Pocket

[gadgetgary]

A friend of mine is getting his cell phone service from Pocket Mobile. Seems to be a reasonable rate for all distance anytime minutes.
Anyone had any experience with this service?

http://www.pocket.com/

 

[perc-o-prince]

Hey Gary,

I haven't had experience with them, but a red flag was raised when I saw their ad a week or so ago. Have a look at their coverage area map for New England.

Note that long distance, texting, voicemail, web, etc. are unlimited (depending on the plan) but they make no mention of roaming charges. Well, no mention UNTIL you look lower at the Value Pocket, a.k.a. pay-per-use services. $0.59 per minute for roaming! If roaming isn't included, you're screwed if you're outside their regional area of Hadley MA to Stratford CT! And, they only have one other regional area in the US currently (in Tx, from San Antonio, down I-35 to the gulf coast).

After writing that last bit, I checked their FAQ. Guess what I found???

Q: What happens if I want to make a call while I am traveling outside of the Pocket coverage area?
A: Pocket customers will be able to roam where we have roaming options available. In order to make roaming calls, you will have to have sufficient funds in your Value Pocket to place or receive a call.

There ya go. Great plan if you're a homebody or a kid in school w/in the coverage area!

Chuck

 

[frigilux]

I use my cell phone fairly infrequently, so I dropped my Cellular One national contract two years ago and picked up a TracPhone. I haven't had trouble with service, and with the purchase of a Double Minutes card, I can't complain about the price. I'd been paying $49 a month for a phone I used only a few times each week.

 

[jamiel]

This is one of the smaller "all you can eat" carriers out there...largest are Leap (known as Cricket) and Metro PCS. Leap and Metro have basically split the large markets...other companies like Pocket, Kiwi, etc have some of the smaller areas. If you stay within the local area, you're usually fine albeit they probably are not as robustly built out (i.e. can have coverage or congestion issues) than the incumbents (AT&T/Verizon/T-Mobile/Sprint)

They build and operate the market for "landline substitution"...they really expect you to use 1000s of minutes a month.

No contract, so if you don't like it you can take your number back out and "port" it with one of the bigger carriers.

You shouldn't expect to use it while traveling...they generally have not terrific roaming systems...TracFone would be a much better choice if you're on the go.