I really enjoyed my Net10 phone until this past weekend, when I tried to renew minutes for a year. The option wasn't available at the Radio Shack where I bought that option last year and the representative at the customer service number insisted they needed my land line in order to sell me more prepaid minutes. (The land line is unlisted because we don't want sales calls, and the rep refused to tell me why they would need that info when all they had prior was my credit card number....)

For my birthday last year my grandparents bought me a net10 phone. At the time I was excited to finally have a cell phone. i soon found out it was not as great as i thought it would be. yes the minutes are cheep, but you bearly get any per month. AND FYI IT DOES COST TO CHECK YOUR VOICEMAIL. I would not reccoment net10 simpley because you don't get very many minutes.

I have had net1O for about 1 year. My experience has been if you run a few days past the due date you do not lose your minutes or your phone number. I lost my phone once for about a week and it went few days past the due date. However, I did have to re-activate. One draw back is the voicemail - I have not figured out stop and delete a message before the message has completed running.

I got my first-ever mobile phone, the Motorola V176 from Walmart during the autumn of 2006. I had been looking at contract cell phone plans prior to this (and still do peruse them on occasion); but they always seem way overpriced with too many inherent ways for the mobile service providers to take advantage of the consumer (over-the-limit minute fees, roaming charges, non-included "extras" like wireless internet access, ringtones, voicemail messages, automatic contract renewals and so on). Just never quite found the right time to "jump in" on the mobile phone bandwagon -- until Net10.

Although being new to mobile phones made the process of getting started a bit time-consuming, the phone along with the intial 300 min./60 days free airtime activated and credited without a hitch. After about six months of purchasing $30 airtime cards, in March I got 1,500 minutes for a year, which I am still using and currently still have over 1,200 minutes left. Mostly I use it when I'm out driving around on errands, out-of-town and on vacations, etc. It provides a feeling of security to know it's available in the event of an auto breakdown or other unexpected emergency, as well as quick calls for appointment confirmations and coordinating meeting schedules with friends and relatives when I'm away from home.

It's worked in virtually every location I needed it, including some tight spots like following a "fender-bender" accident occurring out-of-state last spring. My husband needed to contact his employer back home; and rather than risk incurring expensive roaming charges on his company-issued Alltel phone, we used Net10 for only 10¢/min. Reception is usually good and clear, with few dropped calls. One feature I especially like is the 5¢ text messaging for up to 750 characters (compare with 150 for AT&T/Cingular), as I usually get my money's worth on those. ;-)

While the phones (as some have observed earlier) may not represent the latest models with more advanced features, they get the job done. I actually prefer the thicker, sturdier blue flip to some of the razor-thin styles that appear they might break if dropped or too much pressure is accidently placed on them.

One thing I did wish it had was a longer battery power. Talk time for individual calls is usually ok (including one "marathon" conversation lasting almost 2 hrs.); but often find it needs recharging after just two or three (lengthy) text messages. I never activated the voicemail as I could never get definite info. on just what it would cost to use or how to otherwise control possible unsolicited incoming messages; so I can't give any evaluation on that feature. I also don't like that Net10 stopped offering the more economical 1,500 minute/1 year cards (if that is the case); but I might be looking into upgrading anyway.

All in all, Net 10 is probably the best, most economical prepaid mobile phone option available and I would recommend it to anyone.

I was cosidering net 10 until I read the reviews.Ill go verizon

I absolutely love my Net10 phone! I've been using it for over 2 years now. I have used Trac Phone, Verizon & Mobile's prepaid services & Net10's service is so much better & is by far less expensive than any plan I could sign up for. I live in an area where no one gets good reception on any cell phone but my phone will work most of the time; it works great every where else.As far as renewing service, I did find it difficult to finds the cards, but you can buy minutes online through Net10's site. And...I have yet to have to change my phone number even after not adding minutes for up to 2 weeks after expiration-multiple times. I won't recommend waiting to add minutes, but there is a Very good chance you won't lose you number immediately.

No problem. Works great.

Ne1 10 is ok for a very basic cell phone service and thats it. I have been a customer for about a year now and have fond out some bad things about them. If you buy a phone that has computer link for photo, ring tone or any other computer download NT10 has disabled all of these nice features from your new phone. Net10 conviently forgets to tell customers that all the things you want to put on or get off of your phone MUST use your minutes. A LOT OF MINUTES. For example, You must buy all ringtones, graphics from Net10. And then it costs minutes to acsess the net browser to download them and then on top of that the regular airtime minutes. I bought a ringtone from them, $2.99 and then went to the browser and was deducted minutes for that and then was charged for the download time on top of that. When all that was done and taken off my airtime the phone said that there was an error in the download. WHAT A RIPP OFF.I think they should be stopped for all these dishonest practices . And i suspect that Tracfone is the same way because thier the same company.This website editor rating is 4 stars, either they really know nothing about Net10 or thier being paid by Net10 to give them a good rating. My real rating is really less than 0 stars

Your add here states that you have $15 prepaid cards - they were available in my area for a while and now it seems that net10 has discontinued them. WHY??? These were minutes persons on fixed incomes could afford. I know its very hard for me to come up with $30 to keep my phone on. The $15 card was ideal. I didn't have to go without contact from the outside world. I have no landline so this is the way I contact my doctors and such. Please reconsider the $15 card for us underpriviledged persons.

We bought the cheapest phone they have. The Nokia 1600 with the 300 minutes incase we hated the phone or service. But we've been very pleased. The phone is crummy if you like high tech, and it has to be at the ear just right to hear it. But we gave it to our son for emergencies and its perfect. We dont have to worry about him losing it or his friends running up the bill with texting. Even that cheapo phone has texting. We just ordered the Motorola W370 for me. I've checked tracking with Fedex, and it should be here within the next few days. I was not aware of the refurbish complaint. But we haven't had any problems with service or customer service. We like the simplicity of the service. My only complaint is that they don't offer the razr and some of the other newer phones. But my husband had a razr through work. And many of the features he got were because it was Verizon. Like the VCast song ID. I LOVED that phone but you'd have to have verizon to get those features and their prepaid plan costs just as much as a regular plan! Alltel has an interesting idea with the pay per minute and they offer the Razor but again, they won't offer the same services. Net10 overall is the simplist, no activation fees, best deal per month, and you can buy a few months in advance and be done with it. I like that.

The WORST customer service I have ever encountered ANYWERE. They cannot be understood, they hang up on you, they cannot answer questions because they apparently read from scripts, THEY CANNOT FIX ANYTHING!!!!! I am waiting for a replacement phone after they sent me 3 SIM cards which didn't work. This has been going on for SIX WEEKS!!!!! DON'T BUY IT!

I just bought my daughter her second one!! They have been wonderful. My daughter dropped her phone quite often and it finally gave out on her. I contacted Net 10 and told them the phone would no longer turn on. They didn't pry into what had happened to the phone, instead they sent me a new one. They not only gave me all the minutes she had on the phone before she broke it, they gave me an additional 300!!

I just bought her the W375 and can't wait till it arrives. Net 10 has come a long way. It's nice that they have texting available and the camera phone is a perk!!

For all of you having trouble with customer service, a bit of advise... Be nice!!!

lot's of trouble,been with virgin,wanted to port my phone no. to net 10,was assured it would be no problem,went through 3 sim cards,6 week,s without service,never did get my no established,settled for a new no.was assured i would be compensated for some extra minutes,didn't happen,my rating is still in holding.

Purchased Nokia 1600 with 300 minutes at WalMart for $30.00, after Verizon monthly charges exceeded $50.00 per month. Had trouble with online setup, so I called customer service. I do not know what country customer service was outsourced to, but send me there. They couldn't have been more pleasant or competent. All my problems were fixed, and my Verizon number ported in just fine. I am impressed, but I will upgrade to flip phone because when I just stick the Nokia 1600 in my pocket the buttons get pushed, so we'll see how that goes.

0 stars is my true rating 4 this phone i bought it 4 my lil girl as her 1st phone thinking it would b a simple hasle free phone but the service goes in & out & they take ur mins even if u cant complete the call

i quit using them when i added mins b4 the cut off date & they would not let me put them on then cut of my phone &gave away my # &stole almost 300 mins i had left& told me it would b a month till i could get the phone reactivated.......$200 ....every1 should report them 2 the better business burrow

Works fine in the rurals of New Mexico. Most companies worked OK near either of the two (!) Interstates that run through N and Cent. NM, but faded out just a mile or two away. But Net10 has 3 - 5 bars most everywhere I go.
Never had to use customer service.

I bought the phone at a Radio Shack, with a bonus plan of 100 extra minutes for each (min.) 300 minutes I bought. Although skeptical, I did get the bonuses each time I renewed, automatically.
The "expiration date" seems very liberal; with my usage and purchases, it will always be far ahead of current date.

I can get cards in most denominations at Alco Dept. Stores and Radio Shack, which is convenient enough.

I have never encountered such business practices in all my life! I tried to activate a Net10 phone that my daughter no longer uses and that was the beginning of a still ongoing nightmare! After 2 hours on the phone trying to activate it, they told me to call back in 4 hours if it was not activated. I did, and they were closed! I called the next day, and they said they had to send a new Sim card. After receiving that, I tried to activate phone again and still no luck! Then they sent a "reconditioned" phone which was activated successfully but I could not hear anything on my end of the phone. After calling back and having to repeat everything that had happened (they apparently don't input any information into their system), they said they were going to send another "reconditioned" phone. I received that one, got it activated and was told my minutes would be transferred within an hour. Big surprise, they weren't! I called back and told them I wanted to speak to a supervisor who disconnected my call while I was telling her the story again. I called back and they were closed! I called back the next morning, and they manually added the minutes to the phone right then. I hung up and tried the phone and, again I couldn't hear anything even though it rang. Today, my husband called because I could no longer stand to speak to anyone there and they are supposedly going to send a new phone. We'll see if they can get it right!

I haven't had this phone long, but right after I got it, I screwed up my SIM card. I was worried about all these customer service complaints that I read on here, but I had no problems, whatsoever. The girl I talked to was friendly and helpful and she had a new SIM card mailed right away. I called yesterday and the card was here today. I call that good service and there was no trouble getting it activated. As for the phone, it works well as far as I can see. Although it doesn't have all the extras that some phones do, it's good if all you want is just that, a phone.

I've been using Net10 for a couple of months now and have had no problems. I bought it a Walmart and it came with 300 minutes. It took about 10 minutes to activate on-line and boom...I had 300 minutes and 60 days of service. I'm very satisfied so far.

I bought a net10 phone, activated it and it has never worked. Calls dropped b4 call goes through most of the time or just after other party answers, despite having many bars indicated. Customer service went through numerous troubleshooting techniques (which was removing and reinserting SIM card over and over for a half hour)and was then told to wait 24 hours and try the phone. It still does not work. My mother n law has the service and has not had any problems. Seems like it is a hit and miss. I just do not want to call and spend a so much time on the phone with no resolution.

This service plan is by far the most simple, without any "but".
I have never problem with them and i can say that their customer service is the best around.
Everything about coverage is 5 stars.
The only improvment is to add more advanced phones with digital camera and photo mesages capabilities.

My only complaint is the phone selection. But other than that, it's great. I had a traditional plan with at&t for 10 years (name changed four times, I started with pac bell) and I was paying over 50 dollars a month; and wondered why I was giving them so much money. Minutes wasted, never used and text msg were 15 each. Net 10 is alot better for me, but is definetely not for everyone. If you want a great, phone with a lot of frills, don't go there. But if you want simple minutes you can buy and an average phone, and no TWO contract, this is great. I've been with them for 7 months, no problems and saving a ton money.

My family has used NET10 for about a year...we now own four. The reception is far superior to my previous provider (SunCom & AT&T) and much less expensive. Our average bill per phone is $15 per month! Finally a cellular company that doesn't jerk you around, hide charges, and rape you when roaming or going over your monthly allotment! The best part of NET10 service- it is easy to understand (try to figure out the overall cost of the other pay-as-you-go players...) NET10 is the way things should be done in this racket known as wireless! Highly recommended.

Net10 sucks in every aspect. The should be reported to better business bureau. It's time people get service for what they pay for. Don't be fooled by it's so called cheap rates. You will end up paying more. Even calling customer service is not free. Once you don't renew your minutes, that's it with your number. Don't buy net10, you'll regret. False advertising catches many. Net10 is a fraud

Net 10 is a easy yet cheap way to use prepaid cell phones, 10 cents a minute thats so cheap!!!! i like cheap. 5 cents for text messages!!!!

I have had no problems with my phones and I have been a net 10 user for over 3 years. I just recently bought a new phone and instead of getting the 300 bonus minutes I recieved 600 bonus minutes . As for the person who after just a few days of your phone being deactivated you got the SIM card failed message.I have had one do that too and it is because the technology in your sim card was not updated to the new signal that net10 is now using. and to the person who basicly had a virus sent to you the only thing I can tell you it you might be able to use the factory reset button.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. I can't stress this enough. I tried to get my old cell number ported over from my Trac Phone (they're the same company) and they failed several times. Each time I tried to solve the problem with customer support, I spent nearly an hour on the phone. I had them send me SIM card after SIM card and none of them worked. They kept jerking me around until my number expired and I lost it. For over a month I was without a phone because both my old phone and my new phone were disabled. One rep promised to give me 300 free minutes for my trouble but the next time I called no one knew anything about it. I finally had to buy another phone. You can bet it wasn't another POS from Net 10.

I gave them two stars because they have been good in the past, and now they are giving me the run around.
I have bought a total of 3 net10 phones. My first was a Nokia 1100, and it worked great for its purpose at the time. I have now bought two Nokia 1600s and the phones themselves work great. Today I bought a new one (simply because I needed a new phone number) and when I was able to get home to activate it, everything went well until it came time to turn it off and back on. I did that, and "SIM card rejected" popped up. I waited an additional half hour to see if anything had changed, and nothing had.
I called customer service, the lady was hard to understand and said I needed to wait another half an hour. Said half hour has passed and it still says that.
She also said to call them back. I'm afraid I'm not going to do that. I have read over the web about the long drawn out process that getting a new sim card could take. The other phones were activated in less than 30 minutes! Apparently they are selling shodier products now. Be wary.

This is a very good phone service and had no trouble activating it over the internet. It seems, after reading user complaints, most of activations problems arise by not reading or following the activations instructions. For example, the phone serial # is different than the SIMM serial #. It also seems that alot of the poor reviews are from people who feel they need "Mercedes Benz" performance from an "American Economy Car" provider.I am satisfied and happy with this remarkably simple and easy to understand product.

Zero stars is more like it. Terrible customer service, LOOONG waits on hold, a website that cuts you off in the middle of a credit card transaction, service reps who cannot fix the online credit card problems, and generally poor overall service. I would not recommend this to anyone. I'm planning to let my phone expire.

I highly recommend net10.So far my nokia 1600 has not failed me and setup was easy and only took a few minutes.Haven't used customer service yet so can't tell you much on that.

I encourage anyone reading these reviews to disregard all the negativity. I am a Net10 subscriber, and I have never had any problems. Net10, after having several different phone plans, is the best. I have coverage everywhere, its so simple at 10 cents per minute. If you are looking for the best and cheapest phone with no Evil charges, Net10 is for you. I cannot emphasize enough how great Net10 is. its very economical, and my phone's signal reception is perfect. I recommend that nobody pay attention to the negative reviews, as these other customers where looking for the run-around of a contract phone company, but simply could not find it. Net10 is what it is, cheap, perfect service.

Love, love, love it! Minutes never expire (tho service has to be renewed every 60 days with a minimum purchase of add-on minutes). My time has ranged from a buildup of 1000+ minutes for months at a time, down to needing refills every month. The network does NOT fail in mountainous areas (as most services do, whether prepaid or not) and I've experienced ZERO downtime. I'm glad I switched to net10.

Just received my new phone--already problems. Never had a phone with so many problems to set up. Sorry I didn't read these reviews before ordering.

Worked great for about a year and then a day ago it said "your phone service is not active at this time,in order to re-activate your phone service you must add an airtime card which will extend your service end date..", but the problem is..my phone already has 142 minutes, and says it does not expire until 6/01/09. So needless to say I'm very disappointed at this time and thinking of switching to a different cell phone company.

Ive had my net 10 phone and service for 3 yrs now. The phone is simple and easy to use. Ive never had to use customer service!!!! this is the best and cheapest pre-paid way to go. Im getting one for my daughters 6th grade graduation as well.

I have been using Net10 for 2 yrs. And there is not a better service as far as I am concerned. I have been with T-mobile and Verizon, but $60 a month for minutes I never exceeded was too much, plus there was always surprise charges,roaming fees, directry assistance calls I never made, etc... Net10 never has surprises, the phones are simple and older styles, but work great, with long standby times. If you only use 300 min or less a month, Net10 is the best thing in the world. I rarely buy more than 300 minutes a month, and with the 60 days you get each time, my minutes will not expire till a year from now, so it is not a worry. I just upgraded to a newer phone from Net10. It was so awesome, they transferred my current number to the new phone, my old minutes and expiration time plus added my new minutes, and I was using the new phone right after hanging up with them. It doesn't get much better than that. Plus I have the freedom to stop using the service whenever I want, I am not locked into a contract. I even bought one for my wife to use. The customer service is good, sometimes the person from India doesn't understand English very well, but there has been only once in the 4 times I have ever called where I had to hang up and talk to a different person because of a language barrier. I don't like that companies outsource everything nowadays, but that is becoming the norm for all companies.

very poor service....deducts the money from the credit card and does not add the time and will not reposnd to inquirees from me...and will not confirm my requests to stop taking money from my credt card for time they refuse to add to my phone. All I received was a standard reply thanking me for my e mail, and will not respond to my requests. BUT they are still taking the money which to me to me is some form of theft and/or fraud.

NET10 HAS THE WORST COSTOMER SERVICE POSSIBLE. There is absolutley no one that can help you, i ended up talking to the head supervisor (or at least that's what i was told) and she did even less than the other representatives did to assist me. I had used the internet to apply my air time since my phone was no longer available to do that for some reason. Internet said that the minutes would be applied to my phone and they never were. So since i no longer had the receipt with the PIN # on it they told me there was nothing they could do. i was not going to receive the 300 minutes i paid for nor would they credit me with any minutes whatsoever. I was on the phone with them for an hour and a half and accomplished nothing. you are not allowed to speak with anyone higher up than the head supervisor there and they will not give you contact info for anyone higher. IT'S A BIG JOKE!!!

This phone service is really great. The costomer service is excellent. too bad they have no service in okcity.

I'm a 16 year old kid in West Virginia, and I carefully researched out every possible avenue of prepaid phones before deciding on Net 10.

I have had this service for 8 months and it works just like they say does. I'm sure if I don't renew before my time is up they will drop my number but they warn you this will happen. I have never had any problem with the phone or the service. I never had to call customer service since following the directions that came with the phone got me on line. I understand that they use the AT&T network for their calls.

I got my Net 10 phone right after Hurricane Rita down here in Texas. Got it for an emergency number so FEMA could reach me. Well it's April of 2008 and I've still got my net 10 service going. I did have to replace my original phone( it was the little cheapy blue one) But got a flip phone w/camera(in my opinion, its not worth getting the camera, Net 10 disables some of the cool features) But I'm very happy with the EZ Minutes plan for 16.23 a month. It works for me!

Poor service. All service seems to be located in South America. Very hard to understand and are extremely limited in knowledge of the system. Very difficult to download ringtones and photos unless you buy them from NET10.

I have the LG 1500 and the phone is great!!! It picks up signal good enough and the voice quality is great.
But, the customer service is next to nothing. Net10.com sent me an email with a special offer of 100 free extra minutes with the purchase of my next card. So, i rushed out to the store bought the minutes card added it to the phone and guess what. NO 100 FREE BONUS MINUTES. So i called customer service and they tried to tell me, at first, that i had gotten the minutes when i bought the phone. I told them that this email WAS SENT OUT AFTER i bought the phone and that there was NO WAY that the minutes were added when i bought the phone. Then it was "Well we just don't have that offer any more". So i spoke to a supervisor whose statement was "We did not send out that email". Which my answer is BS because i am very skilled in computers and i can trace the email headers back to a net10 server.
Decide for yourself view the email at this link http://email.net10.com/cgi-bin12/DM/z/hp8h0GwmYu0CvF0wop0EP

twice when purchasing minutes online the process was interrupted after the credit card page.so i was charged but didn't get theminutes.the problem phone number on the page is the one with the "can't get to a real person" menu.simple enough to dispute the charge, but now i don't have the minutes, i've wasted time x 3, and net 10 service is no better than anybody else.

The Service Is Absiloutley Wonderful They Jump Off Of AT&T U.S. Cellulair And T-Mobiles Towers and I Have Only Had One Bar One Time And That Was In A Tunnel or a Vally Or In The Middle Of No Where So Yeah I Absiloutley LOOOOOVVVVVEEEE Net 10 I Have The Motorola W375 But I Wish They Had A Razr Because That Would Be The Ultimate Thing. In All Time History Because Ya Know A Cool Phone With An Awsome Service Who Could Beat That I Mean Look Out GoPhone There Is A Better Plan In Town OOOOHHHH YEEEAAAHHH!!!

Customer Service is ok not great. Great bargain. Great coverage. Web site not great.

My complaint is is collection agencies looking for previous owners of the phone number. After 6 months they are still calling me. I now only answer calls from numbers I recognize.

ACTUALLY IT IS zero STARS....WOULD YOU BELEIVE THEY ARE STILL DEDUCTING FROM MY CREDIT CARD AND not ADDING THE TIME TO MY PHONE AND stillM REFUSE TOM REPLY TO ANY OF MY E MAILS EXCEPT FOR THE STANDARD .."CALL US"....SHICH i CAN'T BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT ANSWERED FOR OVER 40 MINS AND IT COSTS 10 CENTS A MIN TO TRY TO TALK TO THEM...I HAVE NO OTHER PHONE AVAILABLE TO ME TO CALL THEM...IN MY OPINION, THEY ARE INCOMPETANT AT CUSTOMER SEVICE , BUT EXCELLENT AT HAT I CONSIDER STEALING!

I am very pleased with my net 10 phone. I have had net 10 service for almost one year, and I have never had a dropped call. If you top-up every 30 days, you minutes roll over. My reception is as good or even better than when I had a post pay plan. I also think that the customer service is great. They Repeat your question and then they actually take the time to give you an answer. The only negative is that if you are a heavy minute user, you can get more minutes cheaper from the post paid plans. That said "happy talking"