I was wondering what type of cell phone, specifically; those that are seasoned hobbyists use to communicate with providers. I keep reading about using pay as you go type cell phones, but I was hoping to get specific recommendations. For example, my limited research found something called STI Mobile. Does anyone know anything about that one in comparison to T-Mobile’s or Verizon’s phones? Thanks.

I use a trac-fone. I bought the actual phone for like 15 bucks- works fine- and use the phone cards to add minutes usually 120 min. at a time!

XoXo,
Marea

get it a at Wal-mart or on the trac-fone website

http://www.tracfone-orders.com/direct/tr/phonelist.jsp?tech=GSM4&techzip=









-- Modified on 7/19/2007 4:58:16 PM

Yup - Marea's phone worked just fine when she called me on my Virgin Mobile earlier today

Same deal - buy the phone with cash at any big discount store, buy cards for minutes, activate and reload over the internet - use bogus name and address info - if you activate from a public access wireless network, they won't even have your ISP info.

-- Modified on 7/19/2007 7:56:17 PM

I've used Virgin Mobile and had no difficulties what so ever.  I buy the top-up cards every 3 months to add minutes.  Since I only use this phone for hobbying, I never run out of minutes.

Thanks for the replies...I'm going to look into Tracfone for sure. What about expiring minutes and minimum calls? I saw that STI Mobile required you to make at least one call every 60 days or else the phone gets deactivated and the minutes are lost. Does tracfone have that requirement too?

pay cash, you could even buy while traveling so you have a non-local area code-you pay more per minute, but when your paying 200-400/hour, the cost of minutes is not material.
 The advice to activate and renew using anonymous email (hotmail, yahoo) is very good, and make sure you do it from a public wifi such as an airport where it can't be traced back to your home via your ISP;  

The cost of phones is so cheap, I even go so far as to get a new # every year, so if one gets traced, the trail only goes back so far.  When you change, you need to let your ATFs know, but otherwise, your a new person.

Minutes are never lost with Virgin Mobile.  If you had to make a call every so many days, you could call a made-up number, let it ring for 5 seconds, then hang up.  Turn your phone off and the other party (assuming they have caller ID) will not be able to reach you.

works everywhere...

I have Tracfone and it works great. When you buy a phone, you also have to buy a card that adds minutes to the phone. The card also adds 60 days to the phone service, so that the minutes you just bought are good during those 60 days. You need to add more minutes before those 60 days are up (the date when you need to add more minutes is displayed continuously so you always know when you need to add). If you don't add minutes by the due date, any minutes that are still remaining on the phone are lost and the phone is deactivated (if that happens, you just buy more minutes and reactivate the phone). I usually buy 60 minutes at a time (for $20), and those minutes are good for 60 days. I usually use up those 60 minutes well before the 60 days are up, so I just buy more minutes. There are no minimum calls. I bought my Tracfone and additional minutes at a supermarket and pay cash each time. Hope this makes sense.