best prepaid cell phone for Oregon please?

Am sure there%26#39;ll be some techies out there who can advise what%26#39;s the best and most cost effective prepaid cell we can buy on arrival for our roadtrip down the Oregon coast, onto Garberville N. CA and then back up thro the middle of Oregon, Hood River, Lewiston and up to Montana - if that%26#39;s not too much to ask for!! ;)

I%26#39;ve been told about Tracfone and Net10 but they had not great reviews: lost calls, incorrect minute charging, major set up issues, worked on day 1 but not after, no service areas and impossible customer service. We just need a basic phone for emergency calls in case our car rental breaks down somewhere remote, preferably one that%26#39;s going to work once we%26#39;re 50+ miles away from where we%26#39;ve bought it!

Thanks in anticipation

best prepaid cell phone for Oregon please?

I hope someone can reply with ';sound'; information.

You are talking about, as you know, a huge land mass and varied, to say the least, topography.

We moved a couple of years ago only about 10 miles and found that, in our new location, we had to change carriers. And this is in a metropolitan area, albeit with varied terrain.

best prepaid cell phone for Oregon please?

I can only tell you about what I have experienced. We%26#39;ve been using Tracfone for the past few years, with no problems whatsoever. You can get a phone for around $20 and a 60 minute/90 day card for $19.99. We only use its basic services; partly because we don%26#39;t need all the other capabilities and bells and whistles and partly because we don%26#39;t want to take the time to figure out how to use them.

We got the phone originally just for emergency use while traveling and have now expanded its use for more in-city communications when we need it.

The few times I%26#39;ve had to call Tracfone for technical assistance, I%26#39;ve gotten it (although I%26#39;ve learned with all technical services that patience and politeness go a long way toward getting what you want). The only technical problems we%26#39;ve had, by the way, have involved adding new minutes using promotional codes. Sometimes it went smoothly, othertimes not so smooth. But, really, all got resolved in just a few minutes.

Agree that Tracfone but just keep in mind that due to terrain you will lose cell service along the way, no matter what provider you choose.

When you say ';middle of Oregon'; does that mean I-5 (Willamette Valley) or Hwy 97 (Central Oregon)?

%26gt;%26gt;...for emergency calls in case our car rental breaks down somewhere remote...%26lt;%26lt;

Hmmm, it%26#39;s probably about a 50/50 chance that if you do break down somewhere remote, your cell phone won%26#39;t work anyway :-( It depends on how many cell towers are around, and which companies have antennas on those towers.

Difficult situation- there will be many answers, I%26#39;m sure. I can tell you from our experience that tracfones purchased in Portland do not work in Bend; we bought them for our sons who live in Bend and neither worked on arrival, and the roaming charges on trac are HORRENDOUS!!!!

There are websites that can allow you to check coverage areas for different carriers so that you can compare them- I don%26#39;t recall their addresses, but we found them when doing research for our son who did ';study abroad'; time in Europe a few years ago. The search we used was something like ';tips for exchange students'; ( not too creative, I know...) and the idea was to provide enough information so the students could choose the best carrier for their needs so all the providers were addressed. Maybe that would help???