Cell Phones, Advice, Editor's Picks, Mobile Phones
Who Needs a Prepaid Phone?
It's hard to keep up with the cell phone market these days. New models hit store shelves seemingly every week, and carriers roll out new contract plans nearly as frequently. Maybe that's why the prepaid cell phone market is growing so rapidly.
Consumers are flocking toward no-contract, unlimited services. At least two prepaid carriers have seen their subscription rates double over the past year -- and now the big companies are rolling out their own prepaid options to retain their existing customers.
You generally won't have to have a credit card or leave deposits with these services, but you will have to buy your own phone, which can run anywhere from $30 to over $300, depending on the service you use and how many bells and whistles you want. In addition, most plans come with activation fees ranging anywhere from $15 to $35.
Prepaid's not for everyone, though. So how do you determine if it's a good fit? To help you figure it out, we've put together a list of the 10 types of situations where prepaid phones make sense. Click on 'Next' below to find out more.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Marit Londeaux said 4:54AM on 10-29-2009
I've had a Nokia Tracfone for about 8 years and never had a problem with it. I recently upgraded to a smaller, fliptop version but not because I was having problems with my other phone. Phones have gotten smaller and smaller over the years so my old phone actually looked like a smaller version of a walkie-talkie! I bought my new phone, refurbished, for $10 at Big Lots. It has free voicemail, texting, ringtones, and a few other extras. I can also call long distance at no extra charge. I basically use my cell phone for emergencies so I usually buy a 60 minute phone card for $19.99. The more minutes you buy the cheaper the price. For example, a 120 minute phone card is only $29.99. This includes three months of service. So every 3 months you have to add more minutes in order to keep your service active. It's very easy since the phone tells me how many minutes of talk-time I have left, and also when I need to add more minutes. You can add minutes sooner than three months if you need to and it'll add three more months of service at that time. There are no contracts and no monthly bill. If I ever have a question or problem, which is rare, their customer service department is always very helpful in answering my questions. For someone like me, a prepaid cell phone is the best way to go.
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TRIBBLEHURTVA said 4:59AM on 10-29-2009
I use prepaid cell phone service and feel this is the best however, i was using alltel and when verizen took over the service sucks !
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madisonhare said 8:09AM on 10-29-2009
I LOVE our prepaid fone!! You cant beat $1.00/day!! At&t only cost for the least, $15.00 and free mobile to mobile and if peoples home fone is at&t then its free to talk as long as you want.. I think everyone else charges like .10/minute, so really I get my moneys worth with at&t.. $15.00 last me about 3-3 1/2 weeks..
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nanny2sophia said 11:05AM on 10-29-2009
So glad you like your service, I had quite a bit of trouble with my AT & T Service. I had a balance of $350 (I really did only use it in emergencies, but had to keep adding minutes every 3 months to keep it active) I normally renewed the day before date, but this time I didn't, but thought it was fine as it was 10.00am on the day. However,when I checked my balance it was zero, and when I queried this, they said that I should have renewed before 7am. (I thought a day ended at either the end of office hours, if not midnight - silly me!) With the trouble I'd had before and no-one willing to help, I cancelled my service. I'm now with Tracfone, and they are very helpful, they even added mintures when I had a very small problem.
madisonhare said 10:53PM on 10-29-2009
Love my pre-paid fone.. It only cost $1.00/day to talk mobile to mobile and to people who have at&t for home fone. $15. last me almost all month.. Will keep my at&t fone long as it is this way. Cant beat that when others charge .10/minute... Prepay is only way for me and my family..
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JEFF(WALMART EMPLOYEE) said 9:41AM on 10-29-2009
TracFone has recently came out with a new service plan/carrier.
its called straight talk. look it up.
for $45 dollars a month you get UNLIMITED everything(Minutes,Texts,Internet) and the phones that you can purchase are actually pretty cool.
The phones come with bluetooth, cameras, and some even have full keyboards.
So if you are not already prepaid or thinking about switching over I would honestly check out Straight Talk!
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KSC2262000 said 10:05AM on 10-29-2009
I have been using Virgin Mobile for over 10 yrs...and have tried various others while keeping it....Simply put there in no better phone out there...they use shared towers so reception is never a problem and as for cost, they offer a 49. dollar plan that has unlimited everything...I can access my account online and download rintones and wallpapes and even add mp3 from my computer....there is no better in my opinion
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salome said 10:24AM on 10-29-2009
tracphone/virgin--no contracts,bs ,nothing....
why are you all paying those ridiculous bills and permitting them all kinds of personal info and tracking ?
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memrem26 said 10:36AM on 10-29-2009
I am trying to get my E-mail
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Cheryl Nelson said 10:40AM on 10-29-2009
Well everyone, I hate to burst your bubbles but I wouldn't have a prepaid phone if you gave me one!! My two sons have one and it's great for them because they don't talk much on the phone. However, I have a phone with Metro PCS and although the service sucks, it has good coverage and for $45.00 per month, I can talk as long as I want or need to. If my husband is out of town as he is now, we can talk for 3 hours if we want to and not worry about how long we've been on the phone or how many minutes we've used. I make a lot of business calls during the day, and with the prepaid phone, you're just in a mess, if you're on hold for a long time like I have been frequently, or the person you're talking to takes a while to straighten out a problem with your insurance policy or whatever you're calling about. I guess it boils down to this, if you don't spend much time on the phone, you're good to go with a prepaid plan. However, if you're on the phone a lot like I am, go with Metro PCS. There is no contract, no credit check and no deposit. You just buy the phone you want and the plan you want, and they run from $30 to $50 per month, depending on what kind of features you need. No matter which plan you choose, you will always get unlimited talk time. With the $45 plan, I get unlimited talk, nation wide calling, unlimited texting and a whole lot of other features that I can't think of right now off of the top of my head. But seriously, if you talk on the phone a lot or make a lot of business calls, check into Metro PCS, they are working out their problems and I think in time, they will be a top rated phone company. Right now, I'll put up with the bad customer service to get the features they offer. Also, for $5 extra a month, you can also get unlimited international calling too, all in all, I think it's a pretty good deal!! Check it out!
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juzme said 12:26PM on 10-29-2009
I also have Metro PCS, we got on when they offered a family plan for $100 a month for 4 phones. It actually is about $140 with a few added features my daughter added to hers and all of the taxes etc. But that is unlimited calls and text. It is inconvenient if you travel a lot, but we dont. I had Sprint for years and always had to go outside to talk on it. I thought it might be because I have a metal roof or was in a bad area, but when my daughter came over to my house and could use her Metro PCS phone inside, I decided I should be able to do that with my Sprint phone that I was paying a higher price for. I called Sprint and they said maybe my phone was too old and talked me into a new contract with new phones. That did not solve my problem, so I switched. Now I dont have to go out on the porch to talk on my phone and pay less to talk where ever I want to and as much as I want to. I checked some of the other major companies like Nextel and A T & T and in their coverage map it said their signal where I live may not work inside bldgs either. I dont understand how Metro PC can do it and they cant, but I dont care now!
watchamakolit1 said 10:52AM on 10-29-2009
Here in our country, prepaid phones are pretty old.... actually its more common and its more efficient and it lets you control your expenses for your phone. for a mere 20 pesos (50 cents) you'll get 24 hours unlimited text and for 100 pesos (2.50 dollars) you'll get 1 weeks worth of unlimited calls AND text. beat that.
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acidhax said 1:07PM on 10-29-2009
Yeah, well, I pay $80/mo for 500mb data, unlimited calls after 4, and unlimited text messaging...
yeah...
I'm being owned.
EMOFAO said 5:55PM on 10-29-2009
YOUR COMENTS ARE INTERESTING BUT WHY DON'T YOU LET US KNOW WHO YOU USE??
kaethe1026 said 1:25PM on 10-29-2009
I have been a Boost (Nextel-Sprint) customer for about 5years. I have been happy with the service which now is 50/mo for unlimited talk to any phone/carrier, text and pics, web and walkie-talkie. I wouldn't have a contract phone after talking to several people who are unhappy. I am not always pleased with my cell phone, but the service is great. I have recently became aware of a new service plan 45/mo for everything except walkie-talkie, with better equipment. Because I have no contract I can switch w/o consequences.
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Wolfgang muller said 11:41AM on 10-29-2009
The Data charges (in Airtel) for surfing the Internet using Airtel live APN is 30ps/20kb. While Airtel Mobile Office APN charges you 30ps/50kb.
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Richard B said 11:45AM on 10-29-2009
We started out talking on cell phones, we graduated to texting, what's next?, morris code!.
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chucksgirl43 said 12:14PM on 10-29-2009
I LOVE MY TRAC PHONE/ BOUGHT THE CARD THAT DOUBLES ANY FUTURE INUTES THAT I BUY. THIS PHONE IS GREAT...NO PROBLEMS..NO PASSING MY PHONE NUMBER OFF TO COMPANIES THAT CALL OR TEXT ME TO GET ME TO TRY OR BUY SOMETHING. I LOVE IT GREAT IDEA NICE CUSTOMER SERVICE
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meganmgifford said 1:01PM on 10-29-2009
We only use about 200 minutes per month (each), so my husband and I both got Net10 phones. It is 10 cents a minute for calls and 5 cents each for text messages (which we don't use). I just got a great Motorola slider phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera, bluetooth, and mp3 player for $50 and that INCLUDES 300 minutes and 60 days of service. We end up spending $15 to $20 per month each for our service. We used to have a contract plan, and we will never go back. The service is good, no roaming, and no taxes and fees or weird bills. Net10 is better than all of them (we tried Boost and Tracfone).
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glorri6 said 1:13PM on 10-29-2009
I just rescently read about the straight talk pre-paid phone from walmart, and was not sure I wanted to try it, but finally decided to give it a try, so far, in my area is one of the most reliable services I have tried, it's affordable, I'm glad I got it.
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