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The Best of Everything Cellular
Mountain Wireless chooses The Best cellular plans and services.
We picked one of each type of cellular plans
and features as "The Best" and
why. If you're looking for someone to tell
you what's Best among cellular offerings,
this is the place. The T-Mobile Prepaid plan we previously rated as the best cellular
deal is still shown, below.
| Best US Cellular Coverage |
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VERIZON WIRELESS has an advantage because there are so many
areas in the country where there is only
CDMA coverage, and the majority of that coverage
is supplied by Verizon and their roaming
partners. They don't cover everywhere, but
more of it. |
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| Best International Coverage |
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AT&T gives you more options to use your phone
in other countries. GSM technology is more
universally available and AT&T allows
you to roam on most GSM networks, although
roaming may not be cheap. |
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| Best Unlimited Plan |
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BOOST MOBILE $50 Unlimited Talk, Text, Web Access, Voice Mail, Long Distance,
US Roaming and Walkie-Talkie. Uses the Sprint or Nextel network, but CDMA phones do not offer walkie-talkie.
No contract required, no extra fees or taxes.
Discounts on Boost Mobile Phones
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| Best Texting Plan |
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T-MOBILE offers a prepaid plan that provides Unlimited
Text, Picture and Video Messaging for $15
a month. Voice calls are charged at an additional
.10 per minute. |
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| Best Cheap Unlimited Plan |
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CRICKET offers a basic plan for only $30 a month
that includes unlimited voice calls and text.
In some markets and during certain promotions,
Cricket's price is as low as $25. |
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| Best Mobile to Mobile Plan |
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ALLTEL'S "My Circle" gives you the next
best thing to Unlimited with the ability
to make Unlimited calls to and from your
choice of numbers on any wired or wireless
network. If Alltel doesn't serve your area,
the AT&T "A List" or Verizon "Friends & Family" are available. |
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| Best Glove Box Phone |
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T-MOBILE PREPAID is our choice for a phone that sits in the
glove box for a long time, mostly due to
its 365-day expiration at the "Gold
Rewards" level. More Below. |
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| Best Prepaid Phone |
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TRACFONE works in more places and has more local numbers
available than any other prepaid phone, and
their promotions include almost free phones
and double your minutes for life. 365-day
expirations and auto-pay are available. |
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| Best Smart Phone |
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We like the Android line of Smart phones for several reasons:
They are less expensive to own and use, there
are almost as many apps available as any,
and they are available on multiple networks,
some that have fewer capacity problems. The
Droid X is among the best Smart phones on the market.
The iPhone may be cute, but it isn't worth
it. |
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| Best Email Phone |
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The BLACKBERRY available from several online discount Retailers. You can be in touch 24/7, and a lot of
Blackberry users are. |
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| Best Senior Plan |
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JITTERBUG is not only an easy-to-use phone, it's backed
up by personal service with an "Operator"
who can help complete your calls, update
your phone's features and explain how your
service works. They even have nurses on call. |
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| Best 3G Network |
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VERIZON WIRELESS'S 3G network covers more of the US by a wide margin. |
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| Best Low-Cost Plan |
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T-MOBILE PREPAID, more details, below. If T-Mobile is not available in your area,
PAGE PLUS uses the extensive Verizon Wireless network. |
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| Best Walkie-Talkie Service |
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NEXTEL dominates this market ("Push To Talk")
although a few other carriers have tried.
Nextel's "Direct Connect" works
faster and more reliably than the others. |
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T-MOBILE PREPAID is our choice for the best value in a modest
priced cellular plan. Service can cost as
little as $10 per year! You can buy T-Mobile
Prepaid phones new in many places like pharmacies
and discount stores, or you can bring your
own GSM phone.
- Benefits:
- Once you have spent $100 in refills you achieve
"Gold Rewards" status which gives
you a 365-day expiration on your minutes.
- Your per-minute rate is only .10 per minute
and Texts are .05 received, .10 sent.
- You can send and receive email (sent as text
messages) with an address of (your 10-digit-number)@tmomail.net.
- You get Free access to a handful of useful
web sites such as news, sports, weather,
horoscopes, etc. Yes, free, they don't use minutes.
- T-Mobile Prepaid coverage is almost the same as T-Mobile's regular
plans, which is very good. Check their prepaid coverage viewer.
- T-Mobile Prepaid phones work in Canada and
Mexico.
- Refills are easy to find. You can buy them
from T-mobile online or at their stores. Discounts can
be had from PrepaidWireless, and stores like Target, although Target's
cards need extra steps to be activated toward
your account, and "stacked" to
achieve Gold Rewards.
- Refills can be as little as $10, and with
"Gold Rewards" that could reset
your existing minutes for another 365 days.
- Buying Direct from T-Mobile:
- 1. Visit the T-Mobile web page. Click on Plans > Prepaid.
- 2. Choose from among their phones and purchase
a T-Mobile "Prepaid Starter Kit".
- 3. After receiving your phone, activate it
and choose from a range of local phone numbers.
Be careful, in some markets they aren't too
detailed on what numbers are local to you.
This isn't important If you don't plan on
many incoming calls. The entire process is
handled right on your new phone.
- 4. Add $100 to your account. This gives you
"Gold Rewards" status and your
new minutes won't expire for a year. Mark
your calendar for next year. If you run out
of minutes you can refill with whatever amount
you'd like, you're still "Gold,"
and your refill resets your account for another
year. Your per-minute cost will rise with
smaller refill amounts, but this isn't significant.
Your $100 refill will give you about 83 minutes
a month, but you can use more or less and
your rate stays the same. If, after one year,
you haven't used all your minutes, you can
refill with as little as $10 and your minutes
are good for another year. Discount refills
are also available from PrepaidWireless.
- Using an Existing Phone:
This could mean an T-Mobile phone you already
own, a phone you acquire from a friend or
buy on eBay, or any "Unlocked"
GSM 850/1900 MHz phone.
- 1. Visit the T-Mobile web page. Click on Plans > Prepaid.
- 2. Purchase a "T-Mobile SIM Activation
Kit".
- 3. After receiving your SIM, insert it into
your phone, activate it and choose
from a
range of local phone numbers. Be
careful,
in some markets they aren't too
detailed
on what numbers are local to you.
This isn't
important If you don't plan on
many incoming
calls. The entire process is handled
right
on your phone.
- 4. Add $100 to your account. This gives you
"Gold Rewards" status and your
new minutes won't expire for a year. Mark
your calendar for next year. If you run out
of minutes you can refill with whatever amount
you'd like, you're still "Gold,"
and your refill resets your account for another
year. Your per-minute cost will rise with smaller
refill amounts, but this isn't
significant.
Your $100 refill will give you
about 83 minutes
a month, but you can use more or
less and
your rate stays the same. If, after
one year,
you haven't used all your minutes,
you can
refill with as little as $10 and
your minutes
are good for another year.
- Expiration:
Once you have achieved Gold Rewards level,
your minutes are good for one full year,
regardless. Those minutes do disappear at
the end of that last day, (Midnight Central
Time)...Poof! If you should pass the expiration
date without refilling, here are your options:
- Call T-Mobile To Go customer service (877-778-2106)
within 48 hours and you can get all minutes
back with your refill.
- Refill within 90 days and you can keep your
Gold Rewards status and keep the the phone
number, but your minutes are lost.
- After 90 days past expiration, you must enter
as a new customer and you'll need another
$100 to once again achieve Gold Rewards.
- Additional Tips:
- T-Mobile Prepaid phones are also available
at retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens
and others, sometimes on sale.
- You cannot activate an existing phone by
just getting a new SIM from places like eBay.
The SIM must be "activated" and
can have some minutes already available.
With an inactive SIM, you may need to buy
an "Activation Kit."
- T-Mobile SIM Activation Kits are available
online or at T-Mobile stores. Prices range
from $5 to $10.
- You can change your phone number once every
6 months. This is helpful if you buy a card
that was "activated" somewhere
else, even if the seller says otherwise.
- When calculating among different refill amounts,
T-Mobile always rounds up your per-minute
total to your advantage. If your previous
fill was $100 and your new refill is $10,
the calculated per-minute rate is between
the amounts, pro-rated on the number of remaining
minutes...a good deal!
- T-Mobile also offers a per-day prepaid plan
that allows "Unlimited" calling
during certain periods.
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