The "Best" Cell Phone Deal
At Mountain Wireless we try to appeal to the value-conscious cellular buyer, and we share some of the cheapest or best-priced cellular plans available for a first or second phone. We have suggestions on Our Recommendations page, and we announce new finds on our Mountain Wireless News/Blog. But one cellular offer rises to the top for the majority of users who want something simple, convenient and priced right, and on this page we pick our favorite. It could change as better deals come along, but a new choice must be time-tested. Our current favorite is T-Mobile to Go. And there's more than one way to enjoy the savings this plan offers.

• Buying Direct from T-Mobile:
  1. Visit the T-Mobile To Go web page. Click on Plans > Prepaid.
  2. Choose from among their phones and purchase a T-Mobile To Go "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 rests 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 cheapphonecards.com.
  
  
• 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 To Go web page. Click on Plans > Prepaid.
  2. Choose and 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 rests your account fro 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 To Go coverage is almost the same as T-Mobile's regular plans, which is very good. Check their prepaid coverage viewer.
  • You can buy your refills from T-mobile online or at their store. Discounts can be had from online retailers like cheapphonecards.com, and from some retailers like Target, although Target's cards need extra steps to be activated toward your account, and "stacked" to achieve Gold Rewards level.
  • T-Mobile To Go phones are also available at retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens and others, often on sale.
  • You cannot activate an existing phone by just getting a new SIM from places like eBay. The SIM must already 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 at T-Mobile stores, but online prices can be as low as $5.
  • 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.
  • T-Mobile To Go includes "T-Zones" which is free access to a handful of useful web sites such as news, sports, weather, horoscopes, etc.
  • 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 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 recently introduced a per-day prepaid plan. Based on the success of these plans, the current T-Mobile To Go price structure could change.