Cheapest possible cell phone plan?

Do you know anyone with the Verizon family plan? It only costs $10 per month to add another person and you can then call any Verizon user for free anytime. The family plan can have up to 5 people. That’s how we got phones for my mom and mother in law. Also after 9 pm you can call anywhere in the US for free.

I have a Tmobile pay as you go plan. If you buy a $100 card, it works out to $0.10/minute.

I don’t believe there’s anything cheaper out there.

I could be completely wrong on this, but I was under the impression that no plan/contract/whatever is required to make an emergency 9–1-1 call.

Or is that not what you meant by “emergency use only”?

it’s for my mom, who’s slightly disabled. we want her to be able to call my dad if need be from doctor’s appointments, etc. the life alert system is really expensive.

drdoombot, a lot of the pay as you go plans expire every month, so you have to use the $100 within a month. which is a lot of money! is that how your plan is?

Since you already have ATT just add another line for $10 per month. It’s unlikely she will eat into your total minutes allocation the way a texting teen would.

The $100 expires after 365 days. However, any minutes you have remaining will be extended an additional 365 days every time you refill. I don’t use my phone much, and even I refill something like twice a year. It beats the $60/month bills I used to get.

Option 1: Take a look at Assurance Wirless. They offer FREE Phone & 250 FREE Voice Minutes Each Month or 500 & 1000 Minute for seniors and low income households who qualify. http://assurancewireless.com/Public/Welcome.aspx.

Option 2 & 3: Sign up with a prepaid carrier like Simple Mobile (They have unlimited Talk & Text $40/month) or Page Plus (They have 1,200 Minutes / 2,000 SMS/MMS / 100 MB Data for $29.95/month)

Option 4: There is a new wireless company starting up who is boasting a $25/mo unlimited everything (Talk, Text & Data). But you would have to have an Android phone which might be too techy for your mom. If you want to go this route contact me via Fluther messaging.

Good luck.