Monday, August 25, 2008

Prepaid Wireless Options

By John Bear


Prepaid cellular phones usually offered as pay-as-you-go type plans are the most recent technical developments in communication services. Many people choose to purchase this type of service in order to avoid any kind of lengthy contract, which would lock them into services for a designated amount of time and money. Prepaid wireless also has no credit check, deposit, hidden fees, age limit, monthly bills and most plans won't make you pay an activation fee. They offer more control over your spending and are a great way to cut down on cell phone costs. You just simply add airtime as you need it, if you stop adding airtime to your prepaid phone then the phone will simply go "inactive".

You can choose from a number of prepaid cell phone service providers that has jumped on the prepaid cellular phone bandwagon. Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Tracfone, Boost Mobile, and Net10 are the chief prepaid wireless providers.

Cingular wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States. They offer two distinct plan types that give customers flexibility not afforded by many prepaid service providers. They also have great cell phone coverage and have good customer service.

Verizon Wireless has a long-standing tradition of superior customer service and product dependability. Verizon Wireless INpulse offers rates as low as 10 per minute, perfect for teens and people who talk a lot on the phone. For credit challenged people who want regular post pay style calling plans, they can opt for Verizon Wireless' EasyPay Plan.

Virgin Mobile, the first MVNO carrier in the United States that operates over Sprint's network has led the way in aggressively marketing its prepaid service to the youth market. If you've been to a Virgin Megastore lately, you've doubtless seen flashy and trendy Virgin Mobile phones hanging from display racks. Boost Mobile is a "lifestyle based" MVNO carrier that's aiming squarely for the youth market just like Virgin Mobile. This prepaid cell phone provider is armed with snazzy versions of Motorola's sensible handsets and push-to-talk (PTT) walkie-talkie functionality on Nextel's iDEN network.

The 7-Eleven prepaid cellular phone service provider also caters to budget-minded consumers. The 7-Eleven's Speak Out charges a flat 20 cents a minute (except for roaming charges of 39 cents a minute) and offers a choice of six handsets from Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson priced from $60 to $150. Net10 offers a competitively priced prepaid service, decent prepaid cellphone selection and also good cell phone coverage.

TracFone Wireless, a subsidiary of Latin American wireless giant America Mvil offers bare bones prepaid service that doesn't have the bells and whistles of youth-oriented MVNOs such as Virgin Mobile or Boost. It has a large national service footprint, thanks to its agreements with a variety of wireless carriers. The Tracfone prepaid cell phones are available in more than 65,000 retail stores nationwide. Tracfones are great for those people who don't want a contract, have bad credit and can't obtain a contract with a standard cell phone company. They are also good for those who don't use a phone a lot, don't use a lot of minutes each month or who only use their phones for emergencies. Tracfone prepaid offers a variety of payment options starting with prepaid cards for 40, 100, 200 and 400 minutes that are sold for $20, $30, $50 and $80, respectively. They also sell two yearly prepaid cards, one with 150 minutes for $90 and the other one with 300 minutes for $130 that also double the minutes on other cards bought.

Whether or not to commit to a prepaid wireless service really depends upon your personal needs and preferences. Before deciding on your prepaid service provider, it is important to do some research; look at the various carriers' Web sites to familiarize yourself with what they have to offer.

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