Hi Everyone,
My wife and I are taking a trip through California, Oregon and Nevada in September. Basically, I hate cell phones, (I am tied to a Blackberry for work), but need an inexpensive (I dont want or need all the bells and whistles), but good coverage phone.
Also, at one time I checked out a plan where you paid a set amount and then you could use it for 3 months and then replenish your minutes (but the coverage sucked and you lost your minutes after 3 months if not used)!

Really, I just want something for personal emergencies or very occasional calls. Coverage and low price are paramount. No bells, no whistles. If anyone knows or can help me here it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

All phones I know of you lose your minutes after 30 to 45 days if you don't buy more minutes, but if you buy them before your previous minutes expire they (the minutes) build up. Try the "TracFone".

I am talking about pay per use phones,not ones on a monthly contract.

http://www.tracfone.com

I am a big fan of Virgin Mobile. They buy their coverage from Sprint, which gives me decent coverage for my area and for traveling.

It's 20 cents a minute

You have to add at least $20 to your total every 90 days. That's it. Our shared wireless plan used to cost us $70 a month after all the tax and fees. Now we spend about $15 a month.

In my experience, your coverage will depend more upon the specific model of phone you purchase than with the network you choose to go with. For example, my father had one of the newer Blackberry phones on Sprint service, and got no signal at my house. My 4-year-old Sanyo phone (old enough to have the retractable antenna, but still has a camera and external LCD, etc.), also on Sprint service, gets full bars. Also, a cheap Motorola C139 from AT&T GoPhone had a lousy signal in many places that my friend’s AT&T phone worked just fine in.

I can't help you with cheap phones, but our experience in NW Arizona and SE California (and other places in the western US) is that Verizon has the best service...

I use Virgin Mobile. I have the Minute2Minute plan, which is no longer available: $15 every 90 days, unused minutes roll over.

See
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/home.do
for current rates. The Pay as You Go plans sound like what the original poster would find helpful. Unused minutes roll over if you buy new minutes every 30 days (up to a max of 5000 minutes). Costs 10 cents a minute talk time for 200 minutes, 5 cents a minute if you buy a thousand minutes.

I have gone over my minutes once in however many years I've had it, and bought more over the phone. I use the cell phone infrequently, mostly for long distance calls and when I'm volunteering at events.

I'd suggest comparing Virgin to TracPhone, ATT GoPhone, and Net10. It may be that there is better coverage or a better plan for you other than Virgin, but that's a choice you get to make.

Here is a post on just this subject, started by Martin Focazio, from 10-12-05: http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.ph...=true#Post51860

Sue

Just so you know, all working cell phones in the US, even if they have no account tied to them and are not activated, can dial 911. A handy thing to be aware of.

I have been quite happy with my WalMart Trac Fone.