From the Tello Help Center:
"You can use your Tello Dollars to make a purchase (plan, Pay As You Go Credit or a phone), once the amount of Tello Dollars is enough to pay for the entire invoice. No partial payments are allowed at the moment"
So, it would appear to be a purchase, which I assume would be an order. The rest of your scenario seems to fit the requirement as currently stated.
yes tello credit purchases are orders so should be fine.
1)If you have paid for a plan in the last 90 days will that keep your paygo service active for 90 days from the last purchase?
--> If you have a plan, you're an active customer, so your paygo is not subject to expiry. If however, you had a plan but didn't renew that and no PAYGO credit was bought in 90 days, your number is going to be expired, with prior notice, of course.
--> Yes, we do count the days from your last purchase or September 10 whichever was last
2) If you pay for a plan prior to Dec8 will that keep your Paygo service active for a further 90 days?
--> Yes :). We're counting the 90 days from your last order.
I suppose the lowest cost a user could now is $20 per year. By purchasing a $5 plan for 1 month every 90 days. The paying for the use from the pay as you go balance the other 2 months.
Jan 1 - $5 plan
April 1 - $5 plan
July 1 - $5 plan
Oct 1 - $5 plan
All other months pay for low use from existing balance.
Plus "Taxes and Surcharges" unless paying with Tello Dollars.
If you choose the 500mb $5 option there are no fees. At least not in my state.
Interesting! Same for me. Did not occur to me to try data only plan since using with dumb/glovebox phone. Thank you! At $20/year all-in using existing PAYG balance (with optional $10 auto top-up) and minor headache every 3 months, not too bad!
st3fx wrote: "At $20/year all-in using existing PAYG balance (with optional $10 auto top-up) and minor headache every 3 months, not too bad!"
For me personally, Tello is no longer the good, solid, reliable company that it used to be. I'm not willing to take on the sign-up-for-$5-plan-every-3-months headache just to find out that Tello has suddenly changed their terms of service to who knows what. Can't trust them now. My PayGo balance of $10 is not worth the hassle of sticking around with Tello.
To me, the $40 Tracfone card that Isamorph posted in the Hot Deals thread is much less work and much more attractive.
As I always stated. Once the trust is broken. There is no going back to trust land
U can’t use existing PayGo balance to buy a monthly plan.
My post is poorly worded, sorry. I meant I already have a PAYG balance that I would be using for PAYG voice/text. Fortunately, I have exactly $20 Tello Dollar to cover the first ~12 months (based on current terms, 4x $5/month/plan), then after can pay with Paypal or credit card.