I provide reviews of the top prepaid phone plans plus tips for savings on prepaid cards and more for your cell phone. If you have any tips to share please contact me.
One of my favorite prepaid wireless phone companies is Tracfone. Actually, Tracfone is the only carrier I've owned, I've tried the others a couple times but keep coming back to Tracfone prepaid plans.
Why Tracfone over the others?
Here's the short list:
Tracfone customer service is outstanding
They carry my favorite phones (LG!!). I'm not sure why I like them, but I'm please Tracfone uses them.
They regularly offer discounts on prepaid service and just about everything else! This is probably the biggest reason. Through a combo of deals I've had cell service all year for as little as $60!
The coverage area is huge since they use all other carriers at the same time. This is important in my rural area!
What do you like about Tracfone prepaid?
I know many people, if not most people use Tracfone mostly for the discounts like I do. In today's economy that is understandable, but what else do you like about your Tracfone?
Please let me know in the comments and I'll expand this post in the future.
Privacy is an important concern for prepaid phone owners. Millions of people look for names and other details of various phone numbers every month. These details are used for telemarketing calls.
Call center employees are trying to make more and more money using such methods. They steal information about you from somewhere and make calls to sell a wide range of products by which they make money. Many of the calls are automated in nature so that they can reach thousands of people in little time.
How to Stop Prepaid Telemarketers: You can stop the prepaid marketers in various ways. You can contact the wireless carrier and provide them details about the calls you are receiving. You can also contact the FCC which doesn’t favor such telemarketing spam. You can also contact the local authorities to complain about the calls.
Currently all the prepaid numbers are tracked when you purchase them. Online reverse look up directories help people look for your details. There is a small fee for these directories after which these search various government and public records to display your data to anyone. But these are restricted by the privacy regulations. You can call the carrier service and tell them about the number from which you are receiving such calls and the carrier will definitely do something about it.
It is the very nature of prepaid phones which makes them susceptible to such telemarketing calls. These are more private and the telemarketers call you at a time when you are likely to be at home. You can restrict them. Just follow the tips mentioned above.
You may be thinking of buying a phone for your child. But you should exercise caution while buying one. Children under the age of 7 should not use any kind of cell phone as the radiations may be harmful for them. While purchasing a cell phone, you should also consider its safety aspects. You should buy one which has low emissions and is safe for your child. In any case, you shouldn’t buy it if your child is less than 7 years old.
Prepaid phones are ideal for children because of the fact that children may make very long calls. If you give them a bill phone, you should be prepared for a very large bill. In case of prepaid cell phones, you can be assured that children have a limited amount of credit which they can use. Once that credit is over, they can’t use the phone and you can control your expenses. There is no way to control the expenses in case of bill phones.
Even if you ask your children not to talk a lot on phones, they may still end up making very long calls on the bill phones and a large bill will be presented to you. It is really hard for them not to make calls when they can. You may be shocked to see it. Prepaid phones are very useful in such cases. Even if there is not credit left, you can always call your children and you decide whether you should put additional credit or not.
There are many advertisements on TV about various cell phones. Many so called ‘great’ offers are also provided along with the phones. Various carriers offer a number of interesting offers if you sign up for a plan. Now we need to find out whether we should sign up for a long term contract with a carrier or not. There are many advantages of signing up for a long term plan but there are many demerits as well.
Whether you should sign up for a long term plan or not, it depends upon your usage. You should first consider whether you are using it for work or just to call friends and family. Then you also need to consider whether you will be making any international calls or just state calls with the phone/
Prepaid cell phones will be the best choice for you if you don’t want the phone for work and if you will not be making any international calls with the phone. There are people who don’t want to indulge into signing long term contracts with a carrier and may only use the cell phone lesser number of times. For such people, a one year or a bigger contract can actually be expensive even if we consider the various benefits of such contracts. A prepaid phone is also beneficial as there is no credit card required for it and you don’t get a monthly rental.
So it is better to take into consideration your usage before going for some long term contract like this with a carrier.
There are various prepaid cell phone deals available on the internet. You can look for them online at various places. Internet is the best place to look for such deals. You can also compare the various deals and find out the one which suits you the best.
Comparison of Deals:
The best advantage of purchasing prepaid phone cards online is that you can compare the various plans at all carriers. You don’t necessarily have to look at plans offered by just one carrier. You can look up the plans of all the carriers which provide services in your area and choose the best plan. There are many limited offers which can also be looked up online easily. Using the power of the internet, you can get the cheapest possible price for a prepaid phone card.
You can analyze the various features offered by the carrier. Once you check the features, the most important things you need to look for are:
You should have the facility to make both domestic and international calls.
Other useful services like conference calls and web call back should also be available.
Yourcarrier must offer a facility to reload your prepaid card online at any time.
Other online facilities like online phone book and online accounts manager are also useful.
Next you can look for the prices charged for international and local calls. You probably don’t want to pay much for texts. Look for a plan which allows you to send some free text messages or send them cheap.
There are various payment methods offered by the websites. The most common method is credit card. Other payment methods used these days are paypal, eGold, Google Checkout, etc.
People usually go for the prepaid cell phone plan to more effectively manage their cell phone costs. Another reason is that they do not have good credit ratings to get a long term contract. But still there are different types of prepaid plans and they have to decide which one to choose.
Pay as you go plan is more flexible in nature. If you need a cell phone primarily for incoming calls and need not make a lot of outgoing calls, this one is for you. People who usually have another landline or a phone at office go for this one just to remain in touch when they are neither at work nor at home. This one is useful for them as it is quite cheap and there is no contract associated with it.
The Monthly prepaid plans require you to pay in advance and provide some useful features like free weekend and night talk time and other in network facilities. These are for those who want to enjoy the benefits of prepaid plans and still use their phone a lot to make cheap calls.
If you think you can use more than $50 in calling in a month, the monthly plan is the best for you. But if you don’t think you will use $10 worth of calling in a month, then a pay as you go card is enough for you and is a cheap option for you. It is best to decide on which prepaid plan to go on the basis of your usage.
Everyone knows that prepaid means you upfront for the talk time. You just reload a card and use it for a certain period. There are no monthly rentals or other contracts. No credit records are required for these. But prepaid phone plans are actually of two types. It depends which one is cheaper for you.
Two Types of Prepaid Phone Plans The two types of prepaid phone plans are Pay as you go and Regular prepaid plans. There is a difference between both these plans. While one just consists of reload cards, the other one is similar to regular plans and can be more expensive. Here are some more details about these plans:
Pay as You Go Cell Phone Plans There is no contract required for these cell phone plans. These are available for a pretty cheap price and the prices usually start from ten dollars. You can reload the card whenever you require, it is completely up to you how much you want to spend on it. The cost of using such plans for voice calls is usually ten to twenty cents per minute or even more.
Regular Prepaid Cell Phone Service This service is similar to the postpaid one. You do need to pay in advance but there is greater flexibility than a contracted plan. You can terminate the service at any time.
The cheapest service for you is the prepaid cards which can be reloaded easily. But if you spend a lot of time talking on your cell phone, you will be better off spending 50 bucks on the postpaid plan as you will get various free minutes, weekend and night minutes. Also there are more free goodies available with the regular monthly plans.
Pay as you go service is for those who don’t want to be bound with long term contracts. There are various major benefits of using Pay as you go phone service. The most important benefit of these is that there is no long term commitment in case of these plans. Also there is no credit check required to opt for these plans. One does not have to pay any ongoing monthly rental for these. There are no penalties in case one decides to terminate the plan and opt for some other plan. One can never spend higher than the budget in these plans as you can talk only according to the credit you have. A reload card is needed which can be purchased online or at retail stores. This plan is also best for children for whom the monthly plans are not good. Parents can only reload according to their wishes and the children can talk as per the credit available.
These plans are good for those people who don’t intend to use them a lot. They need these only for using during emergency times. Individuals with a bad credit card also find these as very useful and need not stick to the contract.
In many of these plans, you can spend the minutes over several months. Also there is a mechanism that the more minutes you spend; the lesser is the cost per minute. The refill cards are also available at retails stores and online. Pay as you go is the cheapest option available for a person to go mobile.
You can find a wide range of cell phones and plans offered by a carrier at various retail outlets. Many franchise outlets also offer various types of plans to the users. There are various options available to the persons who are looking to buy a prepaid phone.
A franchise outlet can offer you the best deal and you may find some discounted plans. There are many online sites where you will find various offers and plans by a particular carrier.
But it is always best to compare the services offered by the different carriers. Comparing various services can give you an idea about the best deal available to you. You may be able to find the one which suits you the best. You can compare the various prepaid cell phone plans and choose the best service.
You can analyze the prices too. There are some services which are restricted only to postpaid plans. You can find out what services are offered to you by comparing the various plans. Text messages and calls are often more expensive in case of prepaid than postpaid. By comparing the various plans, you can find out which carrier offers you the best deal in terms of text messages and calls.
You may also find some plans in which you are offered rebates after a pre-set airtime. This leads to lower cost per minute. You can also see the validity offered under different plans and other premium services offered. Some prepaid plans come with a credit card so that you can replenish your credits whenever you run out of them.
You may also purchase the prepaid cell phone at a franchise outlet. These outlets compete with each other to sell their services and goods. Customers can often get good bargains at these outlets. You can often find a company’s franchise outlet and various goods or services are offered there.
Various services other than just prepaid phones are available at the franchise outlets. If you want to buy a discounted prepaid phone or even look for a free one, you can visit these outlets to look for one. You can get a free phone because the carrier gets money when you purchase their services after buying the phone.
You can also get good service for your phone at the franchise outlets. Various trade shows and fairs are organized to attract more buyers and free services are sometimes offered to customers. You can also find online prepaid franchises which take care of all your needs and offer you various discounted plans. You can also get other things like phone accessories and other stuff related to phone services here. Other services offered by the carrier are also sometimes sold at these outlets. You may also get discount coupons and other promotional material here. Often, there is an option to sign up for their alert letters so that you get an email every time a good deal is available.
So if you are planning to purchase a phone or a prepaid plan, you should check out these for some exclusive deals available at these outlets.
Wireless Cellular carriers often offer cellular phones for free. These are free because these come with a 2 year contract and the user has to use their postpaid plan for 2 years. These also require a good credit record. If a user decides to terminate the connection before the end of contract period, he has to pay penalties to the carrier. The phone prices are also very subsidized in many cases and the carrier earns money from the plans which are offered to the user along with the phone.
It is difficult to get prepaid cell phones for free as there are not many monthly plans associated with these. Even if you manage to get one phone for free, it will be the most basic phone without any superior features. But you can always check whether any good phone is available with a prepaid plan.
Depending upon your usage, you may also buy some fancier phones along with the prepaid plan. Some older models lying with the carriers are sometimes offered with the prepaid plans. Sometimes you may get a free cell phone from a retail outlet. This is because the sellers may get a commission whenever you activate the cellular services on the phone. You can always search for better deals and review the various types of handsets offered by the carrier. Many handsets are available and you will be able to find a nice one even with a cheap prepaid plan which doesn’t require any credit record or any monthly rental from you.
