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waitin2Bmarried · #1 01-03-2009, 02:32 PM

I'm so confused. I hope anyone can help me with this experience. My fiance is in Mt. Pleasant and I am in Iowa City. I understand I need to get a local Mt. Pleasant number to avoid getting slammed (as it sits now a 20min call is $2.29 to connect then 19cents per min, basically, over $6/20min call). I've looked at prepaid phones and im confused not only by the minutes but I have to get the cheapest phone available. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be cheaper than what I am now paying? I hate pre-paid things!!!!!!LOL

HisChildSindi · #2 01-04-2009, 08:37 AM

The initial outlay of costs of a prepay phone will be a bit and might not seem to be worth it, but if he's going to be at MPCF for very long, then in the long run it will be worth it.

I went with Tracphone (admittedly I don't know anything else about any other brand of prepay phones) and they do have local numbers for MP. I just bought the phone I wanted, can't remember if it was the $10 or $17 at WalMart phone and then you get the phone cards, however many minutes you want. Since my guy was supposed to be there for over 2 years at the time he was moved there, I went a "splurged" and got the double the minutes for life card (about $50), so then I could get the 60 minute card and it would be turned into 120 minutes. I had great reception even though the phone says it's roaming and I live in Ft. Dodge, another 3 hours away further than you. The only problem I had with the phone is that when he got moved, they didn't have any local numbers and so I've not used the phone, but had to put minutes on it anyhow, so I can keep the phone active.

Hopefully someone else will come along and tell you their experience too!

kendra425 · #3 01-07-2009, 05:34 PM

I use Virgin Mobile and I haven't had any problems with that either. You can get a cheap phone for $10 at a department store or do like I did and get a better one on craigslist (people are always selling the phones they no longer use). I got a really nice camera phone for $10 used. I also believe virgin has some FREE phones on the web site by mail when you pay for a certain amount of air time. The more minutes you buy, the cheaper it is per minute. All of this info is on their web site. I get unlimited minutes for $80 per month but there are many different plans. The cheapest plan is $20 and you can get 200 minutes (10 cents per minute), but if you buy more minutes the price per min goes down. The best value is 1000 for $50.

LilJohnnysGurl · #4 01-07-2009, 07:47 PM

If you have an existing cell phone you could add a sharetalk/family plan. Thats what I am going to do, it's just another $10/mo and will use off the same minutes that my cell phone plan has. It's the cheaper then paying for him to call AND minutes on a prepaid cell phone.

waitin2Bmarried · #5 01-08-2009, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilJohnnysGurl

If you have an existing cell phone you could add a sharetalk/family plan. Thats what I am going to do, it's just another $10/mo and will use off the same minutes that my cell phone plan has. It's the cheaper then paying for him to call AND minutes on a prepaid cell phone.

That's how I was trying to figure things out (intial call charge free if I get a local number + the minutes for the cards vs the max $5.80 charge to just leave as is). I do have an existing cell, but I have Verizon and unlimited is far more money than what I currently have.

LilJohnnysGurl · #6 01-08-2009, 12:22 PM

It doesn't have to be unlimited. If you have a regular cell phone plan with them you should ask about adding a line to share the existing minutes. I am with US Cellular and it will be $10/mo and share the 1000 min that I have. But lucky me I have incomming free so it won't take any min when he calls me.

Joe Henry Jr · #7 01-11-2009, 06:18 AM

check out Vonage I would call them and see if you can get a virtual number for whatever location yur loved one is in it will proly be WAY cheaper than the whole cell phone thing http://www.vonage.com/features.php?f...l_phone_number

edit
http://www.vonage.com/support.php?ke...ualphonenumber

waitin2Bmarried · #8 01-11-2009, 08:25 AM

Ha Ha, I told you I hate figuring this stuff out. I even had a friend try to give me a hand figuring this stuff out and we gave up. I'm trying to base everything off of him calling once a week. Each call has the initial call charge of $2.60 (I'm rounding). What screws us up is the fact that we have to figure out the cost of the mins seperate at the store with that intitial charge included. Okay, I'm a typical red head, I get frustrated easily (I'll admit it) and while I am sitting here writing all of this, I think I see why I have made it so difficult....lets give this a shot: The $2.60 either way can be canceled out because local or not, it's gonna charge that connect fee. Which leads me to believing that any card that equals out to less than 17 cents per min is going to be cheaper than what I am currently paying. Plus add into the $20 min deposts I have to send to his phone account and here's my logic on this one; him only calling the local number only uses the $2.60 no per min. Him calling long distance is taking more out of that $20 than it would be if he were not being charged the extra per min, thus leaving me to have to send that min in less often.........am I on the right track here people?

This is why I totally bombed in math classes.

kendra425 · #9 01-12-2009, 10:12 AM

I am feeling you right now because I am trying to figure out similar things!! Try to make a budget and stick to it!! (lots of math) I feel like my current prepaid is costing me too much because I have unlimited minutes and I like to talk, so that allows me to do so. BUT if I want to visit my man I have got to figure out a way to cut back on some of my other expenses... I am thinking maybe us celluar may be a better plan because they have free incoming calls and that way I could just limit MY calls to others and still let my friends call me (and Rob call me). But that would mean buying another pre-paid phone and getting a new number approved on his list...

Greengirl6773 · #10 01-14-2009, 08:04 PM

I have US Cellular. I have a $39.99 plan which gives me free incoming calls. My bills end up being around $50 after taxes. This allows us to have generally 3 or 4 daily calls

loneywithoutyou · #11 01-15-2009, 05:00 PM

Hey I have the SAME PLAN!! I love it cause we can talk alot !!

In God I Trust · #12 01-15-2009, 09:18 PM

I forgot how difficult it was to figure this all out... I have U.S. Cellular. Get the cheapest plan with free incoming. Get a phone number with the area code of Iowa City (local). It costs $2.00 for connection (where did you get the $2.60?) and nothing on my end because it is a local number and free incoming calls. 20 minutes equals $2.00. You have to pay for a phone anyway. Let others call you on your free incoming. It equals out a lot cheaper than what you are paying.
I have the family plan and no landline. People call on my kids line and mine is saved for him; but like Dawn said, you can get one for $39.99 and cut out the landline and have people call you more: free incoming calls.
How long will he be at IMCC? You can change the number if he moves.
IGIT

waitin2Bmarried · #13 01-16-2009, 08:57 AM

I previously had the connection fee wrong. The total for that fee is $2.00. If I were to get a Mt. Pleasant number for the prepaid phone it would be a local call and I would only be charged that 2.00 connection fee and the per mins are not charged(this is where I was getting confused becaue I then have to figure out the price per min for the cards). I'm thinking as long as it is under 17 cents per min (the charge he is currently paying) then I am saving. The connection fee can be thrown out of the equasion because either way that gets charged. I'd rather pay $2.00 per call than a max charge of $5.40 per call (which is what is currently being taken out of his phone account). This comes out of his account, which I am paying to have money on (the reason thus far, I have only gotten one card, I'm broke!) It's the figuring out the per min crap I was confused on. I don't really want to get another plan with a phone company as I already have one, it's just that my number is not local to Mt. Pleasant and $39/month seems a lot more than I can pay (plus make sure he has money on his side for the calls).

kendra425 · #14 01-18-2009, 09:40 AM

Well... it all depends on whether or not YOU want a local phone number then... I decided I couldn't afford two phones so I changed MY number to a fort madison number and now my friends complain because I am a long distance phone call for them, but sorry... Rob is more important to me and if they want to call me, I just call them right back. Some people look at me funny when I give them my number but it's my business.

waitin2Bmarried · #15 01-18-2009, 09:45 AM

I've decided that I am just going to add a line to my contract that I currently have. I don't want to deal with a prepaid and adding a line would drop me down to $10/month. I don't want to change my number as too many people have the current number (schools, work contacts, etc). This would allow him to call 9 times off of $20 where as now he can only call 3 (there is tax taken out of the $20 I send).

starr_poet · #16 01-31-2009, 04:05 PM

i got 5 calls from the 20- i sent jonathan...

dcforjm · #17 01-31-2009, 06:34 PM

Is he having to call long distance? I have local phone nu mber for my guy to call home and it is only $2 for each call.

CrystalBlue2328 · #18 02-20-2009, 11:51 PM

I also have U.S Cellular. I would get killed with all of the times he calls if I didn't have free incoming minutes. I just got an extra phone line for $10 & then I forward that phone to my other phone so I don't have to carry two phones around.

CMaJoR · #19 02-28-2009, 10:08 AM

Let me tell you MY experience b/c I was a moron.. lol

I decided to change my number to a local number where HE was.. well, big mistake. I ended up having to pay assloads of money to keep us talking (and my husband likes to talk, so I'd get maybe 3 or 4 calls a day) and they got to the point where I had to tell him to slow down.. LOL. I didn't bother thinking of making it local where they money was being sent.. so I had to pay about $6 a call. Well I didn't feel like waiting a month for my number to get reapproved so I kept it going like that until I got home. I must have sent over $1,000 for the phone.. not even kidding. Def go with a local number. Its so worth it!!!

Infinityandbeyond · #20 03-20-2009, 10:49 PM

I am with US cellular in Missouri, I wonder if I can add another line on my plan but use a local Iowa number for my hubby to call on that line? Anyone know?

CMaJoR · #21 04-15-2009, 11:51 PM

So question, since I messed up on this last time and I didn't feel like waiting years to have my number changed on his bubble sheet...

Wherever he's going, I get a local number to where HE is, or where I'm sending phone money?? (aka Ft Madison?) B/c last time I got a local Fort Dodge number, and for SOME REASON our calls were still outRAGEOUSLY high!!

^^ AKA read my last post, lol

Infinityandbeyond · #22 04-16-2009, 06:54 PM

My understanding is to get a local number to where HE is at. Thats what I plan to do. I'm going to use a used phone that is US cellular compatible (one I previously used thru US cell) to add a pre-paid plan to. From what I can tell it costs approx. $45 a month and that includes unlimited incoming calls. He still has to pay the $2 connect fee each time he calls but its still a heck of a lot cheaper than what we're paying now. Which for us, when he calls to Mo. it costs $9 each call. That is outrageous.
My plan is if he calls once a day at $2 connect fee that would mean he would need $60 a month on his phone account and my $45 for my unlimited pre-paid plan, that would be $105 a month. But as long as its a set amount like that and I know to budget for it, its doable.
Without pre-paid min. if he were to call once a day it would cost us $270 a month. Thats $9 a call once a day for a month. So we will be saving over half what our cost would be now.

Hope I havent confused you. If I'm wrong about where the number should be set up at, ie: the town he is in or Ft.Madison, please let me know.

CMaJoR · #23 04-19-2009, 03:02 PM

It's like $6 or $7 a call from jail.. I'm not able to keep up with it, lol. I tried getting a local number last time but apparently it didn't work out like I wanted it to, so we ended up paying like 6.50 a call each time when he was in Fort Dodge.. and I wanted ot bypass that.. I didn't want it to end up that way this time, so I wanted to make sure I had it right.. Thanks!