The Master List, the Best Pre-paid Wireless/Pay-as-You-Go Plans
Although a cell phone contract will give you a free or virtually free cell phone most of the time it will also force you into a contract and if you want to go off of your contract you’re going to have to pay a hefty termination fee. Going with a pre-paid wireless plan though is going to give you service without the contract and also an affordable plan. The only caveat though is that you’re going to have to pay more for the phone.
The following is a listing of the pre-paid/pay as you go plans with the major carriers of non contract in nature. The following features the plans from the following carriers:
• AT&T
• Boost Mobile
• Consumer Cellular
• MyCricket
• Jitterbug
• Kajeet
• Platinum Tel
• Straight Talk
• T-Mobile
• TracFone
• Virgin Mobile
Take a look at what the different carriers and their plans have to offer and make a decision on which pre-paid route is the best for you.
The focus of AT&T has always been to the contract based plans; however, it does and is competing with the more pre-paid focused/pre-paid only brands with their GoPhone brand. There are two options. The first is going to be a pay as you go plan and the other is going to allow you to pick your plan.
Learn About AT&T Pre-paid Plans
When it comes to the major players in the pre-paid market Boost Mobile is definitely one of them. The anchor of their pre-paid service is the $50 unlimited monthly plan that they have they do have two other very persuasive choices as well.
Although the pre-paid plans that you can get from Consumer Cellular will work well for any person it’s actually designed specifically with the senior citizen in mind. They are in direct competition with another carrier we’ll be talking about shortly, Jitterbug. Consumer Cellular focuses on simple offers for individuals or families. They have texting or mobile web for an additional charge.
Akin to Boost the Cricket is designed to provide a low cost pre-paid alternative to all of the major carriers. Unlike Boost though, the Cricket has a lot more options for plans for either individuals or families.
Like we talked about with Consumer Cellular above, the Jitterbug can work for any person but it was one that was designed with the senior citizen in mind. Jitterbug offers the customers three unique but effective options each at different price points.
Kajeet is offered directly for seniors as well. They make good phones for senior citizens and others that aren’t technology friendly as their features are designed for kids.
PlatinumTel has a large variety of different pre-paid/pay as you go plans and all of them are with no contracts. Akin to a lot of the carriers that are mentioned they don’t actually have their own network infrastructure. They actually use the Sprint network.
Straight Talk is actually one of the newest pre-paid carriers to come on the scene. They are a brand of TracFone as of July 30th, ’09. They have some of the simplest plans that you can find anywhere.
T-Mobile offers contract plans just like AT&T but they also have two very popular pre-paid options. One is a pay as you go option while the other one allows you to pay for your service by the day.
TracFone talks about being the leader when it comes to pre-paid. They are a subsidiary of the company America Movil which according to them have more customers than both AT&T and Verizon combined.
Last, but certainly not least Virgin Mobile. This company has built themselves around the pre-paid wireless offerings, and because of that they offer some of the strongest in the entire pre-paid industry. They have a full spectrum of no nonsense no contract as well as contract based plans.
Related posts:
- Senior Cell Phones, Comparing Consumer Cellular and GreatCall
- Cell Plans: An Overview
- The Most Affordable Cell Phone Plans, Virgin Mobile, MetroPCS, & Sprint
- Prepaid versus Monthly Contract Cell Phone Plans
- Finding the Best Cell Phone Plans
- How to Compare Wireless Phone Plans
- Where to Find Discount Cell Phone Plans
- Simple Cell Phones for Senior Citizens
- Consumer Cellular and AT&T Senior Nation, Two Great Companies and Plans for Senior Citizens
- Wireless Cell Phone Plans You Can Afford
Tags: AT&T, Cell phone plans, t-Mobile
May 26th, 2010 at 11:03 am
I am surprised that you have not mentioned Net 10 as a prepaid service. They have a great offering for low to medium use. Calls cost 10 c a minute and when you buy a phone you get 300 free minutes, which is worth $30. This means that, effectively you get $30 off the price of the phone.
May 31st, 2010 at 3:54 am
You didn’t mention NET10, certainly my favorite prepaid carrier. They are inexpensive, have great coverage and don’t charge for some of the things other prepaid carriers do, like: roaming fees & ‘daily use’ fees. Their international calling rates are just 15c a minute and they have some pretty nice handsets as well as some real cheap options.