prepaid

Mike Mozart

Walmart Employee Stops Elderly Couple From Losing $2,500 To “Grandparents Scam”

An elderly Illinois couple still has $2,500 in the bank thanks to an alert Walmart employee who thought something was amiss when the shoppers tried to transfer the funds to prepaid gift cards. [More]

Consumerist

Next Year, You Can Buy Pay-As-You-Go Cable From Comcast If You Want

We’re used to there being two kinds of cell phone plans. There’s the post-paid, where you get a bill every month that may go up or down depending on your usage. And there’s the pre-paid, where you pay your $40 and get your flat amount of data and airtime, and use it until it’s used up. But prepaid cable? That’s a new one. [More]

Mike Mozart

Verizon Adds Unlimited Throttled Data To Prepaid Plans, Too

Earlier this month, Verizon Wireless announced some changes to their wireless plans: the company increased data allotments while also increasing prices. It also added popular data plan features like rollover data and throttled access past a user’s cap that have been a hit with customers and adopted by other carriers. [More]

Don't Threaten Yourself Via Text Message Then Tell The Police

Don't Threaten Yourself Via Text Message Then Tell The Police

The conventional wisdom has it that if you want to commit a crime with a cell phone, use a prepaid model. That’s what a woman in California did to get back at her ex-boyfriend and his sister-in-law, by sending harassing text messages to herself and then reporting them to the police. The plan fell apart, however, when her victims hit the pavement to find proof that they were being framed. [More]

Citibank Shocks Reader With Consumer-Friendly Policy

Citibank Shocks Reader With Consumer-Friendly Policy

Anthony received a Newegg rebate in the form of a prepaid debit card. When he went to use the $15 card for a $15.93 purchase, he received an unexpected and wonderful surprise.

How Is AT&T's New $60 Prepaid Unlimited Plan A Good Idea?

How Is AT&T's New $60 Prepaid Unlimited Plan A Good Idea?

AT&T put a press release out today about a new plan they’re introducing on Monday, billed as a $60/month unlimited voice and text prepaid plan. While this plan is more competitive with smaller, prepaid-only carriers such as Boost Mobile, it’s also significantly cheaper than similar regular plan options. So what are they thinking?

Prepaid Debit Cards Are Money Sucking Black Holes In Your Pocket

Prepaid Debit Cards Are Money Sucking Black Holes In Your Pocket

Be very careful about activating any sort of over-the-counter prepaid debit card, reports the New York Times. They looked at a handful of prepaids currently on the market and discovered ridiculously high hidden fees—the first two months of use can cost you up to $80.

Bas Rutten Does Not Like Cell Phone Contracts

Bas Rutten Does Not Like Cell Phone Contracts

Here’s a funny commercial starring Bas Rutten for some prepaid cellphone company. You probably shouldn’t try this with your own cellphone company, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be thinking like Bas while disputing that ETF.

AT&T Forcing iPhone Pre-Paid Customers Into Two-Year Contracts

AT&T Forcing iPhone Pre-Paid Customers Into Two-Year Contracts

“This is a recommendation,” the technical support person told me. “If you decide not to go, it’s okay but we’re informing customers that service will not be up to par.”

In A Tight Spot, A Prepaid Phone Can Replace A Broken One

In A Tight Spot, A Prepaid Phone Can Replace A Broken One

Reader Brandi’s expensive T-Mobile Dash broke after only 7 months, leaving her phoneless and sad. The T-Mobile store was unhelpful — as she’d already used her phone discount to buy the now-broken Dash. What to do?

Xbox Live Cancels Year-Long Prepaid Account, Demands Another Year's Subscription To Reactivate

Xbox Live Cancels Year-Long Prepaid Account, Demands Another Year's Subscription To Reactivate

Xbox Live has struck again, this time by screwing up the auto-renewal on a customer’s account and ruining the prepaid annual membership he activated just three months ago.

AT&T Won't Sell Man GoPhone Because It Can't Verify His Credit History

AT&T Won't Sell Man GoPhone Because It Can't Verify His Credit History

Nathan’s been having trouble this week buying a prepaid GoPhone from AT&T Mobility’s website. He finally found out the reason: they couldn’t verify his credit history. This is confusing because it’s a prepaid GoPhone and because his credit history is superb. “Cheryl refused to transfer me.

AT&T To GoPhone User: "You Don't Have A Contract With Us And We Don't Have To Provide Service"

AT&T To GoPhone User: "You Don't Have A Contract With Us And We Don't Have To Provide Service"

Reader Christian has an iPhone that is activated on a pre-paid GoPhone plan with AT&T. The EDGE service has stopped working properly for quite a few GoPhone-style iPhone users in California and Christian isn’t having much luck with AT&T’s customer service:

T-Mobile Refuses To Process Your Credit Card Order, Then Processes It Anyway… After You've Gone To Another Company

T-Mobile Refuses To Process Your Credit Card Order, Then Processes It Anyway… After You've Gone To Another Company

T-Mobile refused to process reader Lucas’ girlfriend’s credit card because she couldn’t verify some of her personal information (she’s moved a lot and doesn’t remember the addresses of old dorm rooms, ect.). After she was rejected she went to another company for her phone… only to find that T-Mobile decided to process her order.

Cell Phones: Prepaid Or Calling Plan?

With the shenanigans that go on with automatic billing, I have been giving serious thought to switching to a prepaid model with as many services as possible. The most obvious place to start would be my cell phone, so I looked carefully at what it would cost to switch to a prepaid model with T-Mobile.

AT&T Charges Up To Eight Minutes For A One-Minute Phone Call

AT&T Charges Up To Eight Minutes For A One-Minute Phone Call

AT&T is charging users of its prepaid calling cards up to eight minutes per minute spent making an in-state call. The practice began in February and affects in-state calls made from every state except Illinois, Indiana, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

Canceling A Virgin Mobile Account is Extremely Difficult

Did I want to Top Up? Did I want to Upgrade My Account? Did I want to Buy An Amazing New Phone? No, no, no. I wanted to get rid of my old and mediocre phone and wash my hands of my old account. JUST LET ME OUT! my mind (and occasionally my mouth) screamed. I WANT THE NO HASSLE NO CONTRACT PART. By that point I would’ve rather paid a cancellation fee. Any supposed benefits to “no commitment” phones were mercilessly mocking me.

IDT's Sigo Pre-Paid Mastercard Is A Huge Scam

IDT's Sigo Pre-Paid Mastercard Is A Huge Scam

ATM Cash Withdrawal – Domestic $1.50

If that wasn’t enough, their “Confidentiality” clause functions like a screen door on a submarine, letting a flood of IDT affiliated marketing into your home.