Prepaid Wireless Choices | Communication

By JohnBear
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If you don't want to be locked into an iron-clad contract, have a credit check performed, provide a security deposit, pay a monthly fee, if you are an infrequent user or if you want to manage your wireless spending, then you may just want to stick with a prepaid cell phone plan. Pre paid cell phone plans allows you to easily budget your minutes from month to month and keep control over your cell phone bill. A prepaid cellphone is one in which you purchase the phone and minutes upfront; you can buy minutes ahead of time and replenish them as needed.

There are fairly a large number of cell phone provider that has jumped on the prepaid cell phone bandwagon, recognizing the large market of customers that are interested in obtaining cell phones without contracts or obligations. Currently, the chief prepaid cellular phone service providers are Cingular, T-Mobile, Verizon, Virgin Mobile, 7-Eleven, Tracfone, Net10 and Boost Mobile.

After Cingular's acquisition of AT&T Wireless in 2004, the company not only became the largest wireless carrier in the United States but it also jumped into the prepaid market with AT&T's GoPhone plan that offers cheap per minute rates. T-Mobile may be the smallest of the major US wireless carriers but it made an early and aggressive push into the prepaid playing field with its To Go plans. They've got the flashy, headline-grabbing Sidekick II to its handset lineup; the sexy Motorola Razr V3 is a more recent addition, as is well as the updated Sidekick 3.

Though they had a relatively late arrival to the US prepaid arena, Verizon Wireless owns and operates the second largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States. This prepaid wireless service provider offers Inpulse and EasyPay plans; and they offer a wide network footprint and a growing 3G network.

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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