Pay As You Go Cell Phones

3 Benefits of Pay As You Go Cell Phones

Pay as you go cell phones is becoming more popular and since its inception it is still something that many cell phone users prefer. Lets face it, the big cell phone companies are in it for the money and the little known truth is that they make a LOT of money from people who just blindly pay them x amount every month. Its estimated that more than 30% of cell phone users never exhaust their monthly quota on cell phone contracts. Pay as you go phones provides a cost effective and very flexible option for cell users. Here are the 3 biggest reasons to go a pay as you go phone.

1. Control Your Spending
When you are on a pay as you go plan, you have 100% control over your spending. Since you only use what you pay for you know exactly that if you buy $20 credit that that’s all you will use. What most people don’t know is that with mobile phone contracts there’s a very expensive surcharge when you go over your allotted limit and this can be completely avoided with a pay as you go.

2. No Long Term Commitments
I don’t now about you but for me the idea of being tied down to a 2 year contract is just too much of a financial commitment. The biggest problem with cell phone deals is that they rope you into a 2 year contract that you cannot get out of. If you want to get out after 6 months you have to pay a penalty charge which is very expensive. On a pay as you talk plan, there is zero commitment and you have no obligation to keep paying a company every month. You only pay for the calls you make.

3. Ease of Use
Pay as you go cell phones are easy to use. You can make your first call in 5 minutes from buying a pay as you go package. There is no complicated contracts, credit checks or any of the usual headaches of applying for a cell contract. There’s no monthly bills or annoying call centers to deal with. Its just a simple self serve solution.

Most of the big cell phone carriers offer pay as you go package deals. Its well worth shopping around as they too want your business even if you don’t get a contract with them. Some offer cheap calls, some offer cheap phones and some offer free incoming calls. Make sure you search for the best deal and make sure that it best suits your personal needs.

AT&T Prepaid Cell Phones

With so many prepaid cell phone plans on the market it can be a nightmare to start your search and find something good. There really are some great deals out there, but the problem with smaller networks is that their low prices usually come at an “additional cost” and somewhere down the line the lack of service or some hidden costs usually catch you out. AT&T is the largest telecom company in the USA and their coverage is the largest. All and all, they have the best plans and the fact that they are so big means they can pass a lot of value down to their consumers – value that smaller companies simply cannot give you.

AT&T prepaid cell phone plans have 2 basic options. The first is the standard pay as you go plan with 3 different options. The options vary depending on the amount of calling you do and the prices are all charged per minute with a surcharge depending on your option. The best option is probably where you pay $3 per day – where you only pay for the days where you actually use the phone. This is great for people who do call quite a lot but don’t need to use the phone every day. It’s a terrific option for companies that need to give their employers phones to use during the week and the ability to rotate the phones is just perfect.

The second type of prepaid AT&T cell phone is very similar to standard contracts but you still only pay on a pay as you go basis. You are charged a set fee per month and depending on the plan you pick it can be as little as $19.95 per month. The huge benefit of this is that you are not signed up to a long term contract and it’s a very basic month to month plan where you can get out whenever you want without any penalties.

Most people are forced to get a pay as you go plan because they don’t pass the credit check. If you really want a contract you can still get one with bad credit. All it takes is a deposit and on some of the basic plans with AT&T you can get a cell phone contract for as little as a $300 deposit.

Prepaid phone plans make a lot of sense though simply because you get to control your spending. AT&T makes it very easy with no roaming fees anywhere in the USA and having the ability to pay with credit card, online, check, cash or even on your cell phone makes it very easy to use and you even get some benefits that many contracts get. Free downloads, free games and even free incoming calls are just some of the reasons why an AT&T prepaid phone is the way to go.

New Cell Phone - Prepaid or Contract?

Although cell phones have become such an integral part of our everyday lives, its still quite expensive. Basic call services like making and receiving calls seems to be at the bottom of the “features list” these days because cell phone carriers are trying to entice us with all the latest and greatest extras. The latest cell phones are amazing and phones like the iPhone are basically a small computer with full internet access and the capabilities of running thousands of innovative software.

One thing is for sure, cell phones are making life easier. When it comes to buying a new phone, its very important that you determine your needs to make sure that you get the right plan and not get sucked into services you will never use. You basically have 2 choices – you either get a contract or you get a prepaid phone. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and depending on your individual needs it can have a huge difference in cost.

One of the main reasons why most of us are forces into prepaid setup is because getting a cell phone contract is subject to passing a credit test. If you fail the credit check and still want to get a phone on contract, then there is hope. What you can do is to approach the biggest carriers and ask about their deposit options and say that you failed the credit check. Often you can get away with a deposit for as little as $250 which you will get back when your contract expires.

Contracts have their advantages because it usually comes with a load of perks. Free ringtones, free games, unlimited calls, picture messages and even free software. The problem is that you get roped in for a 1 or 2 year contract and getting out can be hard and expensive.

Pay as you go cell phones are great in that there is no strings attached. No long term contracts and you are in complete control of what you spend. In fact, you have to spend first before you can call – which is where many people on contracts step into trouble since exceeding your allotted free minutes on a contract defaults to very high call charges.

Many of the bigger carriers now offer hybrid options that aren’t quite a contract or a pay as you go. Its simply a prepaid plan, but there aren’t any long term contracts involved. You get to cancel whenever you want without any penalties or obligations. Although you don’t get the perks that full contracts get, it will give you a lot more flexibility than standard pay as you go cell phones with cheaper calls and more flexibility.

Disadvantages of Pay As You Go Cell Phones

Pay as you go cell phones are a great way to control your spending. You know exactly how much you spend and there are no nasty surprised like when you get a bill at the end of every month. You also have the freedom of not being tied to a long term contract, but it does have some significant disadvantages.

When it comes to making and receiving calls, a prepaid cell is perfect. Yes, the calls are more expensive but its still the convenience that counts. The problem comes in with the latest technology. Cell phones are no longer just for making and receiving calls. Modern phones can do virtually anything a computer can and if you look at the new iPhone its amazing what you can do. Anything from using Skype, to playing your favorite computer game to connecting on Facebook.

Having access to these services are easy on contracts. Your phone is bundles with a certain amount of bandwidth to allow you to use these additional services. With pay as you go contracts its not that easy and for the time being its almost too expensive to even consider it. Having to pay “per minute” for data usage on top of your “per minute” phone usage makes it extremely expensive.

Traditional prepaid phones simply won’t work like that, but fortunately the big cell phone carriers are catching on and now offer variations of prepaid “contracts” that allow you to get the benefits of both a prepaid phone and a contract – without being locked in for 12 months.

The second biggest disadvantage of prepaid is the fact that you don’t get a free phone. You will need to pay for the phone out of pocket – which as we all now is very expensive. Once again, its not really a big deal if you get a basic phone, but if you want the latest Nokia smart phone or the new iPhone then it’s going to come with a heavy price tag. Contact phones make sense when the phone is that expensive and the added benefit is that you can get a new phone every 12 – 24 months without having to fork out the full price of a new phone again.

In my opinion pay as you go cell phone contracts work well for basic needs like texting and receiving calls. Its okay for making calls although it tends to get quite expensive if you call a lot. When it comes to any of the more advanced features like using the internet or accessing advanced phone services its just not worth it. If you pick your contract carefully you can actually save a lot.