Comments on: Prepaid wireless: In search of the perfect bargain

Finding a prepaid wireless plan can be tricky, so here's a cheat sheet for some of the most popular services on the market today.

[tsi26]

I have a hacked iphone on T-mobile's prepaid service. Sure, I don't have web access but I have access to enough WAP's that I'd hardly ever use anyways. I love the prepaid service. It's great. It cost me a total...yup total..of $100 for all of last year. Of course I'm not a big talker on the phone but I never held back and used it as I needed it.

[gerrrg]

Nice job of laying out the different options.

[AdelheidBernstein]

I've had Virgin Mobile service for a while now. I'm purely pay-as-you-go, with an 18¢/min rate, since I almost never make or receive calls. Just just "top up" $20 every 3 months... I'm basically paying less than $7 a month for service, and I've never gotten close to using up my balance of minutes. I also take advantage of their "Sugar Mama" ads-for-minutes service, to pick up bonus minutes. What a great deal for low-use cellular service, and they have decent quality handsets for cheap (or even free).

[azadam24]

I have had Cricket since they launched in Phoenix (I worked there at the time), and I can tell you that they are the best all around (MetroPCS isn't in Phoenix so I can't compare them). They just started offering the Motorola QA4, which is essentially a Smartphone, and will be launching the Motorola Evoke QA4 later this month (essentially their version of the I-phone). Their $60 plan does include 200 minutes of nationwide roaming, more than enough for the average user, it also includes unlimited everything else. Cricket's network is outstanding, I cannot remember the last time I dropped a call, and their roaming agreement is with Verizon, so you know that you're on a good network when roaming. They have local service in nearly every major market now anyway, so I don't see one doing too much roaming anyway. They offer the absolute best value in wireless, pre or post-paid, the only possible downside I'll mention is it can take a long time on hold to reach customer service, and the lines in their Cricket-owned retail stores are typically horrendous (think of an amusement park ride line - "45 minutes from this point"). At any rate, if you want unlimited everything with no contract of any kind and the same bill every single month (and it's available where you are), Cricket is the way to go...

[ammoy1]

There's also STI Mobile, who use Sprint's network. The only thing I hate about them is that they cancel your number if you don't make a call every 2 months.

[monkeyfun14]

Realistically though why pay for phone service for 2 months if your not using it in those months.

[maeckg]

A couple of years ago, I researched prepaid plans because I had worked for a cell phone company and definately wanted to avoid a contract. I had listened to so many disasters caused by company policies and knew some of the background not available to customers. One crucial determination was the minimum cost per month possible with each service as well as flexibility
.
Virgin Mobile proved to be the best choice; I work in a seasonal job, so my needs change a lot from one half of the year to next. From the very beginning I was able to take change plan, add mintues, etc. all on website so did not have to wait in queue of customer service. Virgin Mobile has actually added more options over the years which has helped me fit the service to my needs. Where I use the phone has had good Sprint CDMA/EDVO coverage in different cities so have been satistified with the service, but am aware it is not going to work everywhere.

There is more competition and new features now, so Virgin Mobile has to keep up. One thing is typical with all the prepaid services is the dearth of good choice of phones, especiallly smartphones. Virgin Mobile does have a better choice; I just bought the Kyocera XTC because it has a slideout keyboard and QVGA screen. Once you install Opera mini browser, it becomes a very useful device. I can even access a company intranet although limited by the phone. Something unheard of happened when I had a problem connecting to mobile web when I first got the XTC; Virgin Mobile tech support called me back to confirm reprovisioning corrected the issue!


Virgin, just like other prepaid providers, castrated some of the features of the phone, especially the PC connectivitiy. I think they could attract more customers willing to spend more on the service if the phones were more open and varied.

Tip to Virgiin Mobile: open up your service to more phones, such as compatible Sprint and Helio devices. Some people already have a phone or are willing to buy the one they really wnat at unsubsidized prices, but do not want a contract. Open up the smartphones so they can be used like smartphones. Virgin likes to push a certain cool and young factor in their adverts, so follow through already! Add a mobile broadband device/service for laptops like Sprint and Cricket, but with different levels of service. These things would differentiate Virgin Mobile more from the other services.

At times I was considering jumping to Cricket or TMobile, but the flexibilty and lower minimum monthly service if I needed when my usage is lower, made Virgin a better service. With my new phone, I am actually using it more even in the slow time since it provides internet/email/texting on the go. An Android phone would be a killer option.

[sghanna]

Great article, thanks for the link to prepaid reviews...very helpful.

[ofmyony]

On the highest T-Mobile prepaid plan the 100 dollar plan with 1000 minutes of talk time for a year. This plan has roll-over minutes. As long as you add minutes before the plan runs out your previous minutes will be good after the year time limit goes by. A nice feature that is not mentioned in the article. By the way you don't need to buy another 100 dollar card you can choose any of the smaller prepaid plans as long as you add them in time.

I recommend checking with T-Mobile before assuming this is still available but I use this plan and would recommend it. I use my phone as a pager and call back the people who call me so I don't use my mobile minutes. I use VOIP so I can cut out the mobile carriers pricey plans. This works well for me.

Use your phones as pagers or use Skype, get around being ripped off.

[NocturnalCT]

I ditched our two Verizon phones ($70+ monthly rate for our two phones) and got two nice unlocked Motorola quad band GSM phones at TigerDirect. Got two TMobile SIMs for $10 each and a $100 jolt to get started. Both of us don't call much but want a phone for convenience and safety. When we traveled to Europe we got two pre-paid SIMs over there, popped them in our phones and had the same deal over there. Easy emergency phone service.

We've saved hundreds of $$ since switching a year and a half ago. The only problem so far is that the ToGo plan on T-Mobile doesn't have the same coverage as their regular plan. At least in some areas I've seen ATT phones (also GSM) work fine but mine does not. Maybe TMobile and ATT don't use each other's networks at all.

[cvaldes1831]

That is correct. AT&T and T-Mobile do not use the same network. They use the same basic telephone technology, GSM, but they have their own cellular towers and AT&T's infrastructure has far wider coverage than T-Mobile.

[rtripathi]

T-Mobile prepaid is best at 10c/minute. Buy 1000 minutes talk time for $100 which is valid for one year and you become gold member too. After that just buy $10(or as needed) at end of year and your remaining minutes are extended for another year. I've been using this for last 3 years for my son and very happy with it.

[cvaldes1831]

I researched the various prepaid plans a couple of years ago and decided that T-Mobile Pay As You Go was the best value for my purposes. Like you, I'm just sticking in ten bucks before the 1 year period is over and the minutes roll over for another year. When I hit my three-year anniversary with T-Mobile soon, that works to $3.33 per month.

[edmetric]

I believe Verizon will let you buy any of their phones for pre-pay.

I travel often in three countries and use three pre-paid phones. One phone plans on international roaming are too expensive.

[Mishax]

The section on Cricket says "the 'unlimited' data is really capped at 5MB a month"

Are you sure that's MB and not GB?

[jcomputm]

WOW! It is about time the cellular industry is doing something to help those needed.

[cvaldes1831]

Most of these offerings have been around for years. They're just getting more attention from the media because of the economy. Apart from the fairly detailed analysis, there's very little new here.

[jeo4long]

I think the offer of the pre-paid plans are still so incomplete compare to the one they offer under the contract, especially in term of data plan. At Asia, I can get a pre-paid SIM card for my blackberry and only paid 50 cents a day for full unlimited BlackBerry data service. The per minute talk time cost also is way more cheaper at Asia than here in the United States. I think all the carriers should be banned from any contract requirements.

[clamenza]

Speak for yourself. Why is it so hard to understand most people aren't like you and do a lot of calling or want a fancy voice (or smart) phone? I've been an AT&T/Cingular customer for years and get very nice phones for free or nearly free. It'd be much more costly to do the same with a prepaid.

If most people don't need the benefits of plans with contracts they'd have gone prepaid already. If you don't like it no one's forcing you to use it. Gee.

[donlowejr]

I have had a TracFone for about 9 months now. Minutes and Service Time are rolled over whenever I purchase a new card. The phone came with 2X minutes; so I am paying 9.9 cents per minute. This is because they have a special almost every month, and I wait until the extra 200 minutes come with a one year card. Phone has camera (poor quality), Blue Tooth (excellent quality) and web browsing. Motorola model W376g now costs $28 at Target.

[ITSecGuy]

I don't understand why Oxygen (O2) wireless is so underrated (and not even mentioned!!!) 14 CENTS PER-MINUTE, NO CONNECT FEE! DO THE MATH! SAME NETWORK AS AT&T!!!!

I feel like Ben Stein... "Buller?" "Buller?" "Bueller?"

[ITSecGuy]

PS - you can pick up a universal SIM card for Oxygen Wireless at your local Best Buy, or online:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9010474&st=o2+wireless&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218011463039http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9010474&st=o2+wireless&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218011463039

[hprabowo]

I use Virgin Moble and it runs $5 a month if you top up every 3 months with your credit card. If you only use the phone once in a while it is the best deal.

[justgold79]

You left out Alltel U, which is the only prepaid phone service that allows unlimited calls to 1 favorite number.

[cvaldes1831]

No one can sign up for Alltel services anymore now that they've been absorbed by Verizon. You're probably grandfathered into your old plan, but they are not open to new subscribers.

[PrepaidWirelessGuy]

There are so many options out there now for payg, daily, monthly, and monthly unlimited plans. Here's a free resource to help you choose! http://www.prepaid-wireless-guide.com/compare-prepaid-plans.html