T-Mobile Prepaid Review
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You can get good phones and great rates when you Shop T-Mobile Prepaid Phones!
Rates
Surprisingly, T-Mobile prepaid plans are among the best available. Why this is surprising is that T-Mobile usually concentrates on their contract plans by offering various deals some of which can admittedly make sense especially if you've got a large family of cell phone users.Still, we're here to save money over the long haul and that usually means prepaid. T-Mobile has two kinds of prepaid plans: Pay by the Day, and Pay As You Go. Pay by the Day PlanThe Pay by the Day plan is very similar to GoPhone and Verizon plans. You are charged $1 on the days you use your phone plus 10 cents per minute of airtime. So if you want to know when . . .When T-Mobile Deducts $1/dayIt's when you use your phone.The big advantage of this plan is . . . Unlimited 7pm to 7am Nationwide CallingYou get unlimited nationwide calling from 7pm to 7am. Note that if you haven't used your phone yet that day, you will get charged the $1 for using the phone.Pay As You Go PlanWith the T-Mobile Prepaid Pay as You Go service your cost per minute depends on which prepaid refill cards you buy. Many T-Mobile prepaid cell phone comes with $25 of airtime upon activation which helps offset the activation fee. After that you have to purchase more airtime.Prepaid Refill CardsT-Mobile prepaid refill card come in denominations for $10, $25, $50 and $100 dollars, with the last one being the best value for your money.- $10 for 30 minutes of airtime expiring in 30 days
- $25 for 130 minutes expiring in 90 days
- $50 for 400 minutes also expiring in 90 days, and
- $100 for 1000 minutes expiring in one year.
So for $100 plus the cost of the phone, you get 1000 minutes good for one whole year. How To Get Bonus MinutesYou receive T-Mobile prepaid bonus minutes once you buy the $100 airtime refill card or any combination of $100 in airtime refills. This gets you Gold status and a 15% airtime bonus.Where to buy T-Mobile Refill CardsRefill cards are available all over the place: at convenience stores such as Circle K and 7-Eleven, pharmacies like Eckerd and Walgreens, and superstores like Walmart, Costco and Office Depot.You can go direct to refill your T-Mobile airtime online. Cheap Prepaid CardsThe best deal is the $100 one-year card directly from T-Mobile or from a retail store. A year of service works out to $8.33 a month and you get 1000 minutes.How to Check Your Airtime BalanceYou can check your airtime balance from your phone by calling #999# from your handset. You will get a free text message back with your airtime balance. You can also dial 1-877-778-2106 from any touch-tone phone or if you have signed up for an online account, you can just log in to your account, but of course you'll have to get to a computer first.MessagingMessaging options include text messages, picture messages and instant messaging.Text MessagesText messages cost 10 cents to send and are free to receive.Picture MessagesPicture messages cost 25 cents to send as well as receive.Instant MessagingSome available phones are compatible with Yahoo, AOL, MSN and ICQ instant messaging services. You are charged for airtime when you use these services.Keeping your NumberYou can keep your number if you refill your account within 90 days after your minutes expire. This is really good. Other plans recycle your number pretty quickly.You can even buy minutes online for someone else, a convenience if you've got children away in college or summer camp.
Phones
Prepaid Starter Kits

There are prepaid starter kits starting in price from $19.99 for a Nokia 1661 and 14.99 for a Motorola W233. Other phones available include the Samsung T349 video camera phone with music player. The phones aren't always in stock. See a current list of T-Mobile prepaid phones here. Most starter kit comes with a (wired) hands-free headset and $10 starter airtime. You can even get just a sim card if you've already got a phone. One of the best things about these Starter Kits is that you get free overnight shipping on them. So there's no reason not to buy them online and save on the gas plus there's no waiting in line to be served. Plus online activation is easy.
T-Mobile Prepaid Cellphone DealsYou can look for some popular T-Mobile deals here.
Coverage
I just wanted to add a quick note about coverage. T-Mobile coverage used to be somewhat lacking, but they've improved it enormously. In my case, the area where I live used to be in their roaming area, but now has great coverage. You can check your own street-level coverage for T-Mobile Prepaid phones
for yourself by punching in your address and zipcode.NortheastFor example, I used a borrowed T-Mobile phone on a car trip from Western New Jersey to Buffalo, New York. Despite going through some pretty rural areas, their coverage and signal was quite good. Check it out for yourself.
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What Other Visitors Have Said
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T-mobile pay as you go for life.
    
Hi: I have t-mobile pay as you go and it is the only plan I will ever use. I am a Gold Member meaning my minutes never expire. I have been using T-mobile ...
How Many Minutes Does a $10 T-Mobile prepaid card have?
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Q. How many minutes to you get with a $10 refill card? A. You get 30 minutes and 90 days of service with a $10 refill. If you have already spend $100 ...
T-Mobile prepaid great for Hawaii and Canada
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Been using t-mobile for years. Only costs me $100 per year as I don't use it much. Actually I have to replace phone every couple years so I guess its more ...
T-Mobile Prepaid Perfect for Commuters
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I have used the T mobile prepaid plan for over a year now. My parents got it for me because I couldn’t keep up my monthly cell phone service. I already ...
A Soldiers Thoughts on T-Mobile Prepaid
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I really like using T-Mobile Prepaid Plan. It has lots of coverage where ever I go. I had coverage everywhere I went in California and my home town. I ...

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