Prepaid cell phone

[torifile]

Paging Robo: What's the skinny on the best prepaid option for just having a number? I have no desire to actually *use* the phone, I just need a number to attach my GV number to. Seriously. No minutes used on my current $10/month line that's on my family plan in the past 3 or 4 months. Thoughts?

[Robo]

At $10 for 120 days, Page Plus (https://www.pagepluscellular.com/Online%20Store/Minutes/100%20Minutes%20Voice%20Card.aspx) is the cheapest option I know of for just keeping a line open.

[torifile]

At $10 for 120 days, Page Plus (https://www.pagepluscellular.com/Online%20Store/Minutes/100%20Minutes%20Voice%20Card.aspx) is the cheapest option I know of for just keeping a line open.
Never heard of page plus. I'll have to look into them. Looks like their phones are quite a bit more "expensive" than a simple Tracfone (I can pick one up at Target for $15) and that might make the savings a little less attractive. What of those other prepaid companies like Tracfone, Net10, etc? I kinda want to be able to walk into a store and pick one up.

[Robo]

The next best deal for keeping a line open is T-Mobile prepaid, which is $10 for 90 days, until you spend $100 in refills, in which you get "gold rewards" and $10 gives you a year.

chart (http://www.t-mobile.com/promotions/genericregular.aspx?passet=Pro_Pro_GoldRewards)

T-Mobile refills are also available in more stores.

With T-Mobile you can also just get a free SIM (http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/?shape=simalone) and activate that in any unlocked GSM phone you have, rather than having to buy a phone just for the number. But if you want a phone you can get T-Mo prepaid phones in lots of stores for like $19.

So yeah, that's probably the better deal, now that I think about it.

[torifile]

I knew you'd come through :). Does it matter which phone I get?

[Robo]

As far as the T-Mobile prepaid phones? Naw. I think the cheapest is the Nokia 1661, but you might find different deals in other stores. It's a pity this isn't Black Friday or something; I grabbed a few Motorola Renews for like $6 at Best Buy in 2009, but I've since all given them to friends/used them to fence things, so :(