Apologies if this is considered off-topic, but my (non-datacomms) cellphone account just expired. I wasn't paying attention. 8-(
It was an AT&T GoPhone (now called AT&T Prepaid) that cost $100/year and gave me 1000 minutes of talk time for one year. No data, no smartphone, just simple voice. It was just for unusual circumstances, and worked fine.
Obviously, I'll go back to AT&T to see if they'll renew the account, but in case they won't I'd like to know if there are any alternatives. I've never used more than a small fraction of the talk time each year and have no need of a smartphone. I just want something to let me communicate when in transit.
Poking around briefly on the Web I find lots of "cheap" cellphone options, but all seem to involve more service than I need.
If you use nothing, it'd be $6/month (+ tax & CALC, blah blah blah) to hold the line/service. 100 minutes per month (only kicks in if you use it), adds $3 to that. So pretty close to the price and minutes you state, but what is better, if it is never used, you pay less. If you use more, you pay more. They'll let you bring your own device.
The cheapest prepaid I know of is Tracfone, who resell at&t, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Their cheapest plan is $18+tax every 90 days which gives you 60 or 120 minutes, depending on the phone, extra rolls over if you don't use it.
Their smartphone plans are, for some reason, cheaper than their dumbphone plans. If you have a smartphone, the same plan gives ou 180 mins, 180 texts, and 180mb of data.
You can bring your own smartphone, or they have cheap basic phones for $20 or less.
Try Tracfone. Most of their plans include data, but you'll be able to get more than enough minutes for your need for under $100/year. Pay in advance and buy a bundle of minutes. Also available at some stores like Staples.
Much to my surprise, the salesperson at the local AT&T phone store said "It's not on the website, but you can renew it." No attempt at all to upsell. Same price, same time limits. Problem solved for now.
When I looked at Tracfone it appeared they charged about the same as AT&T but allowed only 400 minutes/year. Not bad, but out of pocket no better, and the name "Tracfone" makes me cringe. 8-)
Ting looks like a better deal if the coverage is acceptable in my area. I had no idea of its existence (despite looking) and am grateful for the guidance of the group. At least now I've got one potential alternative when it comes time to renew. It isn't much cheaper than what I have, but it _is_ cheaper.
I'm in a similar situation, basically happy with my AT&T GoPhone for occasional voice and text use. I actually have a cheap smartphone (after they turned off local 2G service disabling my old flip-phone without telling me). I never use cellular data, just WiFi at home or a few other places.
With my current accumulated balance and rate plan ($25/3 months and $1/day unlimited when used) I can go for over two more years of unlimited use, so I don't want to switch from the GoPhone service.
In addition, I have Vonage for my "home" service which I seldom use and would like to get rid of. I have some old cordless phones setup, but I mostly use the very clunky Vonage Mobile Extension android app over WiFi for the Vonage calls.
Key feature #1: On the cell phone I forward "When busy", "When unanswered" and "When unreachable" calls to my Vonage number. This means the occasional calls to the cell number will go to the Vonage number and eventually to the Vonage voicemail if not answered.
Key feature #2: My Vonage voicemail is configured to transcribe the audio to text ("Visual Voicemail") and send me the transcription and audio file via email.
Most calls to either number go unanswered and to voicemail unless I know the caller. I can read the email/voicemail using my normal processes including on the smartphone if I have WiFi. This is just about the only way I get voicemail anymore.
I would like to ditch the Vonage service but have become attached to their Visual Voicemail and don't know what might be a suitable replacement.
It looks like the AT&T "Visual Voicemail" is only Visual in that you need vision to operate the UI to listen to your voicemail.
I do see Voicecloud - but $15/month for about 10-20 voicemails is pretty high (but a little less than I'm paying Vonage).
I would prefer to stay away from Google Voice which as usual for Google seems to have little to no documentation about what it does/how it works.
Questions:
What is the current state of voicemail transcription and forwarding to email? Is this common for any mobile providers?
Any other ideas or suggestions for a voicemail to email transcription service?
Look again. The $18/quarter plan is about $75/yr. If you talk a lot, you can use it with a cheap smartphone which triples the minutes so you get 720 min/yr (also 720 texts and 720mb)
Agreed, if you have adequate Sprint or T-Mo coverage. If you need AT&T or Verizon, Tracfone is the better option.
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