Net10 Review

Overall 3.52 of 5 view all 23 reviews

SpringChick
Muskegon, MI

You get what you pay for... buyer beware!

a techie

Pros

Cheapest Prepaid, Easily Activated, no contract

Cons

Dropped calls, Poor coverage area, Limited Ringtones, Small phone Selection, Disabled phone features, Worst customer service

MAY

2008

Net10 —

The price is hard to beat, especially if a full-blown monthly plan is more than you need. But I have to question if the savings is worth the trouble of dropped calls, poor coverage area, deplorable customer service and unethical practices.

Most of all I am completely disgusted that Net10 disabled the "connect to PC" feature on my Motorola W375 before they sent it to me, disabling the ability to download photos to my PC or upload my own ringtones. What good is a camera phone without the ability to download the photos? Is this even legal? Certainly it is not ethical. I carefully read everything before purchasing this phone with Net10 and nowhere did it state this would be the case. It is obviously a ploy to force you to use your minutes to purchase their ringtones and wallpapers, and believe me, you will quickly burn through minutes getting these things. Accessing the web browser uses minutes and then more minutes are eaten up navigating through their slow-loading, poorly indexed options and menus. When you finally find something you want, it is of course additional minutes to make the purchase. It is not uncommon to spend 50-60 minutes on one wallpaper or ringtone.

Just as disappointing is the customer service. Every time I called (3-4 times), after muddling through way too many phone tree prompts, I ended up with a rep that I could barely understand because their English was so poor. Not to mention, they knew less about the phone and my problem than I did. They offered little in the way of actual assistance, just kept repeating things I was saying and asking stupid questions (is your phone on? did you plug it into the charger?). It was obvious they were reading from a script and really had no ability to troubleshoot an issue beyond that. In no case did my calls to customer service yield a solution, rather I muddled through them on my own and found solutions via Google. Would NOT recommend -- in this case, "you get what you pay for" is not a good thing!

Net10 is not recommended by SpringChick

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Comments about SpringChick’s Review

You would have done well to do a little bit of research before you made your purchase. There are entire forums and groups dedicated to the pro's and con's of prepaid phones. Net10 and Tracfone are designed for people that use ~300 minutes or less per month. You can keep a cell phone active for emergency use with Net10 for as little as $10 per month and $7 per month with Tracfone. For these types of users they can't be beat. This service is not optimal for data or picture messaging. They have recently activated these features but again you will pay for them. Who really NEEDS a new ringtone? Why would you send a crappy digital picture to someone taken with a 0.3 mega pixel camera phone? Again it is for people that want simple and reliable phone service. (The both Net10 and Tracphone use AT&T's network but AT&T charges you $0.25 per minute while is is only $0.10 with Net10)

Customer Service. Net10 and Tracphone are owned by a Mexican telecommunications company. Their customer service is based in Latin America and english is a second language for their reps. If you use simple terms and speak clearly you will do fine. If you get mad, start yelling, and talking fast then you will get no where. Again, these companies are not known for excellent customer service for english speaking customers, 5 minutes of research on the web would have made that very clear. (Verizon and AT&T customer service will send you to a call center in India. Is this really any better?)

The review is right though. You do get what you pay for. In this case Net10 is the least expensive way to get cellular voice and text service.

More Net10 reviews


Carrier Name	Net10
Features	3-way calling 3-way calling Call forwarding Call forwarding Call waiting Call waiting Caller ID Caller ID Caller ID Free U.S. long distance Free U.S. long distance Free U.S. long distance Internet access News & entertainment alerts No credit checks No credit checks No credit checks Picture/video messaging Ringtones Ringtones Text messaging Text messaging Voicemail Voicemail excellent customer service excellent customer service
Fees	Additional minutes Network free roaming Network free roaming Off-Network free roaming Off-Network free roaming Use of Minutes and Expiration dates Use of Minutes and Expiration dates Use of Minutes and Expiration dates
Plans	Data plans Family plans Free phone included Pre-paid plans Pre-paid plans Pre-paid plans Pre-paid plans
Tags	5 cent text messages Only $15.00/Month includes 150Min