Soon to be Kitty PP Customer

[OldSchool]

Been a VZW customer forever. Service has always been good, but costs are always increasing for the family plan. I decided to move Grammy to a PP line, using her current LG VZW flip phone. She uses 5 minutes a month (or less) and the PP 120 day expiration allows us to provide her with a phone for only $30 a year. Compare that to the $120 a year we're paying for her to be on the family plan today... for a phone she doesn't hardly use. But we want her to have it in case she needs it.

I'm glad I found PP and Kitty. Looking to years of great times together. :D

Next summer, when the rest of the phones on my VZW family plan are done with their contracts, I will consider a similar move for the rest of us. My Wife wants a Blackberry and unlimited data though, and PP doesn't have much in the way of data plans. My Son is always asking for a Blackberry too. We're looking at Virgin Mobile since they have unlimited data, text and 300 minutes for $25 a month (1200 minutes for $40/mo). Even with the up front cost of the Blackberry, its still way cheaper than VZW. I'm concerned about how well the Sprint network is going to work for us though. VZW works best in our area without any doubt. I guess we'll see what things look like next summer. Maybe PP will have some data plans? Maybe Sprint will have better service out here?

Considering that "New Prepaid Wireless Customers Outnumber Postpaid For First Time" (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/New-Prepaid-Wireless-Users-Outnumber-Postpaid-For-First-Time-107745) it seems that things are getting exciting in the industry.

[Kitty]

Welcome aboard, OldSchool :) Glad to have you!

Kitty

[dollymadison]

Great to have you, OldSchool!
Prepaid/mvno's are making some long overdue headway into the wireless market, which is a definite benefit for the consumer. Better service and pricing has brought a fresh face to the way people think about their wireless service.

[Bobswife]

Good to have you Old school.Kitty is an excellent dealer and you couldnt ask for a better person.Kitty has been a Godsend to my husband and I.

[rrb]

OldSchool, I looked at Virgin Mob BB too. They add $10/mo. for BB Messenger and AppWorld, but it is still an excellent deal if their coverage works for you. Vmob does not use the Sprint roaming agreements, so coverage is very thin in rural areas. You may need to carry a PP phone as backup.

[OldSchool]

Thanks to all for your kind replies. I got my phone setup tonight, made a call, received a call and setup voice mail. Looks good so far. Made a one time PIN purchase for $10 here at Kitty, using PayPal. Waiting until that goes through tomorrow during normal business hours. I live in front of my computer, so for now I'm going to rely on the reminders from Kitty if the balance gets low or if the expiration date is approaching (I did enroll for reminders), then just add more money manually. At some point I may go for Auto Pay, but I want to keep an eye on things for a while at first.

rrb - I'm skeptical about the Vmobile stuff. VZW has the best coverage in our area (we are rural). They've been here the longest, going back to the original Bell Atlantic days, so they got towers all over the place. The other providers (ATT, Sprint) have their towers mainly in the towns and long major highways. When you get out in the woods you lose service. If I put my wife on crappy service like that I'll never hear the end of it. ;) So next summer when my VZW contract is up I will take any decision to change very seriously. :p

[dollymadison]

OldSchool, I hear you about rural areas and spotty cell coverage! We live in a rural area and NOTHING works out here EXCEPT Verizon and PPC. I was starting to lose heart about finding affordable service, i.e. not Verizon, when my husband read something about PPC and we decided to try it on a lark, never expecting it to actually WORK. Boy were we pleasantly surprised!
Right after we started on PPC, the Blackberry's were discontinued from their service. My husband had just bought me a BB Pearl for Valentine's day and I received it on a Thursday. PPC discontinued the BB service on that Monday. So I never got to use my gift. :(
BUT I have used several wonderful WinMo phones, and they have all worked great for me, while I have been waiting for the Blackberry's to come back to PPC service. I never would have gotten to experience all these great phones if the Blackberry's were still in service. I have learned a lot about different phones and how they can be flashed to work with PPC.
Hopefully Blackberry's will be let back on PPC service soon and your wife will get to enjoy one if/when you guys switch over to PPC. But I highly recommend it! :D

[OldSchool]

dolly - I didn't know that PP used to offer Blackberry. Thats interesting. Maybe they will offer something like that in the future with some attractive data plans. Thanks.

[dollymadison]

There is hope that Blackberrys will be allowed back on PPC very soon. :D

[jclendineng]

I second rrb. I used Virgin, and wow. I live in the city, but service still was terrible. I used the LG Rumor Touch, and it didnt work half the time.