Safelink Wireless?

Anyone tried this free cell phone service? I got a letter about it a few
days ago. Free phone and free minutes if one qualifies. I qualify by being
under the annual income level. I'm tempted. Not many minutes but I use few
and they can carry over. I already have annually renewed Tracfone service
which has been good for all the years I've had it. Around $100 a year. I
only use it for 'emergencies', long distance, and calls when my computer is
on my dial-up connection to the net. Usually only a few minutes a month, if
that. Once a year or so a 30 minute or so long distance call to my sister.

If you use it, what do you think of it?

TIA


--
"Experience is something you don't get until
just after you need it." Steven Wright

About 3 weeks ago I applied for one online, a week later it was at my door
.. Works great . I had net 10 for years, poor service, many dead spots but
needed something . Safelink is a part of tracfone (but so is net10) for some
reason I have better service. most of all the price is right ! absolutly
free. Not a stitch I tell ya. Go for it



"KenK" wrote in message
...
Anyone tried this free cell phone service? I got a letter about it a few
days ago. Free phone and free minutes if one qualifies. I qualify by being
under the annual income level. I'm tempted. Not many minutes but I use few
and they can carry over. I already have annually renewed Tracfone service
which has been good for all the years I've had it. Around $100 a year. I
only use it for 'emergencies', long distance, and calls when my computer
is
on my dial-up connection to the net. Usually only a few minutes a month,
if
that. Once a year or so a 30 minute or so long distance call to my sister.

If you use it, what do you think of it?

TIA


--
"Experience is something you don't get until
just after you need it." Steven Wright

On 4/29/2012 9:02 AM, KenK wrote:
Anyone tried this free cell phone service? I got a letter about it a few
days ago. Free phone and free minutes if one qualifies. I qualify by being
under the annual income level. I'm tempted. Not many minutes but I use few
and they can carry over. I already have annually renewed Tracfone service
which has been good for all the years I've had it. Around $100 a year. I
only use it for 'emergencies', long distance, and calls when my computer is
on my dial-up connection to the net. Usually only a few minutes a month, if
that. Once a year or so a 30 minute or so long distance call to my sister.

If you use it, what do you think of it?

TIA

Like Tracfone, it depends. First it depends on whether you get CDMA or
GSM service. Tracfone's policy seems to be that if your zip code has
both CDMA and GSM coverage then you get Tracfone GSM because it costs
them less to buy minutes from the GSM carriers, and it costs them less
for the phones. Unfortunately you end up with poorer coverage than if
you get Tracfone CDMA, especially when you travel outside your home area.

Remember, you can buy a Tracfone for any zip code you want, they even
tell you that if it's for a gift you should use the recipients zip code.
Hence you should always enter a zip code where there is no GSM service
for Tracfone, i.e. 97601, but that won't work for Safelink since it's
not available in Oregon. You need to find a zip code where a) it's a
state and a city with Safelink available, and b) where you can get CDMA
service. However it may be the case that Safelink does not have any
cities with CDMA service, I don't know. When I tried a zip code in
Nevada with no AT&T service, a state where Safelink has service, it came
back as "Area Not Supported."

Incidentally, $100 a year for just a few minutes per month is no deal.
On Pageplus you could pay $28.50 a year for 240 minutes, or $76 a year
for 1850 minutes. But free on Safelink is certainly a better deal if you
can qualify.

SMS wrote in
:

On 4/29/2012 9:02 AM, KenK wrote:
Anyone tried this free cell phone service? I got a letter about it a
few days ago. Free phone and free minutes if one qualifies. I qualify
by being under the annual income level. I'm tempted. Not many minutes
but I use few and they can carry over. I already have annually
renewed Tracfone service which has been good for all the years I've
had it. Around $100 a year. I only use it for 'emergencies', long
distance, and calls when my computer is on my dial-up connection to
the net. Usually only a few minutes a month, if that. Once a year or
so a 30 minute or so long distance call to my sister.

If you use it, what do you think of it?

TIA

Like Tracfone, it depends. First it depends on whether you get CDMA or
GSM service. Tracfone's policy seems to be that if your zip code has
both CDMA and GSM coverage then you get Tracfone GSM because it costs
them less to buy minutes from the GSM carriers, and it costs them less
for the phones. Unfortunately you end up with poorer coverage than if
you get Tracfone CDMA, especially when you travel outside your home
area.

Remember, you can buy a Tracfone for any zip code you want, they even
tell you that if it's for a gift you should use the recipients zip
code. Hence you should always enter a zip code where there is no GSM
service for Tracfone, i.e. 97601, but that won't work for Safelink
since it's not available in Oregon. You need to find a zip code where
a) it's a state and a city with Safelink available, and b) where you
can get CDMA service. However it may be the case that Safelink does
not have any cities with CDMA service, I don't know. When I tried a
zip code in Nevada with no AT&T service, a state where Safelink has
service, it came back as "Area Not Supported."

Incidentally, $100 a year for just a few minutes per month is no deal.

The important thing is to have the phone for emergencies. I had to go to
the hospital's Energency Room some time ago and used a great many minutes
while there for personal calls concerning my health. I was glad I had a
thousand or so minutes piled up in my Tracfone account. You never know
when you might need a lot of minutes. Of course I didn't use them all but
would not have liked to have had only a few hundred available.

But, as you say, normally it is not a good deal.

On Pageplus you could pay $28.50 a year for 240 minutes, or $76 a year
for 1850 minutes.

I'll have to check that out. Decent phone included?

But free on Safelink is certainly a better deal if
you can qualify.




--
"Experience is something you don't get until
just after you need it." Steven Wright

On 5/3/2012 9:53 AM, KenK wrote:

On Pageplus you could pay $28.50 a year for 240 minutes, or $76 a year
for 1850 minutes.

I'll have to check that out. Decent phone included?

You can use any Verizon phone (other than Verizon prepaid phones and
Blackberrys). They do sell a few new phones. We have four Android phones
on Pageplus (two Motorola Droids, two HTC Incredibles). All bought
gently used for around $100 each.

Advantages:
----------
1. The lowest per minute cost of any prepaid carrier (other than
Safelink I guess). Far cheaper than Tracfone, Consumer Cellular,
Jitterbug, etc.

2. Use any Verizon compatible phone (other than Verizon's own prepaid
phones and Blackberry).

3. 120 day expiration on $10, $25, and $50 refills. 365 day expiration
on $80 refill. $80 refills must be purchased from a dealer (like
Callingmart).

4. Far better coverage than any AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile based prepaid
service. In my area (SF Bay Area) you really have to have Verizon based
service to have both good coverage and fewest dropped calls.

5. Data is available, but you can use a smart phone without a data plan.
This is a huge advantage if you're a light data user and can use Wi-Fi
most of the time. Data is 99¢/MB. If you use more than a small amount of
data then they do have some monthly plans with up to 1GB of data.

Caveats:
-------
1. You must be in an area with native Verizon coverage. Roaming onto
other CDMA carriers costs extra, so there are occasions, outside of
major metropolitan areas, where you might roam. I have roamed in:
Yosemite, CA, Crater Lake OR, and Kingman AZ. It's rare, but it does happen.

2. No mobile to mobile or night & weekend free minutes. Even Verizon
customers that call you will use up minutes.

3. No international roaming other than in Mexico and Canada.

4. No auto-refill every 120 days. You can do auto-refill every 30 days,
but this doesn't work for a lightly used phone. What you can do is to
set up auto-refill for every 30 days, with the first refill occurring at
119 days. Then go in, and disable auto-refill, then add it back with the
first refill occurring at 119 days. Repeat.

5. Do not miss your refill date as your balance will not rollover if you
miss it. They will give you a one-time restoration of ½ your balance,
but that's it.

On 3 May 2012 16:53:33 GMT, KenK wrote:

The important thing is to have the phone for emergencies. I had to go to
the hospital's Energency Room some time ago and used a great many minutes
while there for personal calls concerning my health. I was glad I had a
thousand or so minutes piled up in my Tracfone account. You never know
when you might need a lot of minutes. Of course I didn't use them all but
would not have liked to have had only a few hundred available.

If you have a bunch of minutes available on your Tracfone and don't
use many minutes a month, you can save a few bucks by enrolling in
their Service Protection Plan. It will automatically roll over your
existing minutes for another 30 days of service (but not add
additional minutes) when your minutes are about to expire, for ~$6 per
30 days (~$72 per year). When you do need to add minutes, adding them
extends the expiration date and there is no auto re-up until you
approach the new expiration date.

Dennis (evil)
--
I'm behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, riding the wave,
dodging the bullet and pushing the envelope. -George Carlin

On 5/3/2012 12:06 PM, Dennis wrote:

If you have a bunch of minutes available on your Tracfone and don't
use many minutes a month, you can save a few bucks by enrolling in
their Service Protection Plan. It will automatically roll over your
existing minutes for another 30 days of service (but not add
additional minutes) when your minutes are about to expire, for ~$6 per
30 days (~$72 per year). When you do need to add minutes, adding them
extends the expiration date and there is no auto re-up until you
approach the new expiration date.

That works, but it seems to be throwing good money after bad.

For $76 you can buy a whole year of Pageplus service, with 1850 minutes
(Pageplus charges a fee of 50¢/month so the $80 card (which sells for
$76) gives you ($80-6*$0.5)/$.04=1850 minutes. No annoying adding money
every 30 or 90 days either.

On Thu, 03 May 2012 12:14:06 -0700, SMS
wrote:

On 5/3/2012 12:06 PM, Dennis wrote:

If you have a bunch of minutes available on your Tracfone and don't
use many minutes a month, you can save a few bucks by enrolling in
their Service Protection Plan. It will automatically roll over your
existing minutes for another 30 days of service (but not add
additional minutes) when your minutes are about to expire, for ~$6 per
30 days (~$72 per year). When you do need to add minutes, adding them
extends the expiration date and there is no auto re-up until you
approach the new expiration date.

That works, but it seems to be throwing good money after bad.

Just an option that many don't know about if the OP wants to stick
with his Tracfone.


For $76 you can buy a whole year of Pageplus service, with 1850 minutes
(Pageplus charges a fee of 50¢/month so the $80 card (which sells for
$76) gives you ($80-6*$0.5)/$.04=1850 minutes. No annoying adding money
every 30 or 90 days either.

I tried Pageplus a couple years ago after reading the glowing reports
here. I had numerous problems. Took several iterations to get it
activated. Constantly dropped connections in the middle of calls.
Maybe it was the (second hand) phone, maybe it was the service, I
dunno. But it left a bad taste in my mouth. Clearly a YMMV situation.

Dennis (evil)
--
My output is down, my income is up, I take a short position on the long bond and
my revenue stream has its own cash flow. -George Carlin