In a world full of expensive smart phones, being “grandfathered in” to unlimited data plans, and outrageous competition between cellular networks, there’s a tiny subset of underdogs that’s slowly growing in popularity. These underdogs are a little something called pre-paid phone plans.
You might not know this but pre-paid phone plans are becoming increasingly popular for a number of reasons. Here’s why:
1. You’re not locked into contracts.
How many times have you wanted to make a change to a contract, decrease your minutes, or deduct a service? It’s extremely difficult to do so, and it often requires you going in person to your cell phone provider to make the changes. Additionally, if you end your contract early, you are often subject to fees.
2. You get control over your bill.
With many pre-paid phone plans, you simply purchase your minutes. So, it’s up to you how much or how little you want to spend on your plan. Recently, companies like Wal-Mart started offering a flat rate of $45 for unlimited talk, text, and data for smart phones. Plans like that can easily put other major providers out of business due to their flexibility and their low rates.
3. You save more in the long run.
The one caveat of pre-paid phone plans are that you have to buy your smart phones upfront, which can cost several hundred dollars more than the discounted rates offered by contract plans. However, when you add in the savings over time, pre-paid phone plans are still less expensive in the long run.
4. You can cancel at any time.
With a pre-paid phone plan, you can cancel any time you want by simply not pre-paying. Although it sounds like a no-brainer, this would be especially difficult with a contracted plan.
5. You still get to use the iPhone.
In the past, many people have shied away from pre-paid phone plans because they were unable to use the latest smart phones. Or, they were able to get an iPhone, but it was an earlier model. Today, pre-paid plans like the one mentioned above offer the latest iPhones, so there’s no difference between the phones your friends have and the one you have.
6. They’re great for teenagers or those with low credit scores.
If you have a teenager, these pre-paid phone plans are a great way to get a cell phone for them without worrying about getting the bill in the mail and getting charged for excessive texting. It’s also perfect for those who have low credit scores and were unable to secure a cell phone contract from a big name provider.
Ultimately, there are many pros to getting a pre-paid phone plan, and with time, these will become more and more popular due to the reasons listed above.
Do you have a pre-paid phone plan? Or, have you ever considered switching to one?
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I had a prepaid plan for a long time. It was great since my overall costs were a lot less with the prepaid plan than with the contract plan.
Once my employer started paying for my cell phone I moved to the standard contract plan. I’d probably go back to prepaid if I lost this particular employment perk.
Good post. We had a prepaid plan for several years and it was great for us at the time, but our big issue was that the customer service was terrible and would get spotty reception in many areas. I hate having a contract but it’s worth it to me to be able to have great reception wherever I am at.
I just wrote yesterday about Straight Talk and their service. I have Ben using it for month and you really do get what you pay for. They are still great alternatives to the regular carriers.
Until I got a work phone at my current job I had a prepaid phone. We’ll be using prepaid sim cards as we travel around the world this year as well.
That seems like the best idea if you are planning on traveling around the world. What allows you to do this, job? Blog?
I’ve been considering moving the kids over to a prepaid plan. the biggest problem I have is that where I live we only get decent coverage from Verizon. to be brutally honest, their pre-paid plans are the worse ones available.