For the truly tight fisted celllular user

(uses Sprint cell network the least extensive of the four national networks)

If you purchase a SPRINT phone or have an old one RINGPLUS.net now has three free mobile plans

PLAN NAME - MONTHLY FREE MINUTES- FREE TEXTS - CONDITIONS
1) Truly Free 125 - 40 -email only
2) Free 200- 50- register a credit card
3) Pepper 250- 500 - register auto pay to credit card or bank account (+$5 AUTO TOP UP)

The idea is that you use the phone for emergencies or you get a wifi phone and just use the free minutes to supplement if no wifi is available. They sell two phones on line, but you are better off getting them from Best Buy or elsewhere.

The company gets some revenue by playing songs which you listen to until the person you are calling picks up. The idea is to encourage you to buy these songs. Also they are hoping you will upgrade to one of their paid plans for unlimited talk/text and data usage.

You pay for a phone to listen to ads? and you have to use it sparingly?

desperate users. Peace of mind is more important. People want to escape commercials.

Quote: Fleastiff

You pay for a phone to listen to ads? and you have to use it sparingly?

desperate users. Peace of mind is more important. People want to escape commercials.

I don't like commercials but they serve a purpose so I'm good with it.
Been watching free TV all my life due to commercials.
Sometimes I play games on my tablet, I always play the free version with commercials.
Mobile myvegas, always click on the commercial to get more "free" chips.
Commercials too me are a bargain.
Give me something and my only payment Is to watch a commercial - sold

So what is the bottom line if you do not currently have a cell phone? The price of an unlocked phone is pretty high even for simple ones.

Quote: Ayecarumba

So what is the bottom line if you do not currently have a cell phone? The price of an unlocked phone is pretty high even for simple ones.

I have a cheap flip phone.
Virgin Mobile's cheapest plan, 20 bucks a month.

Quote: Ayecarumba

So what is the bottom line if you do not currently have a cell phone? The price of an unlocked phone is pretty high even for simple ones.

Sprint Prepaid - Tribute No-Contract Cell Phone - White/Black $40

If you purchase an unlocked cell phone they are priced at a level where they make a profit. If you purchase a "prepaid phone" they are deeply discounted because they expect people to buy their service. But in fact they are just well priced unlocked phones. Sometimes the package actually says the phone is being sold at a discount, and you should only buy it if you intend to get the service. But there is no enforcement.

The commercials aren't really so bad as most of them are simply songs. They hope you will download the song if you hear it. So instead of listening to a phone ring, you are listening to a phone ring with a song playing over it. "Ringback tone advertising" has been more popular in foreign markets like Turkey.

Freedom Pop and Scratch Wireless are two other service that offer some level of free connectivity on Sprint Network, as an incentive to start with them.

Quote: terapined

Virgin Mobile's cheapest plan, 20 bucks a month.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/paylo-plans/overview/
Virgin Mobile is a SPRINT virtual network operator. They have two $20/month plans. The one on the website is for 400 minutes. If you buy your phone at Walmart you can get choice of unlimited minutes or unlimited texts. But if you already have the 400 minute plan, you must buy a new phone at Walmart to switch to unlimited. Fortunately the phones are very inexpensive and start as low as $20.

But if you cancel your VM plan you can reactivate the phone under Ring Plus and get 250 free minutes and 500 free texts per month.


Cellular data is now the overwhelming revenue generator for mobile systems. It is not totally surprising that some brands would use free minutes or texts to try and rope in customers, in the hope that some percentage will upgrade to more expensive plans. In particular as SPRINT has the least comprehensive cellular network of the big 4 wireless providers, they are more open to these kind of marketing experiments.

For a plan that uses the Verizon network the cheapest one I have seen is the Selectel Wireless plan for $75 a year for 2000 talk minutes and 2000 texts. You need your own phone for that as well (obviously).
http://www.selectelwireless.com/wireless-plans/

wow did this thread give me a headache!

what is a Sprint phone anyway? do you mean that 'any old' cell phone will not do?

AT&T and Verizon (children of Bell Telephone) dominate the US Wireless business).T-Mobile and Sprint, are much smaller national companies. U.S. Cellular is a regional company with only 5 million subscribers in 23 states.

CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and GSM (Global System for Mobiles) are the two major radio systems used in cell phones.

In the U.S., Sprint, Verizon and U.S. Cellular use CDMA. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM.

Quote: odiousgambit

What is a Sprint phone anyway? do you mean that 'any old' cell phone will not do?

Sprint directly owns Assurance Wireless, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile. To be on the safe side you would need an old SPRINT phone designed to work with that SPRINT only. I am not sure if other GSM phones will work. It is possible that an old Boost or Virgin Mobile phone will work, you can go online and test their serial number.

Companies called Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) buy time from major operators and sell their own business plans. A few give away free minutes (like RingPlus in this thread), but the cheapest plans out there all use the SPRINT network.


=========
Southern Pacific Communications Company (SPC), a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad, began providing long-distance telephone service late in 1978. They adopted the name Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony (SPRINT) in 1978. They went into wireless in the early 1990's.

Quote: terapined

Sometimes I play games on my tablet, I always play the free version with commercials.

I play free games too, but I always put it on airplane mode first....then there's no commercials at all.

Quote: zippyboy

I play free games too, but I always put it on airplane mode first....then there's no commercials at all.

You can buy 2000 minutes and 2000 texts from Selectelwireless for $75 to use in a year (verizon network).
So R+ will give you up to 250 Minutes 500 Texts /month (3000 minutes and 6000 texts per year) for free on the SPRINT network in exchange for listening to some songs.

My only concern is that SPRINT has very poor coverage in the hills compared to VERIZON.

I said this post was for truly tight fisted. I know that a lot of people spend over $1000/year for a single mobile phone and hundreds of dollars for the device itself. But it's a good way to keep children or teens covered or visitors.