Trumpet Mobile
Trumpet Mobile is another new prepaid cell phone service with a couple of unique features which may make it worth your while. Trumpet phones are sold exclusively (for now) at Radio Shack and Walgreens stores. You can also buy airtime there or buy it online once you’ve established service.
Coverage
As always, you have to first make sure you can use the service. Coverage is provided by the Sprint PCS network. You can check out out
Trumpet Mobile coverage
and see if it works for you.
Plans
You can choose an Individual Plan or a Family/Group Plan.
Individual Plan
This plan costs 10 cents per minute plus a 50 cent daily access fee on the days you use the phone. (So it doesn’t really cost you exactly 10 cents per minute.) So, if you plan to use it every day, that’s an extra $15 a month.Still, 50 cents per day is better than the $1 daily access charged by some of the major plans.
Family Plan
The family plan is designed for 2 to 9 members. You can share airtime within your group, and you can set up a “reserve fund” that anyone in your group can tap if they run low. The rate appears to be 10 cents per minutes within your group, and possible 20 cents per minute outside your group. Or you can choose the 50 cent daily access fee and pay 10 cents per minute outsidse your group as well.
Western Union Money Transfer
You can make a Western Union money transfer directly from your Trumpet Mobile phone. If you transfer money frequently, then this is an amazingly useful (if somewhat expensive) feature.You can transfer money from your Trumpet Cash card only, so you will have to load it up to use this feature. You can send money anywhere in the US, the Carribean and most of Latin America. Just remember to factor in the fees involved with using the Trumpet cash card in addition to Western Union's fees.
Trumpet Cash Card
The Trumpet cash card allows you to withdraw money from ATM's and use it for payment wherever they accept debit/cash cards.You can load up the cash card at Radio Shack, Western Union or any locations that are part of the Green Dot network. The load fees can be as high as 4.95 which makes it quite an expensive way of handling your money. The advantage to it is that you can use it for Western Union money transfers from your Trumpet Mobile phone.
Phones
Trumpet Mobile's website list three phones and Radio Shacks's lists four. Because the list don't completely overlap, you appear to have a choice of up to five phones:- LG125: A basic flip phone with a dedicated text messaging key.
- LG150: A basic flip phone with Bluetooth.
- Samsung A-420
- Samsung A-580
- Samsung SPh-A640: Pictured above. A flip-style camera phone with Bluetooth.
So . . . .
This could be worth trying for the Western Union money transfer feature, as few other services offer this.

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