Pay-as-you-go Cell Phone Info

[NewfieFan]

I just wanted to let you all know (a FYI for anyone who is interested) that I did find a cell phone at Virgin in DTD West Side. I asked the question just before I left and someone on this board stated that there was a cheap phone you could get for around $20. Coming from Canada, it was just too expensive to use the phones we owned and my parents phone wouldn't even work in the US. We really wanted to stay in contact with each other so we checked out the phones at Virgin.

The phone was only $12 to buy and we put a $20 card on it - it was perfect for both of us. And for basically $32 each we were able to stay connected to each other! The minutes and the phone number expire after 6 months but it doesn't cost anything to reactivate it - so we can use it on future trips.

Just wanted to let you know... if there's someone out there traveling with a large group and you want to stay connected while in the the "World"!

 

[Monty]

I know this'll sound odd, but how expensive is your phone plan that $64 wouldn't cover a week's worth of the two of you staying in touch in Disney? :shrug:

 

[fireworkz]

NewfieFan, Who are you with for service? A fellow Newfoundlander :wave: would like to know. Pay as you go might be something I have to consider for our upcoming trip.

If you are with Bell/Aliant I just noticed the charge for calls within the US from a Bell phone to another is a whopping $0.99/minute. With that rate I can see that $64 being a deal if you are on a long trip.

 

[Mikester71]

Very cool to know NewfieFan! I was one of the ones inquiring about them in the other thread and was looking into them across the border here from me in Sarnia, ON (Port Huron, Michigan is 5 minutes from my house). I might just wait until we get down there then to pick one or two of them up.

What about using them to phone back to Canada to check in with parents and such...how does that work? Does it just use up your minutes as if you were making a local call or do you pay extra as a long distance call?

Just curious and thanks again for the info! :sohappy:

 

[farmgirl]

I just wanted to let you all know (a FYI for anyone who is interested) that I did find a cell phone at Virgin in DTD West Side. I asked the question just before I left and someone on this board stated that there was a cheap phone you could get for around $20. Coming from Canada, it was just too expensive to use the phones we owned and my parents phone wouldn't even work in the US. We really wanted to stay in contact with each other so we checked out the phones at Virgin.

The phone was only $12 to buy and we put a $20 card on it - it was perfect for both of us. And for basically $32 each we were able to stay connected to each other! The minutes and the phone number expire after 6 months but it doesn't cost anything to reactivate it - so we can use it on future trips.

Just wanted to let you know... if there's someone out there traveling with a large group and you want to stay connected while in the the "World"!

Thanks for the info! How many minutes do you get for $20.00 if you don't mind me asking?

 

[eeyoremum]

Thanks for the info. We don't own a cell phone but want one for in Disney. We have tried the walkie talkie thing and it really didn't work well. I could not justify the cost of two cells phones plus a plan at the rate they are in Canada. Also, I don't want to text, take picture or play music I just want to make a call. This might be worth a quick trip across the boarder.

 

[NewfieFan]

I know this'll sound odd, but how expensive is your phone plan that $64 wouldn't cover a week's worth of the two of you staying in touch in Disney? :shrug:

Hey Monty, for our phone alone it would have been over $70 cad to have a plan to use in the US and like I said my parents have a phone that wouldn't even work in the US - this was a much cheaper option for both of us and of course we can use the phones on future trips and it will only cost us $20 to add some more minutes.

NewfieFan, Who are you with for service? A fellow Newfoundlander :wave: would like to know. Pay as you go might be something I have to consider for our upcoming trip.

If you are with Bell/Aliant I just noticed the charge for calls within the US from a Bell phone to another is a whopping $0.99/minute. With that rate I can see that $64 being a deal if you are on a long trip.

My husband and I are with Telus and like I mentioned above it was an outrageous cost to add a plan and to pay for long distance calls would have been out of the question!!! A Telus service agent even recommended NOT to pay for the plan and to see if we could pick up a pay-as-you-go type of phone while on vacation!

Very cool to know NewfieFan! I was one of the ones inquiring about them in the other thread and was looking into them across the border here from me in Sarnia, ON (Port Huron, Michigan is 5 minutes from my house). I might just wait until we get down there then to pick one or two of them up.

What about using them to phone back to Canada to check in with parents and such...how does that work? Does it just use up your minutes as if you were making a local call or do you pay extra as a long distance call?

Just curious and thanks again for the info! :sohappy:

Ok, I'll try to answer your questions - cell phones confuse me a little! This particular phone we bought only works in the US - we bought it for the sole purpose of using it on vacation! The phone came with about $3 worth of minutes already - local calls didn't use up very much at all! Long distance calls did use up a lot more money but I wouldn't be able to tell you how much... sorry! We both bought the $20 card (which was the minimum you could purchase) and we made lots of calls to each others cell phones, hotel rooms, and local numbers (Disney numbers included) and we still have lots of minutes left on our phone! I'll ask my husband later to see if I can give you a better answer!

 

[fireworkz]

My husband and I are with Telus and like I mentioned above it was an outrageous cost to add a plan and to pay for long distance calls would have been out of the question!!! A Telus service agent even recommended NOT to pay for the plan and to see if we could pick up a pay-as-you-go type of phone while on vacation!

Thanks! Even though you're with Telus it gives me an idea of how much the cost difference would be as Telus and Bell from what I understand are pretty similar in their billing. I would also be curious to know roughly how many minutes the $20 card gives you.