from 10 cents to send\free to receive to 5 cents both ways, the same as STi. If you send more texts than you receive this is a turn for the better but if you use SMS search functions, most of which generate several results messages, or use an SMS alerts service, here's an advance warning to look elsewhere, to either Beyond Wireless or T-Mobile, depending on what is in your area.

And for the final topic: Alltel's upcoming prepaid plan. Scheduled to arrive on the 25th (and relying on information someone else posted so don't kill me if this doesn't happen as I want it to be as well :) ) is something similar to Virgin Mobile except better. First off, it uses the "Simple Freedom" combined Verizon\Alltel home network, which covers a lot of ground, as home territory, with roaming at a bearable 59 cents a minute. Second, the plans are competitive and the Most Called Number option leaves a nice loophole for a cheap long distance card. :) Text messaging, if not included in your plan, is five cents both ways, better than the previous 8 cents. One con: I don't know phone prices yet, but I do know that activation is $35, though that might get you a 99 cent phone.

The traditional perpaid option is 15 cents a minute. You refill with at least $10 and activate with at least $20 beyond the activation fee. The pay-by-day option lets you pick either nights\weekends, M2M (with other Alltel users), text messaging, or a single Most Called Number as unlimited for 75 cents a day for two, plus 25 cents a day per other service, so $1.25 for everything. Maybe a long-distance calling card would be a nice candidate for the Most Called Number; 10 cents a minute for calls not covered in one of your "free" categories is cheap for prepaid but still not as good as a normal calling card, which can be 2.5 cents a minute fairly easily (www.phoneshark.com is where I get mine). I might as well just copy the hybrid plan options:

***** Pay per month
• Customers must pay in advance for the monthly recurring charges for this rate plan type.
•$29.99 – 200 peak, 1,000 Night & Weekend minutes, $.35 post-package rate
•$39.99 – 400 peak, 2,000 Night & Weekend minutes, $.35 post-package rate
•$69.99 – 700 peak, Unlimited Night & Weekend minutes, Unlimited M2M, and Unlimited Text messaging, $.10 post-package rate
•M2M can’t be purchased for the $29.99 or the $39.99 plans
•The $29.99 or $39.99 plans also have the option of purchasing the $5.99 or $9.99 SMS packages.
•One Most Often Called (MOC) number can be purchased for $5 per month on any package plan. This number can be any landline or wireless number, anywhere in the US.

Is it just me or does that sound pretty good for prepaid? I hope it comes through.

Speaking of pretty good for prepaid, I'm also wondering whether there will be a 14-day free trial on the upcoming ReadyLink+Web bundle on STi. If there is, what a nice way to try out alternative means of walkie-talkie :)

Quick Announcements: Virgin. Boost & Beyond

On Virgin Mobile, the Audiovox V7 Flasher is now $80 direct from their site. If you are dying for a camera phone and don't want to deal with STi rebates and\or want to port your number in (invalidates the STi rebate I've heard, maybe I'm wrong though) here's something, though it's a pretty junky phone. The Audiovox 8610 is now $60...finally it's priced out of the insanity range.

On Boost, the "chirp change" $25 extra promo is until 1\31\06. Enjoy it while you can, then wait for some other promo; Boost phones are too expensive to come with only $10 in airtime IMO.

On Beyond, though the TDMA activation cutoff date is still 1\31\06, the rollout date for GSM is now in mid-February. I really don't want to see these guys die out, but with two weeks of no new activations it could happen...then again it may still be OK...but if they push GSM back again things are going to start getting iffy.

Side Comparison #2

Here is another size comparison, this time between the relatively small iDEN flip the i450 and the Virgin mobile Snapper. As you ben see, while the 450 is still large it not obnoxiously so like some other nextel phones. I will put another photo up soon.

i285 Info and More Stuff For Sale (trade actually)

First off, I found that the i285 seems to connect to the network a tad faster than my i415. Second, the i285 gets a bar or two better reception than my i415, picking up a signal maybe 100 yards, maybe even more than that, away from where my i415 dropped out in hilly country near my house, which gets a full signal dince it's about 100 yards from US 290. Interestingly, if I sat down on the road shoulder with my i285 it would lose a signal but standing it would get it.

Of course, the big con of the i285 is that its battery life is way, way below average, as in analog battery life. But when you consider that the reason is the battery is small because the whole phone is as close to a Motorola SLVR (for the uninitiated the bar version of the RAZR, coming soon) as iDEN is ever going to get, you can fogive it somewhat.

OK, now about the trade\sale part of this item. I want to drop a line of Boost service, as two lines at a minimum of $6.66 a month is a bit much. I also want the i450, basically the flip version of the i415 but with other improvements as well. So I'm willing to trade both my Boost phones (i415 and i285) for an i450, all three without sim cards inside. Or I'll trade my i415 with the i285 sim inside (since they're both 64k phones everything will work fine) for an i450 without a sim. If I do the two-phones-for-one trade I'll also want to sell my i285 sim (with around $20 on it and its expiration on April Fool's Day) for the amount on it plus $1 or so for shipping (snail mail) and PayPal fees (I'll take a check in the mail too).

I've posted this info on Howard Forums as well, here:
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=815513

Motorola i285

I traded my Nokia 3560 on Beyond Wireless for a shiny little Boost i285. I'm thinking of making it my primary Boost phone. Though it has less features than my i415 is is much, much smaller, small enough to keep it from being immediately shown to be an iDEN phone, as they tend to be on the large side. As a size comparison, it is shorter and maybe a little thinner than my Nokia 6010 on T-Mobile To Go. If you want a candy bar phone this is about as candy-bar-ish as you're going to get :) with its rounded frame and stubby proportions.

OK, now for the bad stuff. First, the text messaging system is web-based, versus the i415's phone-based system. Ech. Not like I'd use Nextel's horrible text system anyway though. Second, the screen is small and pixelated, a result of the phone's being smaller and a little older. Both items are liveable though; the screen is no more pixelated than that of a Nokia 6010 or 2126, and has about the same screen area as the 6010. I'm just picky.

So if you're in the market for a smaller iDEN phone, the i285 is OK. A few warnings though: the battery life seems to suffer due to the size of the phone, so keep a charger at hand. Also, look for this phone used on eBay or something like that. Its smallness doesn't make it quite worth the $50 boostmobile.com is asking for it. Oh, and as with all other iDEN phones the ringtone selection outside of the monophonic bleeps is very slim.

And a few warnings about Boost service:

1. The i285 does not come with TeleNav. The program is $5 to download, plus the per-trip fees. The "unlimited usage" moniker is incorrect.

2. DO NOT download the "music" or "voice" ringtones. They are $3 and are about 10 seconds long. If you want to trick out your phone, either buy a data cable and put normal-sized ringtones on your phone or get an LG 225 on STi, which allows you to either download tones from 3gforfree or even record your own.

Well I guess that's it. By the way, anyone who is in the market for a Boost sim card contact me. I may want to sell the sim card that came with the i285 for a dollar or two plus the balance on it. I can't afford to have more than two or so expiration-based prepaids where there is basically a monthly minimum, unless it's really small.

Wait...It's Better!

I posted the first rendition of this from my STi phone. Now I'm goi g over with something better. Basically that cingular10 code seems to work EVERYWHERE on CheapPhoneCards.com! This means you can not only use it on Cingular refills, but also on such cards as those from T-Mobile To Go, Tracfone and STi. The added bonus is you can use the code on hardware (STi phones) and accessories as well. Payme25 gets better deals on most of the items sold, but as it doesn't work on the LG 225 cameraphone cingular10 is a worthy substitute, bringing the STi $149 package down to $140.05 shipped. Interestingly, this is only 23 cents cheaper than the price of my own 225, purchased with refill8, but I seem to remember some other wierd discount coming out of nowhere that helped me a bit...

Cingular Refills for even cheaper!

I found another coupon code for CheapPhoneCards: cingular10. As you might figure out from its contents, this code takes 10% off GoPhone refills, which are 5% off as it is. So you get around 15% off total. If you have GoPhone this is a good deal...

Size Comparison, Part I

This is a size comparison between my Boost i415 and a Nokia 5165. As you can see, both are not small phones by any stretch of the imagination.