Cingular will activate TDMA/AMPS phones on prepay.

In the other message where I said I was going to check with the
local stores to see if they will still activate non gsm phones on prepay.

They answer is a solid YES.

The first store I ask, said that they had jut got word from the "top" a
little
while ago that said that non GSM phones could still be activated on prepay
plans.

But he said that activation may take a little longer because
the representatives will have to manually activate the phone.
(translation: they may have to read the instructions)

The second store said the same thing, and when I ask him to clarify "from
the top"
He said that some stores had been telling the users that they had to use a
GSM phone,
even for prepay.

And that some stores had to be "straightened out"
about activation policy in regards to prepay..

Per N9WOS:
>In the other message where I said I was going to check with the
>local stores to see if they will still activate non gsm phones on prepay.
>
>They answer is a solid YES.

What kind of rate/deal are you planning on signing up for? Mainly, how long
before a given prepaid block of minutes expires?

Two of my three family plan phones are used about once or twice a year and I've
been thinking of moving them to prepaid so I can move the third to a
bottom-of-the-line GSM plan.
--
PeteCresswell

I wasn't looking for a phone for myself.
I have two car phones that I have had
on prepay service since around 2002.

I was getting one for a family member.
I was getting a GSM phone for them,
so the AMPS/TDMA question was a secondary mater.

The first store was sold out of the phone I was wanting to get for them,
But the second store had the GSM phone I was looking for.

The reason I was asking the question is to figure out if I could
Activate another installed analog car phone if I ever needed.
Or if I could activate a handheld TDMA/AMPS phone.

> What kind of rate/deal are you planning on signing up for?

They went with the 10 cents a minute plan with a dollar
charge for every day that you make a billable call.

The first time you use the phone that day, a dollar charge is deducted
from your account plus 10 cents per minute for the airtime used..
For the rest of that day, all calls are 10 cents per minute.
If you do not use your phone for the entire day,
then nothing will be deducted from your account.

The other plan is mobile to mobile.

Calls to a landline, or non cingular customer is 25 cents a minute.
Calls to a another cinguar customer is 10 cents a minute.

There is no additional charge for days you use the phone.

If you make over 6 minutes of calls in a day,
on days that you use the phone,
then the 10 cents a minute plan is cheaper.

(ie)
$1+ $0.10*6minutes = $1.60 for the 10cents a minute plan
$0.25*6minutes equals a $1.50 for the MtoM plan.
Anything over 6 minutes for the entire day, then the 10cents per minute plan
is cheaper.

If you use less than 6 minutes of air time on days that you use the phone,
or you mainly call other cingular customers then the mobile to mobile plan
is cheaper.

> Mainly, how long
> before a given prepaid block of minutes expires?

It is not like a tracfone.
You don't have a block of minutes.
You don't buy a card worth so many minutes.
You pay face value for a card with cash.
You will see that a card is only marked with it's cash value.
The balance on an active account is in dollars.
You buy a $20 card, and put it into your account,
and then you have $20 dollars on your account.
Or you can have money transferred from a credit card,
or banking account into your phone account.
At that point, minutes is irrelevant.

When you use your phone, you will have
money deducted from your phone account.
If the rate that you are paying is 10 cents a minute,
Then every minute you use your phone,
another 10 cents will be deducted from your account.
Every SMS message sent or received
will deduct 5 cents from your account.
When your account drops to zero dollars,
then you can no longer use your phone,
until you put more money into your account.
Like the plan listed above,
When you make the first call of the day,
one dollar will be deducted from the account.
And air time after that point is 10 cents a minute.

And money that you put into your account
will keep the phone active for a specified time.
If you put $10 or more into your account,
then service is extended for 30 days.
If you put $20 or more into your account,
then service will be extended for 90 days.

As long as you add $10 every 30 days, or $20 dollars every 90 days, then
Your account will stay active and the balance will carry over.
Say you have $15 in the account and you put $20
more in before the 30 or 90 day deadline is up,
then you will have $35 dollars in your account.

If you go over the deadline, your account will be zeroed out.
All money that you had in the account will be lost.
If your account drops to zero, because of the deadline passing,
or you using up all the money in the account.
Then you have 60 days to put money back in to your account.
If you do not put money back into your account within 60 days,
Then the account will be closed, your phone number will be lost
And you will have to reactivate your phone with a new account.

> Two of my three family plan phones are used about once or twice a year and
> I've
> been thinking of moving them to prepaid so I can move the third to a
> bottom-of-the-line GSM plan.

If your family is going to be mainly calling each other's cell phones,
then the mobile to mobile plan will be cheaper.

Per N9WOS:
>If you go over the deadline, your account will be zeroed out.
>All money that you had in the account will be lost.
>If your account drops to zero, because of the deadline passing,
>or you using up all the money in the account.
>Then you have 60 days to put money back in to your account.
>If you do not put money back into your account within 60 days,
>Then the account will be closed, your phone number will be lost
>And you will have to reactivate your phone with a new account.

This may sound naieve, but I'm pretty much clueless in this area:

Sounds like one of my options is to purchase an unlocked GSM phone and then do
the thing you describe above - which is SIM-card centered..- the account being
linked to the SIM card... Or does it require a special phone?

My bias would be towards something where I own a generic, unlocked phone and the
airtime becomes a commodity which I may purchase here-and-there depending on who
is offering the best deal - since, for this application, there is little or no
value in having a static phone number.
--
PeteCresswell

> Sounds like one of my options is to purchase an unlocked GSM phone and
> then do
> the thing you describe above -

Yes, you can use any TDMA, AMPS, or GSM phone on the plan.

> which is SIM-card centered..- the account being
> linked to the SIM card...

Yes.

>Or does it require a special phone?

Any GSM phone cingular sells will work with their prepay plan.
Any unlocked GSM phone that has 850Mhz and 1900Mhz GSM
will work on their prepay plan.
Unlike tracfone, there is no special prepay phone for cingular.

> My bias would be towards something where I own a generic, unlocked phone
> and the
> airtime becomes a commodity which I may purchase here-and-there depending
> on who
> is offering the best deal - since, for this application, there is little
> or no
> value in having a static phone number.

The only two main providers you could switch between
with a GSM phone is T mobile, or cingular.
And some small companies providing prepay service that resell GSM coverage.
The resellers is mainly reselling T mobile and cingular coverage.