Cost Per Minute Tracfone vs. Net10

by Mary
(San Francisco CA)

Got a Tracfone last month. I just looked more closely at the cost-per-minute. For $20 you get 60 mins - that's a whopping 33 cents a minute. I have double minutes but it's still 16 cents a minute.

Then I looked at Net 10 and it's only 10 cents a minute. It seems like a much better deal than Tracfone. Am I missing something?

Mary

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May 26, 2010
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NET10 my personal favorite!
by: CarrieS

Although I've used Tracfone before I'm very much in favor of NET10 at the moment. I use about 200 to 300 minutes a month and so I buy a 300-minute card every month but every third month or so I don't have to buy a card because of rolled-over minutes.
Cell expenses average to $20 per month over a long period. Although you can certainly own a Tracfone, and keep it active, for less than this the minutes costs more. It really is better to use Tracfone if you use the phone very seldom.

NET10 also has excellent coverage in my home area, much better than any other carrier I've tried.

May 18, 2010
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Consider how much you use your phone
by: sb (admin)

Hi Mary,

Thanks for your question. For most many airtime cards, Net10 can indeed be cheaper than Tracfone. Sometimes a lot cheaper. However, another issue is how much you use your phone.

A 60 minute airtime card from Tracfone costs $20. You either get 60 or 120 minutes depending on whether you have a double minutes Tracfone. That works out to either 33 cents or 16 cents per minute. However the airtime card is good for 90 days, so that works out to a little over $8 a month to maintain your cell phone service which is fine for some people who only use it for emergencies.

A $30 airtime card from Net10 gives you 300 minutes. This works out to 10 cents per minute. However the airtime card is only good for 60 days. This means you have to spend about $15 a month to maintain service.

For some of the higher airtime cards the rates are about the same if you have a double minutes Tracfone (which I recommend) and use promo codes.

For example, let's say you bought a $30 120-minute airtime card and used the current promo code to get 40 extra minutes. With a double minutes Tracfone, you would get a total of 280 minutes. Your cost would be just under 11 cents per minute. But again, that card would be valid for 90 days. So if 280 minutes were enough to last you 90 days, you would be pay only about $10 per month instead of $15 with Net10.

Thanks again for your question. Hope this helps.

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