As the rest of the world technologically passed me by, I still couldn’t justify the purchase of a cell phone. I kept telling myself that someone who works from home hasn’t much need for one, but on the flip side of that… you never know when an emergency can occur.

And, since I’m planning a major trip soon, I convinced myself that I would surely enjoy having a cell phone if I ended up having some car problems or a flat tire or ran out of gas… and even just for driving the 52 miles to visit mom and my sister, things could happen and it would be sooooooo convenient to have a cell phone with me rather than trying to flag down some stranger and asking to borrow theirs!

Well, of course I couldn’t just buy one and hope for the best, so I started studying blogs, forums, cell phone sites, article directories, etc etc etc because I wanted an affordable phone but I knew I didn’t need all the fancy bells and whistles many come with, and I also wanted a cell phone that had no monthly fees, no contracts, no surprises and no BS and of course that narrowed it way down.

I’ve been researching them off and on for a couple of weeks now and got it narrowed down to two prepaid choices: Tracfone or Net10 and several great blogs and informative sites helped me to choose precisely which phone and which of the two prepaid services would best serve my needs and requirements. If I could remember all of them, I’d thank them personally because it was an immense help to me to have all that info on the net to assist my choosing.

Tracfone owns Net10 but they aren’t the same at all beyond that fact – they each have different plans, pricing, service levels, etc. From what I gleaned from my research, if you use or plan to use your cell phone a lot, choose Net10 (because it’s 10 cents a minute 24/7) and if you’re pretty sure you’ll stay under 150 minutes a month, then go with Tracfone. So I chose the latter.

I was going to order it online, but then I got to thinking – Walmart is 5 minutes away, why not go grab one there, and then I can actually SEE them. While I was there, I bought a 60 minute card with 90 days on it.

Here’s the sweet part – after seeking bonus codes I’d read about in several places, I visited a helpful site here: http://www.momsview.com/tracfone_promotional_code.shtml where I found a couple of bonus codes. I chose the one that extended minutes and usage days rather than just extending minutes.

Basically by using the bonus code 53322 that I got from MomsView during my registration and activativation of my new Motorola w376g online at tracfone.com (I did these chores online to avoid using my cell minutes to do that activity with). Much to my surprise, with the bonus code in place, that 60 minutes turned into 200 minutes and the 90 days turned into 150 days. It was almost magical.

Tip: Always look online for “current tracfone bonus codes” so you don’t end up slogging through old stuff from two or three years ago that’s long-since expired.

So, for $29.95 at Walmart – I got a vga camera phone with a ton of features I’ll probably never use and a $19.95 minute card (roughly $50 total) I now have my own first cell phone with free roaming all over the USA and it’s good until August or whenever I use up those 200 minutes.

I think this is an excellent choice for seniors who just might need to call someone one day in an emergency, and they’ll be covered without worrying about monthly fees or silly contracts that cost a fortune to back out of.

I hope this helps someone else make the choice… I’m happy with my Motorola w376g, even though the LG600g would’ve been a fancier phone with a few better functions, I didn’t want to spend $20 more because it’s just being purchased for emergencies, not something I’ll be yakking on all over the place. :-)

If you want to compare the two, just type “compare Motorola w376g with LG600g” into your favorite search engine and have fun. I didn’t want the cheapest models offered in these prepaid cells because after reading what actual users thought of the sound quality, etc etc I didn’t mind paying a little more to get a good one that was highly recommended.

Comments about your experiences with your cell phone choosing always welcome… especially you seniors who are still on the fence about it or want to sing praises or throw brickbats at your choice.

Oh, and I had an excellent experience with Tracfone customer support - even though I’ve read some really negative stuff here and there about that subject. (I used their email support, by the way if that makes a difference).

Blessings,

Donna