Cell phone ?

[DoryGray]

Any suggestions on a basic inexpensive cell phone, not iphone or smart. Mahalo Nui Loa

[d96778]

I have a prepaid plan from ATT. $25 for 90 days. Any unused minutes roll over if you renew it before it expires. Also, Cricket wireless has some very inexpensive plans & phones.

Dee

[Chunkster]

TracFone has a few phones that are free and a number that are under $20. They have an air time card for $100 with a coupon that gives you 1200 minutes and a year's activation. If you run low on minutes, they are cheap and easy to double with always available on line coupons. Perhaps the nicest thing about TracFone is that they use a number of networks and towers so that even if one carrier is weak where you are, another will probably kick in automatically.

[DoryGray]

Thanks for the suggestions. Anyone use Consumer Cellular? Coverage?

[geochem]

I have an account with Ting - you can buy a variety of phones under their plan and they charge a minimal monthly fee for the line and then a modest amount for the actual time you use. I have it as a back up and my bill for last month, for voice and data, was $12 and change.
If you are a heavy cell phone user, then the costs might add up, but if you just want a plan that is there when you need it, might be the way to go.

[ericlp]

check out these...

https://republicwireless.com/

https://fi.google.com/about/

https://www.freedompop.com/

https://ting.com/rates

[DTisme]

Not long ago, I had a Verizon prepaid phone (flip, not smartphone) -- $30 to fill, and if you refilled the $30 within 90 days, all your $ rolled over. If you didn't refill, you lost what was in there. I chose the plan that was $1.99 a day, only debited from the phone on days you used it. When I got rid of it, I had over $400 in there. Alas, they wouldn't let me transfer the funds to a smart phone. (But they were kind enough to give me $60 credit just for asking.) Not sure if they have any non-smartphone prepaid phones, but worth checking.

And you might consider getting a prepaid smartphone from Verizon, but only using its internet apps from home wifi. (That's what I use for my ipad - no internet service unless it's free - doesn't cost me a cent.)

Also, i wouldn't consider anything but Verizon service here. We had AT&T for our first year and it was awful.

[DTisme]

Here's Verizon's prepaid phones (i.e., you fill them with money rather than have a monthly fee): https://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/smartphones/ Could be more choices from the verizon store near walmart in Hilo.

[Darnok]

http://cricketwireless.com

[randomq]

Total Wireless at Walmart is on Verizon's network, $25/mo for unlimited talk+text. $35/mo includes 6GB LTE data.

Even if you are not wanting data, get a phone that supports LTE, it will increase your chances of pulling in a signal since most towers are converting to LTE. I see a flip phone for $30 that has LTE.

In general, the MVNO's (network resellers) will have coverage maps on their displays. Red implies Verizon network, Blue AT&T, Magenta T-Mobile, Yellow Sprint. You generally want Verizon or AT&T around Puna.