AT&T Go Phone

[cocosmom]

For those in need, on sale thru 5/31 $14.99 .

[Nebs]

Thanks for the info on the phone sale! Where can I buy a Go Phone. We aren't going to St. John until July, would we lose our minutes if we bought the phone now?

[ToonMann]

While a sale always sounds good, be careful about which phone you buy.

We've used the same AT&T Go Phone on St. John for the past three years. It's a Samsung SGH-a107, a very basic flip phone. We've never been happy with the audio quality of the phone, either being able to hear callers or callers being able to hear us (distortion, echo). We'll probably upgrade to a better Go Phone next year.

Unless . . . Verizon installs some towers in the USVI. There's a rumor that this might happen. Then we'll use the Verizon phones we use stateside. So Verizon customers might want to wait on buying an AT&T Go Phone and see what happens.

To answer your question, Nebs: you have several different service options -- monthly, daily, etc. -- so check with AT&T. We opt for the daily plan and only pay for the days we actually use the phone.

TM

[cocosmom]

The ad said at a AT&T store. Not sure the details. I have no need but I know it is a popular choice for non AT&T users.

[PatrickMcc]

The ATT Go Phone is our phone all the time. Under our plan you must put $25 in every three months- if you don't you will lose any money you have in your account. They do warn you either by e-mail or with a call that you time is running out. My kids laugh at this phone but we have used it on St John to call St. John places without any trouble. We have never used it to call back to the U. S. Unless they have another plan you should probably wait until a month or so before you vacation to buy it. By the way, my problem with this phone is that it has no cover and numbers get hit while it is in my pocket- sometimes it calls people on my contact list.

[Teresa_Rae]

We looked into the Go Phone, thinking that we'd just reactivate it every trip. But someone posted on here recently that there is a new $50 charge annually (there used to be no charge), in addition to reloading minutes. Just something to keep in mind.

[dreamshark]

Go-Phone is a service, not a particular phone. Any AT&T phone can be used on a go-phone plan. You can buy any AT&T-capable phone (new or used) or repurpose an old phone. You might have to buy a new SIM card for the phone, but you can purchase those online for about $3. You can do that in advance, then activate your Go-Phone plan right before your trip.

Go to www.paygonline.com to see what the different rate plans are. I don't see anything about a $50 annual charge on any of them.

[cocosmom]

Think there are numerous old AT&T phones hanging around including iphone 3's ...could start a forum business LOL.

[michigan girls]

We looked into the Go Phone, thinking that we'd just reactivate it every trip. But someone posted on here recently that there is a new $50 charge annually (there used to be no charge), in addition to reloading minutes. Just something to keep in mind.

Just received my new gophones for our upcoming trip. The charge is $29 to reactivate a phone that you let go inactive, but it was cheaper to just buy a new phone, so that's what we did

It does mean you can't keep the same phone number, but I don't give out the phone number anyway, so I don't care that I had to get a new one. I just keep having everyone use my normal cell number and set it to automatically forward to the gophone.