Prepaid Cell Phone Guy

So I know what you are thinking.  You can not get a cell phone for less than $40 a month plus taxes and you have to sign a one year or two year contract.  That is no longer true.  You can get a phone for as little as 6.66 per month–here is an article on the Best Emergency Phone.  Which could also be called the best $6.66 per month cell phone.

Net10 Samsung R451c Qwerty Keyboard

What makes the Best $16.66 per month Phone?

In my Opinion the most important points would be who has

• The most minutes to use for $16.66 per month.
• No Contract to sign.
• No Credit Check Required.
• Usable every day
• Available Nationally

With that in mind I have evaluated T-Mobile Prepaid, Tracfone, Net10, Go phone and Verizon Prepaid.   All of these companies have national or nearly national plans.

The Options.

T-Mobile, Go Phone, Verizon, all have pretty much the same options.  If you purchase a $100 card you can have access for a year.  They have $1 per day plans that give unlimited calling to their own network and after you pay your $1 you get 10 cent minutes.  They also have 25 cents per minute plans with no daily charge (Way too expensive).  T-Mobile has a straight 10 cents a minute plan as long as you put in $100 first.  There are better options

$16.66 per Month is $200 per Year

The $200 per year phone plan from Tracfone.com gives you 3,000 minutes and One year of service for $16.66 per month if you pay {for a year|$200} {to start the plan|in advance}.

6.6 cents per minute.  No limits on your calling, no long distance charges, no roaming charges and yet your phone will roam onto several cell networks.

If you use all 3,000 minutes before your year is up you can purchase more for the same price (you will have to spend $200 to get the 6.6 cent rate.)  If you do not use all of your minutes they Roll Over as long as you keep your service active.

You are in control of your minutes.  You buy them and use them as fast or as slow as you want.  You will always know how many minutes you have left because it shows right on the screen of your phone.

If you average 250 minutes a month your minutes will last for 12 months.  You can use 400 on month and 100 the next.

As recently as 2005 you would pay at least 20 cents a minute for prepaid minutes in the US.

Tracfone has the best $16.66 per month Plan

You can only purchase the $200 one year 3,000 Tracfone plan online at Tracfone.com.  To get 3,000 minutes you have to have DMFL on your phone before your add the $200 card.

Get $3 off on any Tracfone phone of $19.99 or more with coupon code 23444

Motorola W385 and Samsung R451c

Runner up in the $16.66 per Month Phone Contest

In my opinion runner up goes to Net10.com.  You can purchase phone cards for $30 anytime from Net10 that give you ten cent minutes.  No $1 per day monthly fee just add a $30 phone card and you get 10 cent minutes.

Net10 up will give you 166 minute per month compared to Tracfone’s 250 minutes per month for $16.66.

You will only have to spend $30 for two months with Net10 and you will have to invest $200 to get the Tracfone deal.  If you were getting a Contract phone the $200 would be about 3 or 4 months service charge.

Summary

The Best $16.66 250 minutes per month deal is only available at the Tracfone Website. Buy the $200 1500 minute refill with DMFL already installed on your phone and get 3000 minutes.

Remember with Tracfone you get more minutes per dollar if you buy bigger cards.  The $20 Card gets you 16.6 cent minutes $30 = 12.5 cent minutes $40 = 10 cent minutes $80 = 8.8 cent minutes $200 = 6.6 cent minutes.  These are all figured as if you have DMFL.

With Net10 cards $30 = 10 cent minutes $45 = 10 cent minutes $60 = 10 cent minutes $100 = 10 cent minutes $400 = 8 cent minutes.

Rick the Prepaid Guy

Compare Straight Talk and Tracfone
These two Prepaid cell companies have significantly different pricing. Tracfone is both a very inexpensive monthly service and an inexpensive pay up front yearly service.

Straight Talk is a Very Low Cost Unlimited service and a very high value $30 a month service . Straight Talk only has two options which you can change between on a monthly basis.

If you are spending $30 a month or more on your cell phone the best deal available is the Straight Talk “All You Need” plan that gives you 1,000 minutes and 1,000 texts, 30 meg of data and unlimited 411 calls.

If you are using more than 1,000 minutes a month the $45 Unlimited plan from Straight Talk is impossible to beat with a National Carrier (Verizon) providing the network.

Motorola Razr V3 and Samsung R451c Qwerty Phone from
both Straight Talk.com

Compare Straight Talk and Tracfone Advantages

$20 phone card gives you three months of service time. You get 60/120 with double minutes 33.33/16.66 with doubler cents a minute and $6.33 per month.

$80 phone card gives you three months and 450/900 with double minutes 16.66/8.8 with doubler minutes and $26.66 per month.

$100 yearly phone card gives you 400/800 with double minutes and 12 months service $8.33 per month and 25/12.5 with doubler cents a minute.

$200 yearly phone card gives you 1500/3000-dmfl minutes and 12 months service $16.66 per month and 13.33/6.66-dmfl cents a minute.

Minutes and Activation time Roll-over with Tracfone.

Tracfone.com has a DMFL (double minutes for life) option you can purchase for your phone usually $25 or $50. This doubles your minutes on every card you put in your phone for the life of the phone. Many Tracfone Phones come with DMFL already installed on the phone. Never add minutes to a Non-DMFL Tracfone phone. The minutes are way too expensive.

Straight Talk Wireless vs Tracfone Prepaid Advantages
$30 a month plan gives you 1,000 minutes, 1,000 text messages, 30 megabite of data er month. No charge for 411 calls. 3.3 cents a minute not counting the text and data. Minutes do not roll over on this pay as you go system.

$45 Unlimited plan with Unlimited text and Unlimited data. No charge for 411 calls. There is no other Nationwide calling plan that comes close to matching this plan.

Nicer phones are available from Straight Talk than Tracfone. Although many of the same phones are available from both companies. Always figure the cost of adding in DMFL to your Tracfone when you are comparing prices.

All Straight Talk phones use the Verizon Network for making calls.

Summary The Plan I would Buy Depends on My Usage

I would choose the Tracfone.com plan. I do not use a lot of minutes and my favorite plan is the $200 3,000 minute plan from Tracfone. My usage is all over the map, some months I don’t use more than a hundred minutes and some months I will use four or five hundred. I am almost always around a land line to talk on so my cell phone is more for messages. This changes my Straight Talk Wireless vs Tracfone Prepaid strategies.

If I used all of my 3,000 minutes in seven months it would be the same as me buying the $30 Straight Talk cards every month. Seven months at $30 equals $210. If I am able to stretch the 3,000 minute Tracfone plan for more than seven months I am getting cheaper cell phone service.

The magic number is 428 minutes a month. 3,000 minutes/ 7 months= 428 minutes per month. If you average over that you are better off spending the $30 a month for the Straight Talk Plan.

Compare Straight Talk and Tracfone Summary Two

If you are using just a few minutes a month Tracfone is great, you can keep your service active for less than $7 a month. If you use 400 minutes a month you can purchase the $200 1,500 minute card and get 3,000 minutes with DMFL. This will cost you less than $30 a month. If you use over 400 (428) minutes a month purchase the $30 a month 1,000 Straight Talk Plan or $45 a month unlimited plan.

Happy Calling

Get the Straight Talk Unlimited Plan for $45 or the $30 Monthly plan direct from Straight Talk.com

So if you want the cheapest cell phone monthly and you use under 428 minutes a month Tracfone has you covered for less than $30 a month.

Get the Best Price on Straight Talk Phones from Straight Talk.com

Check out Straight Talk Wireless

The New Straight Talk Samsung R810c Finesse is the first Smartphone touchscreen from Straight Talk

Check out this reveiw of the Straight Talk Wireless Samsung R451c

How well does the Straight Talk LG 200c hold up. What features are included with the LG 200c?

Review of the Straight Talk LG 100c

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of Tracfone vs Net10 vs Straight Talk Prepaid wireless company plans. Which companies’ phones will work best for you?

Check out Straight Talk Pricing. How competitive is your

How well does the Straight Talk LG 200c hold up. What features are included with the LG 200c?

Get the Best price on Tracfone phones and Minute Cards at Tracfone.com

Tracfone DMFL is a program Tracfone came up with.  Install DMFL on your phone it will give you Double the minutes every time you add a Minute Card for as long as you own your phone.  It is also called a Tracfone Doubler card or Tracfone Double Minutes for Life.

Buying the DMFL Card

The DMFL card used to cost $50 now the price has dropped to $20 or $25.  Often you can get a new or refurbished phone for the same price as DMFL.

All of the nicer phones like the Lg 600, LG 225, Motorola W376 and Motorola W370 all come with DMFL installed.

If I let my service expire will I have to buy DMFL again?

No  Once DMFL has been added to your Tracfone you will always get double minutes when adding a card.

Can I transfer DMFL it to another phone?

Normally no.  It normally will cost you $50 to add it to a phone.  I have gotten Tracfone to transfer it once when the phone it was added to died shortly after DMFL was added.

Motorola Razr, Motorola W370, LG cg225

How to get DMFL

I recommend only getting DMFL by getting it already installed on a new phone.  You can purchase a new Tracfone with DMFL for less than buying the card.

Transferring DMFL Minutes

You can add minutes to a DMFL phone and then transfer them to a non DMFL phone.  The minutes will stay doubled.  You must transfer all the minutes and all the service time that is on the phone (Example if you have 240 minutes on a phone you can not just transfer just 100 minutes.)  You can reactivate the phone you just transferred minutes off and it will still have DMFL.

Buy a Tracfone DMFL phone from Tracfone.com and get free freight on orders of $19.99 or more.

Get $3 off on any Tracfone phone of $19.99 or more with coupon code 23444

Here are some recent articles

How to Buy Tracfone Minute and use Bonus Coupons

Compare W375, lg 600, LG 225

The Best Tracfone Deals

1200 text message $60

This is a list of the Most Expensive Tracfone Mistakes.

Buying a Tracfone without Unlimited Double Minutes –Mistake  1
The Unlimited Double Minutes Tracfone will always get you double
the minutes listed on the Tracfone minute card. You can get a new Tracfone with DMFL for as little as $19.99, do not buy or use a phone without DMFL.

*******The new LG 600g Bluetooth phone from Tracfone

Adding minutes to a Tracfone without DMFL–Mistake 2
Unless you use less than 20 minutes per month it is much cheaper to use your Tracfone if it has DMFL. Never add minutes without using a DMFL card.

Not using Tracfone Bonus Codes –Mistake 3
It is simple to use Tracfone Bonus codes when you add a minute card to your phone and you will receive between 20 and 200 minutes extra depending on the Promo code you use.    Go to Tracfone Bonus Codes.  The Tracfone Bonus code will always have 5 digits.

Buying a DMFL card –Mistake 4
I do not recommend buying an Unlimited Doubler card for your phone. You can usually purchase a new Tracfone with the DMFL installed for less than buying the DMFL card.  It is not so bad anymore to buy a DMFL card, they used to be $50 and you could buy a DMFL phone for $30.  Now the card is $20.

Buying $20 TracFone Cards if you talk a lot. –Mistake 5
It is always cheaper per minute to purchase larger denomination Tracfone cards.  The lowest cost per minute currently is the the $80 four hundred fifty minute card.  This comes to 8.88 cents per minute if you have a Unlimited Doubler phone card.  If you use Promo codes you will get the minutes even cheaper.

Buying the Tracfone Extended Warranty –Mistake 6
The Extended Warranty for your Tracfone costs $20 per year and is not a good value costs for the Extended warranty is a waste.  My experience with Tracfone phone problems has been resolved by Tracfone sending me a new phone without having the warranty.  The Tracfone phones are cheap enough that the warranty is not a good value.

Buying Tracfone Codes from eBay –Mistake 7
All the codes you can buy from eBay for $3 or whatever you can find at this Tracfone Bonus Codes page.

Still using a Tracfone without DMFL? –Mistake 8
Several phones are available with Unlimited Double Mintes: LG 225 , Motorola W370 with DMFL, Motorola W376g Bluetooth With DMFL, Lg 600g Bluetooth with DMFL, Samsung T301 Slider.

********The Motorola W370 next to the LG 225

The Best Tracfone Deals
Buy a Motorola W376  with 60 Minute Tracfone card and DMFL for $19.95. Buy two and you will have a spare battery and charger if you do not use the spare phone.  Next Day Air is Free Until December 21st.

Use the Latest Tracfone Codes
Check for the Latest Tracfone Bonus Codes You will have to purchase minutes as soon as you buy any Tracfone phone.

Thanks,
Prepaid Cell Phone Guy

Link from The Most Expensive Tracfone Mistakes to the Best Tracfone Deals.

To Compare the Best Tracfone Phone to one another I have purchased and played with all of them.

Tracfone has finally started selling some descent phones.  The availablilty of the nicerphones includes the Lg 225, the Motorola W376, the LG 600g and the Samsung T301G slider.  No longer are they all the clunky cheap phones.

Tracfone LC 225, LG 600, and Net10 Motorola W375,  Sharpie to show size,

Tracfone Phone Feel

I like the touch and feel of the LG 600 the best.  The Motorola W376, the LG 225 and the Samsung Slider all also have a nice feel to them.

The antenna stalk  sticking out of the LG 225 is a little annoying because I carry my phone in my front pocket.

Yalking on Your Phone
I like the smooth lines and larger size of the LG 600 and W376 for talking on the phones.   I have big hands and a large head and the way they flip out I can get the phones into a comfortable position for talking.  The LG 225 is pretty good, I just like the 600 and W375 better.  I do not like the way the Samsun Slider fits my face.

BlueTooth Tracfone

The Bluetooth on my LG 600 and my W376 will not connect to my Dell laptop or another phone or my friends Acura.  I have not been able to get my Samsung to connect to any of them either.  The Bluetooth on most of the phones will hook up to headsets but not to most other Bluetooth appliances.

Slider Phones from TracPhone

I really like the feel of a slider like the Samsung T301G.   If I had one in my pocket it would probably be in my hand being flicked open all the time.   I love the feel of a slider.   I will not be using it because I carry my phone in my pocket all the time.  The folding phones protect themselves in my pocket better.

Tracfone.com Slider Phone Keylock

The Slider phones do have an automatic key lock so when your phone is put into your pocket you will not be dialing accidentally as your phone gets bumped around.  The key lock deactivates when you open the slide making the phone ready to use as soon as you open the keyboard.

Get Free Shipping on the Latest Tracfone Phones from Tracfone.com

How many ways can you misspell Tracfone? Track Phone is one of the most common along with TracPhone and Trackfone.

My Favorite Tracfone phone is the LG 600 followed closely by the Moto W376 and LG 225.   They are all available as package deals from Tracfone.com You will always get the best phone deals when you buy a Phone/Minute card package at website.
Rick

Check out another article on Which is the Best Tracfone Phone

What is an Emergency Cell Phone?

I would consider a cell phone that is carried around mainly to make emergency phone calls an emergency phone.  A phone that is used less than 20 minutes a month could be considered an Emergency Phone.

What do I want in an Emergency Phone?

1. Low priced monthly service
2. The Best Coverage
3. Inexpensive Phones
4. Phones that hold a charge

Contract phones are out because normally you will pay at least $35 per month to keep your service active.

Most prepaid phones will not roam onto other networks.  With T-Mobile Prepaid, Verizon Prepaid, Straight Talk, Go Phones, Virgin Mobile, and Boost Mobile your phone will not roam onto another network.  Only Net10 and Tracfone Prepaid phones will roam onto different cell phone networks.

Very Basic phones without cameras and Bluetooth or MP3 players will normally hold a charge longer than fancy phones.

What is the Best Emergency Cell Phone Deal?

Without a doubt Tracfone has a phone deal that will be the best emergency phone deal.

Tracfone and Free Phone Card Deals

The best Tracfone Emergency phone deal will be a phone that comes with a free phone card.  They always have one of these at the top of the Tracfone.com phone page.

When you activate a Tracfone phone it will have 20 minutes and two months of service.    Tracfone cards come with three months of service and the minutes stated on the card.  This top of the page phone and phone card deal will cost $20 or $30 and give you Five months of service after activating the phone and adding the phone card.  This is really cheap to have emergency phone service.

Phone numbers to put on your Emergency Cell Phone

I set up and Emergency phone for my Mother.  I added all the phone numbers of her neighbors and my brothers and sisters.  I put their names in so she could hit the menu button and call easily.

Put the person who will be carrying the phones name on the phone also.  It might help if the phone gets lost.

Buy Two of the Phones and get Free Freight

Set them both up with the emergency numbers.  An extra $20 or $30 and you will get the second Tracfone for the same price as buying just a phone card.  If one gets lost the number two phone can get activated and used right away.  As soon as the Tracfone phone gets activated it will have two months and 20 minutes on it.

Also if you lose one of your phones you will not have to reteach the phone user how to use a new phone.

The extra charger can also be handy.

Cell phone chargers seem to get left in Motel rooms a lot.

Give the phone user a lesson on how to use the phone.  Many older people have only talked on a cell phone and do not know how to dial out with it.  Test them on this a couple of days later.

This is the back of one of my Cell phones, I have trouble reading off the little screen on the phone and this is my backup cell phone, I don’t use the number much.

I write the phone’s number down and tape it on the back of the phone.  Be sure to print large enough for an older person to easily read the number.

You can put the ESN of the phone on the back also in case it is needed when adding minutes.  I cannot see numbers in the phone easily and this way I do not have to remember the phone number or find my glasses.

I like Flip Phones for an Emergency Phone
The emergency phone will probably get bounced around a lot and having the keys covered so they don’t accidentally get punched is nice.

Buy an Emergency Cell Phone Deal at Tracfone.com and get 5 months of service for less than $30!

Purchase Discount Code

Get $3 off on any phone or accessory with coupon code 23444 at Tracfone.

What is a Free Tracfone Airtime Code?

There are two Tracfone airtime codes.
One is a 15 digit number.  You will always have to pay for these codes.  The 15 digit code will be on a Tracfone Minute Card.  It will be on the back of the card and under a scratch off. This is much like the number on Lottery ticket.

The Free Tracfone Airtime Code
The free code will be a 5 digit bonus code. This is the bonus code you will put in as you are putting in the 15 digit code. This will add from 20 to 350 free minutes to your Tracfone. There are several places to get them. The best place I have found to get Free Tracfone Airtime Codes.

Always use Free Tracfone airtime codes.  Otherwise you are paying too much.  It is very easy as you are putting in your 15 digit code to add the 5 digit code.

Some Bonus Codes Only Work Once
Many of the bonus codes will only work once on a particular phone. Some will only work once per two months. Tracfone does not disclose much information about the codes when they release them so after you have used a code on your phone it is trial and error to see if a code will work again.

What is DMFL
DMFL stands for Double MInutes for lIfe on a phone.  When your phone has this you will always get twice the number of minutes that is stated on the phone card.  To convert any phone to DMFL will cost about $50 but you can often purchase a DMFL phone for $20.

Buy the Tracfone Cards that come with a free DMFL Phone
At Tracfone.com you can purchase phone cards that come with a free phone.  A couple of these cards come with a DMFL phone.  These are always the best deal.  I do not recommend buying or adding minutes to a Tracfone that is not a DMFL phone.

Buy Two Free Tracfones
I have always recommended buying two DMFL phones at a time.

The Free Tracfone Phone deals will always offer you a good phone for free if you purchase a high unit or yearly Tracfone card.

I recommend buying two at a time.

1. This gives you a spare battery.
2. Spare Battery charger.
3. Spare Phone  if your phone gets wet or something you have a spare phone that you are already familiar with.
4. Spare card to add when you run out of service time or minutes
5. Sometimes buying two at a time will save you paying for shipping.

It is nice to have a spare charger to use in your car or at the office. Charge up the extra battery and put it in your car or purse is also handy.

Motorola C139 and Tracfone Moto W370 with DMFL

Tracfone Purchase Discount Code
This purchase code gets you a discount when buying from the Tracfone website.  Get $3 off with Purchase code 23444.  Tracfone has always had bonus codes for getting deals on minutes. This is the first Purchase discount code I have seen.

Buy a One year Tracfone card and get a Free Tracfone LG 225 Camera Phone. This is the best deal in prepaid cell phones.  You get a camera phone with DMFL, 1100+ minutes if you use a bonus code and 14 months of service for $100.  Be sure to find the LG 225 WITH the One year phone card Package Tracfone Deal.

Free Next Day Air on any

Tracfone Christmas Special Phone

DMFL

Do not add minutes to a phone without DMFL. The Tracfone DMFL Double minute for life card will cost you $50 to upgrade any phone. Buy one of these New phones with DMFL for less.

Good Tracfone Deals

These are really good Tracfone Christmas Special Deals with Free Next Day Air 12/20/08 and 12/21/08.

Tracfone LG 600g The Best Tracfone with DMFL $49.95

Tracfone Motorola W376g Camera, Bluetooth with DMFL $29.95

Tracfone LG 600g and Motorola W376g

The Best Tracfone Phone Deal

The best deal for a Tracfone and Minutes is the New LG 225 Camera phone with One Year Card. This deal is no longer highlighted at the top of the page.

Scroll down the page you will see LG 225 + 1 Year Card. I recently purchased one of these for a friend and activated it with Bonus Code 55118. We got 1120 minutes 14 months service and the Brand New LG 225 Camera phone for $99.99.

We used the $3 off Buying code (23444) so it came to $96.99. Free Next Day Air Shipping December 20th and 21st.

Tracfone LG 225 Camera Phone with One Year 800 minute Card

Buy Tracfone Christmas Special On Saturday or Sunday December 20th or 21st and get Free Next Day Air Shipping.

The Golden Egg
This Tracfone deal that comes with 1120 minute (you will need to use a bonus code) 14 months and Double Minutes for life  for only $100.  Wait I almost forgot-  You get a Brand New LG 225 Camera phone (not refurbished) too.

Hunt for it?

Are you going to have to be a Master Bargain Hunter to find it?  Yes.  It is hidden near the bottom of the page in with the other phones.  The LG 225 with One year card.  Remember Tracfone will try to fool you into buying just the LG 225 phone with fancy bonus kit.  Don’t fall for it, go for the Golden Egg. 

Get the LG 225 with One Year Card and use a bonus code when you activate it.  I got 300 bonus minutes last week with bonus code 55118 (DMFL + 300 minute bonus =1100).  You can check at Tracfone Bonus Codes and Coupons for the latest greatest codes.

Tracfone LG 225 Camera Phone with Phone Card and Charger.

It’s not too late?
Well if you waited to open this email until Christmas eve it is too late to get this phone for Christmas.  Order before December 12th and you should be OK.  The only place you will find My Golden Egg deal is Tracfone.com.

Over 3600 text messages?
Yes with this phone you get charged .3 units per text message to send and receive.  If you only used this phone for text messages you could do over 3600.

Buy your Tracfone Ugly Duckling Lg 225 with One year card at Tracfone.com.

Tracfone LG 225 Camera Phone with Phone Card and Charger.

Thanks for Checking this out

Prepaid Cell Phone Guy

Other Prepaid Cell Phone Articles

The most Expensive Tracfone Mistakes

Buy a LG 225 phone With One Year Card at TracFone

The Best Tracfone Deals for Christmas

Verizon Prepaid vs Tracfone Wireless

Tracfone may be known as Tracfone the Ugly Duckling because they do not require a credit check, activation fee, long term contract, or a cancelation fee.

How to find Tracfone Coupons