Prepaid Cell Phones

Prepaid Cell Phones

By John Dulaney

For the people who hate long term commitments and contracts there is an option called pay-as-you-go cell phone service.

The top 5 advantages of prepaid cell phones:

1. No long-term commitment

2. No credit check

3. No ongoing monthly fees

4. No cancellation costs

5. No risk of over spending your budget

If you have ever been burned by one of those long term contracts which requires you to pay a steep penalty if you cancel before the contract expires you will love the advantage of pay-as-you go plans. Pay-as-you-go cell phones allow users to have one without having a monthly bill. Parents often give their teens pay as you go phones to easily monitor them and limit their usage. They are also great for people who only want a phone for emergencies. Individuals who have less than perfect credit often choose prepaid cell phones because unlike other plan based services no credit check is required. Pay-as-you-go plans are offered through Virgin Mobile, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, TracFone, and AT&T Wireless companies.

The majority of the plans include local as well as long-distance calling. You can also take advantage of roaming, voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, international dialing, and three-way calling. The majority of carriers sell refill cards for minutes sometimes called Top-up cards at retail chains Circle K, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Target, and Walgreen’s. Most purchased minutes expire within a specific amount of time if they go unused for too long depending on the carrier.

You use only the minutes you have previously paid for, so in the long-term cell phone users do not acquire any extra-unexpected charges. Depending on the carrier, there are some cool features available. TracFone provides airtime balance right on the handset. Virgin mobile allows you to earn extra minutes through participation in their "sugar mama" program. T-Mobile has an "easy speak" program for SMS messages as well as an assortment of more modern phones.

The pay-as-you-go carriers T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and TracFone are offering phones with a lot more features than their competitors. T-Mobile fancy fully featured Mid-Tier Nokia and the Motorola V66. Virgin Mobile offers Audiovox flips, Kyocera Sliders, and even camera phones.