$40 a Month with No Long Distance!
Written: Apr 22 '01 (Updated Apr 22 '01)
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Pros: Great plans, lots of features on your phone, cheaper than landline!
Cons: Prepaid minutes do expire, most plans only work if you dial from within local area
The Bottom Line: The best plans, great calling features, order more minutes or pay your bill online - maybe cheaper than your landline phone, too!
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| thessa's Full Review: Powertel Mobile Phone Service in Atlanta |
I've been a happy Powertel customer for several months. I started with their prepaid plan and then switched this month when they offered an incredible flat-rate deal (more about that later).
How does the Prepaid Plan Work?
Basically, you purchase their basic phone (around $65), which is surprisingly small, unlike the smallest phone offered by many other services (such as AAA). You're given lots of free minutes to start with. Then you can purchase packages of minutes in increments of $10, $20 or $30 from a number of sources: online (probably the easiest way), from a Powertel store or from another store that carries the prepaid cards (I see them in BP gas stations here). You power up your card, and the minutes are applied to your phone. That's it!
Ok, What's the Catch to Prepaid Plans?
The only catch is those minutes do expire every month if you haven't purchased another card.
Say you purchase $10 on the 15th of the month, and at the 15th of the next month, you still have $5 left on your phone. If you don't purchase more minutes that day, your remaining minutes will expire. One obvious drawback to this is that you could find yourself with a phone without minutes when you need it most. You cannot call Powertel, give them your credit card number and ask them to give you more minutes, either.
So it takes a little planning. I use my PDA to set a reminder for the day that I need to purchase more minutes. Then I usually go online and purchase $10 worth of time - the minimum necessary. So if you intend to use this phone strictly for emergencies, it will still cost you a minimum of $10 a month - still a great deal.
Another way to ensure you're not stuck without minutes when you need them is to purchase several $10 cards and store them in your wallet like credit cards.
What About Other Plans?
Powertel has lots of different plans, and undoubtedly there will be one that suits your needs.
I'm writing this in April, when Powertel is offering an incredible deal of $40 a month for 3600 minutes with no long distance! That's 600 anytime weekday minutes and 3000 minutes on the weekends. Considering I normally spend $20 a month in prepaid Powertel plus $55-65 a month for my home phone, it didn't take much figuring to find that if I decrease (or cancel entirely) my home phone use and use my cellphone for calls, I'll save money.
Since I can't get cable or DSL internet in my area yet, I still need a phone line to dial out on for internet usage. So I called Bellsouth and asked if they have a cheaper plan than the usual local-free calling plan. Sure enough, there is something called Georgia Community Calling. For about $15 a month (all FCC and other fees included), you get 30 phone calls. Each call after that is just 12 cents a call. So if I dial out to the internet a couple times a day, keep Callwave (a free service online that plays voice mail messages if someone tries to reach you when you're on the computer) running, and use my cellphone as my primary phone, I'll be saving money. I can also check my remaining minutes and pay my bill online. What a great deal!
What About Calling Features
Basic features that come with your phone are caller ID, call forwarding, call waiting, hold, voice mail, text messages, speed dial, and lots more customized options.
What's neat about this phone is that you get 100 slots in which to store your phone numbers on a SIM card that gets inserted in your phone. Switch phones, and they simply switch the card to your new phone - no entering numbers, no losing your data. In addition, you have room for 100 more entries on the phone itself.
Considering many of us are away from home more than at home, using your cellphone as your landline phone may be a smart move. If you don't want to go this route, Powertel still has some of the best packages out there.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40 a month
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Epinions.com ID:
thessa
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Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
Calling it quits on Epinions, for now, at least.
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