i-phone plans

I am thinking to switch my cellphone from Tracfone to i-phone 5c.
However, monthly plans for i-phone are all expensive except for a Virgin mobile.

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint have a 2 year annual contract discount for i-phone itself as $29.99 on sale, normally $79.99.
However, considering I won't use much outside of my house, it seems very expensive.
Actually, my husband used just 2GB for 14 month in total, even though he had 1GB/$20 contract. I think I could be same.
T-mobile has a better plan, but it doesn't have annual contract discount.

Virgin mobile provides the best price for monthly plan.
However, it doesn't have annual contract discount and if you buy i-phone online, it costs about $400.
Virgin mobile uses sprint networks.

If you already have an i-phone or you can get it very cheap,  Virgin mobile is the best selection.
However, think about an initial cost and running costs,  this become a difficult choice.

This time, my answer is just wait, until i-phone 6 is released.
Since I own i-pod touch and familiar to i-phone systems, I strain for i-phone.
But if I were not i-phone user, I will buy an Android phone and go to Virgin mobile.

This site will help you to chose which cellphone and plan you should choose.
→　Whistle Out

Tracfone 3 ( How to set up a voice mail )

◆This is a video that how to set up Tracfone voice mail

This site is written in Japanese, but it is very useful too. Use a translator and check it !!
Net 10 and Tracfone are same company.   

・NET10の設定方法（日本語）

◆How to listen a voice mail

1. Access to voice mail.  You can find from mail box too.

2. Push 4 digit password you decide.

3. Push "2"

4. If you want to delete the message, press 7.   

Tracfone's instruction book is not well done.

It just tells you how to access the information, and let you follow guidance by phone.

I want to tell them I am checking the instruction book, because I couldn't understand by phone!!

We have to accept it, because Tracfone is a cheap phone after all.

Tracfone 2 (How to Activate)

Once you got a Tracfone, you need to activate it.
Normally, brand new Tracfone includes about 20 minutes free call.
You can use the cell phone without buying a charge card.

Activate needs to be done by making a phone call or creating an account on the internet.
You can't use a new phone to activate it. 

This seemed strange to me, because I didn't have a phone, that's why I bought the phone.
Anyway, you have to prepare someone who helps you to call or internet connection.

In my opinion, it is difficult to activate by phone. I recommend to activate through Internet.

The steps below are simple instruction of how to activate your Tracfone.
１．Go to  Tracfone  website and select "activate phone".


２．Select first line "Activate my TracFone with a NEW number"



３．You must create an account, so put your serial number and create your account.



４．I forgot other steps but you should know about these......

a) A phone number is decided by Zip code. In the U.S., every states a own first 3 number for phone numbers.
   For example, Delaware starts from 302, Pennsylvania starts from 610, and so on.
   You can't distinguish from cell phone and home phone by numbers.

b) Don't mix up SIM number and Serial number.

    SIM number is not for your first activate, you can ignore it.

c)  It takes minutes until you get your phone number on your cellphone.
     Just wait. If it didn't appear,  turn off the power and try again.



５．About international call

A good point of  Tracfone is that you can call International calls  as same price as domestic calls.

However, there are 3 bad point of it.

1.  You can't make a International call for a 48 hours after your activation.

2.  You need to call 1-800-706-3839 first, and dial the number you want to call.

   After connected to the Tracfone international service, select a language (English/Spanish) and,

   dial  011+ Country number (Ex: 81 for Japan) + phone number without first "0".

3.  You can't connect to Cell phone numbers of abroad. International call is only for home numbers.

Buying i-pad at Apple store

My husband bought an i-pad at Apple store in Christiana Mall last year.
I had heard  that buying cellphone in the states was a hard work for foreigners, but it was quite easy.

1. Choose a model and a communication company.
2. Apply for a service by the i-pad you just bought.

Since it's a prepaid contract. everything went very smooth.
Depends on the communication company, their service plans and prices are different.
It's difficult to decide which plan to choose, these are examples for volume.

My husband chose Verizon 1GB per month,  but he mostly used it at home. He could connect free wifi at home. When he cancel the contract after 14 months. He found that it was just used 1.5GB in total.

In the U.S. there are many place to connect free wifi. You should consider not only how much you will use but also where you will use, when you decide a plan.

Prepaid Cellphone for the people who stays more than a year

As I wrote the article "Tracfone (prepaid cell phone)" for the people who don't use a phone often and stays in the U.S. for a short period,  I recommend to have Tracfone.

However, I have used Tracfone for a year, I feel some inconvenient for Tracfone.
I own i-pod touch, which can only use under wifi area, Checking Email and i-massage by i-pod touch. It's getting complicated to mix using both i-pod touch and Tracfone.

Recently, people use smartphone mainly. We use G mail or Yahoo mail like a text massage. Smart phone shows text massage like a chatting and easy to see.

The picture below is from a flier of Radio shack.
It's sale, but you can find they have monthly plan without annual contract except for middle one. Each company's plan will change, so I won't write anything here, but you can go to Radio shack or Best buy, or any special store, and ask them. There are many kinds of discount if you contract with family or Internet service together, and so on. I hope you can find the best plan which suite you.

Big 4 of cellphone company

・AT&T
・Verizon
・T-mobile
・Sprint

* This site might be a help to compare cell phone providers.   Top 10 Reviews
   Also, this site has a chart to select providers.  Whistle Out

Tracfone 1 ( Cheap and Easy Prepaid cellphone)

Now our life is difficult without having a cell phone. Even your stay in the U.S. is short or you won't make a phone call often, you should have a cell phone for your convenience. Tracfone is a choice for those people. It's easy and cheap.

Tracfone is just for call and simple text massage, but it's cheap !!

I have used Tracfone since I moved here. I own Samsung S390 which was $49.99, but you can get lower model from about $15.
I found the cheapest one on sale and it was just $5 !!

I bought this model, because keypad seemed easy to use, and it had wifi equipment.
Keypad which like Blackberry was good, but wifi was not so useful. It's too slow.

In America, AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile are big three cellphone connecting company.
Tracfone is using those big company's network, so connecting is not a problem.

Tracfone is required to buy a prepaid card before you use it.
You can buy cards almost every supermarket and drug stores or online.
60 min/ 19.99 and it's effective for 90 days.
Normally, about 10 minutes are set with your purchase of phone.

Even the cheapest model phone has Double minutes for life free,
this means if you buy a 60 minutes card and charge it, the time will double ! (60 →120 min)
If you hae "triple life time model" like the model above picture, the charged time will triple!

The price of text massage and phone call are comparatively high cost than other companies.
One short text takes 0.3 min, and phone call costs 1 minutes even it's less than 1 minutes.

However it's cheap and easy. This is good when your friend or family come to the U.S.
I don't recommend Tracfone for the people who stays more than a year.
In that case, you have other selections, such as AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile, Sprint.
They have much high quality phones and several plans for them.