NET10, The Best Cellphone Bargain
With this post, I want to say a few words about NET10, one of companies I’m advertising for on this site. Although my site doesn’t revolve around electronics or phone services, I want to share a little information about NET10 if you aren’t familiar with what they have to offer. This is not a paid review, but it does contain affiliate links. I’ve personally been using their mobile phone service for about two years. In that two years time, I’ve been extremely satisfied with what I’ve gotten out of the deal. Needless to say, I’m a big fan.
First of all, NET10 is a cellphone company, that does not require that you sign a contract of any kind to use the service. Simply put, it’s a pay-as-you-go service. No hidden fees, no small print…….just a simple to understand 10 cents per minute. I love that about it. The last thing I want is another monthly bill. With most cellphone companies such as Cingular, Alltel, etc, you are required to not only pay a monthly service fee + tax and additional fees, you’re also required, in most cases, to sign a two-year commitment. That is a huge turn-off to me.
Paying for the Service
With NET10, you have multiple choices when it comes to buying airtime cards. 150 minute card for $15, 300 minute card for $30, etc. I generally buy the $30 card, in which I have two months before I have to buy additional airtime. If I use all the minutes up, I can buy another card, or if I don’t use the minutes up in that time frame, I still buy another card after 60 days, but the previous minutes roll over. If you don’t go over on minutes, this service can cost as little as $15 per month. That’s cheap!
There are also multiple choices on where you buy airtime. You can go to most major retailers and buy a card, you can buy airtime online, or directly from your phone. Either way you go, there’s a convenient choice available.
The Catch?
If there is any catch to this at all, it’s the lack of choices when it comes to what phone you use. You can’t get your iPhone or your Razr connected to Net10. They have 6 or 7 Motorola and LG phones to choose from, but it has to be one of those phones……which is fine for me. I don’t use my phone as an MP3 player or to surf the web. I use my phone to……talk.
[...] or phone services, I want to share a little information about net10 if you aren??t familihttp://antbag.com/net10-the-best-cellphone-bargain/Top Secret Support – Net10/Tracfone Support InformationJust a collection of contact numbers and [...]
Hey Anthony,
Must agree with you totally on NET10 being the best deal out there. I visit the USA for about 6 months every year and I can just reconnect my phone to a new number every time I return and only get charged the $15 a month. So cheap! Got my phone at Walmart real cheap too.
Great Blog and WP Themes by the way.
Dave.
Thanks Dave. I think NET10 is a very overlooked bargain.
After writing this post, I messed around and let my activation period expire(didn’t add minutes before the time period was up). What some people apparently don’t realize( including me), there’s a 30 day grace period for you to reactivate without losing your roll-over minutes or phone#. Yay NET10!
I also have been a loyal Net10 user for over 2 years now. I formerly had Cingular, with a medium monthly plan, but wound up paying $700 per year. After using Net10 for the first year, I cut that cost down to about $200 per year. I have never had trouble finding an available network while traveling to different cities, and have been thoroughly pleased with the company whenever I have needed tech support or answers to any questions.
I recommend this cell service to folks whenever I get the chance.
I’ve just bought the Nokia 1600 phone from Net10 for only $29.99! & they give you 300 minutes to use with your phone..how can that NOT be a good deal?
I love my phone, its small, stylish, colorful, and its got some of the basic features that I look for in a phone..sure its not iPhone, but who cares..its about the money you spend to keep up with it..
I’m SO happy with my service, I only have to put a $30 card onto my phone every two months, usually though I take about $100 out to get the 1000 minute card. I love the minutes, its only 10 cent a minute, unlike most of the companies.
The best deal with Net10 is the fact that you keep your minutes you don’t use with active service, and you don’t wind up paying dollars a day towards minutes you DON’T use, it only takes minutes when you use it!
I’ve been happy since I’ve bought this phone, and I STRONGLY agree and STRONGLY recommend this phone and this service. It’s the BEST pre-paid service out there, even against Alltel and Tracfone.
So whomever may read this post and HASN’T tried Net10; TRY THEM, I assure you that you’ll fall in love with there prices and service!
Yeah I just bought a net10 phone. I switched over from tracfone. Hopefully this will work out for me.
I am new to Net10…I put off getting a phone because I didn’t want to conrtract for 2 years (or whatever) and pay ~$50+/month. I read a lot of Net10 flames and I was concerned. However, I LOVE my phone so far. Inexpensive + Simple =
Activation took a couple of minutes…use the Web site…no need to contact support. The UI is very intuitive.
I am curious if there are ever Net10 phone card promotions??? Also, the shorter periods seem like a better deal than the 6 month or 12 month plan since the latter to do not proportionately extend your service the way the short periods do. In other words, for $15, I can extend for 30 days (50 cents/day) BUT for $100 you extend for 180 days (56 cents/day). Why pay more upfront for less days?
Regards,
Jack
I think some people go with the longer contracts just for the convenience of buying more minutes less often. I’ve stuck with the 300 minute card, because it just works for me.
why am i paying 1 doller a min
I appreciated the above comments but they hardly represent the experience some of us have had.
I was one of those people who did THOROUGH research before signing on with Net 10. I had researched other pre-paid providers and found them (financially) to be the best — by far. I not only researched their website but also called them and made several trips to Walmart to speak with their pre-paid department there.
After much research, I finally signed up with Net10 in September 2007 and the amount of problems I have encountered have been simply STAGGERING! The level of horrid customer service became so bad that I would take notes (date, contact, details) when I would speak to them. Not only was the information on their website incorrect (at the time they were offering 150 min cards also) but even the zip code availability service (required to make sure they are able to offer you service) was incorrect.
It took MONTHS (no joking), 3-4 new SIM cards and many, many, many phone calls for any of it to finally work out — and that was only after finding one person who TRULY cared about what they were doing.
I thank God for that one caring (and highly competent) individual. I ran across her by chance (after one of their Trac Phone corporate office customer service representatives voiced that the problems I had encountered were my own — something about me being one customer amongst 11 million; nothing like laying the blame for service incompentencies on your customers…) and, but for her, would have quit Net 10 a long time ago.
When I call now, I have her handle all of my transactions. Sadly enough, first hand experience has proved to me (and those who walked with me through this; people trying to reach me and not being able to get through) how utterly lacking in good customer service Net 10 is.
All in all, 10 cents a minute may sound like a good deal but when the customer service is terrible… it is hardly worth it.
If I had to do it all again, I would not sign up with Net 10. Nor could I (in good conscience) recommend it to anyone.
B
Bonnee,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I have to say, that hasn’t been my experience at all. I’m assuming by “signing up for Net 10″, your saying you bought a phone and activated it. I’ve had my phone for a couple of years now and haven’t “signed up” for anything. The good thing about it is this: if for some unusual reason it doesn’t work out, you don’t have much invested, as opposed to signing up for the usual 2-3 year contract for most mobile phone plans.
I had never even heard about Net10 before. Thanks for the information, i’ll definitely look into them now. Thanks for sharing.
WHY can I not find the $15 phone cards??!! On the phone packages (and/or inserts), it clearly states that these are available! This, and of course their incompetent, barely English speaking CS department) are the only two issues I’ve had thus far.
I noticed that the $15 is available on the Net10 website, but is it just available as an “automatic refill” where you have to sign up for it to come out of your account every freaking month? Or is there someway, somewhere you can purchase it individually, and without having to sign up for automatic renewal? Thanks
They have them at both the local Wal-Mart stores in my hometown.
Hello,
I often hear others mention “horrible” customer service with Net10. I’d like to share another point of view. My family has 3 Net10 phones which have been active for two years+ now. Oh how I love not being bound to a contract! I chose them after comparing prepaids. The rate is better than any other I was able to find when I researched. The CS reps do often have a strong foreign accent. I think that puts some customers off. But I have found them to be friendly and helpful. I’ve used email to CS via their website to resolve issues several times and been pleased. Let’s be practical here…obviously, what you get for the low rate is fewer choices than a customized contract plan. But for the huge savings, I don’t mind that at all!
I forgot to mention….one of the MAIN reasons I chose Net10 was coverage and on-air quality. They are the ATT network. Net10 had MUCH larger strong coverage zones as compared to TMobile and several others. My DD has Virgin Mobile and though coverage from her provider is good, she pays more. A cool feature is the 411 service. I call in, they give me the listing and offer several awesome options for FREE such as texting me the number I looked up, dialing it for me, etc. That is hugely handy IMO. Just wanted to share. Thanks!
Brinn,
I’m in complete agreement with you. I’ve never called the customer support, so I don’t have any complaints there, but the service has been great for my needs.
Seems like a great choice if you are not too keen on using a particular handset such as iPhone. Large telcos do provide you with multitude of choices and all the latest cell phones before other small guys, but their product offerings are always confusing and contain a lot of fine print to deceive the end users. Contracts are another bad thing which should be avoided as much as possible. Thanks for sharing this service.
I’m irate that they did away with the 150 min cards!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont get it! WHY do away with somethin that was, no doubt, a best seller??!! Makes NO sense whatsoever! If given the choice to buy a 300 min card ($30) opposed to a 150 ($15) card…lets see… duh! I’ll take the lesser amount!!
Hey, NET10! Shame on you! Its all about the profits though, right? Nevermind the customer! Bottom line is, I can spend NO less than $30 a month if I want to keep my freaking number! (A lot of months, I dont even USE the entire 300 min!)
Correction, $30= 2 months. My mistake. Well then I guess that means that $15 = 1 month, right? Either way, I still would prefer paying $15 at a time as opposed to no less than $30! Pretty soon, there’ll be MORE limitations I’m certain. I mean, its the ‘norm’ to impose limitations these days.
On the bright side, I guess Net10 is still the cheapest deal out there at the moment. Why would i pay Tracfone (oddly, owned by same co.) .25 each min when I can pay .10 for Net10? Duh. LIke I said, this will probably change when more people start catching on & get Net10~ THAT will be the time to raise rates! Then I will be going elsewhere if that happens!
Would be too kool to get free weekend or after 9:00p minutes! But not at the expense of raising rates or getting into confusing package. Another ENORMOUS improvement would be to fix the network to where the minutes go on your phone INSTANTLY when you key in pin #’s. It NEVER fails that I get some kind of error messages, and it has quite actually the last few times taken at least 30 min or more for minutes to add to phone!
Anybody else had that problem? Now I figure that I’d be better off (and process FAR speedier) to call the automated system and add them. Using a store-bought card, of course. If you do it by website, it will SCREW you a lot of the time (Tracfone notorious for this). Their website was cleverly designed intentionally that way, to make you think your minutes didnt come through so that you will keep clicking that finalizing button over and over…racking up separate transactions (chgs) each and every time you click! No thanks, I’ll stick to buying cards in stores!
I didn’t realize they had done away with the $15 cards. I see now that they’re no longer available online. Why? I don’t know. My guess is that they probably didn’t sell as well as the 300 minute card. Either way, you get the same bargain. I’ve always bought the 300 min card, and I’ve always picked it up at Wal-Mart.
I’m thinking about updating my phone to a newer model since mine is about two years old. It still works great, but I have to charge it about twice a week now, where I used to only have to charge it once per week.
Hey guys….Net 10 system works wonderful, no problems with service, the only problem is I can’t put my razr on net10, but the w385 is a great phone, wonderful audio quality, exceptionaly clear and easy to hear. Net 10 customer support? well, thats another story, quick work around, when the recording say english or spanish, choose spanish! Most of the spanish operators speak good english, the others are from a country god knows where (india or phillipines maybe ) and can’t speak decent english enough to understand them…remember this and you’ll have few if any problems….another note is you can still buy a net10 150 minute cards here in okla. JUST go to any family dollar or dollar general store and buy the minutes from the cashier, they have the scan cards for 150 minutes for 15.00 and one month of service, but you get a cashregister reciept with a pin number to enter into your prepaid section of your phone…works just the same as a card!….bottom line..10cents a minute at 15.00 a month for cell service….try to beat it? Don’t think it can be done!
The $15 a month is a recurring monthly debit card charge(shows up when you actually have a plan activated under purchase minutes). Set it and forget it, and the minutes roll over as normal. This is a good deal if you have your old home phone number and import it, as it’s cheaper than typical land line service, which can easily reach $30 a month now without long distance, even. The only calls I get on it are from my relatives, son, and ex anyways – about 100 minutes a month, give or take.
As for adding time, do it on the website. Never do anything over the phone if you want it to work quickly. Customer service is iffy but it’s worlds better than my cable TV company.
It’s a phone. I originally paid $25 at Target for one with 300 minutes included. That’s about 8.5 cents per minute with sales tax included. Beats looking for a pay phone or getting caught in a traffic jam on the way somewhere and having no phone at all.
Note – you could actually save money this way over the normal cards by about $3 every two months by buying phones from a local store on sale every two months like this and tossing them, though that’s kind of wasteful, really.
Oh – my recommendation though if you are getting it long term is to get a Motorola type phone that can use Bluetooth and will fit larger battery packs(tons of accessories). This way, a realistic week between charges is possible.
Count me in as someone who thinks the customer support is awful and is not happy that the 150 minute cards are not available (or not easy to find). I don;t remember the specifics but last year I spent an hour or more on the phone. The rep kept putting me on hold for long periods of time to consult with a supervisor for the most basic questions. On another call the rep gave me clear misinformation, information that did not correspond with info on the website or in the manual, this was confirmed when I spoke to a rep and supervisor in a subsequent call.
Also, I often run into problems when I try to buy minutes from the website, that function is frequently out of service and you have try later or call the support center.
The phone itself works fine and the price is right.
Great idea to whomever suggested buying new phone. I don’t get many calls so getting a new phone number is no biggie.
I bought a Net10 phone in a box with a phone case, home charger, car charger and hands free listening device and 300 minutes/2 months service included for $29.98 That is a GREAT deal. I just wonder if anybody has had a good experience with ANY cell phone company customer service. Probably not. Even with the big money contract companies. Go ahead and spend big money if You talk a lot. But, if You don’t Net10 is probably the best deal.
Umm, the CATCH is, you have to buy the 150 mins every month, 300 mins every 2 months or you can’t make a call. You will keep on hearing that Cha-Ching every month with a crappy phone that receives spam calls, spam texts driving you back to the AT@T T-Mobile or Veriz0n store for a sign up contract. And don’t forget that frustration when you haven’t bought a new card, your month is up and you have to make that very very important phone call.
yup…have to go with the bad cusomer service thing. All is true about not being able to understand. And I don’t think they care. I had an error on my phone…which they also said I did. But they also said being a pre-paid service they could not gat my min. back…Wow ….what kind of service is that. I went out and got another net 10 phone and plan on camcordering the calls ….just to see if they are truely robbing time.. will keep you posted…
i can’t complain about the net ten service. i bought my net ten phone in may of 2007, after sprint kept shutting my phone off even though i had paid the bill. as an over the road truck driver i also found that my net ten phone got service when others would not. (at one point i had sprint, t mobile, and net ten. i also was given a company phone that was verizon) i can’t tell you how many times i would have to call a customer and could not get signal through the others and had to use my net ten. it is january 19, 2009. my net ten phone has been out of service since september ’08. i just put minutes on it a few days ago, without a problem and still have the same number. as far as customer service goes, ok… so the reps speak broken english, but they always do right by me. so… i can’t complain about net ten. now that my other phone contracts have expired, it’s all i use.
I always use net10 when on holiday from uk. Always buy a new phone at walmart. with 2 months credit. phone home too! Each phone expires as I make annual trips. If only I could reactivate it would save me the effort of reinstalling all my contacts each year. It probably would not be cheaper than buying a new phone but more comvenient. Does anyone know whether this is possible?
I have had my Net 10 for 3 yrs plus and have only had to call the cs 2 times at the most. i miss the $15.00 cards but that is fine. myself and all my kids and wife use net 10. after i do the math all around the net 10 is fairly competitive over all. I have no complaints other than the cs is not good at all when one had to call. Net 10 is my choice for a pre-paid phone.
On my Net 10 Nokia phone I purchased 2 years ago, never had any problems. I could call Canada by just dialing 1. Last month I purchased a new Net 10 LG phone. I was getting error messages and losing minutes. Also voice mail in Spanish and losing minutes. And also calling Canada required dialing an 800 number first and waiting for an operator to tell you when to dial Long Distance, losing 2 minutes. Calling customer service is talking to someone you don’t understand. I may as well going back to Verizon and pay more.
Armand said:
I can understand frustration trying to deal with someone who doesn’t speak your native language very well. I’ve had that experience with AT&T and a few other companies. But let me ask you this, Do you have to call customer service often? My experience has been that I’ve never had to call Net 10′s customer service, and I’ve had my phone almost 3 years now. I plan to upgrade my phone soon, as there are newer and nicer one’s available now. My wife upgraded hers recently and had no problems.
What I like about Net 10, is you can buy a $30 phone and it comes with $30 of airtime free. So, you’ve got 300 minutes to use. If you don’t like the service, throw the phone in the trash after you use up the minutes. You don’t even have to call anyone to cancel your account. How can anyone say that’s a bad deal?
Having been a customer for over 2 years now, I can tell you the company’s customer service is just lousy. I tried to “unsubscribe” by clicking on the link. Their website had a message up for months saying the site was “experiencing techical difficulties” and to call their customer service number. Upon calling the number, they don’t have a feature for automated opt out, etc. You have to talk to someone to unsubscribe. I waited for over 41 minutes for someone to come on the line. Finally, I called back and pressed menu options that took me to a “department” where you can spend more money with them, knowing someone always answers those lines. The guy, not from America, said he could unsubscribe me, but not credit my phone back with the 41 and counting minutes that I spent trying to unsubscribe. I asked to talk to his boss and again, was given a run around. The boss gave me yet another number that was supposed to be their “corporate office,” but I’m sure was not. That person, not American, told me I had to call back on another line in order to be credited with the time, which by now was well over an hour! The number she gave me to call back was…yep, you guessed….the same i8778362368 number that the website was giving out. I finally blurted out some nasty thing out of frustration and hung up on her. My next call was to Tracphone corporate, which I believe actually owns Net10. They probably had to come up with a different company and name because of the complaints piling up against them. If I don’t hear back from them I will file a complaint with the state attorney general’s office about their business practices. Clearly, they don’t want customers to “unsubscribe,” they just want to pester them every week with text messages, phone calls, and emails. I’ll be looking for another cell phone deal.
Marcia,
It’s obvious there are people like yourself who have become frustrated trying to communicate with them through customer service. What were you trying to unsubscribe from? email notifications? Did you register online and agree to receive regular updates and offers? I’m just curious, because I registered, but didn’t request anything from them. They email me every so often about something new they’re offering or to remind me that my airtime will end in a few days…..that’s it. I may get an email or text from them once per month on average. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a phone call.
You’ve had your phone for over 2 years. Has your service been bad? Have you found another cell phone provider that was less expensive? The purpose of my post was to share what I think is a bargain. Where someone can get the most bang for their buck.
I just got my Net10 LG600G from Fedex yesterday. After talking to a few locals who have Net10, I was impressed with the reviews. Too bad I am unable to use the phone. I signed up and ported my number from Nextel. When I ported from AT&T to Nextel, it took around 2 hours and no problems. I read on Net10′s website that it could take up to 10 days for the port to go through. Ok, no big deal, I could still use my nextel until it changed over. Well 2 hours later, my nextel is done.
When you call my number, my Net10 phone rings, but I am unable to answer it. It says I have no minutes on the screen. And when i check the phone status online, it says the phone is inactive. I check the Port Case ID number, and keep getting that they are processing my port request,and it will take up to 10 business days. So now I am stuck with no phone at all. Just my landline, but that doesn’t help me out in the world.
When the phone rings, it doesn’t even show the number of the caller, just Unkown. At least if I saw the number, i could call them back.
I tried calling twice, each time I would go through the menus and then get a few rings, and disconncected. I sent an email as well, but all I got was the automated reply.
If this is any indication as to how Net10 is going to operate, I guess I’ll have to port my number to another carrier.
Ok, to be fair. Earlier this evening, after leaving my friend’s house, I went to walmart to pick up a 2nd Net10 phone. I figured I could at least have something to use until my number port is finished. So I get home, and check the status of the port, and voila, number ported, continue with the activation. No message from Customer Service, but it works now. I guess the inconvenience of no phone for 32 hours is worth the money I’ll be saving.
I’m new to this game. I’ve had Cellular One for years. (Now A.T.&T.) I never use my minimum minutes. If I go to Net 10 who’s network do the calls travel over? Do these pay-as-you-go phone companies but service from the big guys? I can’t see any downside to buying minutes up front. What am I missing here?
What I meant was, do they buy network service?
Hi people,
Maybe this has been answered before … but I go again ! I have an AT&T prepaid connection and I want to switch over to Net10 a.s.a.p !! But will my number be ported? And if this is possible .. .how do I go about doing this? Is it a long process? I can stay without a number for 2-3 days .. no probs with that !
thanks everyone .. I appreciate any replies !
I have used Net10 for over 3 years now and will soon be changing to a different service. Did not have any problems for the first year of service. The second and third year of service have been extremely bad. Their customer service is horrible. I can tell you what they will say before they say it. Either you have to enter a bunch of code or they do some upgrade to their system and then you have to give it 5-10 minutes. Then they change it to say give it at least an hour. Ok, so it didn’t work but now you need to give it 24 hours. Oh, that didn’t work? I will create a ticket for your problem…give us 3 days to work on it. Great service!
Last month my phone said “unregistered sim” and after 3 phone calls to CS and 3 days of waiting they had to send me a new sim card. CS reactivated the phone and asked if I wanted to keep the same phone number. I said YES and the phone was reactivated. I only use the phone for doctor’s offices and now for job applications. On March 30 I discovered that NET10 changed my phone number when they reactivated the account because someone didn’t reactivate it correctly. Nice to know all my job applications have my old phone number on them and doctor’s offices can’t get through to me about my mother’s health. How many people check their phone number on their phone to make sure the number hasn’t changed after reactivating it? NET10 can’t give me my old phone number back even though when you call the number a message says not active so you know it hasn’t been given out to anyone else. Now they made changes to the phone which made the sim card unregistered again. They are in the process of setting up a new number and it will take an hour to get changed. Wait, that was over 3 hours ago and the phone still shows unregistered sim. Yes, I did turn the phone off and back on but still doesn’t work. This is a lesson about getting what you pay for. I do hope that if you are thinking of getting a phone for emergency use, please consider spending a little more for better service. I’ll be looking for a company that really cares about customer service.
is there any way you can switch the sim cards into another net 10 phone.
my screen is broke on mines and i need my contacts
NET 10 is a scam. Anthony whoever you are you must work or receive some type of income from them. There are many complaints on the internet similiar to mine. I paid for unlimited calls my phone was cut off for 1500 minutes of use. Then I was told my sim card was bad. By the time my sim card issue was resolved it was time to renew my monthly rate. I was not compensated for lost airtime that I already paid for and was told by customer service that they do not refund or compensate for lost airtime. The supervisor gave me a wrong number to their corporate office. STAY AWAY FROM NET 10!!! GO with Verizon ATT or T MOBILE they believe in customer service and will at least try to resolve your problems.
Kiara –
Sorry, but you can’t. That’s one of the downsides.
Margaret Watts –
A scam? Oh please. I don’t work for Net 10. I do have an affiliate link in this article. If someone buys through one of those links, I make a few cents through Commission Junction. Since I wrote this over a year ago, I’ve made less than $10 from Net 10. So does that sound like I’m paid off?
Now, for you to come on here calling Net 10 a scam is pure dumb. My wife and I have been using Net 10 for several years now, and we NEVER have problems with it. Do I think that means no one else will ever have a problem?…..of course not. But, I’ve had very good service with them, which is why I recommend them on my website.
The point of this article is that you will not find a better cellphone bargain than Net 10. Sure, they may not have all the bells and whistles that AT&T or Verizon have, but for the money, they provide value. If you paid for unlimited calls, you missed the whole point of what Net 10 is. I never buy more than $30/300 minutes at a time. If something were to go wrong that I can’t get resolved, I’m not out very much money huh? I never go over on minutes, so the phone costs me $15 per month. Can you do that with AT&T, Verizon, T Mobile, etc?
I started using cell service with a gifted net10. Being a gadget freak, I’ve gone through a few of the models since buying a phone+minutes is often equal or better than getting a minutes card. Only one broken one, and that was clearly my mistake. (remove sim card before disassembling phone-don’t ask)
Main problem is online activation, usually I have to find a land line to call customer service and practice my Hindi, but within an hour it is set up. Pin minute activation is about 30 seconds and it’s in there.
Currently upgraded to the LG600G with bluetooth and camera, camera’s not great but if you need one it’s there. 600 minutes as they were doubling airtime, so even then it was equal to a card upgrade. (yes, I do occasionally buy just a minutes card)
I activated it for my area, but I’ve taken trips around the SE U.S. and no problems. The LG600G specifically has problems picking up signal indoors, but that’s specific to that model, even though I’m within sight of about 3 towers, I sometimes have to walk outside to get reliable calls/messaging. I keep the phone near the window to avoid that.
The 600G is also unique in that it runs java, and very unique in that it allows me to move files back and forth between my computer and the phone via Bluetooth. (I failed to get any of their other models to hook up via USB)
Ringtones, java programs, graphics- I’ve even got Galaga running on it. Many carriers (Trakphone, ironically) selling this *same model* have it locked down to prevent such access.
If I had any qualms about the service, is the way they round up minutes from :01-:59. So I tend to have conversations where I try to beat the :00 marker. And weekend/night minutes would be nice, but overall better than contractual obligation that probably more than pays the difference in minutes.
If they start ever support the iPhone 3G (the slower, $99 model as of 6/20/09) I’ll be quite set. Till then, make do with what ya gots.
I’m just sad that the model I really like the looks of isn’t available for purchase in my area when I put in my zip code.
My husband and I use NET10- for over 1 year now, and we are simply impressed how well the service works. We bought the LG300, because we don’t need cameras or other fancy stuff, we needed a phone to talk. The LG300 has an awesome battery life, we charge them no more than once a week, reception is exceptional good. We had Alltel before, and never had reception inside the house. NET10 works anywhere so far.
I never had to call customer service. I buy the minutes at WalMart or Target. Before the service runs out we receive a brief text message from NET10 as an reminder, but they never bother us for other reasons.
We even received 30 free minutes during the holiday season. And the best feature: I can make international calls as well. So I cancelled my nternational ong distance service on my landline phone.
Never again will I sign another cell phone contract.
Exactly!
Have been a customer for almost a year and been happy. Offer the right number of minutes for me at an affordable price. Sure their phones don’t have all of the latest high tech gadgets but they make and receive phone calls and text messages, and their customer service leaves something to be desired. Another plus is that they buy minutes from all of the other companies, so I can get service in areas that others can’t. I went camping and got service in Northern New Hampshire when others didn’t get service.
Net10 isn’t bad, but it’s not the best prepaid service out there, not by a long shot.
Far cheaper, with better coverage, and a much wider selection of handsets, is PagePlus, which operates on the Verizon network.
Net10 is good if you do a lot of roaming onto non-AT&T GSM networks in areas where the CDMA network is not Verizon or a Verizon affiliate. Net10 is better than Virgin Mobile which doesn’t allow any roaming off of the Sprint network.
Okay. My husband and I have been Net10 users for years. Before that we used TracFone which is owned by the same company as Net10(makes no sense to me that they would compete with themselves) lol. Anyway, over the past 5 years or so I have never ever had an issue at all with either plan. Not one single issue. It amazes me that so many people contact CS for things. Maybe I should knock on wood right now.
At 10 cents a minute it’s worth a risk. We always buy the $30 cards and heck, you can get a new phone for that much that comes with the time. So there is no risk really. It’s like getting a free phone and just paying for the minutes. I do wish they had better phones, but that is okay–it’s a price I’m willing to pay for paying a lower price. We love Net10 so much that I got my mom to switch to it from TracFone and I recommend it to everyone. Never had a phone problem ever, and my minutes are added instantaiously.
I have used Net 10 about one year, before that I was a Virgin Mobile customer, I also have used Alltel prepaid. The Net 10 deal is 10 cents versus 15 cents for Alltel. I live at the northern edge of Arizona and Alltel plus Net 10 equals almost total coverage. I had a Net 10 phone fail, they sent me a new phone, with 300 extra minutes, and some extra months of service, what terrible service(not) and then I mailed the old one back in the box the new one came in. For those who just hate contracts, I was able to buy 3000 minutes with two years of service for a little over 5 cents at an e-bay site. I currently have 2400 minutes that expire in August of 2011. I do not face the end of month problem very often. The support people do not speak perfect English, but, they are competent and helpful. I have spent about $180 for one year of service and I have 2400 minutes (worth $240) and two years to go, I am very satisfied.
use coup codes 44477 and 34567 (work…checked today) and buy the LG300 refurb + 300 minute card for $22 + free shipping. sell the airtime card on ebay for $28 (25 after shipping), and you have 300 minutes and 60 days for free with activation of the phone. If this deal lasts ( I bought 6), buy a new phone every month, activate it by transferring your original number, sell the 300 minute card that comes with it, and you have free (actually making $) cell phone service for 150 minutes a month.
Nice tip, Stu! Thanks.
For the most part I’ve been satisfied with my Net 10 LG cell phone. I’ve had mine for a little over a year.
The problem that I’m facing is I’ve got too much airtime – November 11 but just under 50 minutes.
I’m told that I cannot add minutes without advancing the air time. This is a problem. What got me into this situation is a friend sent me a text message and ate lots of my minutes. Needless to say I won’t make that mistake again.
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions on how to fix this problem. I really like my phone so I don’t really want to purchase another one. I don’t need anything fancy. It serves the purpose. I’m not into texting or cameras, etc. Please help!!!
Virginia, I don’t understand what the problem is. That just means that if you don’t use the 50 minutes up before November 11, you don’t have to add airtime until then. You don’t have to wait until November to add airtime though.
Love Net 10 bought it originally for my preteen daughter to have for security in between after school and pick up times. It has came in very handy. I had sprint and had an additional line with my very talkatvie teenager and averaged about $250 per month. With the economy being what it is I have decided to now put her on a Net 10 phone too. It will eliminate any overages because you can’t use up minutes you don’t have
No surprise bills in the mail with outrageous fees. No early termination fee or hidden excess fees. Plain and simple plan and all in all decent phones for the price. I bought the first one at Kmart for 19.99 came with 300 minutes and Kmart offers a extended warranty for about $2 if you lose your phone, it breaks, etc….. they replace it all you have to have is the receipt showing you purchased the warranty. You don’t have to mail the phone in you just go to Kmart and they replace it. Great deal I recommend to all.
I have to say, I got mine about two months ago and for the price it sure cannot be beaten.
Now I didn’t do a bunch of research, but in the store and going through all the options two months ago, 10 stood right out in front for phone price, add airtime prices, and most importantly wide coverage.
A day after I got it, it happened to fall in my cooler and I did not know it for about 6 hours… What is worse is that I was states away out in the middle of nowhere… Sure enough, taking it apart and letting it dry brought it back to life!
It leaves something to be desired imo for texting, which I very rarely am forced to do, but otherwise I am happy
i have just gotten the black lg300 phone yesterday and is there any way possible that i can get ringtones
Yes, right here.
We apologize, but we currently do not offer any ringtones for this phone model. is what it says
Oh, sorry, my bad.
so do u kno of any other way
No, I’m afraid I don’t. Sorry I couldn’t help.
thanx anyway
I love my net 10 phone (LG 300, I think), but why do you have to use minutes to retreive messages if you set up the voicemail? I have not set up my voicemail for this reason. Also, I need another net 10 phone to switch my husband over from virgin mobil. He got a virgin mobil phone with a bunch of leftover money still on it from a friend a few months ago and used that for awhile. Now that the money is gone, there’s no reason to keep adding minutes. The only advantage with virgin mobil seems to be that you can pick up your voicemails for free.
Oh – the reason I mentioned needing another net10 phone on my posting was because I’m looking for the best deal on one. Any promos going on now? I kind of lost my train of thought.
i had to go buy a new net 10 cell phone cuz my other one i had quite working after haveing it for 2 weeks so i had to gopurchase another one tonight and when it stopped working i had 263 minutes on it and was told at the customer service that it would be transfered to my new net ten and also the 300 bonus minutes when i purchased it tonite, i am not able to even activate it at all to my account
I am looking at an add from Walt-Mart from Sunday Dec. 6, 2009 about a Samsung T401G.
This would be my real first cell phone (I inherited an old Motorola from my husband which I
detest) and would like to have a phone with good sound quality and ability to take pictures,
which this model has. Does anyone know anything about it? Thanks.
New Net10 customer.
Bought a Samsung T401G as a Christmas present for my daughter.
This is a great, modern phone.
She loves all of the features.
It’s absolutely high-end in quality.
The service (phone connection and call clarity) has been flawless.
In fact we went on vacation and had to use hers when our AT&T cellphone wouldn’t get a signal.
Very pleased with Net10′s product and service.
Very pleased with the price as well.
Awesome! I love it!
I thought I would chime in with my 2 cents on NET10. I started using them a year ago and have been mostly happy with them. As I explored new ways to add minutes I found I could get them cheaper and cheaper. I finally discovered the super value of buying refurbished phones from NET10 that come with both 300 minutes on activation and a 300 minute airtime card. I had bought two of these and it has worked well. But the last one I bought didn’t have the airtime card with it. So I called NET10… and got a message saying they couldn’t even take my call because of “unusually high call volumes”. I called the next day and got the same message. I sent an email with all the info they needed and they wrote back for me to call. I continued to call mostly getting the “unusually high call volumes” message, but occasionally getting put on hold listening to music at least. I would have to give up waiting after 20 to 30 minutes though. I did get through to someone twice. Once was on a weekend and I was told that I would have to contact a specific department that was not open and I needed to call during business hours. I continued to do that and also sent a second email explaining the problem reaching them. The reply was the same, call them. The other time I reached a person after waiting on hold for over 10 minutes, I was transferred to a different department and put on hold for another 20 minutes before giving up. I have tried to call them more than a dozen times over a two week period and sent a third email today after waiting on hold for 30 minutes. I am fed up with not being able to reach anyone about this!!!
10 cents a minute may be a bargain and 3.6 cents (with the refurbished phone deal) may be an incredible deal. But it is no deal at all if I have to spend hours on the phone trying to reach someone about an incomplete order.
I also had a problem with my service a few weeks ago. My phone cut off somehow from being able to make calls or send text messages. They were not able to fix the problem the first two times I called and I was without service for several days. THAT really sucked!
I have to say NET10 may be good if you never have a problem. But if you *have* a problem it will be a *major* problem.
Thanks for your writeup Rick.
Of particular interest was the sentence “As I explored new ways to add minutes I found I could get them cheaper and cheaper.”
Our daughter loves her Net10 Samsung T401g – but she tends to go through minutes fairly quickly.
Besides Ebay, where have you found discounted minutes?
Would love to know what you’ve learned!
I’m also interested in learning cheaper ways to use it. I feel for you for your problems with customer service, Rick. It’s sad that good customer service is more an exception than rule these days.
I have had Net10 phones for several years now. They now offer to 200 min cards. I have not had any particular problem with this service but I have somehelpful tips. When calling CS us another phone not your Net 10, because the issue with the phones cannot be corrected if you are using them. By far Net10 gives less problems with CS than its sister Tracfone. I have learned that if they cannot fix the issue in two attempts get another phone that is the best way not to get frustrated and it gets the problem corrected quicker. I understand that if you had porblems you are reluctant to try it again, if you decide to try activate online and double check your entries. This is best way to activate all Net10, Tracfone and the new sister product Straight talk (also a subsidiary of TRACFONE)
Thanks Jona for the tips. I just upgraded my phone to the Samsung T401g, and had to make a couple of calls to customer service for the first time. I plan to write a post about the experience soon.
So I found a ton of older phones at our local Dollar General store for ~$5.00 all with 300 minutes included. What if I bought them all and as each expired port my # to the new phone. Is that possible? don’t want to break any rules or what but would love to be able to find a “deal” on this.
Yes, very possible….wish I could run across a deal like that!
At first, I was hestiant to go with Net10 because they didn’t have something comparable to my IPhone, but AT&T’s contracts and fees were killing me. I switched over to the much more affordable Samsung T401G and the money I’m saving in terms of service plans is worth giving up the IPhone gadgets. I was paying more $110 a month so keeping more than $50 a month in my pocket with a Net10 plan (I’m on the $60/600 minute plan). I love that I can re-charge my minutes from my phone and even roll over when I don’t use all of them. I’ve had great luck with T-Mobile in my local areas, how is everyone else’s service. The best is the Net10 international calling plan – I travel a lot so making cheap calls from my cell phone saves me from stacks of calling cards. I’m really pleased with the service and I hope they expand their international service.
Thanks for the tip re: 30 day grace period on Net10 airtime after expiry.
Net10 is the best deal so far for visitors to the US. We can pickup the phones in most department stores and 24 hour drug stores. Also, in my experience, customer service reps are patient and have resolved all my calls including re-activating old net10 phones. Be pleasant and you’ll get pleasant back.
A great feature is net10 allows you to set up local Canadian or Mexican numbers so people back home can call you on your net10 phone without paying long distance. Look for “International Neighbors” on their website.
The only downside is net10′s website won’t accept foreign credit cards so we can buy airtime before our trip. But no big deal, their airtime cards are readily available in US retailers or from on-line re-sellers.
I figured that since all Net10 phone comes with 300 min. + 2 month of service upon activation, it’s like getting a cell phone for free so why not? I’ve been with Net10 for 4 months now and loving it! I have more min. than I’ll ever need and I’m only paying $15/month. The minimum plan with Net10 is 150 min. for $15 but since I never use all of my 150 min. in the month, they roll over and I end up with mucho minutos!!!!
Melanie, You think like me!
Net10 was the best thing i ever looked into. I always had the best phone and the most extensive contracts on the market and when i tried getting them to cut out all the small stuff so i could afford it they though i must be crazy. Net10 is just what i want, no more hidden costs, or monthly this and that fees. It’s a nice phone and cheap minutes that does what it’s made for, calling.
That’s exactly what I’ve been saying for a long time! Personally, I don’t need a phone that has multiple functions. All that stuff wears the battery down anyway.
First off, LOL at the cartoon. Kind of out there, but creative none-the-less. Anyways, yea, I tried Net10 for a few months and it really helped me out while I was struggling with my income. I had to limit myself to how many minutes I used, but it was really cheap and easy to manage. That and no contract, so I was happy. Recenlty, I switched over to StraightTalk, another TrackFone subsidiary, and I couldn’t be happier. But I use my phone a lot, so it’s worth it for me. For anyone, though, who is not big on talking on the phone, or is looking to save money and have a little more control over their phone bill, Net10 is definitely the way to go. Prepaid just makes things easier. yea, it may be a little more work to add minutes, but to have the control over your minutes like you have with prepaid plans is DEFINITELY worth it. Check it out sometime.
Hi ! — My sister purchased a LG300 G for my Mom last March and when I found out about what a bargain it was, I got one for myself — a LG400g. I set up an account with Net 10 and have been buying minutes on-line for both me and my Mom’s phone (she’s not into computers much ), without any problem at all.
I am very well pleased with the service and I can’t see myself going with another carrier. The only down-side is that my local retailers don’t offer the Motorola W375g that I would like to up-grade to. I read about all the problems with Tech Support so maybe I’ll just contact them directly on how to purchase the phone ! All-n-all, I’m very pleased with Net10
Worst customer service EVER the stupid woman could not even speak English all that well and kept repeating herself. Kept saying did I put in the area code before the 7 digit phone number and I kept saying I always do. COME ON it’s only second nature…. I just put $20 on the phone and it says I have almost 600 minutes and two months on the plan… yet calls are NOT going through…. If this doesn’t get fix I might even think of taking legal actions to prevent anyone else from being scammed!
Bob, I’ve had the opposite experience. The Net10 agents were very patient and went to great lengths to resolve the problem re-activating a dormant phone I had. Do realize they are working off pre-defined list of questions, most call centres do that to eliminate the obvious. When they’ve gone through the list of preliminary questions and eliminated possibilities, then they can open up with more creative solutions. Give them a chance. Be polite and you’ll get a polite response in return and your frustration level will drop.
Not everyone speaks English as a first language. I bet your 2nd and 3rd languages aren’t perfect either and I’m sure native speakers will cut you some slack.
You are free to move on to any other cell phone provider, but my experience is that Net10 is far from a scam. I get what I pay for, good coverage even in remote areas, and a great rate.
i got the lg600g in april off a web one day deal. The phone, an accessory kit with leather holder, earphones, car charger, etc, and 600 minutes; with free shipping via Fedex, for $19.00. I put in the code for the free accessory kit, and another code for a $3 discount, so the final price was $16…it was a special that brightpoint was running that day..
Instead of repeating the previous tirades, i’ll say one thing in net10′s favor: they sent me three replacement phones, no questions asked
with that having been said, i must also mention that one of those replacements came shipped with the sim card rejected, making it useless upon arrival.
the original i mistook as defective, cuz i couldn’t get the word “Home” to stay on the display screen..without the word “home’ showing, outgoing/incoming calls are out- emergency 911 use only. reception improved in the streets.
oddly, the phone has restrictions on my web usage, particularly with the net10 website…i can’t download tones or graphics. I can’t use the website on my pc either..upon entering my serial and phone number, it tells me my accounts has problems getting authorized…..noooooo prob…
bluetooth took care of ringtones and graphics.. i have the pix I want on my phone and tones…stock tones and pix can’t be deleted either.
i never used bluetooth before, even with sprint; but i bought a dongle adapter from another one day deal for $2, free shipping, just got it friday, and plugged into my netbook
i put an opera mini browser app on the lg600g, but net10 is not having it.
but i do have my own wallpaper and midi ringtones.
and becuz of customer service miscommunications, i now have two lg600g’s, both with 540 minutes, for two months…
all this for $16…..and almost worth every penny.
After years with AT&T (and Suncom), paying through the teeth and locked into a contract, I had enough and changed to Net10, so far its been great and saving me about $20 a month. It seems there are better unlimited plans out there but for mid-level users (like me) they offer the best value.
Now the bad news, they do have spotty customer service at times but their rates and their clarity in pricing set them apart from all other prepaid options. For the prices they offer I understand that they have to cut corners somewhere, meaning bad CS, but from all my research this seems common to all prepaid providers. Thanks for the review and ongoing tips.
After years with AT&T (and Suncom), paying through the teeth and locked into a contract, I had enough and changed to Net10, so far its been great and saving me about $20 a month. It seems there are better unlimited plans out there but for mid-level users (like me) they offer the best value.
Now the bad news, they do have spotty customer service at times but their rates and their clarity in pricing set them apart from all other prepaid options. For the prices they offer I understand that they have to cut corners somewhere, meaning bad CS, but from all my research this seems common to all prepaid providers. Thanks for the review and ongoing tips.
Bought a NET10 phone with 300 minutes included. Have spent 42 of those minutes trying to get the phone to work and also how to understand how it works.
For instance I got 3 messages recorded on it from incoming calls…but the phone had not rung so I guess a small part of the 42 minutes used so far was spent in trying to figure out how to get to the messages and actually hear them.
There are no directions I can find about how to be able to hear the phone ring if someone calls.
There was, I think, a way to Erase those messages but something called ‘Menu’ has a numeral 3 on a picture of an envelope. I try to get to those supposed messages and get words on the screen to the effect that there are no messages.
Some places I go have rules about “Turn off your phone.” I think it is turned off already, since it does not ring for incoming calls. But I don’t KNOW.
The “instruction book” does not make sense to me — and I’m 62 years old so I think I have a good understanding of English which I’ve been speaking, reading, and writing for many decades.
So I now have to go back to where the phone was bought and ask to be taught how to use the thing.
Yes I am going to be sure to write in a small notebook all directions about how to get the phone to do what I think it is supposed to do…that is, let me receive and made calls, hear ring if someone calls my phone…so what if it has Caller ID? If I don’t know the thing is ringing, what good is done by having Caller ID?
I’ll also attempt to get the seller of the phone to teach me about other things the phone apparently can or will do, since I seem to recall a list of non-understandable facets or devices or whatever those things are called.
I really do not think these things necessarily have to be set up to be so complicated.
Yes it’s less expensive per month than the landline I formerly had. A fat lot of good that does, when operating the phone has so many problems I cannot inderstand.
Hi Lea,
Some tips. When the phone is on, you should see the time on the display or some other lights coming on when the phone is opened (if it’s a flip phone/clam shell style)
Once you have a password entered to access your email you can then call the phone from a land line and not use up your minutes.
Unfortunately, most cell phones are more complicated than a land line phone. for instance, first time users may not realize you have to push SEND (the green coloured button) to actually make a call. Dialing the numbers doesn’t make the call. I worry about giving people who have never used a cell phone, a phone for emergencies. They will dial 911 and wonder why no one came to help because they didn’t press Send to actually make the call.
If you can, get someone to run you through the basics of the cell phone. They are all pretty much the same. The 4 basic lessons would be:
- making a call
- receiving a call
- checking for voice messages.
- storing phone numbers.\
Finally, just use the phone to get used to it.
Is there any kind of hands-free device available for the basic (cheapie) Net10 phone?
any of their phones wtih bluetooth can be hands free; any of their phones which work with their accessory kit could be hands free; they sent me a kit wtih earphone headsets..
i looked at bonnie’s post from a couple of years ago, and nothing has changed insofar as customer service with Net10, in fact it’s worse..
Net10 apparently is a service used mostly by foreigners, and most of customer service is foreign where english is a second language..becuz of the language barrier, i’ve been sent three of their phones, none of which worked as advertised.
three phones, with over a thousand free minutes,….with corrupted SIM cards pre installed, no web access, no website access, scratched, used phones,…..and as you may have guessed, all for fifteen dollars, pretty much proving you get what you pay for.
There’s no doubt that Customer Service leaves something to be desired…..something I’ve experienced with almost any type of company I’ve ever dealt with that didn’t have a locally run office. Having said that, like ‘misterlucky’ said, you get what you pay for. Personally, I pay 30 bucks every other month to have a phone. It does everything I need it to, and it’s WAY cheaper than what I could pay Cingular, Verizon, Cellular South, etc. So considering that, I’ll accept that I may get frustrated IF I have to deal with Customer Service….which should be a rarity.
My experience with Net10 has been very positive. My basic LG300 phone is perfect for my simple usage of talking and texting. I really don’t have any need for the high tech stuff. The 10c/5c pricing also works for me as I’m a moderate user and never go over 300 min. a month. The phone itself is lightweight and easy to use so I have no complaint.