You are here:

Cellular Phones/cell phone with no service plan

Advertisement

Expert: - 3/18/2010


Question
All the listings and reviews I see are associated with a service provider. Where can I find information of cell phones available without subscribing to a service plan? I want a phone I can use, say, with a phone card. I do not want to subscribe to Verizon, Cingular, ATT, etc. Is it possible to purchase a calling card and use it to make calls from a cell phone that has no service? Thank you.

Answer
Cell phones cannot be used without a service plan, either post paid or prepaid. You can't use a cell phone with a phone card. If you want a cell phone for occasional use, I would recommend buying a prepaid phone. You will still have to buy one with either Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile etc. service, but you will not have to have a contract, it will be a prepaid plan with a certain number of minutes that have an expiration date.

At the current time, there is nothing available anywhere that would allow you to use a cell phone with any type of calling card. If you bought a SIM unlocked GSM phone, you could separately get a prepaid plan from AT&T or T-Mobile and use it with the phone, but you couldn't do this with Verizon, Sprint, etc. Let me know if you need any additional information. Thanks. DebiN

Cellular Phones

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

DebiN

Expertise

I can answer questions on cellular phones, the physical device, the network, contracts, billing, ordering, porting and what to look for when purchasing cell phones. I am located in the United States. I am an expert on BlackBerrys, Treos, HTC devices and iPhones as well as cellphones and aircards. I have over 15 years of experience in both the wireless and wireline world with the carriers. I have a lot of knowledge regarding the wireless providers - their services, prices and policies, both GSM AT&T and T-Mobile) and CDMA (Verizon, Sprint/Nextel). I am very familiar with the individual devices and their specifications. I can also answer questions regarding BlackBerrys, iPhones and other PDAs, both Palm-based and Windows-based. I can troubleshoot most any problem someone is having with their cellular device or with the provider.

Experience

Over 20 years in the Telecom industry working for the carriers with individuals, small business, medium business and large corporations(Fortune 500). Also worked as a professor in Maryland for 10 years teaching telecommunications.

Organizations
I belong to several organizations

Education/Credentials
Master's in Telecommunications

Awards and Honors
Received several awards for papers that I have published over the years

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.